Why partners need good people (attempt 2)

Me and my big mouth, when our industry press starts reporting on my article then maybe I should learn to keep it shut. Then again, I seem to be portrayed as believing that our industry doesn’t need to change, when I really believe it’s never faced a bigger revolution. So maybe I’d better have one final go at getting across what I believe. Especially if I’ve got to defend it on the panel at DirectionsEMEA in a couple of weeks.

Our world just keeps on spinning

Since I wrote my keyboard rant a couple of weeks ago, on a flight across to DirectionNA, our world has moved on again. Microsoft have formally announced, not just the end of the Windows Client but more importantly C/AL as well. That old spaghetti code will only work with this release (Fall 2018) of Business Central if I’m reading the slide above correctly.

That means that anyone doubting if AL & Extensions are viable, better have a good alternative transport because that’s the only class on the BC train. We'd better get our people and our clients ready and quickly. At least a published roadmap is required, no one likes not to know the future their business depends on, trust me as a Brit looking at Brexit right now.

Three choices, just three choices

Way I see it, our existing clients have these choices

1.      Refuse to upgrade and stay where they are for as long as they can - given history I’m guessing that a minority will take this option at least for the next few years/decades. They are quite happy using Classic and will stay with it using emulation to make sure the platform still works on the modern hardware and systems when they are forced to. NAV’s not alone in this, I have a prospect at the moment who uses 30 year old green screen JBA on an unsupported AS400 and is only considering changing because ‘we can’t get the guy who looks after it to postpone his retirement any more’.

2.      Abandon NAV for an alternative product. – again, history tells us that this is hard, they didn’t choose NAV is the first place because it was the cheapest and its unlikely that ‘compelling need’ has gone away.  We have one client who on being acquired in 2012, told us they were moving off NAV. They are still a customer and have now just upgraded as an ‘interim measure until we eventually get Oracle'.

3.      Start the migration to BC, upgrade to BC2018 on Premise and start to convert the customisations they require to Extensions one by one, hopefully introducing some process improvements at the same time. As more ‘standard’ options become available via AppSource assess to see if they ‘will do’. When the last C/AL customisation is consigned to history, convert to a CSP BC subscription with dual use rights and turn on Intelligent Edge to replicate their data. When they are comfortable with Online, change the security from read-only and turn off On Prem. I’ll be shocked if a clear majority of our clients don’t do this over the next three years.

Not just a paint job, they want horsepower too

Very few upgrades in my experience tend to be just ‘like for likes’. It’s always a time for re-evaluation, not just of customisations but how they do things. That’s what the client truly sees as the return on the upgrade cost, they don’t care that the platform is slicker, or the development environment is up to date, they care about how it makes their business work better. All, of which means they are more than keen to look at options to improve.

That means we will have the opportunity to present our and other partners ‘products’ as an alternative to their current client specific customisation. Provided these ISV’s aren’t too greedy with their subscriptions (in which case the client will prefer what they will see as a one of development cost) and don’t impose mega extensions that complicate things by including lost of functions the client doesn’t need, they will buy rather than build.

Its all about the base

Microsoft achieving their objective of converting the base application to an AL extension is the most significant single signpost of progress I’ve seen in years. I believe they are likely to make that the released version as soon as possible because of the ability it gives, to have every localisation and ISV option available in every geo’s data centre at no more cost or risk to them than the single one they have now.

More layers than a pole walker

When I think the typical client will have five, ten, twenty or even more product extensions, hopefully most from AppSource once it gets into gear, already lots more BC apps have suddenly start to hit AppSource after the Fall release.

I also hope to see a number of ‘community apps’ appear that are not charged for but either address any shortfall in the product (see my colleague James Pearson’s ‘About This Page’ extension as an example) that Microsoft should quickly fix or just enable a different way of working without the way we have historically needs a dev to take the code and integrate it into your objects.

Finally, I think a significant majority will exercise their option to have a ‘client specific extension’ that either extends the base Microsoft application or even on of the AppSource extensions in a way no one had ever expected any client to want.

Burt enough about the existing base, that's not the prize, its the new ones we can now target that will really be the future.

For new clients, what type of fashion company are you?

In terms of the future for partners targeting new clients I see it there are go to market choices and the analogy I’ll use to explain the differences are from the fashion industry.

Mass Market Retailors

First you have the high street retailer, if they cannot buy it from a manufacturer, they don’t sell it and it’s all about maximising volume and minimising costs while hoping an Amazon don’t surface in your area. Every high street is full of them, but they seem to come and go with regularity.

Go in and the staff might try to be helpful but don’t know a lot. Certainly, their advice about what you look good in won’t seem so hot when you get it home.  Often the busiest section in the place is the returns counter. I guess you’ve worked out that this is what I believe the Dynamics partner who just sells plain BC or standard IP from AppSource, has to look forward to. 

Bespoke Tailor

Few and far between, not even one in every town so you’ll have to travel. When you get there, you love the quality of what they can make but the prices will make you wince if not cry.

Usually it’s only the extraordinarily rich or odd shaped individuals like me (I’m 2.10m tall with a 98cm inside leg) that either must pay or suffer a highly embarrassing 6cm gap between the bottom of their trousers and their shoes! Yep, this is pretty much what all Dynamics NAV partners have been in the past, the made to measure option. We’ll make you want ever you want but there is an expensive price to pay and it will take a while.

Targeted Brand

A quick look at the financials of the fashion sector tells you that the most successful and profitable in the past decade has been the ‘Brands’. They design and produce products that appeals to and set or at least follow the trends for an identified sex, age range and demographic. They get positive PR by working with their target’s influencers but really take off once customers start recommending them to their friends. They might team up with other allied brands with the same image to cross sell product. What’s especially nice is their customers will pay a premium to be ‘seen in’ their product.

Yes, that the Dynamics Partner who has successfully transitioned to a vertical offer with some exclusive IP in the mix. Its doesn’t even have to be their own, just not on the rack in the mass market retailer. Unless its underwear, in which case who cares as long as it doesn’t itch.  

The brand doesn’t have to manufacture, they can outsource that (Dynamics Development Centres, that’s where you come in) but you need to own the design. It will be copied (especially if you set the trend) so every season you’ll need to produce a new collection. It needs to be in the latest colours and fabrics, so you better make sure whoever does your design, development, their skills are bang up to date. It also needs to be good quality, lasting well and easily cleaned. The alternative is sitting on the rack until the end of season fire sale!

Niche Retailer

For those without the skills or patience to become a brand and don’t fancy the risks of mass market, the final option is niche. Import a product where there is not enough demand to interest the mass market players and where your expertise add value. You need to be the only place customers can find this product, that’s the only reason they will pay the premium. Don’t expect to set the market and you might need skills to adapt it to what your locals expect. 

So that’s why you need to invest in your team.    

 The game just reset, to continue the analogy, the cutting board is level and we all have an empty collection right now. I feel for the big historic ISV’s, I hope to share your pain next time Microsoft completely change the market. This platform revolution is the disruptor in our channel for the foreseeable, this is our Uber, our Airbnb, our Amazon, our Just Eat.  Are you going to adapt and compete or shrivel and die?

 The transition from Bespoker to Brand is not easy and will take persistence and patience but if you don’t start you won’t get there. It’s not something you can do ‘when you have a minute’, you need people dedicated to it and working hard at the top of their game. It’s a dash to establish before another competing brand earns too much loyalty. That’s why you need to takes some risks, let your designers get their Viviane Westwood or Alexander McQueen out of their system and onto their Stella McCartney before your developers and marketiers start putting out, if not Louis Vuitton’s or Gucci’s then at least Nike or Adidas (The most valuable apparel brands according to Forbes)  

All which means that every partner who aspires the make the jump is going to need every good resource they can find. Not so they can continue to be the old pre mass market local tailor turned dinosaur but so they can transform quicker.

That in fact was my original intended point. You have my apologies that you had waste time reading my confusing fails trying to explain. Hopefully this time its clear as day.