Updated · Originally published
Community Summit NA 2022 Recap
I just returned from another great Community Summit held in Orlando this year. I’ve lost count on how many I’ve attended over the years. However, like all the others, the 2022 event didn’t disappoint. And it was clear that, by the attendance, everyone was excited to get together again in person.
There are several things you can count on each year when attending Summit.
- Excellent sessions featuring great speakers teaching you new and innovative functions, approaches, and problem-solving techniques with your Microsoft business systems.
- A broad spectrum of vendors stationed in the Expo Hall providing options and ideas to extend and optimize your ERP solution.
- Medic booths where you can get personal one-on-one assistance with specific questions and problems you need help with.
- And finally, global product information presented by Dynamics Communities and Microsoft.
Microsoft, for the marketing firm it is, stumbles a bit at times during these Keynote sessions with the message it is trying to share regarding the future of the products we’ve all come to know and love. This year was no exception.
Microsoft shared with, specifically, the Dynamics GP partners and customers in attendance what the future is for the GP product. They stated that there would be no more features or functions added to product going forward but would continue to deliver updates for security, taxes, and compliance under the Modern Life Cycle. This is actually not a new message. They’ve been stating this for the last few years. They are promising continued support but not developing the product beyond the functionality it currently has.
But here's where they stumbled. They encouraged the attendees to move to D365 Business Central as soon as possible (makes sense from their perspective although not necessary to do). But here’s where they tripped up…they provided the names of 4 partners that would help make that happen…implying that the customer’s current partner wouldn’t be able to do this for them. The backlash from both partners and customers was immediate and ugly.
A very quick regroup session was scheduled and held the following day. Customers and partners demanded an apology and a published clarification. To Microsoft’s credit, they apologized for the miscommunication and published the following:
“At Community Summit North America, I was honored to speak with the Dynamics GP community. After the session we received many questions from customers and partners. As the leader of Microsoft’s SMB Business Applications (including GP, SL, and BC), I want to take this opportunity to respond to the feedback we received, apologize for any lack of clarity in our presentation, and ensure everyone in our GP community that we are committed to supporting our customers, VARs, and ISVs.
Specifically:
- Microsoft is fully committed to supporting our Dynamics GP customers. This will include new releases (e.g., 18.6, 18.7, 18.8, …) for the foreseeable future on the same timeline and schedule as we have done in the past several years, as outlined in the GP Modern Support Lifecycle.
- If you are an existing GP customer, you can be confident in using Dynamics GP to run your business for years to come.
- New releases will contain regulatory (tax), security updates, and hotfixes, ensuring GP remains up to date.
- New releases will also include updates in usability, reliability, addressing top customer issues, and other areas that are critical in ensuring businesses run successfully on GP.
- At the Summit we did make a statement about ‘new features’. This intent was to share that we do not expect significant new capabilities in Dynamics GP, such as new modules. Microsoft’s major investments and innovations will be in other Dynamics 365 offerings.
- The GP ISV (Independent Software Vendors) ecosystem has always been strong and will continue releasing new add-ons that extend core Dynamics GP.
- We recommend customers with any questions or concerns reach out to their existing partner, who best understands their business.
- Microsoft mentioned several companies that provide migration services. These services are intended as a ‘partner-to-partner’ resource, with customers continuing to work directly with their existing partner.
It is the case that Dynamics 365 Business Central and Dynamics 365 Finance + SCM will be products which will see the majority of Microsoft’s investments in ERP. We do encourage customers to talk with their partner about whether one of these products may be a good fit, while being assured that Dynamics GP will continue to be updated and supported, allowing customers to make the choice that is right for their business.”
Despite this Microsoft “oops”, overall it was still another great Summit! The event served up a lot of opportunities to network with and learn from experts and each other with a healthy dose of fun added!
See you next year in Charlotte, NC!!
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