October 16, 2024 • 17 mins
Microsoft is staying on top of streamlining business operations with Copilot and Microsoft Business Central, designed for momentum-based workflows and saving time without losing quality.
Shelby Skrhak speaks with Pam Johnson, director of partner marketing at Microsoft, about:
To join the discussion, follow us on Twitter @IngramMicroUSA #B2BTechTalk
Listen to this episode and more like it by subscribing to B2B Tech Talk on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Spreaker.
Shelby Skrhak speaks with Pam Johnson, director of partner marketing at Microsoft, about:
- Basic Microsoft Business Central functions
- What Microsoft Business Central means for partners
- How Copilot works with Microsoft Business Central
To join the discussion, follow us on Twitter @IngramMicroUSA #B2BTechTalk
Listen to this episode and more like it by subscribing to B2B Tech Talk on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Spreaker.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
You're listening to B to B Tech Talk with Ingram Micro,
a place to learn about how to grow your business
and stay ahead of technological advances before they've become mainstream.
This episode is sponsored by ingram Micro's Expantage, the next
level way to transform your business's potential and reshape how
customers see you through advanced transactional data.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Let's get into it.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Welcome to B to B Tech Talk with Ingram Micro.
I'm your host Shelby Skirhawk, and our guest today is
Pam Johnson, director of Partner Marketing for Microsoft.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Pam, welcome, Thank you so much, Shelby, thank you for
being here.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
So today we are talking about really understanding the opportunities
with Microsoft Business Central. But first, Pam, just tell us
about yourself and how you made your way to Microsoft.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Sure, so it's actually been quite the history there.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
So I actually started my career at Great Playing Software
based in Fargo, North Dakota, and then Microsoft actually acquired
us in April of two thousand and one, and since
that time, I've held a variety of partner roles and
I focused most of my time within the business application space,
but for a couple of years I did do some
modern work and picked up that solutionary and I think
(01:22):
there's a lot we can learn from the synergy and
the integration we have between modern work and business applications.
But I did that for a couple of years and
then I came back to business applications, and so I've
typically been wearing a partner hat for the last twenty years,
and so super passionate about the opportunity and where partners
can take it.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Yeah, okay, So talking about this partner opportunity first though,
when we're looking at partners and resellers, what are some
of the I mean, what are you seeing some of
the top business priorities today?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
What are they needing and what are they facing? Yeah,
so good question. There's a lot of small businesses out
there today that say their top priority we'll be looking
at a new EARP system. And some of the reasons
and priorities for why organizations are looking to move AIRP
systems is their businesses are growing, and so growth can
(02:14):
mean reaching new customers, winning more businesses from existing customers,
or even entering new markets. And so we want to
make sure that the software can deliver on those mission
statements and innovating into new products or business lines, so
that would be one. The second one is really making
their businesses more efficient. When we think about SMBs, they
need the right foundation to really want efficiently and enable
(02:37):
them to lower their operational costs and maximize a profit
while at the same time maintaining the quality of their
products or services to keep the customers happy and returning.
The third that we're seeing is keeping staff engaged in
being productive and investing in employee experience benefits both staff
and the bottom line, enabling employees to perform their best
while also improving employee engagement, tension, and satisfaction. And the
(03:02):
fourth we're seeing is really enhancing the digital security. SMBs
need the same security compliance and identity management and privacy
that enterprises do, but they have limited resources. So as
the remote continues to be common, SMB has really struggle
to keep customer and company data secure.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Well. So let me let me expand this then, because
you mentioned several things, including something about employee experience benefits
and you know, taking care of the customers as well
as taking care of their employees, I wonder maybe just
give us a quick snapshot of what Microsoft Business Central is.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yeah, so it is a comprehensive business management solution that's
bringing together critical business processes into a single solution. And
with Business Central, customers business data it's centralized. It makes
it easier to access, analyze, and manage. And this can
include anything from financial datata, sales figures, customer service records,
(04:03):
and supply chain information. And keep in mind that you
can actually access this on your phone. There is a
mobile app for it too, Okay, So having a single
source of truth really allows organization to streamline their processes,
removing duplicate data entry and busy work, and Business Central
actually unifies the data so customers can get faster and
(04:24):
more accurate reporting with built in business intelligence and real
time insights across the different departments. And Business Central is
also the first business management solution that uses Microsoft Copilot
to boost productivity and improve business performance with the next
generation AI. And as I'm sure you're where, AI is
(04:44):
a big topic right now, and there's definitely a lot
that we can explore and we'll touch on a little
bit on Copilot. The one thing that I want to
make sure everyone understands is Copilot is built in the
Business Central, so there's no additional fee when you purchase
Business Central, you actually get copilot functionality in there, and
that's like the whole co pilot.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
That's not like the you know, if you've started to
play with a little bit of it, you'll kind of
see the basics. But this is the fully integrated, you know,
the full shebang.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
It's copilot functionality within business Central. Correct, Like if you
want the M three sixty five for copilot, you can
purchase that, but this has additional copilot benefits very specific
to Business Central and how to make yourself more productive
and with that, like our sales, we have been growing
Business Central crazy over the last couple of years and
(05:32):
we're actually leading the market today with alaly forty thousand
customers and that number just continues to grow.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
Plus.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Forbes actually named Business Central one of the best EARP
systems in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Oh wow, Well, so okay, so I see this. Obviously,
it's a great customer opportunity. It provides lots of benefit there,
and I wonder if you can just articulate a little
bit more about what it means for the partner opportunity.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah, so, you know, I understand as partner organizations there's
a lot going on in the marketplace today, there's a
ton of buzz with the Microsoftware sixty five Copilot security.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
There's so much.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
But one of the big benefits that we see from
a partner organization is customer churn, and so I think
we all understand how important it is to keep our
existing customers. And when customers are on an EARP solution,
the churn goes down to less than three percent. And
part of that is because the customer becomes stickier because
they're not going to change an EARP system every couple
(06:32):
of years. It's more like eight to ten years. So
that's one of the reasons is you're going to reduce
your churn to less than three percent. The other thing
to think about is if you're a modern work partner today,
increasing your average revenue per yearser by on M through
sixty five goes up about eighty four percent. Because of
the strong integration that business Central has with the M
(06:53):
three sixty five productivity apps, you will see an increase
in that average revenue per user. And then if you're
an Azure partner, consumption is obviously top of mind for you.
Business Central actually runs on Azure, so you're going to
see an increase in your Azure consumption while giving your
customer that confidence that they're on enterprise enterprise grade security
(07:15):
environment or secure environment. That's huge.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
That's huge, and I want to clarify, so this is
primarily for SMBs.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yeah, So one other thing that I forgot to mention
on the benefit side of the house, and then I'll
totally clarify that question for you. Sorry I got too excited,
is if your organization already has a solution designation, even
though it's not business applications, Business Central has one of
the most lucrative CSP incentives that Microsoft will provide to
your organization. So while you're still going to get that
(07:47):
reoccurring license revenue, we will invest from a CSP incentive's perspective.
So couldn't forget that one because obviously it's money and
that's important to everyone. Yeah, so great question on is
it primarily for SMBs? And let me discuss and describe
first how Microsoft looks at businesses and then you'll see
that there's a massive amount of opportunity for you outside
(08:08):
of SMB. Microsoft actually subdivides small and medium business segments
into like a very small business where we're thinking it's
one to twenty four employees. Medium businesses are twenty five
to three hundred employees, and when we're in marketing, we
really refer to the segment holistically as small and medium
businesses or SMB. When we think about the primary target
(08:30):
market for our scale business Operations or AKA business Central,
it's really for organizations that fit into that twenty five
to three hundred employees. But we can totally go down
into that eleven to twenty four. We can also scale
up into the larger than three hundred businesses, so we
can go very small to medium to larger organizations. So
(08:53):
don't think of this just as an SMB solution, but
from a pricing perspective, we fit very nicely in there.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Okay, Well, so that helps understand then who who were
aiming who we're talking to?
Speaker 4 (09:05):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (09:06):
And so then you mentioned it's in the cloud, and
you talked about the security or the peace of mind
that comes with running on Azure. But I wonder if
you can just kind of expand that a little bit.
I mean, how does with this ERP being in the cloud,
how does Microsoft ensure its security?
Speaker 4 (09:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (09:25):
So, I know security is top of mind for everyone,
and I know there's some resistance sometimes to think about
putting your ERP system in the cloud, but it's actually
safer than sitting in your server in your office. Microsoft
continuously invest in security, and that is actually our number
one priority at Microsoft is making sure that our platform
is secure. So in addition to Microsoft making investments in
(09:50):
the security in Azure, we also think about the security
of Business Central, which ensures that your data is protected,
it's complied or any industry standards. And we also leverage
from a security perspective services like as your security center
and as your active directory. And so just note, by
(10:11):
making this transition to the cloud, we are ensuring that
your data is secure.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
And that of course the you know kind of I
would say that the fun the fun part is that
this integrates co pilots. So I guess, what are just
some maybe examples of that or or or can you
can you can I describe what that tangibly does for somebody?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yes, So I'm going to give you a few of
the copilot features that I think are pretty cool within
Business Central. There's more than what I'm listing, sure, but
I'm going to give you a couple that I like.
So Copilot and Business Central is what we consider your
everyday AI companion. It's helping you to speed through tasks,
build momentum, and improve the way work gets done. So
a couple of things with Copilot that I really like
(10:57):
is everyday tasks or activities like tracking down documents, bringing
new employees up to speed can drain our time, and
I think we're all pressed for time these days. So
there is this conversational chat using copiland and business Central
that actually helps answer questions quickly and easily. You can
locate records faster, and even learn new skills, all using
(11:18):
natural language. So that's one of them. The second one
is Copiland and business Central helps product managers to banish
that writer's block and drive sales with compelling AI generating
marketing techs suggestion. So I think there's times that we
all can get writer's block and how are we going
to describe this?
Speaker 4 (11:37):
The solution helps with that.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
And the last one that I'll touch on is it's
creating or updating customer orders. It can be tedious, sometimes
requiring repetitive lookups, are navigating through extensive product catalogs and
to quickly add items to a sales quote or order.
Copilot's going to enable you to describe the goods or
service needed past in relevant details from an email or
(11:59):
reference a previous order, and then based on your prompt,
Copilot then suggests line items for your productive or your
product catalog.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
That's huge, that's huge. Well, and going back to the
writer's block thing, personally, when you are when you've got
too much information in your head, it's often difficult to
know what to say first and how to phrase it
and how to get started. And so that does seem
like the perfect use for that. It's able to organize
(12:27):
those things. And so even if you know, I guess
the lesson for you know, from this editor journalist would
be always you know, always check, always verify, uh, you know,
take a look at what the AI is writing for you.
But that's a perfect starting point. It doesn't have to
be verbatim what you what you produce, but you know,
it's giving you that that excellent part to get the conversation,
(12:48):
I guess, get the gears turning.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Right exactly exactly, all right.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Well, as we do start to kind of wrap up
our time here on the podcast, you know, we always
have our guests the same final question and it's a big,
bigger thought leadership question, and that's where do you see
technology going in the next year. So obviously, you know,
being at Microsoft, you've got a great thumb on what's
(13:15):
coming down the pike. So I guess can you give
us the crystal ball for this time twenty twenty five?
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Yeah, I'm like technology is moving at such a fast
pace right now.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
I know it.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Like when I think about when I started and we
were back on DAS back and where the technology is
come now, and I think about how fast the integration
and the creativity is coming. When we think about co
pilot and AI and what it can mean from organizations,
and the amount of money that Microsoft's investing. Technology is
(13:49):
changing so much faster than what I've seen over the years,
and so a couple of things where I can see,
you know, Microsoft really making advancements is One of them
would be the generative AI because it continues to evolve
or significant advances in both the visual contact as well
as the language modules. The other one I would say
is sustainable technology. It's becoming a major priority for businesses.
(14:13):
We're seeing a trend that's driven by increasing the importance
of environment and social changes to investors.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
So that's critical. I think AI.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Machine learning is another area where we're going to have
AI agents and autonomous mobility. Edge intelligence are expected to
have medium term benefits and those technologies are expanding their
use cases across various business processes, enhancing efficiency and security.
You've got the hybrid in the multi cloud, and this
is where companies are really increasing adopting the hybrid and
(14:43):
multi cloud to improve their scalability and reduce the risk
related to vendor lock in. This is approach is allowing
businesses to leverage the strength of different providers and enhance
their operational flexibility. And then you've got the operational Technology initiatives,
which is in vesting in improving, innovating and connecting. The
analog and disconnected OT systems are fundamental for enabling that
(15:08):
autonomous manufacturing. So I would say buckle up and get
ready for the ride, because we're just going to continually
see technology advancements and how it's going to improve employee
satisfaction as well as productivity fantastic. Well, how can people
learn more about what we talked about today, So there's
a couple of different ways if you want to learn
more about it. On the Microsoft side, we actually have
(15:31):
what we consider our Transform Hub, our Dynamics Partner Hub,
and so that's at Dynamics Partners dot Transform dot Microsoft
dot com, slash gtmslash SMB. And if you go out there,
you're going to find our business Central. There's so many
assets out there, from a pitch deck to conversation guides,
(15:55):
so you don't have to be afraid to start driving
these conversations with your customer. Again, that link is Dynamics
Partners dot Transform dot Microsoft dot com, slash, DTM, slash SMB.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
And if you're already working with an Ingram.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Representative, I would strongly encourage you to ask them about
the business Central opportunity, or if you're not sure, if
your rep would know much about Dynamics, then I would
encourage you to email Dynamics three sixty five at ingrammicro
dot com and they would be more than happy to
assist you about business Central and unlocking this opportunity to
(16:33):
make sure that you're enhancing your strategic value with your
existing customers.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Excellent, well, Pam, I appreciate the time and the insight today.
Thank you so much for joining.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
Me, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Yeah, and thank you listeners for tuning in subscribing to
B to B tech Talk with Ingram Micro. Don't forget
that you can find all of these episodes on the
ingram Micro Expantage platform. Until next time, I'm Shelby Skirhawk.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
You've been listening ning to B to B tech Talk
by Ingram Micro. This episode was sponsored by Ingram Micro Exvantage.
B to B tech Talk is a joint production between
Sweetfish Media and Ingram Micro. To listen to this episode
and many others, visit ingrammicro dot com.
You're listening to B to B Tech Talk with Ingram Micro,
a place to learn about how to grow your business
and stay ahead of technological advances before they've become mainstream.
This episode is sponsored by ingram Micro's Expantage, the next
level way to transform your business's potential and reshape how
customers see you through advanced transactional data.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Let's get into it.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Welcome to B to B Tech Talk with Ingram Micro.
I'm your host Shelby Skirhawk, and our guest today is
Pam Johnson, director of Partner Marketing for Microsoft.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Pam, welcome, Thank you so much, Shelby, thank you for
being here.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
So today we are talking about really understanding the opportunities
with Microsoft Business Central. But first, Pam, just tell us
about yourself and how you made your way to Microsoft.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Sure, so it's actually been quite the history there.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
So I actually started my career at Great Playing Software
based in Fargo, North Dakota, and then Microsoft actually acquired
us in April of two thousand and one, and since
that time, I've held a variety of partner roles and
I focused most of my time within the business application space,
but for a couple of years I did do some
modern work and picked up that solutionary and I think
(01:22):
there's a lot we can learn from the synergy and
the integration we have between modern work and business applications.
But I did that for a couple of years and
then I came back to business applications, and so I've
typically been wearing a partner hat for the last twenty years,
and so super passionate about the opportunity and where partners
can take it.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Yeah, okay, So talking about this partner opportunity first though,
when we're looking at partners and resellers, what are some
of the I mean, what are you seeing some of
the top business priorities today?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
What are they needing and what are they facing? Yeah,
so good question. There's a lot of small businesses out
there today that say their top priority we'll be looking
at a new EARP system. And some of the reasons
and priorities for why organizations are looking to move AIRP
systems is their businesses are growing, and so growth can
(02:14):
mean reaching new customers, winning more businesses from existing customers,
or even entering new markets. And so we want to
make sure that the software can deliver on those mission
statements and innovating into new products or business lines, so
that would be one. The second one is really making
their businesses more efficient. When we think about SMBs, they
need the right foundation to really want efficiently and enable
(02:37):
them to lower their operational costs and maximize a profit
while at the same time maintaining the quality of their
products or services to keep the customers happy and returning.
The third that we're seeing is keeping staff engaged in
being productive and investing in employee experience benefits both staff
and the bottom line, enabling employees to perform their best
while also improving employee engagement, tension, and satisfaction. And the
(03:02):
fourth we're seeing is really enhancing the digital security. SMBs
need the same security compliance and identity management and privacy
that enterprises do, but they have limited resources. So as
the remote continues to be common, SMB has really struggle
to keep customer and company data secure.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Well. So let me let me expand this then, because
you mentioned several things, including something about employee experience benefits
and you know, taking care of the customers as well
as taking care of their employees, I wonder maybe just
give us a quick snapshot of what Microsoft Business Central is.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yeah, so it is a comprehensive business management solution that's
bringing together critical business processes into a single solution. And
with Business Central, customers business data it's centralized. It makes
it easier to access, analyze, and manage. And this can
include anything from financial datata, sales figures, customer service records,
(04:03):
and supply chain information. And keep in mind that you
can actually access this on your phone. There is a
mobile app for it too, Okay, So having a single
source of truth really allows organization to streamline their processes,
removing duplicate data entry and busy work, and Business Central
actually unifies the data so customers can get faster and
(04:24):
more accurate reporting with built in business intelligence and real
time insights across the different departments. And Business Central is
also the first business management solution that uses Microsoft Copilot
to boost productivity and improve business performance with the next
generation AI. And as I'm sure you're where, AI is
(04:44):
a big topic right now, and there's definitely a lot
that we can explore and we'll touch on a little
bit on Copilot. The one thing that I want to
make sure everyone understands is Copilot is built in the
Business Central, so there's no additional fee when you purchase
Business Central, you actually get copilot functionality in there, and
that's like the whole co pilot.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
That's not like the you know, if you've started to
play with a little bit of it, you'll kind of
see the basics. But this is the fully integrated, you know,
the full shebang.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
It's copilot functionality within business Central. Correct, Like if you
want the M three sixty five for copilot, you can
purchase that, but this has additional copilot benefits very specific
to Business Central and how to make yourself more productive
and with that, like our sales, we have been growing
Business Central crazy over the last couple of years and
(05:32):
we're actually leading the market today with alaly forty thousand
customers and that number just continues to grow.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
Plus.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Forbes actually named Business Central one of the best EARP
systems in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Oh wow, Well, so okay, so I see this. Obviously,
it's a great customer opportunity. It provides lots of benefit there,
and I wonder if you can just articulate a little
bit more about what it means for the partner opportunity.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah, so, you know, I understand as partner organizations there's
a lot going on in the marketplace today, there's a
ton of buzz with the Microsoftware sixty five Copilot security.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
There's so much.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
But one of the big benefits that we see from
a partner organization is customer churn, and so I think
we all understand how important it is to keep our
existing customers. And when customers are on an EARP solution,
the churn goes down to less than three percent. And
part of that is because the customer becomes stickier because
they're not going to change an EARP system every couple
(06:32):
of years. It's more like eight to ten years. So
that's one of the reasons is you're going to reduce
your churn to less than three percent. The other thing
to think about is if you're a modern work partner today,
increasing your average revenue per yearser by on M through
sixty five goes up about eighty four percent. Because of
the strong integration that business Central has with the M
(06:53):
three sixty five productivity apps, you will see an increase
in that average revenue per user. And then if you're
an Azure partner, consumption is obviously top of mind for you.
Business Central actually runs on Azure, so you're going to
see an increase in your Azure consumption while giving your
customer that confidence that they're on enterprise enterprise grade security
(07:15):
environment or secure environment. That's huge.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
That's huge, and I want to clarify, so this is
primarily for SMBs.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yeah, So one other thing that I forgot to mention
on the benefit side of the house, and then I'll
totally clarify that question for you. Sorry I got too excited,
is if your organization already has a solution designation, even
though it's not business applications, Business Central has one of
the most lucrative CSP incentives that Microsoft will provide to
your organization. So while you're still going to get that
(07:47):
reoccurring license revenue, we will invest from a CSP incentive's perspective.
So couldn't forget that one because obviously it's money and
that's important to everyone. Yeah, so great question on is
it primarily for SMBs? And let me discuss and describe
first how Microsoft looks at businesses and then you'll see
that there's a massive amount of opportunity for you outside
(08:08):
of SMB. Microsoft actually subdivides small and medium business segments
into like a very small business where we're thinking it's
one to twenty four employees. Medium businesses are twenty five
to three hundred employees, and when we're in marketing, we
really refer to the segment holistically as small and medium
businesses or SMB. When we think about the primary target
(08:30):
market for our scale business Operations or AKA business Central,
it's really for organizations that fit into that twenty five
to three hundred employees. But we can totally go down
into that eleven to twenty four. We can also scale
up into the larger than three hundred businesses, so we
can go very small to medium to larger organizations. So
(08:53):
don't think of this just as an SMB solution, but
from a pricing perspective, we fit very nicely in there.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Okay, Well, so that helps understand then who who were
aiming who we're talking to?
Speaker 4 (09:05):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (09:06):
And so then you mentioned it's in the cloud, and
you talked about the security or the peace of mind
that comes with running on Azure. But I wonder if
you can just kind of expand that a little bit.
I mean, how does with this ERP being in the cloud,
how does Microsoft ensure its security?
Speaker 4 (09:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (09:25):
So, I know security is top of mind for everyone,
and I know there's some resistance sometimes to think about
putting your ERP system in the cloud, but it's actually
safer than sitting in your server in your office. Microsoft
continuously invest in security, and that is actually our number
one priority at Microsoft is making sure that our platform
is secure. So in addition to Microsoft making investments in
(09:50):
the security in Azure, we also think about the security
of Business Central, which ensures that your data is protected,
it's complied or any industry standards. And we also leverage
from a security perspective services like as your security center
and as your active directory. And so just note, by
(10:11):
making this transition to the cloud, we are ensuring that
your data is secure.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
And that of course the you know kind of I
would say that the fun the fun part is that
this integrates co pilots. So I guess, what are just
some maybe examples of that or or or can you
can you can I describe what that tangibly does for somebody?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yes, So I'm going to give you a few of
the copilot features that I think are pretty cool within
Business Central. There's more than what I'm listing, sure, but
I'm going to give you a couple that I like.
So Copilot and Business Central is what we consider your
everyday AI companion. It's helping you to speed through tasks,
build momentum, and improve the way work gets done. So
a couple of things with Copilot that I really like
(10:57):
is everyday tasks or activities like tracking down documents, bringing
new employees up to speed can drain our time, and
I think we're all pressed for time these days. So
there is this conversational chat using copiland and business Central
that actually helps answer questions quickly and easily. You can
locate records faster, and even learn new skills, all using
(11:18):
natural language. So that's one of them. The second one
is Copiland and business Central helps product managers to banish
that writer's block and drive sales with compelling AI generating
marketing techs suggestion. So I think there's times that we
all can get writer's block and how are we going
to describe this?
Speaker 4 (11:37):
The solution helps with that.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
And the last one that I'll touch on is it's
creating or updating customer orders. It can be tedious, sometimes
requiring repetitive lookups, are navigating through extensive product catalogs and
to quickly add items to a sales quote or order.
Copilot's going to enable you to describe the goods or
service needed past in relevant details from an email or
(11:59):
reference a previous order, and then based on your prompt,
Copilot then suggests line items for your productive or your
product catalog.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
That's huge, that's huge. Well, and going back to the
writer's block thing, personally, when you are when you've got
too much information in your head, it's often difficult to
know what to say first and how to phrase it
and how to get started. And so that does seem
like the perfect use for that. It's able to organize
(12:27):
those things. And so even if you know, I guess
the lesson for you know, from this editor journalist would
be always you know, always check, always verify, uh, you know,
take a look at what the AI is writing for you.
But that's a perfect starting point. It doesn't have to
be verbatim what you what you produce, but you know,
it's giving you that that excellent part to get the conversation,
(12:48):
I guess, get the gears turning.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Right exactly exactly, all right.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Well, as we do start to kind of wrap up
our time here on the podcast, you know, we always
have our guests the same final question and it's a big,
bigger thought leadership question, and that's where do you see
technology going in the next year. So obviously, you know,
being at Microsoft, you've got a great thumb on what's
(13:15):
coming down the pike. So I guess can you give
us the crystal ball for this time twenty twenty five?
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Yeah, I'm like technology is moving at such a fast
pace right now.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
I know it.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Like when I think about when I started and we
were back on DAS back and where the technology is
come now, and I think about how fast the integration
and the creativity is coming. When we think about co
pilot and AI and what it can mean from organizations,
and the amount of money that Microsoft's investing. Technology is
(13:49):
changing so much faster than what I've seen over the years,
and so a couple of things where I can see,
you know, Microsoft really making advancements is One of them
would be the generative AI because it continues to evolve
or significant advances in both the visual contact as well
as the language modules. The other one I would say
is sustainable technology. It's becoming a major priority for businesses.
(14:13):
We're seeing a trend that's driven by increasing the importance
of environment and social changes to investors.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
So that's critical. I think AI.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Machine learning is another area where we're going to have
AI agents and autonomous mobility. Edge intelligence are expected to
have medium term benefits and those technologies are expanding their
use cases across various business processes, enhancing efficiency and security.
You've got the hybrid in the multi cloud, and this
is where companies are really increasing adopting the hybrid and
(14:43):
multi cloud to improve their scalability and reduce the risk
related to vendor lock in. This is approach is allowing
businesses to leverage the strength of different providers and enhance
their operational flexibility. And then you've got the operational Technology initiatives,
which is in vesting in improving, innovating and connecting. The
analog and disconnected OT systems are fundamental for enabling that
(15:08):
autonomous manufacturing. So I would say buckle up and get
ready for the ride, because we're just going to continually
see technology advancements and how it's going to improve employee
satisfaction as well as productivity fantastic. Well, how can people
learn more about what we talked about today, So there's
a couple of different ways if you want to learn
more about it. On the Microsoft side, we actually have
(15:31):
what we consider our Transform Hub, our Dynamics Partner Hub,
and so that's at Dynamics Partners dot Transform dot Microsoft
dot com, slash gtmslash SMB. And if you go out there,
you're going to find our business Central. There's so many
assets out there, from a pitch deck to conversation guides,
(15:55):
so you don't have to be afraid to start driving
these conversations with your customer. Again, that link is Dynamics
Partners dot Transform dot Microsoft dot com, slash, DTM, slash SMB.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
And if you're already working with an Ingram.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Representative, I would strongly encourage you to ask them about
the business Central opportunity, or if you're not sure, if
your rep would know much about Dynamics, then I would
encourage you to email Dynamics three sixty five at ingrammicro
dot com and they would be more than happy to
assist you about business Central and unlocking this opportunity to
(16:33):
make sure that you're enhancing your strategic value with your
existing customers.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Excellent, well, Pam, I appreciate the time and the insight today.
Thank you so much for joining.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
Me, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Yeah, and thank you listeners for tuning in subscribing to
B to B tech Talk with Ingram Micro. Don't forget
that you can find all of these episodes on the
ingram Micro Expantage platform. Until next time, I'm Shelby Skirhawk.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
You've been listening ning to B to B tech Talk
by Ingram Micro. This episode was sponsored by Ingram Micro Exvantage.
B to B tech Talk is a joint production between
Sweetfish Media and Ingram Micro. To listen to this episode
and many others, visit ingrammicro dot com.
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