Convergence 2012 and Beyond: Where is Microsoft Taking Its Dynamics Business?

Convergence is always a fun and busy place for reporters and analysts, with access to the Microsoft Dynamics managers, updated product information, and a huge crowd of Dynamics users and professionals focused on the latest and greatest in the Microsoft Dynamics ecosystem.

But beyond the expected announcements, product updates, and perhaps a few surprises, Convergence 2012 will also offer an interesting look farther down the road at the areas where Microsoft has perhaps done some product positioning for Dynamics but still has plenty of space to adjust its trajectory. 

Several product areas and market opportunities stand out for their potential impact on future Dynamics ERP and CRM releases.  As a company, Microsoft is already well positioned in some areas, even if Dynamics has some catching up to do.  In other areas they are at risk of falling behind in the marketplace. 

We talked to two veteran Dynamics watchers - Rob Helm, VP of research at Directions on Microsoft, and Josh Greenbaum, principal at Enterprise Applications Consulting, for their views on the long term trends that Microsoft's ERP and CRM businesses should be planning for.

Tablet and Mobile

Microsoft has a variety of interests in play for its mobile strategy, and of course it is not all about Dynamics. The company is after improved Windows Phone market share, and it looks to the Dynamics teams to do its part in pushing that mission forward.  But at the same time, the Dynamics product teams need to show that they can play well with all the latest mobile platforms out there. 

"I hope to see demonstrations, at least, of Metro user interfaces for Dynamics CRM and at least one of the Dynamics ERP applications," says Rob Helm. "Metro is going to be Microsoft's primary user interface technology for smartphones and tablets.  The Dynamics applications give Microsoft a good canvas to paint the Metro picture for business applications."

Josh Greenbaum says he will continue to wait and see where Microsoft's mobile and tablet strategies will go, but he explained that he believes that demonstrating synergy between the various product teams is critical.  "I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop regarding how the strategy will come together," he says.  "There is an opening in mobility for a refresh of whole user experience in enterprise and finding a way to tie Azure, Windows mobile, and Dynamics together for enterprise development. Do they need to have a convergence of Dynamics and Windows Phone?  They do, otherwise Dynamics has a  credibility problem."

The CRM team has already shared its plans for a full suite of mobile applications in the next service update and beyond. And given the rumors and expectations around some kind of a GP interface for Metro on Windows 8 tablets, it is not hard to imagine the Microsoft will address its commitment to developing more of its own mobile and tablet applications in addition to trying to court the developer community to let ISVs take these platforms the last mile.

What we might see at Convergence:

• Windows 8 Metro tablet prototypes and line-of-business applications for Dynamics GP 2013 (aka GP 12) and Dynamics AX 2012
• Previews of the Dynamics CRM 2011 "native" client on the iPad and iPhone

BI, Analytics, and Big Data

Big Data is creating some of the loudest buzz these days in enterprise IT, but it has yet to inject itself into Microsoft's Dynamics ERP and CRM narrative in a direct way.  While many businesses can appreciate the value that big data analytics could offer in various areas like customer loyalty, sales, inventory management, and other areas of supply chain management, big data projects are still unlikely to be on many SMBs' short term roadmaps. 

"It's not just an enterprise issue - it's for small and medium sized businesses too," says Greenbaum.  "And it remains a problem that [SMB] business grapple with. The real problem is big analysis; companies are dealing with petabytes of data and the analysis side is causing the problems."

Greenbaum believes the issue with Microsoft Dynamics's problems with regard to BI and analytics go deeper than big data, and that the level of integration of SQL Server and Dynamics products so far amounts to "lip service" in the grand scheme of things.  And that lack of trueintegration is the key roadblock to how well Microsoft customers are going to take advantage of the latest trends.

For the more immediate business intelligence concerns of Dynamics customers, Helm expects to see a lot of discussion of PowerPivot and Power View, the data analysis technologies getting major releases with SQL Server 2012. "The Dynamics applications have the most valuable business data in shops that use them," says Helm.  "The Dynamics CRM team has already announced some of its plans for PowerPivot and Power View, but I hope to see more from the ERP teams."

What we might see at Convergence:

• Demos of some cool Power View analytics scenarios with SQL Server 2012
• A bit of high level discussion of how large scale data sources could be integrated into Dynamics CRM or EPR solutions

Cloud

In short, expect Microsoft to continue to put forward its nuanced, flexible, "power of choice" positioning of how cloud fits with the Dynamics product line at Convergence 2012.  With imminent plans for both NAV and GP on Azure, Microsoft will likely find itself responding to questions from all sides on topics like cloud architecture, browser-based solutions, pricing, the role of partners, and more.

"I hope to see a clearer description of how Dynamics NAV will be hosted on Microsoft's Windows Azure public cloud platform," says Helm.

Kinect & Gamification

While Kinect and gamification in the enterprise are not directly related, the opportunities for Microsoft to blaze new trails with the use of its Kinect for Windows sensor and SDK, as well as to inject elements of gamification into its Dynamics solutions are hard to ignore, if only for the coolness factor.

Even Microsoft Dynamics product managers are thinking about what's to come with Kinect.  Dynamics GP product manager Errol Schoenfish recently wrote,"I'm not one for predictions, but . . . the Kinect as an input/interaction device for businesses is only a matter of time.  If you've got an idea on how the motion and voice commands could be used in a business application, I'd love to hear them."

Greenbaum believes the opportunities are out there for Microsoft to lead in the gamification paradigm through the Dynamics products, but he's yet to see any real evidence of it. "Gamification is an opportunity that you'd think Microsoft would be on top of and they're not," he told us. " Some of the vendors are doing this but Microsoft itself doesn't.  Kinect is part of it, but it's not enough."

Kinect with Microsoft Dynamics is not exactly a revelation at this point.  Greenbaum wrote about the connection between Kinect and gamification after Convergence 2011, where Microsoft demonstrated a prototype of managing a Kanban board from Dynamics AX with body gestures.  And later in 2011, Dynamics GP MVP Jivtesh Singh put together a cool demo of Kinect controlling Business Analyzer for GP. 

Still, the opportunities remain.  "Gesture-based user experience could be even more compelling than tablets," Greebaum believes.  "They've got to show how you really change the UX with something like Kinect; it won't be intuitively obvious. The more they can demonstrate it, the more they will show they're a step above." 

What we might see at Convergence:

• More Kinect proof of concept ideas for industries like manufacturing and retail
• An effort to market Kinect for Windows to the Dynamics developer community, something they have already started in earnest
• Discussion on the future of social capabilities for Dynamics CRM that could trend toward thinking on gamification

Social

Neither Helm nor Greenbaum expect anything drastically different on social capabilities for Dynamics CRM or ERP at Convergence 2012.  To its credit, the CRM product team has committed itself to a semi-annual release schedule that will include more frequent incremental improvements in (among other things) social capabilities, so expect more agile adjustments to their strategy than any of the ERP products.

"I'm hoping to see more about how Dynamics CRM will take advantage of public social networks, as opposed to implementing its own, private social network," says Helm.

"Microsoft is, in my opinion, is behind in how it is approaching social," says Greenbaum.  "However, I think that's ok because most vendors are way out ahead of the market in understanding what to do with it.  And most customers are scratching their heads."

What we might see at Convergence:

• ISVs enhancing their social solutions to differentiate themselves from Microsoft's own social CRM vision and roadmap
• Microsoft looking for input on how their customers actually use social data in their businesses
• Careful positioning of existing social capabilities like Activity Feeds and social network integration
• More advanced examples of Activity Feeds integrated into the enterprise