The Microsoft Dynamics 365 “Hurricane”: How Traditional VARs Should Prepare

"We're really going into a world of change and a lot is unknown" about Dynamics 365. So says Joe Longo, chief operating officer of SBS Group, a national Microsoft Master VAR (Value Added Reseller) and Gold Certified Partner.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 will launch this fall, and veteran Dynamics partner executive Terry Petrzelka likens it to a hurricane for partners. "You want to get ready for that hurricane when they tell you a few days before," he says. "You don't want to be putting that wood on your windows as the winds are blowing."

Microsoft announced Dynamics 365 just a few weeks ago at the Worldwide Partner Conference, giving partners just a business quarter to ready themselves before the official launch event. Just how they get ready is the subject of the MSDynamicsWorld webcast "Microsoft Dynamics 365: What Does it Mean for Dynamics ERP VARs?" (click here to register), scheduled for Thursday, August 18 at 2pm ET. Both Longo and Petrzelka will present.

The sales model: CSPs vs Master VARs

"Dynamics 365 will be the primary focus of Microsoft going forward in the Dynamics space, and it will only be sold through CSP (the Cloud Solution Provider program),", says Longo. "Partners will have to make a decision whether to invest heavily to become a CSP, or to align with a CSP, or in our case, with a Master VAR."

Partners will either need to be 1-Tier CSPs if they want to order Dynamics 365 directly, or otherwise work through a 2-Tier CSP - a distributor like an Ingram Micro or TechData. This cadre of ...