This is the Day

I'll be honest. I probably listen to the band, The The, every day. But even though this post borrows their title and the same name of Richard Blade's SiriusXM radio show, I am using this title to describe what I'm observing at the Dynamics User Group Summit occurring in Phoenix, Arizona this week. This is the Day (and every day you're fortunate to be at an event such as this) to fundamentally transform your company!

This event, like so many before, is such a great intersection of good becoming greater customers, supportive partners, knowledgeable experts and the integral support of Microsoft for users of the Dynamics 365 platform, AX, NAV, CRM and GP plus the ever-increasing Power BI platform. And on this first full day, the expo opened with many bright eyed vendors ready to talk about how they incrementally or substantially improve the technologies people use.

In short, there's no shortage of awesome happening and great projections for this community. But there's a less star-studded but powerful reality for customers wanting to have a solid data strategy. This reality is particularly stinging for people on older technologies, still a little unsure of moving forward and some with just very unique reporting requirements. Of course, there are partners who will rightfully sign up for whatever these customers want to do, as those relationships run deep and often culminate annually at events like this, where ideas fuse with future budgets.

But the reality possibly feels like quicksand for those with this question... "How do we move if what we want isn't there yet?" of "How do we move if we can't take it with us?"

So that's what this has to do with "This is the Day"! There's plenty of technology, none better than ZAP's Awesome Data Hub platform, to move you forward, NOW. Not in a year or even a month, often tools like ZAP Data Hub make their presence known QUICKLY (like in days!!!) and marry nicely with your chosen BI tool(s).

So what can you transform now (practically on THIS day)? You can do amazing things but I'll stick with some points relevant to automating your Data Management.

1. Accommodate multiple data sources and end up with one resultant platform. Yes, that version of ERP older than your middle schooler, has valuable data but not if you continue to run a product and have relied on its reporting since before Obama became President. You can make a very legitimate and successful attempt to simplify the consumption of data by establishing a solid data platform and introducing new ways to consume it to the business. Old data made better! Adding value never goes out of style!
2. As you navigate the world of partners and ISVs, be leary of ANYONE who proposes building any type of multi-data source data platform (data warehouse) from the ground up. If someone tells you this or worse that they have an accelerator for your particular data sources and they can have a data warehouse which you REALLY WANT, in days, ask them to prove it. If they can great, if they can't .... that's okay, their value is probably not as profound as what we offer at ZAP, a highly effective, evolving data warehouse.
3. You absolutely SHOULD embrace Power BI (or Tableau or another front-end) but know that the power of data visualization is only as good at the data platform you're building on top of. There are those who would remark you have everything you need in one of these tools to support acquiring data, preparing data, presenting data and analyzing data. Yes, Power BI can acquire data and do some degree of modelling, but I would argue this is not really the sweet spot of Power BI. I would also say the same is true with Tableau, in different ways. We completely love these products. In fact, we happen to have some great examples of both here. Not only do I love these tools but I equally enjoy speaking to their users and they've really given much good feedback. Out of this feedback, I'll tell you as lifelong data technologist, the evolution of customers on #ERP and #CRM applications sets the stage for an all-encompassing solution (like PowerBI only or Tableau only) failing spectacularly in the face of business changes or increased data requirements, things like acquisitions. Ask yourself...what data do you have?
4. Did I say Power BI and Tableau are good? They aren't .... THEY ARE GREAT! But I'll tell you ZAP makes them better, your life easier and let's you focus on giving users what they need versus data wrangling and general, "heavy lifting" of data requirements.

ZAP provides the single data platform for all of your sources, ZAP provides a speed pass to delivering your data warehouse on Azure (if you choose to go to the cloud or if you want to keep your data sources On-Prem with SQL Server) and frankly, we're speaking ERP and CRM across many vendors which means no matter what solution might be on the horizon, the opportunity to act is very much here, Today!

If your adoption isn't great, an embedded Power BI dashboard isn't going to make life better for you in Dynamics 365.

At some point, the models which run your visualization tools reach their lower limit. There's no more data to show. And that folks, can KILL adoption!

Now, if your adoption of data really needs an intervention, maybe it is because your data needs to really stop being a second class citizen to tools like your ERP or popular technology from Microsoft/Consulting partners. Maybe your adoption will improve exponentially when the data (and subsequently information) you need can be gathered from multiple sources and maintained in one place, with accessibility from ANY tool.

Yes, users can and should be empowered to look at the data platform in the tool which makes the most sense be it Power BI, Tableau or even Excel; ZAP provides this where other technologies simply do not.

So, if you're at the Dynamics User Community Summit event, and think this sounds different than what you've heard from us at ZAP in the past, COME SEE US in booth 954!

Our simple message is greater than ever before...

"Instant Business Reporting and No Data Headache".

This is the Day! And we have lots to share.

If you're unable to see us at the event, please visit us at www.zapbi.com and if you want to talk shop or be in the loop on all the good things going on with ZAP, give us a follow on Twitter @ZAP_DATA or me @TreyJohnson