ISV updates at Microsoft Business Applications Summit

Today we presented a few updates for ISVs at the Microsoft Business Applications Summit, an event focused on diving deep into Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform, including a roadmap and preview of what’s coming next. Here is a quick overview of the updates to our Industry Accelerators, the ISV Development Center program, recertification, and ISV relevant sessions.

Industry Accelerators

Data is at the core of business applications, yet many organizations face challenges in how to get the full benefits from it. Data is stored in silos that exist both within and outside of an organization, making it difficult to determine what is currently available for use. Even when the data is available, a lot of time is spent normalizing the data so that it can be used together before any insights are even made. However, some of this could be avoided by developing business applications using Dynamics 365 Industry Accelerators.

Industry Accelerators are built in collaboration with industry participants using an open data model that provides consistency on entities and attributes for specific industries, making it easier to work with data across boundaries. Previously we released Industry Accelerators for healthcare, nonprofits, and higher education. During my session at the Microsoft Business Application Summit in Atlanta, we will go in-depth on two accelerators that are now in preview, Automotive and Financial Services, which covers commercial and retail banking.

Financial Services Accelerator

Customer expectations of the services they get from their bank continue to increase, and the ability for a bank to look at a customer’s profile end-to-end is becoming more critical. Working with Veripark, Wealth Dynamix, Fiserv, and others we extended the Common Data Model (CDM) to banking. Partners can build financial services solutions that can interoperate, and banks are able to view their customer journeys. This Industry Accelerator also includes sample code and is freely available in AppSource and GitHub.

Automotive Accelerator

Like financial services, automotive also has a customer journey that involves several parties and the resulting data silos. Automotive has an additional complexity in that vehicles are always moving around. With the preview of the auto accelerator, our focus is to extend the Common Data Model (CDM) to customer experience management (e.g., marketing, lifetime engagement, etc.) and managing consumer experiences in franchised dealer networks. We partnered with Annata, Oxlo, and others to create the Automotive Industry Accelerator, which is open sourced on GitHub so you can extend it and submit pull requests.

Microsoft ISV Development Centers program

For partners new to building on Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform, the Microsoft ISV Development Centers program can help get started quickly. Development centers in the program are closely vetted and reviewed, serving as the partner’s partner by providing a range of services from technical consulting to development of repeatable IP. In order to provide services as part of this program, a partner must have a Microsoft Partner Network agreement, at least 25 developers with proven Microsoft development experience, at least 50 customer referenceable ISV projects, high customer scores, and more.

Once a partner is part of the program, they work closely with Microsoft to make sure that they continue to keep their skills current to better serve partners that rely on them. Services provided across Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform include:

• Envisioning, designing, proofs of concept, building, and testing new products
• As Dynamics 365 is updated, support for updating, integrating, and reengineering for the new release
• Implementation resources for repeatable IP
• Product support
• Launch activities including preparation for AppSource and the marketplace, as well as international go-to-market activities

To help you get started, I am including a table of the different partners in the program and their geographic focus.

Application certification

With the new Business Applications ISV program launching in mid-July, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and PowerApps teams will launch an initiative to ensure that all published customer engagement and finance & operations apps are consistently updated to remain compatible with the platform. The upcoming recertification period starts on July 15^th and ends October 15^th, 2019. We encourage you to prepare for program enrollment with the resources below.

• Review the program guide and recertification and update policy.
• Learn how to update your Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement apps versions 9.x and Finance & Operations apps versions 10.x. 
• Sign up to receive updates on the Business Applications partner program and join the weekly Dynamics ISV community call.

For those of you in Atlanta for the Business Applications Summit, Julie Strauss and Omar Choudhry discussed the certification process as part of their session on Monday.

Sessions at the Business Applications Summit

For ISVs at the Business Applications Summit, there are a few sessions for you to learn more about CDM, the Industry Accelerators, and building on PowerApps. These sessions will be available to watch on-demand after the live session.

I hope that you enjoy your time at the Microsoft Business Applications Summit, and I am looking forward to connecting with ISVs both here and again at Microsoft Ignite in July.

Steven Guggenheimer

Corporate Vice President - AI & ISV Engagement

As a Microsoft Corporate Vice President I spend my energy helping customers and partners on their adoption of Artificial Intelligence while also helping ISVs partner with Microsoft on developing a new generation of Line of Business SaaS offerings based on Microsoft’s Dynamics, Power Platform, Office and Azure cloud platforms. I have worked in the technology industry for more than 20 years and spent close to a decade leading Microsoft’s efforts to create a more vibrant ecosystem across both hardware and software as the leader of our OEM & DPE/DX teams accordingly, along with a variety of leadership roles across the Microsoft product portfolio.

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