Directions Asia 2018 Bangkok: MVPs report back

The original post is posted in Theta’s Official Blog. 

Directions is the biggest Microsoft Dynamics NAV conference in the world, and was held for the second time in Asia, on 15th and 16th March in Bangkok. It’s an independent conference for Microsoft Dynamics partners from the ERP and CRM channels focusing on the small and medium-sized business (SMB) market, organised by partners, with the help of Microsoft.

Attending any Directions conference is always an advantage for any professional involved in the Microsoft Dynamics platform, as the conference provides the perfect environment for knowledge sharing, networking and discovery of new opportunities for future growth and collaboration.

This year we had the opportunity to send Theta’s two Microsoft MVPs, Tharanga  Chandrasekara and Wagner Silveira, to Bangkok, not just to attend the conference, but as presenters at Directions ASIA, selected and sponsored by the Directions committee. Here is what they have to say about the experience.

Integration at a Microsoft Dynamics Conference?

Precise, up-to-date information is key to a successful business, as it adds real value to the decision-making process, making it faster and more reliable.

Today, ERP and CRM systems are entwined, making it hard to implement one without the other. But a reliable and conflictless integration is quite hard to achieve. The standard Microsoft Dynamics NAV CRM connector works perfectly when a point to point integration and data flow direction are unidirectional – “To Integration Table” or “From Integration Table”. 

But the Microsoft Dynamics NAV CRM Connector faces difficulties when integration requirements become multi-point or bi-directional. So what are the alternatives?

We decided to share our experience integrating Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Dynamics NAV with the community, demonstrating new integration possibilities and best practices.

During our session, we brought together our two areas of expertise to discuss patterns to integrate Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Dynamics 365 (CRM) when multi-point or bi-directional integration is required. We demonstrated the use of Logic Apps with Microsoft Dynamics NAV to achieve bi-directional, close to real time, multi-point integration scenarios.

The audience was engaged and enthusiastic, and especially interested in the three demo scenarios, which showed the new capabilities Logic Apps can bring into the world of Microsoft Dynamics.

One hour to go until me and @TharangaNC presents at #DirectionsASIA. Prayers to demo and wifi gods done! Hopefully this will be the answer: pic.twitter.com/s56dtF1yDr

— Wagner Silveira (@WSilveiraNZ) March 15, 2018

And the presentation is now done and dusted! The demo gods blessed us (for most of the time) and people seemed to have enjoyed the session! Nothing much I could ask. And the two-man show with @TharangaNC worked quite well! #DirectionsASIA 2018

— Wagner Silveira (@WSilveiraNZ) March 15, 2018

Conference highlights

During the conference, Marko Perisic (General Manager, Microsoft Dynamics SMB) announced Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Keynote time! Hoping for exciting news on Dynamics 365 Business Central. @mpdynamics365 #MSDynNAV #MSDyn365 #D365 #MSPartner #Dynamics365BE pic.twitter.com/xS68S4vxKa

— Tharanga Nuwan C. (@TharangaNC) March 15, 2018

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central brings the full power of Microsoft Dynamics NAV to the cloud, as a modern solution for modern businesses. Along with the new capabilities, the application will include an all-new user experience. With a familiar Microsoft Office 365 user interface, personalised feeds, smart notifications, embedded AI capabilities – amassing over 100 new functionality items, Business Central enables users to work smarter and be more productive than ever before.

The conference was a huge success, and we’re looking forward to attending again next year.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central will be generally available on April 2, 2018, in 14 countries (United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden, and Finland) and will be available through the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) channel. The solution will be generally available in Australia and New Zealand from July 1, 2018.

Tharanga Chandrasekara, a senior consultant in our ERP team, and Wagner Silveira, Theta’s principal integration architect, are both Microsoft MVPs, and were invited to present at this conference by the Directions committee.







Please provide your feedback with a comment. 
Thank you and Regards,
Tharanga Chandrasekara