Microsoft Dynamics GP’s Future is Secure, says new GPUG Board Chair Rick Zich

Incoming Chairman of the GPUG Board Rick Zich is president of Coopers DIY LLC, but you would know the company better by its bestselling Mr. Beer home brewing kit, available from 14,000+ retail locations and online.

You may know Zich best through his work in the Microsoft Dynamics GP community through the GPUG Board and Summit Programming Committee; also from his numerous presentations each year at GPUG Summit.

DIY Coopers is a fiercely loyal Dynamics GP user company, ever since Zich implemented the solution in 2012. "I really liked what GP did," he recalls. "I'd like to say we took it cautiously, but we did everything at once - manufacturing, accounts payable, accounts receivable."

He took time to answer a few questions about the future of GP and its community as Dynamics 365 enters the picture.

Dynamics GP's place in the Dynamics 365 whirlwind: Steady

Zich observes that "it's very clear that GP is not going away. But what wasn't clear from the way Microsoft announced it in the community to end users is that Dynamics 365 is not necessarily going to be a replacement."

While there is some fear and even anger among the GP community, Zich believes the realistic forecast for the products requires a much longer view. "I really wish these experienced people who are passionate about the product would realize that a product doesn't mature overnight," he says. "It takes a decade of constant updates, upgrades and patches to get it where it needs to be. That's where GP's main strength is: its presence. It's been around a long time, ...