By: Dann Anthony Maurno
Summit EMEA 2017 will be where users outside of North America might see Dynamics NAV 2017 for the first time, and Microsoft Senior. Product Marketing Manager Anantha Ramachandran is eager to hear their reactions.
Ramachandran is managing the presence of Microsoft’s Dynamics NAV team at Summit EMEA, and he promises plenty of give-and-take between Microsoft and its customers. He took time to explain what went into planning Microsoft’s presence at this year’s event, and how customers can best interact with the Dynamics NAV Team.
MSDW: Summit is an independent event, but does Microsoft also contribute to planning content?
Anantha Ramachandran: The Microsoft C+E events team collaborates with Dynamic Communities and user groups to plan the Microsoft presence during User Group Summits. Microsoft C+E events team helps in generating awareness about the event through blogs, website and emails. They also drive the planning and collaboration with various Microsoft product teams to plan the content and expo stations. This helps in landing a Microsoft presence at these events and helps customers learn more about how they could use Microsoft solutions to solve their business problems.
How will Microsoft connect directly with customers at NAVUG Summit EMEA 2017?
Microsoft loves connecting with customers during these conferences; it’s one of my favorite things to do, to be in front of customers.
So definitely begin with the keynote [“Microsoft’s Strategy for Intelligent Business Applications”].
Then follow up with the general session that is very specific to Dynamics NAV 2017 [“Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2017 Demo and Product Roadmap”]. There we’ll share information about this latest version, and how this will help drive business productivity in growing businesses. Then there will also be a bunch of breakouts to provide additional details about new and improved capabilities in Dynamics NAV 2017, Dynamics NAV customers can provide their suggestions directly to R&D team during the conduit session titled “Dynamics NAV Next : What would you like to see in your solution?”.
Our support team members will also join panel discussion titled “Ask the Experts: Application and Environment” and also deliver another session called “Personalization, configuration and customization for your end-users.” Customers can connect with support team in the “Ask the Experts” stations and get answers to technical questions.
Last is the Town Hall session [Thursday, April 6]. The town hall format has been very useful to a lot of attendees, and we have had town halls at the North America Summits for the last two years, so we thought we’d do the same in EMEA. There a diverse panel comprising of Microsoft team members from marketing, R&D and support team, will be happy to answer questions.
So customers can connect with Microsoft at the keynote session, breakout sessions, conduits and at the “Ask the Experts” station. They can use all this information and then have a conversation with their Dynamics partners to upgrade to the latest version Dynamics NAV 2017. That will help them further drive business productivity in their companies.
What does Microsoft find strategically important about the NAVUG Summit?
Digital transformation is key to every business. During the User Group Summits, Microsoft leaders will share their strategy of how our solutions will enable digital transformations in their businesses, how our solutions will drive critical business outcomes including business productivity and gaining insights. We love to connect with customers to hear more about their plans for digital transformation and learn how Microsoft solutions can further help them grow their business. The User Group Summits help us share our strategy, learn more and empower our customers to achieve more.
Anything we haven’t touched upon you’d like to tell NAVUG EMEA attendees?
I definitely encourage customers to attend Microsoft sessions and also attend industry-vertical sessions presented by existing Dynamics NAV customers. Networking with someone from your industry or in the same role in another company will be very useful to know how they are using Microsoft solutions to grow their business.
And we hope to land a great presence in Summit EMEA and hope that customers and Microsoft continue to partner with each other to drive digital transformation, using a combination of Microsoft solutions including Dynamics NAV.