Article

Inspire 2017 Notebook: A look back at 11 big stories for Microsoft Dynamics partners

by Guus Krabbenborg
Owner of Dynamics and More, Dynamics and More

As a longtime WPC/Inspire-observer with a perspective geared toward Microsoft Dynamics, I'd like to share some of my initial impressions on this year's Inspire 2017 in Washington DC. And highlight some of the important trends you'll find more detailed analysis of in this year's Inspire Business Report for Dynamics partners.

So these are among the most important stories - and questions - coming out of Microsoft Inspire 2017:

  • Microsoft is broadly perceived as being back at the top of the industry. At WPC 2014, when Microsoft was at its lowest point in terms of market perception in the enterprise technology space, COO Kevin Turner had to admit publicly that Microsoft has dropped from "dominant market leader" back to "challenger". And at last year's WPC, Tim Campo, CIO of Facebook, told the audience "Microsoft got cool again". This year, Microsoft just was cool! No doubts about that.
  • The move to the new ‘One Commercial Partner' set-up is the biggest change in the Microsoft sales organisation of the last decade! OCP - already widely abbreviated - is made up of three parts: ‘Build-with' (partner management, recruit, develop, launch, grow), ‘Go-To-Market' (offers into markets and capacity requirements) and ‘Sell-with' (channel management, territory success). Dynamics partners need to find their place and their new contact persons in this model right away.

One Commercial Partner organization

  • OCP is an important determinant for the re-organisation Microsoft announced just before the start of Inspire. Remarkable - during the keynote sessions, Microsoft executives didn't spend one word on this. However, in the walkways, it was the conversation of ...

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About Guus Krabbenborg

Guus Krabbenborg has been active in the world of business software for more than 30 years. He has held various sales and management positions at Philips, Digital Equipment, DBS Business Solutions and Navision Software successively.

From 2007, Guus was co-founder and partner in Partner Master Class, the Dutch Partner Development Center.

In 2012 Guus was co-founder and co-owner in QBS Group – today known as Companial (www.companial.com). He left the company in 2021. Companial operates as a Value Added Distributor in the Microsoft Dynamics channel with currently over 1.000 partners in 75+ countries all over the world. This makes Companial the largest eco-system in the Dynamics 365 partner channel worldwide.

In 2018, Guus started a new venture, called Dynamics and More. In this company he focuses on helping both Microsoft partners and Microsoft customers in their business transformation and digital transformation processes. He also delivers inspirational Masterclasses for software selection and Organisational Change.

In 2024, Guus started an initiative called ERP Masterclasses (www.erpmasterclasses.com) to help current and future D365 customers ...

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