Directions EMEA 2019 Preview: Microsoft to emphasize three key partner opportunities

Editor's Note: MSDW is a media sponsor of Directions EMEA 2019.

Microsoft has planned an extensive presence at the Directions EMEA 2019 conference, taking place in Vienna from October 9 to 11. In a new interview, Microsoft principal program manager Kurt Juvyns explained how the company has planned for the event in the context of products updates coming in 2019 release wave 2 for their business applications. He also discussed how shifting customer expectations around SaaS impact the way Microsoft believes ISVs and resellers should approach the market opportunity.

Microsoft's approximately 100 sessions at Directions EMEA will be segmented under several learning paths. One path, focused on improving solutions and services for delivery in a SaaS context, aims to help partners re-tune their operations to work in sync with Microsoft. For example, partners ought to be developing competency around continuous integration and continuous deployment, or CI/CD.

Other paths will deal with marketing and selling; examining what's new in the latest Business Central release; and a "new to Business Central" path. As Torben Kragelund of the Directions event planning committee told us, the event is expected to draw Microsoft partners from outside the NAV and Business Central ecosystem, like those who primarily sell Customer Engagement apps, Power Platform solutions, or Office 365.

"Move to modern"

The October 2019 wave 2 release of Business Central is especially significant, says Juvyns, because it is the first that ships without the classic client and development environment, marking a big a change for both partners and customers.