Business Applications ISV news at Build 2019
Microsoft Build 2019 is here, and thousands of developers are learning about the latest technologies, sharing best practices with colleagues, and writing lots of code. Last week I wrote about business applications sessions to see at Build, and on Monday I discussed updates for helping ISVs (independent software vendors) and developers be successful from both a business and a code perspective.
A few years ago, Microsoft introduced an IP co-sell program to help our digitally transforming enterprise customers get the software they needed from our Azure ISV partners. Many of these customers were moving to the cloud, so we started by focusing on Azure. During this time roughly 3,000 ISVs have generated over $5 billion in partner revenue from the collaboration between Azure sellers and ISVs. Following up on last month’s announcement about an upcoming program for business applications ISVs, Scott Guthrie announced the expansion of the IP co-sell program to include Dynamics 365 and Power Platform partners. Including these products and Azure in the program will make it easier for ISVs and Microsoft sellers to collaborate in serving our joint enterprise customers.
Enterprise customers are increasingly seeing software at the core of their business and are developing a deeper understanding of their software needs. Beyond person to person sales engagements, there will be times when they want to buy the app directly while having confidence in the quality of what they’re receiving. Like consumers, enterprises are familiar with getting their software through marketplaces and the ability for ISVs to transact through marketplaces lowers the barrier for reaching their enterprise customers. On Monday, we announced that SaaS transaction capabilities have been added to AppSource and the Azure Marketplace. As part of this, we will enable transactability support for Dynamics 365 and Power Platform partner apps over the coming months. This is just a start to what we are doing with the marketplace, and now is the perfect time to get familiar with our partner program that launches in July to learn more about the benefits that come with being a Dynamics 365 and Power Platform partner.
The Power Platform provides great general tooling for creating business apps while the Common Data Model (CDM) creates a standard representation of that data. There are times when an industry’s focused solution and data model are better than starting from scratch. For this case Dynamics 365 Industry Accelerators provide industry specific implementations, and we’re announcing private previews in automotive and financial services. The accelerator for the automotive industry enables you to build connected customer experiences based on a proven common data model designed to transform consumer experiences and enable smart mobility services. In financial services, we have built accelerators to help you develop banking solutions in the retail and commercial space with enhanced ways to engage customers and provide an improved customer banking experience. Automotive and financial services accelerators join previously announced accelerators including healthcare, higher education, and nonprofit. Sign up to learn more about how you can participate or help us build the next set of industry accelerators.
During my talk at Build, I showed how all of this fits together through three phases: data at the core, empowering domain experts to be citizen developers, and showing how developers and ISVs can build depth solutions. We used healthcare as an end to end scenario that we can relate to and showcased how we’re infusing AI into all three phases in a way that every industry can start to take advantage of, moving from BI to AI. Lastly, I was delighted to welcome two customers on stage that are delivering innovative solutions. HandsFree Health™ is a new startup founded by senior executives in healthcare including the former President of Aetna. They built an innovative new home healthcare device using Microsoft AI technologies spanning speech, bots, vision, and a companion Xamarin mobile app that we showed on stage. We also took a deeper look at what ISVs can do with Indegene, a global healthcare solutions provider who is building the next generation of cloud applications for life sciences with the Dynamics 365 Healthcare Accelerator.
If you are at Build or following along at home, I have created a list of some Dynamics 365 and Power Platform sessions that you might be interested in. Enjoy your Build 2019 experience and we look forward to seeing how you build, extend, or connect Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform.
Cheers,
Guggs
