Directions North America is an annual conference that brings together Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central partners and resellers to discuss the latest updates, trends, and best practices in the industry.
This year’s conference was no exception and featured several exciting announcements and updates that are worth mentioning. Let me summarize in 5 bullet points what seemed exclusive to Directions or what you missed.
1. End of life for on-premise (DPL) licenses
From April 1st, 2025 on-premise DPL Business Central licensing will be aligned with CSP licensing under a new model which means that only cloud subscription licenses will be available and both cloud and on-premises will have the same price. The on-premise license will be available under dual rights. With this announcement, the UCI licensing fees, which have started this year, and since most of the add-ons are on Appsource today – there is one less reason to migrate your NAV customers to on-premise environment. Official announcement for DPL pricing.
2. More resources for addressing competition
“Netsuite battlecard” is in progress and will soon be available for resellers. A new re-training program is available where Microsoft will fund training and recruitment of consultants from other ERPs to the Business Central space. This will be available for resellers through selected recruiting companies.
3. Developer certification
Yes! Finally, it was announced that it will become available in FY24 and most probably before the end of this year!
4. New Microsoft lead assignment process
Currently, in trial mode, Microsoft is searching for a better way of assigning all the Business Central leads that are coming through Microsoft channels. There will be an automated assignment based on set criteria.
5. What about new features?
I loved the new intercompany and data management features, “Alt” for showing key tips, GL entry review records for accountants, analysis mode on pages, statistical accounts on BC, and copilot demo. It’s covered by both Stefano as a nice summary and by the Microsoft Launch event with full recordings in later March, so if you’re wondering what’s new for Wave 1 2023, I’d start with Stefano’s summary.
With so many exciting updates and announcements, it’s no wonder that the conference attracts a wide range of attendees. This Directions North America was the biggest event so far (over 1,100 attendees). Our team is looking forward to attending upcoming Dynamics events and we hope to see you there as well.
