Podcast Review: Microsoft channel adapts to the arrival of Dynamics 365 Business Central

AJ Ansari, COO of Dynamics Southwest and Andrew King of WebSan Solutions, each joined the MSDW Podcast recently to discuss the changes brought to the channel by the rise of Dynamics 365 Business Central. The two Dynamics professionals shared their thoughts about how quickly the changeover to Business Central will happen, adding value with the Power Platform, what extensions mean for developers and moving ERP into the cloud.

The speed of the changeover to Business Central

The process of shifting over to Business Central as the main part of the SMB Dynamics market may take a few years, according to Ansari:

The last time we had such a major improvement in NAV was around NAV 2009 when Microsoft introduced the role-tailor client. It took about three years before most customers got onto the role-tailor client. If in the course of the next couple of years, Microsoft adds more functionality around say manufacturing…companies may shift a little faster. Three years is probably going to be the shift ... to Business Central on-prem.

Instead of forcing partners to switch, Microsoft could take a softer approach by supporting more migration tools and ways to get data moved into the cloud.

"[The transition] needs investment and momentum on both the Microsoft and partner side. For end users, it may take a little more to accept where the future lies," Ansari said.