Sep 6, 2018
Recently, I found myself looking in the Google Play Store for a
mobile app to solve some issue. I found several options that were
close, but none met my need perfectly. My choices were: a) continue
to live with an unmet need, b) Use one of the apps that was
close... but not really, or c) Hire a mobile app developer and
build one, which would be insane. The challenges for Business
Applications have been similar up to now, but that is changing.
The Current Landscape
If you are a business in need of a Business Application, which, as
a business, sounds like an application you might want, you have a
few paths. Before I go further, let's level-set on what I am
referring to by "Business Applications". In today's terms, Business
Applications include things like your CRM system, ERP system (for
finance), Project Management System, Business Operations Systems,
etc. These are distinct from other utility applications your
business also needs, like Email, word-processing, etc. Business
Applications are really the foundation of a business. For any
business, imagine what a mess you would have without your
accounting software, for example. While many people still use
things like Email as a Business Solution, at some point of growth,
that flywheel simply gets to big to effectively turn with that AAA
Battery. This is when you would consider the power-plant
known as Business Applications. Let's set aside for the moment what
your actual requirements are, and I know we can't set them
aside, but it will only be for a minute, so I think we'll be okay.
Your options, regardless of your specific requirements, will fall
into four buckets. Purpose-Built Industry Solutions (Acme Law
Software), Broad Solutions (Like Quickbooks or Nimble), Solution
Platforms (Like Dynamics 365 or Salesforce.com), or Custom
Development. Let's continue to leave your requirements aside for
now, and dump these four buckets over for a closer look.
BizApps Buckets
So like one of those dating reality shows, we'll go ahead and
eliminate one option right off the bat: Custom Development. Custom
development is for the people who build these buckets, as a
customer you have no business, or budget for building anything from
scratch. Even the US Government has moved from pure Custom
Development, to Extending Off-the-Shelf software and platforms. So
that was easy, let's take a look at the Broad Solutions. Broad
Solutions are a typical next step from Email and Spreadsheets
alone... they are a toe in the Business Solutions water. They are
typically designed for the widest possible customer segment, to
fill a fairly narrow requirement. We see many customers who, over
time, have cobbled together complete business solutions using
multiple broad solutions. They will turn a bigger flywheel than
Email alone, so we'll think of them as having 12 AA Batteries.
Depending on how fast you are growing, and how much patience you
have for maintaining a House of Cards, Broad Solutions could last
you for quite some time. So we won't eliminate this Bachelor yet,
we'll just say his prospects for long-term relationship material
look dim. The next bucket is "Purpose-Built Industry Solutions",
and without even knowing what your industry is, I can safely say,
there is a least one for your industry. These "Industry-In-A-Box"
type solutions, really blew up in the prior two decades. Before to
the cloud revolution, many of these pricey solutions were cash cows
for the bucket owners. But with the current speed of change, most
of these have suffered from their inability to keep up with what
everybody expects today, like web and mobile access, or analytics,
for example. They also suffered from "Here's How it Works
Syndrome", essentially dictating a fixed process for everyone in
their Industry, with little wiggle room. Salesforce.com changed
everything, by launching a cloud based "solution" platform that
could be customized to meet your needs. It remains the highest
selling Business Application, dwarfing all other
"Industry-In-A-Box" solutions combined. Microsoft also joined the
"Customizable Cloud Solutions" fray with Dynamics 365, and between
them, suddenly the idea that you have to conform your business to
your software became a silly notion. Both Salesforce.com and
Microsoft Dynamics 365 offer what might be considered on the
surface as "Industry in a Box" solutions, but without a specific
industry focus. They both have pre-built finished applications...
but the similarity ends there. These finished applications are
completely customizable to meet any requirements you may have.
Granted, you have to know what you are doing, or engage a partner,
but the cost of customizing on top of these platforms, is a
fraction of the cost of Pure Custom Development, to get exactly
what you want. This... has been the huge shift over the last
decade.
What's Next?
Well, what's next for Dynamics 365, is recently catching up with
another option Salesforce.com has offered for years, plus adding a
bunch of new things Salesforce.com can't touch. First, catching up
with the availability of a "Platform Only" license. I have
written
quite a bit about this exciting door that Microsoft has opened,
primarily from an ISV standpoint, but this will be huge for
customers as well. While the first-party apps are awesome, and
extending them to be whatever you want, should not break the bank,
there are some scenarios where they may not be the best starting
point. While being customizable, the first-party apps make a lot of
assumptions in their default deployment about how your business
should run. Sales, for example, assumes a fairly specific path of
Lead-to-Opportunity, Quote-to-Order, Order-to-Invoice, etc. This
includes Views, Forms and Business Processes to match. Many
businesses operate that way, and many others can customize this
functionality to fit their needs. But what about a business that
does not operate that way... at all... not even close? In those
cases, it may make more sense to start with a Platform License and
build exactly what you want. Obviously there is a step of weighing
that needs to be considered. Weighing the cost of customizing the
first-party app(s) vs. the cost of building your own app(s) on a
naked platform. You would also have to take into consideration the
difference in the recurring cost of the subscription licenses over
time. But for some, it is an interesting new door.
Only Microsoft
While much of what I described above could be said for other
platforms, there are a couple of significant things that are
uniquely Microsoft, that I want to point out. The combination of
Office 365 + Dynamics 365 + Power Platform + Azure is something
that only Microsoft can deliver on. Charles Lamanna, GM of the
Platform, helped me crystallize two truly unique scenarios:
- Deep Office 365 integration across transactional experiences
(e.g. Outlook add-in) as well as intelligent experiences (e.g.
Relationship Insights / AI).
- Deep Azure integration, to enable a “power-to-pro” experience
for customers. That is, they can start by configuring Business
Apps, then customizing them with PowerApps, and then jumping into
Azure using Visual Studio, Xamarin or VS Code, to develop against
them as needed.
So about those requirements of yours that I set aside a while back;
as you can see, it really doesn't matter. Obviously Microsoft can
meet your Business requirements, whatever they may be. But
comparing your your list of requirements today, to your list of
requirements from 3 years ago will reveal a lot of differences. I
think it is fair to say that your requirements will continue to
evolve over time. So the bigger question is, who will also meet
your unknown future requirements? I'm betting on Microsoft.