Yearly Archives: 2010

Is Microsoft killing the small partners?

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partner_backgroundCouple of days ago, a blog post from Alex Chow, a fellow blogger and an MVP, caught me off-guard. He blogged about his chat with an unnamed senior Microsoft executive at Directions 2010, about his concern of what’s going to happen to small partners after the changes in the Microsoft Partner Network get into effect soon.

It seems Microsoft is intentionally getting rid of small partners.

Is it really so? What is it that’s actually changing, and can (or will) Microsoft actually just get rid of the small partners?

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RoleTailored Client – you’ve finally got me aboard!

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TheCloudRoleTailored client for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 was one of those things for me that looked really nice in presentations, but in real-life, I didn’t see much value there. It looked good from far, but far from good. I would dare saying it saw more runtime at conferences and presentations than in real life. For partners, it was difficult to sell it. With new customers, okay, there were considerable chances the RTC would convince them. With old customers, you were been better-off not showing it at all.

IMHO, RTC wasn’t market ready. For me, it looked like a proof of concept. A darned good one, but still just a proof of concept.

Have you noticed I have been talking in past tense? It’s intentional.

Because I’m changing my mind today, and I’m doing it lightning-fast.

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Impressions from Convergence 2010, Prague

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convergence[3]Convergence? Divergence. I’m sitting in Aquarius conference room in Clarion Conference Hotel, Prague, attending a presentation about discrete manufacturing at the Partner Day of the Convergence 2010 Europe event in Prague.

Over the next two days I’ll probably leave the dormant-blogger state I have again entered over the past two weeks due to projects, and share my thoughts on the conference, news, developments et cetera.

My first impression about the conference is: come on, seriously?!

One persistent trend of Microsoft events over past several years is cost-cutting, and it’s now that obvious that people are already making jokes about it. I was standing in the lobby with an ex-colleague from Microsoft, when a partner fellow came with a promotional badge he picked at a partner booth nearby, saying: “I have a great badge for you!”

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Adriatics Community Launched

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Thanks you all, who participated in yesterday’s Microsoft Dynamics Community Adriatics launch event in Zagreb. I’m sorry that Live Meeting equipment could not be set-up in the Microsoft’s big conference room, but I was promised that in the future maybe something could be done. I hope it doesn’t mean moving to a smaller room where the equipment is already installed, because I prefer more in-person audience. In any case, I would like repeating this launch in the region, and I’ll use this blog to let you know about it.

In my opinion, the launch was a success, there were more participants than I expected, and definitely more than registered.

[Post was updated on October 8th, to include more links and downloads]

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Two more Microsoft Dynamics NAV books

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twomorebooksAs reported by Marq, two more Microsoft Dynamics NAV books have been published by PACKT this week: Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 SP1 Programming Cookbook by Matt Traxinger and Microsoft Dynamics NAV Administration by Amit Sachdev and Sharan Oberoi. With Vincent’s and Chandru’s Sure Step book announced yesterday, this makes for three Microsoft Dynamics books in a single week. Three books a week, not a bad score. Congratulations guys!

I’m now going to pre-order my copies, and you should do the same. As Marq says, buy the books, enjoy the knowledge!

Last week, there were three Dynamics communities announced. This week, three books are announced. Do you see a trend here, or is it only me? What’s going to happen next week? I don’t even dare thinking…

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SQL Server Configuration Recommendations for Microsoft Dynamics NAV

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Microsoft Dynamics NAV Team Blog has just published a mega-useful post about recommendations for configuring Microsoft SQL Server for optimum Microsoft Dynamics NAV Performance. If you haven’t yet, you should check it here.

The blog post delivers a PDF document summarizing certain important parameters, configuration settings and suggestions for improving and maintaining a speedy SQL Server for your NAV installation. The recommendations have been written for x64 version of SQL Server 2005 SP3, SQL Server 2008 SP1 and SQL Server 2008 R2. The document was compiled by Michael De Voe, a Senior Premier Field Engineer at Microsoft specializing in performance, scalability, infrastructure and high-availability for in NAV and AX.

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Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step 2010: RAW

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Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step 2010: RAWI woke up this morning with a fantastic news in my mailbox: Chandru’s and Vincent’s upcoming book Microsoft Dynamics NAV Sure Step 2010 is already available at PACKT Publishing’s web site in a format I wasn’t even aware it existed: RAW (Read As we Write). The book isn’t finished yet, but you can already purchase the e-book with those chapters that have been completed.

I was aware of this book being in development, but had to stay quiet, and I was really looking forward to announcing it here. I am only sorry I couldn’t do it immediately this morning.

With so much interest in Sure Step lately, I can’t imagine a better time for this book to be written. Book authors are Chandru Shankar, a member of the Sure Step team and one of the people who are authoring and managing the development of Sure Step, and Vincent Bellefroid, an expert in Sure Step and a member of the extended Sure Step team, who has also participated in development of many Sure Step training and readiness materials, train-the-trainer program, and one of the leading providers of Sure Step trainings in Europe. It can’t get any better than this, and this book is worth your investment.

Chandru and Vincent – congratulations! This is a fantastic addition to the world of Sure Step. And Thank You in the name of all of us working with and using the methodology!

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What is your ERP, a commodity or a solution?

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imageYears ago, when I didn’t know what consultant was, let alone thought about eventually becoming one, I was sitting in a cafe in Zagreb with then my boss and now my friend Marko, sipping cream with coffee and mostly sharing random thoughts. He then introduced me to a commodity-convenience-solution concept which shaped a lot my customer approach and my work.

You might be a customer of an ERP. Or you might be a company offering implementation services to customers. In any case, this post is for you—how you think about your ERP implementation project(s).

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7 Sure Steps to pass the Sure Step exam

  • Reading time:7 mins read

Århus, DenmarkAnother Sure Step course is over, this time in Århus, Denmark. I love and hate teaching this course, because it always makes me wonder why I need this, and why in the Earth I am doing this trainer’s job. And then makes me happy that I do and eager to do it again as soon as possible. It also teaches me something, every time, and here are my lessons learned.

This time, it’s about the exam. At the beginning of the training, I usually ask people about their goals: why are they there, what is the primary objective why they are sitting there and listening to me babble for two days? With Sure Step, the answer is an invariable: to pass the exam.

So people go there because they were sent by their employers to pass the exam, because having professionals certified in Sure Step on team is now a requirement for being a Microsoft Certified Partner for Dynamics.

So, here is my shot at how to prepare for, and pass the exam.

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Adriatics Dynamics Community

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mbscommzgIt’s the second “me too” today. Waldo has started the day with announcing the new season of the Belgian Dynamics Community, which was me-too-ed by Marq announcing the Dutch Dynamics Community. It’s my turn now to me-too the announcement of the Adriatics Dynamics Community. Three community announcements in a day—now that’s something!

I call this community Adriatics, because it won’t be limited only to Croatia—the idea is to spread it to other neighboring countries: Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia. We kick it off in Zagreb on October 4th, with the theme of upcoming localization of NAV 2009 SP1 and Sure Step 2010.

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