Fueling Growth: How IAMCP & MSDynamicsWorld.com Collaboration Empowers Members
If you've ever searched for credible in-depth coverage of Microsoft Dynamics 365, the Power Platform, or the broader Microsoft Cloud, chances are you've landed on msdynamicsworld.com, the largest independent digital source for Microsoft business applications, news analysis and partner resources. For almost twenty years, they've been helping partners, ISVs and customers navigate the fast changing world of business applications with clarity and confidence. Joining me today is Jason Gumpert, one of the founders of MS Dynamics World, to talk about what MS Dynamics World is, why their collaboration with IMCP matters and how you are members of IMCP can get involved and benefit from it. This is going to be a conversation packed with practical takeaways. So let's jump in.
Anthony Carrano:Well, Jason, welcome to the podcast today. I'm really excited to have you on.
Jason Gumpert:Hey, Anthony. Thank you for having me. I'm glad to be here.
Anthony Carrano:Excellent. Excellent. I know we're gonna have a great show today.
Jason Gumpert:For sure.
Anthony Carrano:Let's start off. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Jason Gumpert:Yeah, my name is Jason Gumpert. I am the editor at MS Dynamics World. We are an independent news and information resource for the Microsoft Business Applications community primarily. So we cover everything from product news to channel news to what customers are doing and other trends as it relates to Dynamics 365, Power Platform, and I say business applications, the term's almost not quite current anymore, but also it extends to Fabric and to Azure coverage as well. So we're watching those products from Microsoft, and we're also trying to keep a pulse on what's going on in the community.
Jason Gumpert:And so you'll see us at events related to those topics, both community events and Microsoft ones. You'll see us on our site doing various things, writing and doing podcasting of our own and all sorts of stuff. So that's what the site's all about.
Anthony Carrano:Well, I know we're going to spend quite a bit of time digging into digging into the site, but let's hear a little bit about you. Tell us a little bit about yourself, your background, and whatnot.
Jason Gumpert:Yeah, sure. So before I did this, I was in the sort of IT consulting and enterprise software services delivery and related kinds of roles. So I spent eight or ten years setting up systems, doing coding, training to some extent, doing some pre sales. So I've had a variety of roles with enterprise software companies and with consulting firms. And I really grew to enjoy and appreciate that industry.
Jason Gumpert:But I was looking for something different at a certain point. And I met the co founder of our site, Adam Berezin, who couldn't be here today, but he co founded it with me and he's still helping me run it. And we both were looking for something new, and we jumped on this idea of a media business in the Microsoft business application space. At that point, it was all Dynamics on premises stuff. And we can talk more about this, but we saw our skills complement each other where I had some technical background so I could get a website going, had some writing experience and editing experience, and he knew software he knew software events and conference sales and publishing sales, stuff like that. He had a sense from other places he'd worked of how some of that worked, and we saw a real gap from that.
Anthony Carrano:Now, how long ago did you start it?
Jason Gumpert:So I think we turned the site on in late 2007, really got it running in 2008. Yeah.
Anthony Carrano:Okay. Well, I'm really looking for, I know Rudy's got some questions for you and I'm, I'll be honest fellows. I'm looking forward to just kind of sitting back and observing this conversation because Jason, I'm not sure how we're like, you know, Rudy's, you know, role extensive role in the history and evolution of IAMCP and just as you two are gonna, you know, dive in and swap some stories. So Rudy, man, I want to hand this over to you, bud.
Rudy Rodriguez:Okay. Well, thank you. Well, Jason, it's real pleasure to to meet with you today. I know we're gonna have fun, you know, going through the history of MS Dynamics World and and IAMCP and how we all can all work together. Let's talk a little bit about, you know, what gap in the market you were looking to fill when you first started MS Dynamics World.
Jason Gumpert:Yeah. I think what we immediately saw, we did so we started doing some of our own sort of primary research for, market fit and things like that. We started and we knew that were a lot of One of the things that really stood out to us, I should say, with the Microsoft channel and Dynamics was that there was already a healthy ISV and partner channel Serving these customers, Microsoft's always been very partner focused. But when it came to actually reaching customers, prospective customers of the Dynamics product line at that time, really there were only two ways to do it. One was to go a conference, and the second was to buy print ads.
Jason Gumpert:I mean, it was even just on the cusp of online search ads taking off. They were not quite at that point yet. But digital media had already started to flourish, and it was certainly a thing that other channels were taking advantage of. And when we talked to marketers in the space, we knew that they wanted to reach an audience that wasn't being served enough. And honestly, just from a media and news coverage perspective, they weren't being served enough because it was an interesting space.
Jason Gumpert:I talked about my enterprise software background. So anyway, we put those pieces together and decided that that's what was going to define us, is we're going be all digital and we were going to generate revenue from marketers who really wanted to reach this market but who had limited options at the time.
Rudy Rodriguez:Well, you're in a highly competitive field. Right? So there's a lot of industry partners out there, news and partner resources. How would you compare yourself to the other players in the marketplace today?
Jason Gumpert:Yeah. I mean, think of ourselves as a media company primarily if you're trying to define who we are and what we do. We have advertisers, we offer sort of marketing promotion, marketing programs. So on that side of it, that's working with a lot of channel partners primarily. But I think what makes us allows us to compete in the space and stand out and be distinguished as our own brand is that we are so focused on this ecosystem.
Jason Gumpert:And that we understand not just globally the enterprise space and chasing winners and losers, but we're really focused in and we're writing for a very specific audience and hopefully they appreciate that and that's what keeps us going.
Rudy Rodriguez:And a follow-up to that. So how do how do people engage with your service? Do you have subscribers or how many followers do you have? Could you elaborate a little bit on that?
Jason Gumpert:Yeah. So I mean, the approach that we use overall is that we do put our our most of our content behind a registration wall, not all of it, but but a good chunk of it. And that's both the informational stuff. So like branded content comes from vendors, then also our editorial coverage. And so to get access to it, you do have to register, so there's a registration wall, but it's free.
Jason Gumpert:And once you're registered and logged in, you have access to everything. So there's no fee, we've never charged our readers for anything. And that's the process. And we have 100,000 plus registered members on the site who have joined and who read and consume the content. So that's sort of the model of the the the user experience on the site.
Jason Gumpert:Does that answer your question?
Rudy Rodriguez:Yeah. Sure does. Alright. Sure does.
Rudy Rodriguez:I know it's difficult. You get to a lot you'll
Jason Gumpert:I start
Rudy Rodriguez:talking to a lot questions.
Jason Gumpert:Yeah. All the points that we're gonna cover. Anthony, do you have a question? I know you do.
Anthony Carrano:Oh, man. Do I have do I have just one? Really?
Rudy Rodriguez:Anthony writes a lot of prompts, by the way, Jason.
Anthony Carrano:Well, with with the community and how the community has grown, you know, since I think you said February, 2006, right, 2007, I mean, getting to a 100,000, like, what would you attribute, I mean, growth? Mean, that's quite a lot of growth, you know, it's it's a big audience, very, you know, niche community. What do you attribute that to?
Jason Gumpert:Well, like I said, I think what differentiates us is our real focus and and putting hopefully a lot of interesting content out there, working with brands to put out things that they have developed or developing it with them, but then also our independent editorial coverage that no one else is doing. Even to this day, I'm often one of the only members of the press covering some events. The big one is not at Build or Ignite, or NRF, where I'm one of many. But a lot of the time, I'm in there where I have a writer who's in there talking to people that other members of the media just aren't. There's a lot of value in that to our readers.
Jason Gumpert:So I think what keeps us going and what keeps people signing up and hopefully coming back is they see that they're getting something that they wouldn't get elsewhere.
Anthony Carrano:Well, what's fascinating is how, you know, in a very, you know, to your, to your point of very focused, you know, niche community, right? You know, being that expert and then how, you know, there's a coming together in terms of some partnership with IAMCP also in, you know, an equally, you know, very focused, you know, community serving a very specific audience. Talk to us a little bit about, you know, what's the backstory about the coming together?
Jason Gumpert:Yeah, it's so exciting to be really putting some specific plans and really concerted effort into this right now. IAMCP has really been in my picture, in my view since we began. I think almost since we began, if not to the very beginning where I have always talked to partners. The years I've gotten to know lots of people who run Microsoft partner businesses, and a lot of them do or have done or plan to do work as part of an IAMCP chapter or take a leadership position. I think there's been a lot of events where an IAMCP meeting is happening alongside another conference, because so many of the members will be in one place at one time. And so I've always been aware of it. I think to some greater or lesser extent, I've had done some coverage that involved it, involved events or involved people who represent sort of IAMCP chapters. But it's always just been ad hoc and it's been sort of if I come across it, if it comes up. And I wasn't doing concerted planning around it. And I guess what we've done now, and we'll talk maybe a little more about this, but we're actually talking more specifically to each other and putting some really cool plans in place to help our shared audiences know about each other in the areas that are relevant to them and try to find ways to complement each other.
Anthony Carrano:Alright. Can you, are you able to share a little bit more, or is that coming later?
Jason Gumpert:Yeah. I mean, there's not I don't have too much that I can share specifically, but what I will say is that you're going to start to see more awareness. So hopefully, I think the first thing we'll be able to do is for, members of this channel that care about some of the really important issues or who are just looking to be educated on technology, on thought leadership, things like that. If they're our members, they'll get awareness of what's happening in IAMCP's world with your events and your planning and your content and vice versa. And one thing I've taken away from our conversation so far is that business app and I've always known this, but business applications are not the only focus of IAMCP chapters.
Jason Gumpert:Perhaps they sometimes are relatively small focus just depending on case by case or chapter by chapter. So hopefully, we can help to sort of boost that representation from the, for IAMCP as well and and get more of these biz apps partners aware of all the good work that that IAMCP is doing.
Anthony Carrano:Mhmm. Mhmm. Well, I think, and I'd be curious to get Rudy's perspective on this is he's obviously he's got a lot more perspective on with IAMCP than than I do. But just thinking about what I've observed with, you know, IAMCP as a great community, really almost like a vehicle for a lot of the partner to partner collaborations and but also in helping, you know, navigate a lot of the Microsoft, like the programs, things and resources that are available, especially for the unmanaged partners, but then seeing with what you guys then bring to the table with just this host of, I mean, we're talking tens of thousands, you know, of, you know, Dynamics partners, but also just the level of content and just seeing, it'd be really exciting to watch just the, just see the level of, you know, partner to partner collaborations that are going to be able to increase between, you know, those type of type of partners in your community and our community. But also, I'm really excited just the level of education.
Anthony Carrano:I mean, I'm just curious, how do you do and you might not have an answer for this. How do you see maybe leveraging some of that content into like IAMCP because you guys got a lot, which is pretty remarkable.
Jason Gumpert:Yeah. I mean, I I would see it as kind of net it's all sort of opportunities to create new and better stuff. Right?
Anthony Carrano:Yeah.
Jason Gumpert:Whether it's new types of live webcasts and things like that, whether it's just writing and covering more good stories. I think one of the things we haven't done well enough from our side is we're not telling all the stories we could. There's lots of great partnerships, lots of great successes and wins that IAMCP is a part of. I hear about them sometimes anecdotally and maybe don't track them down or whatever. I think having this relationship will allow us to tell more of those stories. And I think people can learn from those examples a lot more than they do today.
Anthony Carrano:Now, is most of your audience or your membership, are they here in The States or the Americas region? Are they spread out internationally?
Jason Gumpert:It's international. I forget the exact I didn't come with the exact percentages. US and Canada are US is our biggest country by sort of members of our members. It's I think it's about 40%. And Canada is next.
Jason Gumpert:English speaking countries around the world come in right after that, India, the rest of Europe. And then I think we have some representation in Middle East and North Africa. And then the smaller portions are Sub Saharan Africa and Latin America. But it is well established across different audiences. And I'll just tell you the other two ways we do think about our audiences.
Jason Gumpert:One is on what kind of role in the ecosystem they have. So VARs and consultants, ISVs, and then customers and prospective customers of Microsoft are the ways we think about who our audience is. We target different content to different groups. So we don't try to write everything for everybody. There'll be very partner specific content that we know that customers are just basically going to ignore because it's not relevant to them, and vice versa.
Jason Gumpert:And then ISVs fit into that partner side of things primarily. And then we also think about the product. So we'll write specifically for Dynamics 365 (F&O), Dynamics 365 Business Central, for example, or Power Platform coverage or what it may be. Yeah, so we have audiences that only care about one of those products and we segment both on our editorial side and really do kind of encourage our advertisers in the market and the and the the the partners who sort of publish content to our site to also think about that.
Anthony Carrano:Mhmm. Mhmm. That's great. That's great. Rudy?
Rudy Rodriguez:So since you've been around since 2007, you've seen the evolution of the dynamic space. You know? I remember first getting started with, you know, I've been around IAMCP since its inception, so thirty plus years now. And and it's been real interesting to watch and how Microsoft is really encouraging partners to change their business models and to take on a biz apps practice. So I think an organization like yours helps partners learn more to try to figure out if they can fit in that space because it's a difficult move.
Rudy Rodriguez:You do have to have a solid, solid business background to do that. And and like I said, I've I've gone through the evolution of them from the purchase of Great Plains and Solomon, Xstappa, NAV, all the companies that Microsoft bought, and then the evolution of the North, you know, of the North Dakota operation and how they all came about and been in discussions with them and how they blended that all into dynamics. And so it's a big learning experience for partners. So I think there's a real opportunity for MS Dynamics World to work with IAMCP partners on joint initiatives and events to help educate partners more because there's a real opportunity to to grow their businesses And and and the just the maturation of the IT space, you know, from the 1980s to where it is today is huge. So let's talk do you have any anything that we should be watching out for on on joint initiatives or or what are you interested in, you know, in working with IAMCP? Because we've got some really great partners.
Jason Gumpert:So I don't I don't know if I can name any specific joint initiatives yet. I think the first thing you'll start to see is co promotion of of our own activities because that's the easiest way for us to get started I think as I've talked with leadership at IAMCP. So you'll see that first. You'll start to see I think this podcast is a good example and probably from our side, you'll see some podcasting as well. And then I think we'll go from there. So there's a lot of possibilities that we've been talking about and that we think really could be pretty cool.
Rudy Rodriguez:Yeah. I'd like to do upcoming Illuminate later, you know, next year this next year is, you know, maybe we can do a joint podcast at the same place. You know, that would be a lot of fun to do.
Jason Gumpert:Yeah. For sure.
Rudy Rodriguez:So are there particular regions that of IAMCP that you've worked with?
Jason Gumpert:So I know I've done a little bit at least with, like, the New York chapter.
Rudy Rodriguez:Okay.
Jason Gumpert:In the past, Jeff Goldstein has been someone who I've you know, who's been a friend a friend for a long time and been really helpful. I just call him out because he's he's great.
Anthony Carrano:He's everywhere. He's everywhere.
Jason Gumpert:He really is.
Anthony Carrano:He's very nice. He's great. That's it. That's it.
Jason Gumpert:And really embodies the spirit, I think, of it. I mean, when I think of what what the values of of the group are, I tend to think of what he always talks to me about. Right? So yeah. And then other than that, it's been fairly scattered. I mean, I'll attend a webcast here or there when I'm allowed to or able to. The conversations we've been having have been at the Americas international level for these for these new plans that we're talking about.
Rudy Rodriguez:Since you mentioned working with ISVs, are there any particular ISVs that are that you see are bringing strong products to the market that that would help our IAMCP partners?
Jason Gumpert:Oh, there's there's plenty. I mean, we have I've learned so much from the various ISVs out there. I I'm not gonna call out any by name just because if I you know, there we work with quite a few and and they all do different things. But I think I'll just give you a couple themes that maybe would jump out. The main one that I'm thinking of off the top of my head is you talked about all the different legacy products.
Jason Gumpert:And one of the interesting themes over the last few years has been the evolution of companies that have been focused on GP, which has been a hugely successful ERP product in the SMB space, and had a great legacy and had great success over the years. But it's sort of winding down now. Microsoft set end of life dates for it in the next six years. And they're really encouraging everyone to move to Business Central in the cloud. Right?
Jason Gumpert:And that's both the partners and and moving their practices over and, you know, they hope cusp they hope GP customers will will will come along for the ride the ride too over the next few years. One of the really interesting things has been to see some of these really established, really knowledgeable ISVs who have great products that work well and have served thousands of customers on the GP side, evolve their businesses to not only get their products working in Business Central, but to align with that market, which is obviously much different than the GP market. It's international, just architecturally different and technically different, fits a little different. So watching some of those companies make their way in there, and then actually find some success, find traction, do things that hadn't been done in what is another very old legacy channel that's evolved over the years. Business Central is quite modern, but it dates back to NAV, like you were saying.
Jason Gumpert:And that was really an old school ERP product that was a very different beast than what you see today with Business Central. So watching ISVs move from one to the other is probably one of the things that I think is really interesting. And then I think if you want to go to the most current, we're starting. I'm seeing glimmers of a very interesting and unique sort of AI scenarios that a few that a few ISVs are bringing to the fore. I wouldn't call any out just because I mean, honestly, of them are proven yet.
Jason Gumpert:They don't I don't think they have their great ideas and they seem really interesting, but I don't know that any of them have really established themselves yet in the in the market. So I won't call any out by name, but I think that's the other kind of on the far other end of it where where ISPs are doing some interesting stuff.
Rudy Rodriguez:Yeah. Well, there's a significant opportunity with AI in in in the ERP world, but it is gonna take some time because it's just a security issue more than anything else. It's you know, from the CIOs that I talk to and CFOs especially are very they're very curious, but they're also very wary of it at this point in time. So I do know that.
Jason Gumpert:Yeah. I mean and they're living in a world I mean, I was at an event recently where people were sharing sort of what they're doing with AI and a bit of a roundtable. And it's all personal productivity stuff is is what they're all talking about for themselves and for their organizations. I mean, they're doing stuff that they think helps organizations, but it's all stuff at the personal productivity level with Copilot, with Claude, with other generative tools. So there's a bit of a step up that's gonna have to happen that, like you said, deals with that those secure those big security and data data questions and as well as process and performance and cost.
Rudy Rodriguez:Alright. Well, let's let's talk a little bit more about working with IAMCP. From your perspective from your perspective, why should IAMCP members pay attention to to your organization and, you know, what value can they get from it?
Jason Gumpert:Yeah. I mean, hopefully they can learn something that they that they didn't know already, whether it's coverage that we're doing of an event or coverage we're doing of some product news that they might not have been aware of right away, whether it is educating themselves products and services that they could use in their businesses that they didn't know about, those would be hopefully and just the ability to tell stories that maybe they didn't know about or trends that they haven't been tracking yet. So hopefully, we can do the work that makes those types of content available to them and is differentiated in some way from what they already already do and already know.
Rudy Rodriguez:Anthony, do you have some questions?
Anthony Carrano:Yeah, just to kind of piggyback on that. So as a media company and you're providing just an immense amount of content, maybe, I know you touched on a little bit in the beginning, but maybe if you can break down like the all the various content like formats that are available and with you know, specifically then because you know where I'm where my head is at, you know, as a marketer, it's like, okay, how it can, you know, MS Dynamics World help partners grow their business, right? And strengthen their Microsoft relationships and stay ahead of these trends. So maybe talk about like the different types of content, that are available and how they can interact with that to help, you know, you know, grow their business, stay ahead of trends or, you know, align closer to Microsoft.
Jason Gumpert:Yeah, I'd be happy to. Let me start with just one other kind of perspective from Rudy's previous question, which leads into it, which is that we'll do all that kind of coverage and hopefully it gets traction with people who are also involved with IAMCP. But more people and organizations to contribute to our site is always really, really important to us and more stories and then, yeah, let me talk about the types of content and the formats it can take, right? So I'll try to break it down briefly here. The main editorial thing we do is articles.
Jason Gumpert:So you'll see articles on our site written by me, written by members of our team, also written by subject matter experts in the community, And that's oftentimes experts who work for a partner organization, independent consultants, that kind of thing. So we have articles and then we have podcasts and those can be either some of them are sponsored by a sponsor of ours and then some of them are just me talking to someone and trying to tell a story, learn about something, a trend in the space or whatever. So articles, podcasts. And then we have webcasts. So we'll run live one hour webcasts.
Jason Gumpert:Again, some of those are sponsored and branded. Some of them are just educational. And we have all sorts of those. We have a really busy webcast schedule coming up for the rest of this year. Then beyond that, we have other kinds of branded content that companies will bring to us that partners, VARs, or ISVs will bring to our site.
Jason Gumpert:And those are all very clearly branded as coming from these companies, but that's white papers, case studies, videos, other kinds of e books, blog posts, which is sort of a newer thing that we just launched. So companies can blog on our site or duplicate or recreate blog posts when it makes sense. So that's, I think the route, I think that's the range of types of content that can go on our site right now.
Anthony Carrano:So now, so let's talk a little just because I'm thinking about like, growing their business, obviously, there's an immense value on the education side. But also you know where I'm thinking around like the demand gen and some of the lead gen possibilities. So when you talk about sponsored content, that's where that's like, I know how a lot of those mechanisms work on other type of media companies websites, maybe you want to share a little bit about what that could look like? The sponsored content specifically.
Jason Gumpert:Yeah, so for any branded content on our site, I mentioned, I've sort of explained some of the elements of it, but if visiting our site as a reader and you want access to white papers and reports and videos and all the rest, you have to be a registered member. Once you're in and you have an account, you can consume whatever you want. So you can watch videos, you can download white papers. We have created a lead collection system in the back end that works really well integrated with our content management system. So if you're a marketer that's working with us and you've posted your company's content to our site of any of those types, well, especially I think, downloadable content or video, you are going to also get access to some degree, depending on what you're doing with us, to the information of who's consuming your content on our site, and that's part of our terms and conditions for our members.
Jason Gumpert:So it's an all digital, very streamlined process, self-service to upload, create your content, get the leads back. And that also extends to webcast, so if we promote a webcast for a marketer, obviously they'll registration information about who joined their event. Yeah, and we're doing that for dozens of companies at any given point in time with different activities, different programs for each one, and we really tend to customize them because obviously marketers have different calendars and different priorities at different times a year, different segments as I mentioned, that's really another key part of it. So there members of our site who never see a particular ISV's content because it's just outside of what they care about or partner for that matter. So yeah, that's what we do and we're very serious about delivering those results. Almost every client we have has a real demand goal as opposed to just looking for general branding.
Anthony Carrano:Yeah. No, that's fantastic. And especially since what's interesting, you know, about, you know, MS Dynamics World is that you've got, you know, tens of thousands, you know, of actual, you know, partners. There's also even more users like potential customers, right, that are that are part of the site. And I think, you know, it's, you know, it's a pretty healthy ratio.
Jason Gumpert:It's very evenly split. So it's, you know, about even parts, customers and partners. Those make up sort of the main, the main parts of our site.
Anthony Carrano:Well, I'm going to like for the listeners in the IAMCP community. So it's like you have opportunities, like if you're interested in, you know, expanding your own, you know, your own partner channel, with certain, you know, dynamics partners, can provide, you know, some of that sponsor, well, either some awareness content or some sponsored content for direct, you know, type of, you know, lead gen activity. But there's also opportunities like to go direct to some of the customers, correct? Right, because the audience is about half. So yeah, there's a lot of opportunities for, know, business development, you know, for our IAMCP members that you know, should there be content, you know, the content, know, fits the criteria, you know, of MS, you know, Dynamics World.
Anthony Carrano:Am I am I understanding that correctly, Jason? Or am I like way off?
Jason Gumpert:Yeah, that's, that's totally accurate. I mean, it's very common for us to be running different campaigns focused on those dimensions. Right? So one will be focused on EMEA versus North America.
Rudy Rodriguez:Mhmm.
Jason Gumpert:One event will be for we'll do an event for partners and then a case study aimed at aimed at users. I mean, all for the same vendor. So or the same marketing team, I should say. So that's that's super common. And, oftentimes are going on at the same time and different audiences are seeing them. You know what I mean?
Anthony Carrano:Well, I could see a lot of possibilities. So for IAMCP listeners, you know, shameless play, if you need help kind of navigating how to position yourself, give me a call. No, that's fantastic. I mean, that's, that's really, really exciting. Rudy, did you, you had something?
Rudy Rodriguez:Yeah. No. So where are you seeing the most growth? Are you seeing it in business central or FNO or what, what, what opportunities are you seeing?
Jason Gumpert:Probably say Business Central is, is our fastest growing, audience right now. F&O is also very strong and CE has always been strong and sort of has, I would say, been steady. The other one, Power Platform is the other area, broadly speaking. And it's harder to segment that because Power Platform, it's a bunch of services altogether. They're not products, so the way the Dynamics ones are.
Jason Gumpert:But we run surveys periodically in our last reader survey where we were taking the temperature of partners and of customers around buying habits and things like that. Maybe that's a topic for another episode, but we noticed that with the most common responses were BC, CE, and then Power Platform was third where it probably wouldn't have been third a couple years ago, and I think because it's so universal across all the Dynamics products that we're seeing a lot more uptake of of an interest in Power Platform.
Rudy Rodriguez:So since you brought up Power Platform, are you seeing a lot of movement in BI, or is it more Power apps, you know, where people can automate more stuff in Business Central?
Jason Gumpert:Well, I I mean, they're both growing. We for our coverage, I mean, Power BI has really kind of it's kind of bifurcated right away from what what is considered part of Power Platform. I think technically to some degree, it's all part of the same product line still. I'm actually not sure that 100% sure that's accurate, but it's still mostly part of Power Platform. You'll see it on the same slides anyway some of the time, but our focus has really stuck with the other elements of Power Platform.
Jason Gumpert:Power BI, we mostly cover it in the context of fabric now, which is not our main focus, but obviously it does it is relevant. So we end up sort of looking at the application and application related, process related, and data management related sort of dataverse stuff, I would say, and Copilot Studio now.
Rudy Rodriguez:So how have you seen, you know, the power platform affect other competitors, you know, that Microsoft had, you know, especially in the automation world, you know, competitors like Nintex or things like that? How have you seen Microsoft's growth in that?
Jason Gumpert:They've been a healthy competitor, I think is the best way to put it. Think aligning their Power Automates, I would say it's a bit of a controversial product at this point in time. I think it's had a lot of promise over the years. But the Ryzen Copilot Studio raised questions about what its future is. I think Microsoft will continue to compete as a process automation vendor against competitors like Indian techs and others, as an RPA vendor against others. And I think just their size and their scope and their willingness to invest makes them relevant no matter what.
Rudy Rodriguez:Are you seeing any are you documenting a lot of these use cases of people, you know, using these products like this?
Jason Gumpert:In terms of, like, like, Power Automate and RPA scenarios, things like that?
Rudy Rodriguez:Mhmm.
Jason Gumpert:We could be doing more of it, I would say. I I've been busier tracking the product itself and not telling as many stories in that area as we probably could.
Rudy Rodriguez:Okay. Is that something that IAMCP members could bring to you and help publish some of that stuff?
Jason Gumpert:Yeah. For sure. I mean, we we love customer win stories and and success stories, especially in unique industries and things like that. So if you ever have you know, for your listeners, if you ever have a great story to tell about about clients or about kind of achievements that aren't just about yourself, like not just about your company especially, we love to hear those and we love to to bring people in to to get involved in writing those or we can even help write them for teams if they don't if they need a little bit of assistance. I mean, they're that's something we're very good at, I would say.
Rudy Rodriguez:Alright. Well, this is a shameless plug for my good friend, Jeff Goldstein. Jeff, there's an opportunity for you right here. I know you have a lot of stories that you can bring forward.
Jason Gumpert:Yeah.
Rudy Rodriguez:Yeah.
Jason Gumpert:You should be telling more of Jeff's, good stories.
Rudy Rodriguez:Yeah. I I used to hang around a lot with Jeff, and so that's why I know Jeff really, really well. And he's the one who really got me interested in it way back in the Toronto days where I got to meet the whole Dynamics team through Jeff. And I really dived into it. And I'm trying to remember the gentleman's name that we met who was heading up the Dynamics team at that time. But I got a three hour briefing from Microsoft on what they saw as the growth of the Dynamics channel, so I've been really encouraged by that. And that's why I encourage partners who, you know, if you're looking at at evolving your business and moving into different areas, that's definitely Dynamics is definitely one. And having the right people to help you implement that stuff is really important.
Jason Gumpert:Agreed. And, you know, I think there's there's a lot of partnership happening, but there's probably a lot more networking and and there's a lot more connect there are a lot more potential connections to be made, I think, I would say.
Rudy Rodriguez:Yeah. Well, there's significant opportunities because the the one thing, having been involved in this space for a long time, and and I even started before Microsoft even dived into this business, I actually started in the accounting world and with products like MASS 90 and things like that. And and so it was it's really interesting to see the evolution of this entire business and and people just need to commit to it because it is a learning process. It is a learning process. And you have to be very familiar with business processes to really help your customers achieve more, which is really important.
Jason Gumpert:Microsoft has a real goal of bringing more M365 and D365 customers together. They're uniting their own marketing around around those two. So I think we'll see encouragement from Microsoft on that point. But it's not it can't be forced. I mean, partners have to believe in it and they have to be prepared for it. So hopefully, we can do coverage on that as it continues to evolve. And we see it to some extent with with some partners who do advertise with us and do do events and so forth that they they wanna make other partners aware of what they can bring to the table.
Rudy Rodriguez:So in in your opinion, what's the best way for our part IAMCP partners to stay plugged into what what your organization is doing, you know, what latest news, research, and opportunities are there? I know they can register on your site, but is there any other way they can stay more plugged in?
Jason Gumpert:Yeah. So, I mean, that's that's the best first step is is register. You'll get access to our newsletters. You'll see sort of on a weekly, monthly basis what we're doing and what we're covering. Who else is who else is publishing content to to the site over time of all sorts.
Jason Gumpert:And as that as that all grows, think it it hopefully paints a picture of what we're about. But then, yeah, you can contact me directly. You know, if you have content ideas or questions. I'm jason@msdynamicsworld.com. You know, if you have sales questions, can just send them to sales@msdynamicsworld or just ask me. I'll just tell I'll tell you or I'll pass you along to my my colleague Adam who tends to run sales. But those are the best ways we try to keep it really, really simple in terms of how you interact with us and what we're doing.
Anthony Carrano:And I'd like to piggyback on that. So after they register, and you've because there's so many outweighs so many opportunities, right? If someone wants to maximize the value of MS Dynamics World, what's your top tip? Just give me one for me, for making them say, listen, if you're you register, make sure you do this one thing and you will you everybody can get tremendous value, you know, out if they do this one thing.
Jason Gumpert:That's a great question. I hate to say it depends. So I'll I'll just say I'll just say I'll just say, you know, open the newsletters. Open the newsletters. I'll just see.
Anthony Carrano:Or since he's not here, call Adam, Adam. What is voice mail?
Jason Gumpert:Adam loves to answer every question. No. He literally will. He'll answer. He he never stops answering questions. He he he'll respond to anything. I try to too. His patience is is is better than mine. But, yeah, I would say open the newsletters. You'll see sort of everything that you missed in the last week.
Jason Gumpert:If you take a look at that and you'll really kind of get the full picture, I think on a bi week. It's a bi weekly newsletter. So you'll get up sort of on a bi weekly basis, almost a full understanding of everything that's going on.
Anthony Carrano:Nice. Yeah.
Rudy Rodriguez:Nice.
Anthony Carrano:Jason-
Jason Gumpert:Follow us on LinkedIn if that would that'd be the other one.
Anthony Carrano:Yeah. When I was that's kind of a just segue really to my last question. I mean, this has been great. You've been very generous with your time. So I wanna thank you right out the you know, for that.
Anthony Carrano:What's the best way for folks to connect with you?
Jason Gumpert:Yeah, other than registering at the site, follow us on LinkedIn. We'll repost most of our content there that's original reporting at least and new stuff that we're developing on our side, as well as events that are coming up and all that, and event coverage that we do for in person events. So, yeah, LinkedIn.
Anthony Carrano:Okay. And for those listening, we'll have all those links in the show notes so they'd be able to easily access access that information. Well, Jason, this has been a lot of fun. Thank you, so much. And we'll definitely have to do it again sometime you have to drag Adam into it, man. Come on.
Jason Gumpert:Yeah, yeah, I will have to get to my IAMCP representation, and our and our podcast in an episode soon too. It's been a lot of fun. Thank you so much for having me.
Anthony Carrano:Absolutely. Absolutely. You have a great day.
Rudy Rodriguez:Take care, Jason.
Anthony Carrano:Well, was a great episode. I really appreciate Jason for taking so much time, joining us and sharing not only just the story behind MS Dynamics World, but also how, you know, the collaboration with IAMCP can open up a lot of new doors, you know, for our members.
Rudy Rodriguez:Oh, absolutely. You know, I I think it was a great talking to to Jason. He had some great stories to share, and and there's real opportunities for IAMCP members as well. You know, the fact that, MS Dynamics World, has been around for almost twenty years and has, over a 100,000 registered, users on their site and 30,000 partners. Those are great numbers and gives a with a broad reach like that, there's a great opportunity for our members to be able to contribute to their site.
Rudy Rodriguez:One of the stories that he shared was that companies can now blog on their site as well. So the the opportunity there, one, to get access to a ton of content that's gonna help them grow their business, help them introduce them to ISVs and other types of partners that can help them grow their Dynamics business. And now they can also expand their reach to a much broader market with their own blogs. That's a great opportunity for IAMCP members. And I was very thankful for for Jason sharing that with us.
Rudy Rodriguez:What are your thoughts?
Anthony Carrano:Yeah. No. That that's a really great point. And just to kinda piggyback, like, on the the ability not only for them to get the exposure, build the awareness, get the education, but also what I found really intriguing, was just the opportunities on the demand gen side. And you know, for those that are listening, if you check out msdwmarketing.com, that's where you can access like the media kit and some of the advertising opportunities not only.
Anthony Carrano:So if you're wanting to, you know, market to partners or if you're wanting to market to, you know, end users and, and consumers, Just a lot of really great opportunities, you know, to to build upon, you know, some of the things that you're talking about, like if they're wanting to generate leads. The other thing that I thought was really interesting and it it made me smile Rudy just because it made me really appreciate what we're doing, you know, here at IMCP is that, you know, like one of the gaps that they have is just in trying to, you know, gather and tell those stories. That's something IAMCP has been working really hard at doing and so there's an opportunity for our members, know, going back to like the content contribution piece to share, you know, not stories just about themselves really, but more so partner stories of how it's creating value, know, for the customers and these customer success stories. So for, you know, for our members there's a real opportunity for that type of content to contribute that would, you know, one stand out, be very appealing, you know, for MSDW, but also, you know, build the build the awareness for our partners.
Anthony Carrano:So I thought that was pretty cool. So I want to just encourage like for everyone listening, it was great episode. Here's your next steps. Visit www.msdynamicsworld.com to explore their news events and partner resources. You're also just look out for upcoming joint IAMCP and MSDW initiatives, as well as and don't be afraid to reach out if you've got you know, some expertise or short stories to share.
Rudy Rodriguez:So we want to thank all of you for joining us on this episode of IAMCP Profiles in Partnership powered by Dunamis Marketing. We hope you enjoyed this podcast and find it useful and inspiring. You can find links to everything we discussed in the show notes. And if you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe to Profiles in Partnership on your favorite podcast platform. Until next time, I'm still Rudy Rodriguez, and this has been Profiles in Partnership, where Microsoft partners come to connect, learn, and grow.
Rudy Rodriguez:To learn more, visit the website at www.iamcp.org.
