The SMB Opportunity for App Publishers
Our mission is to empower every individual and every organization on the planet to achieve more. This is particularly key for the 78 million small and mid-sized businesses (SMB) worldwide that increasingly want focus on tech intensity to be more resilient, more capable of transforming their products and services to face the constant changes and challenges in the marketplace. To embrace growth, every organization will have to have a business application which breaks down the silos of data, processes and workflow in their operations. This enables employees to respond to daily challenges and opportunities with agility. Market research shows that the business applications opportunity for software companies in the SMB space is predicted to be 51 billion dollars by 2025. As a developer, you want to make sure you bet on the winning platform. The BizApps market growth in this area is 17%; however Dynamics 365 platform growth has been growing at 47%!
Dynamics 365 Business Central
Dynamics 365 Business Central is an all-in-one business management solution that connects operations for small to mid-sized business. It ensures business continuity with a cloud solution that connects sales, service, finance, and operations to help teams adapt faster and deliver result. Business Central provides app publishers with a modern business platform that you can easily connect to, extend and build on — with little to no code required.
Microsoft AppSource
Microsoft AppSource is part of Microsoft's commercial marketplace where customers can find, try and get business solutions apps. It is the launch pad for your joint go-to-market activities with Microsoft and a flywheel for business growth. Using launch promotion, demand generation, and joint sales and marketing, your offer portfolio on AppSource can be the centerpiece of your cloud business engine.
In November 2020, Microsoft AppSource had more than 3 million monthly active users and more than +20.000 apps. Specifically for Business Central, there are more than 1000 apps available, and the number is growing fast.
Go-to Market Scenarios
As an AppSource publisher you can focus on these scenarios with Business Central and Microsoft AppSource:
- Connect
- Extend, or
- Embed
Connect
Connect your existing online service with Business Central through a powerful API. Here are a few examples which of existing connect apps which you can find on AppSource:
Square payments, which allow you take payments with a Square terminal.
Certify which allows users to post expense reports using Certify.com
Scaptify, which connects your Shopify store with Business Central
Learn more about the API to build connect apps: Getting Started Developing Connect Apps
Extend
You can extend the default capabilities in Business Central to add extra productivity features or industry functionality to fit the needs of your customer base. The possibilities are plentiful.
In countries where Business Central is not localized by Microsoft, you can extend Business Central based on local requirements to respond to the regulatory and or competitive needs of that market.
Here are a few examples of some apps that extend Business Central:
E-Ship and E-Receive from Lanham Associates, which extends warehouse management with barcoding and labelling, scanning functionality and interfaces with carriers and weigh scales.
Continia Document Capture, which is an end-to-end solution for document recognition, invoice approval and digital archiving
Philippines localization from Pasi, which computes the withholding tax as mandated by the Philippine government for both customers and vendors.
SwissSalary 365, which is a certified and flexible payroll app that's intuitive and easy to use for the Swiss market
Learn more on how to build your app: Getting Started with AL
Embed
Embed Business Central as an integral component in an end-to-end industry solution. Here are a few examples of embed solutions available on Microsoft AppSource:
4PS construct, an all-in one solution for construction. 4PS has specifically developed an integrated software solution based on the Microsoft platform and tailored for construction, civil engineering, mechanical and electrical, service and maintenance, house builders and equipment rental companies
LS Central from LS Retail. The complete, unified commerce online platform to manage your entire retail and food service operations
Dynamics Empire Online, cegeka-dsa's open, secure and innovative real estate solution.
Learn more about embed apps: Embed app overview
Consultancy services
An increasing number of business users find web more convenient for buying where they can research, deploy and manage apps. Therefore, next to providing Apps, a publisher can also market consultancy services on Microsoft AppSource to connect with buyers. The provided content in these offers could be assessments, briefings, workshops, proof of concepts and implementations. In general the services are typically fixed in scope and duration, they are offered at a fixed price or free and have a defined outcome.
Here are a few examples of Consultancy services provided by publishers:
Unified Commerce Readiness Intro: 1-Hr Assessment In this 1 hour assessment, LS Retail assesses how a 4-day engagement helps them with implementing their Unified Commerce Cloud solution based on Microsoft Dynamics 365.
NAV-X Commission Mgt Gold 4-Hr Implementation in this 4 hour implementation workshop, NAV-X supports the customers in implementing their commission management app.
Learn more about Consultancy Services.