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Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central: What's needed next

by James Crowter
Managing Director, Clever Dynamics

Train on tracks

It's just six months since I wrote to explain what this product codenamed Tenerife was. Its seems like a lifetime ago. Just days later it officially became Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, MSDyn365BC or BC for short. And just a month later, on April 2nd, it was available in the first markets.

More questions than a preschool.

Questions have dominated that six months. Just this morning I met someone from a fellow partner firm here in the UK who hardly said hello before he asked, "How are you getting on with Business Central?" I left that meeting, checked my email to find another partner asking, "Do you have or know a solution for this which works with BC right now? We really need it." Even on my own team there is a constant stream of ‘we used to do this with NAV, how/when can we do the same with BC?' discussions.

Very little is ‘known for certain' any more

I don't think I realised how much Dynamics NAV was a comfortable place to be. Most of what we were asked to deliver was, at worst, a variation of something we'd done many times before. Pushing the envelope wasn't about whether it would work or not, but if we could do it in the timescales the prospect asked for. 

BC is a different place with its new platform, new development environment, new restrictions, and new best practises. Then to top it off, for most of us used to the Windows client ...

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About James Crowter

I'm passionate about how businesses can improve their efficiency by getting process optimal more of the time. For the last twenty five years I've worked to help organisations of all sizes and types implement the ERP & CRM software that typically they decide they need when things are going wrong. I've seen that work unbelievably well and enabled those organisations to rapidly grow but I've also had some hard projects over that time where it's felt more like warfare at times.

Since 1996 (and version 1.01) I've been working with a small Danish product called Navision that's now become Microsoft's Dynamics NAV and I've also been using and consulting around Microsoft CRM since 2005. As managing Director of one of the longest established first Navision and now Microsoft Dynamics partners I've been involved in the complete history including numerous product councils and system design reviews. It's my privilege to know many of the key Microsoft executives and product designers and have insight into both where the products are now and their future direction.

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