Our Microsoft Dynamics predictions for 2018

2017 comes to an end with a Microsoft Dynamics partner channel in flux and a customer base now keenly aware that their ERP and/or CRM vendor has shifted its cloud strategy into a higher gear.

Microsoft just identified its own business application highlights of 2017, ranging from the launch of Talent (and its new modular approach) to a productive Adobe partnership to LinkedIn integration progress to customer wins.

And the company recently extended a surprise olive branch to its existing Dynamics user base, those organizations not yet ready to able to take advantage of the latest and shiniest new products and features, when Commercial and Enterprise CFO and CVP Dave O'Hara acknowledged that, given the overall speed of public cloud adoption, "it's just going to be a hybrid environment for years to come."

And it is also worth noting Mark Polino's Dynamics GP predictions for 2018, which dovetail into our own in a few places.

Microsoft's next big biz apps acquisition? Don't hold your breath.

Acquisition talk around Microsoft business applications in 2017 were dominated by the massive 2016 LinkedIn deal. The company made progress in introducing two new products that utilize both Dynamics and LinkedIn - Relationship Sales and Talent.

Other efforts to significantly enhance or extend Dynamics 365 in 2017 were all about partnerships and OEM deals. Adobe was the biggest, with signs that the relationship now has real ...