Traditionally, Directions NA would take place shortly before the EMEA version. However, 2019 has seen the events be scheduled to align with Microsoft’s 6-month cadence of Dynamics 365 Business Central. That’s why Directions NA took place in May this year (to align with the 2019 wave 1 release of Business Central) and Directions EMEA is taking place in October (to align with the upcoming 2019 wave 2 release of Business Central).
In this blog post, we preview this event and identify where Zetadocs sits in the Business Central landscape.
Preview of Directions EMEA
Microsoft now releases information about what is new in Business Central a few weeks before Directions events, to give Dynamics partners time to digest the changes. You can see their wave 2 plan here.
In addition to learning more about the changes detailed in this plan, we are hoping to hear some news about when the ISV Connect Program and AppSource monetization will be available for Business Central.
A key objective for Microsoft is to move new and existing customers to Business Central cloud. To help them achieve this goal, Microsoft have created the following development pillars which define the 2019 release wave 2 update (see page 218 in the plan above for further information on each):
- Service fundamentals
- Modern client
- Modern developer tools
- Empower ISV acceleration
- Customer migration tools
As ever, there will be loads of sessions taking place that will provide key insights as to Microsoft’s Business Central strategy. In addition to the keynote speeches, some of the sessions that have caught our eye include “Behind the scenes of the Business Central service” (Wednesday at 3.30pm), “Learning from the trenches – how to reduce cost and risk when migrating to Extensions” (Thursday at 11am) and “Future of Business Central for international customers” (Thursday at 1.45pm).
Zetadocs: supporting Business Central users
We recently announced the launch of the Zetadocs Delivery and Zetadocs Capture Extension for Business Central in the cloud.
We were already supporting Business Central on premises with Zetadocs Delivery and Zetadocs Capture. Our recent launch ensures that Business Central cloud users now have access to both our document management and expense management solutions, given that Zetadocs Expenses has been available on AppSource since 2018.
Tying in with Microsoft’s wave 2 changes, we will be updating our apps soon to ensure that we do not block upgrades for customers.
The Zetadocs suite complements Business Central by helping your customers manage employee expenses, automating the delivery of documents from Business Central such as invoices or statements, and for providing access from within Business Central to documents such as purchase orders and emails relating to ERP records, using Office 365 or network folder archives.
Business Central offers basic document management functionality, such as the ability to attach documents to a particular record. However, the Zetadocs editions for document management take this further by helping your customers to streamline their business processes; freeing them from paper and improving the way their business operates.
If you are looking for more efficient expense management for your customers, Zetadocs Expenses provides a strong proposition. You can modernize your customers’ process with our software which we update monthly to ensure it keeps meeting user requirements going forward. Zetadocs Expenses was designed in the cloud, which allows for seamless integration with Business Central, making your life easier during service days.
Zetadocs fills the gaps in Business Central when it comes to document management and expense management, ensuring users have the option of extending their system and using it for more of their finance processes.
Meet you there?
If you’re heading to Directions, we’d love to meet you there.
This year, Directions has partnered with the International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners (IAMCP), meaning there is likely to be partners in attendance who have not previously focused on selling Business Central (formerly NAV).
We look forward to meeting with our established partners in addition to those with whom have never had a requirement to consider Zetadocs as a viable proposition for their customers. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss the current landscape and identify opportunities going forward. For example, if you are a Microsoft Partner who sells SharePoint online, why not talk to us about synergies between Zetadocs Capture and its use of SharePoint.
Drop us an email or give us a call on +44 20 7203 4000 to have a chat and possible arrange a meeting during Directions with one of our team.
See you in Vienna!