The Record - Issue 19: Winter 2020

34 www. t e c h n o l o g y r e c o r d . c om E X E CUT I V E I NT E R V I EW industry needs by incorporating independent software vendor (ISV) solutions. “We are very fortunate to have a very large and active ISV ecosystem across our product port- folio,” he says. “We see apps coming from dif- ferent kinds of partners – some completely new to Microsoft’s Business Applications ecosystem, as well as many of our long-standing partners like Seismic, Annata and Flintfox. Software pro- vider Mazik Global, for example, has launched six new products in eight weeks, and recently deployed its MazikCare Covid-19 Screening app, using a combination of Microsoft Power Apps, Dynamics 365 and Azure.” In the 2020 financial year, Microsoft Dynamics revenue surpassed $3 billion, with over 60 per cent fromDynamics 365.More than 4,500 organ- isations now use Dynamics 365 Commerce, Finance and Supply Chain Management, mak- ing it one of the fastest growing software-as-a- service solutions. But Microsoft is not resting on its laurels; it continues to make improvements to better meet the needs of Dynamics users. An October 2020 update included enhance- ments to theMicrosoftDynamics 365Connected Store, which will now offer store traffic and curb- side queue features, increasing shopper safety as stores reopen with Covid-19 precautions. These capabilities help retailers remain below capacity limits, design store layouts so that customers can maintain a safe distance, and improve the curb-side order experience. Security remains a top priority. New capa- bilities for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection help protect users – including retail- ers, public sector entities and credit issuers – and their customers against fraudulent activities. Microsoft has also introduced new Cloud and Edge Scale Unit add-ins for Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, which Alam says will “bring the power of the intelligent cloud to the edge, to help solve latency and connectiv- ity issues when running operations in remote facilities”. The add-ins allow organisations to run critical warehousing and manufactur- ing workloads on the edge using Azure stack devices to improve resilience and ensure 24/7 operations, even when temporarily discon- nected from the cloud. “Our focus going forward is to meet the most pressing needs of our customers,” says Alam. “You can expect to see more capabilities from us in helping customers make their supply chain more resilient, in enabling digital selling and digital commerce, and through continued investments across the portfolio.” Muhammad Alam spoke about the launch of new Dynamics 365 applications at a virtual event in October 2020 “Our partner ecosystem is vital to our success”