This episode is sponsored by BI4Dynamics. Microsoft offers its Dynamics ERP customers a variety of ways to get started with analyzing their business data, but the BI and analytics landscape continues to evolve as data growth accelerates and industry demands change. Our guest on this episode, Dr. Vijay Jog, the founder of CRGroup and president of Global Business Applications for CRGroup’s parent company, Quisitive, joins us to discuss the BI and reporting themes influencing Dynamics space today. Expectations are changing for many roles, Vijay believes. Accounting teams must provide better insight that leads to a proactive outlook. IT departments must gaining new skills in areas like data lakes, analytics, storage, and security. And teams continue to struggle with the perennial problem of data islands, Vijay says. BI and analytics options vary by Dynamics product, and Vijay shares his views on some of the most interesting new and upcoming capabilities, including the transition from BYOD to BYOL for Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations and advances with Power BI. Show Notes: 2:15 – What is unique about today's data challenges? 4:30 – What do Dynamics customers get out of the box for BI and reporting? 7:00 – BYOL and the other important competencies of BI 10:00 – Building a great BI team around business systems like a Dynamics ERP 14:00 – Metrics that customers are analyzing more carefully due to the pandemic 16:00 – What makes an organization a top performer on BI and analytics practices 18:00 – Microsoft technology to watch in the analytics and data management space 21:30 – Optimism on the BYOL model for Dynamics 365 F&O You can start a free 30 day trial of BI4Dynamics, just visit bi4dyamics.com/trial to learn more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIoxfPmmqRY

To make training more efficient, repeatable, and effective, Toyota Motors uses Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides and Dynamics 365 Remote Assist on Microsoft HoloLens 2. #MSFTdyn365 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00gPg4-sBc8

Editor's Note: This episode is sponsored by Pendo. Change is hard when it's not predictable. But replacing or adding to a worker's business applications can also be a comfortable experience when the organization provides adequate preparation and support. Our guests on this episode, Hannah Whiteside and John Dorrian of Pendo, discuss some of the ways in which change management is impacting technology adoption today. We discuss some of the typical symptoms of a failed software deployment, including ways to prevent them. And our guests share their views on the different kinds of change management that organizations must contend with, whether human, systems-driven, or even compliance-driven. And we frame some of those challenges in the context of Microsoft's business software offerings. As Hannah and John explain, apps like Microsoft Power Apps and Teams pose their own unique challenges and patterns of adoption. Show Notes: 2:00 – How to position the role of organizational change management in today's business applications landscape 4:45 – The risk of too many tools, both official and rogue acquisition 8:45 – How to look at adopting Microsoft's commercial software from a change management perspective 11:45 – The danger of gut feeling vs data-driven decisions with organizational change 15:00 – Is Power Platform's flexibility an added challenge for adoption principles? 19:15 – How to measure for process efficiency according to app usage 22:30 – How to gently guide users away from their legacy systems with user-driven analytics 28:15 – The role of system integrators in advising on app usage and adoption 30:00 – How one Power Platform champion's team and dev group is changing from gut feel to data-driven evaluation of apps 32:00 – Why discovery work ought to become a thing of the past in service engagements 35:30 – Where compliance needs fit into Pendo's story 39:30 – Other scenarios in which change management becomes critical, like M&A For more information on how to overcome user adoption challenges on your employee-facing applications, https://pendo.io/digital-adoption. More information: Pendo's MSDW webcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjIva4etzpY