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Ramadan 2017 starts soon – Ramadan Kareem to all of our readers -Synergy Software Systems

May 25th, 2017

The holy month of Ramadan is expected to start this weekend. “The Saudi Supreme Court has already called on all Muslims throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to sight the crescent of the Holy Month of Ramadan on Thursday, May 25- it is expected that Ramadan will officially start on either Friday or Saturday.

During this period of fasting and spiritual reflection there will be several changes to our office routine:
Those working at site will work client hours
Our offices will be closed on Fridays and Saturdays until end of Ramadan.
From Sunday to Thursday our work hours will be 9 am-5pm

\Visitors will be provided with water in the conference room at their request, but will otherwise generally not be offered refreshment.

Some Guidance for those new to the region.
It is very easy to forget in hot weather that there are cultural norms and that authorities and others will be offended if these are not followed. It is a difficult enough time in this climate for those who fast, so please show due respect. You may well be stopped by the police for e.g. drinking a bottle of water in your parked car, or you may offend others by eating sweets, or your own food.

This is a very difficult time due to the hot, humid weather, which is expected to get a lot hotter, and we encourage you all to take adequate drinks of water at the appropriate times.

Dress code: Dubai has fairly relaxed standards that it is a tourist destination, but please be extra aware of the need to behave and dress with modesty and decorum and respect in this period.

Public shops and restaurants. Opening hours may be amended because those too will have shorter working hours – so plan ahead. In most cases shops will open after Iftar and will stay open much later than usual.

Alcohol sales, and public entertainment, music etc. will be stopped.

Some restaurants and shops may serve takeaway food during daylight hours, but will not be open for sit down meals.Some hotels may have segregated screened areas where food can be obtained.

Clinics, doctors, pharmacies etc. may also have reduced working hours.

Travel
Paid parking zones in Dubai,
The tariff will apply to all car parks (Zone: A, B, C, D, and G) from Saturday to Thursday at two periods:
from 08:00 am to 05:00 pm,
and from 07:00 pm to 12:00 (midnight).
The tariff will apply to the parking of the:
Dubai Silicon Oasis (Zone H), Saturday to Thursday, from 08:00 am to 10:00 pm,
Tecom (Zone F), Saturday to Thursday, from 08:00 am to 06:00 pm,
Fish Market (Zone E) from 08:00 am to 11:00 pm daily from Saturday to Friday,

Bus services
Public bus main stations, like Gold Souq Station, will open from 04:25 am to 12:00 (midnight)
Al Ghubaiba Station from 04:30 am to 12:00 (midnight).
Subsidiary stations, like Al Satwa, will operate from 04:57 am to 11:35 pm, and Route C01 will operate around-the-clock at Satwa.
Al Qusais Station will open 04:30 am to 12:00 (midnight),
Al Quoz Industrial Station will operate from 05:00 am to 11:30 pm,
Jebel Ali Station will be offering service from 05:00 am to 12:00 (midnight).

Stations of Metro Link buses, such as Al Rashidiya, Mall of the Emirate, Ibn Battuta, Burj Khalifa-Dubai Mall, Abu Hail and Etisalat, will open from 05:00 am to 12:20 am (past midnight).
The timing of all Metro Link buses will match the timing of the metro service.

Inter-city bus stations will operate in Ramadan as follows:
Main stations like Al Ghubaiba will operate around-the-clock to Sharjah (Jubail), and from 4:30 AM to 12:00 midnight to Abu Dhabi.
• Subsidiary stations, like Union Square, will operate from 04:35 am to 01:25 am (of the following day).
• Al Sabkha Station will open from 06:15 am to 01:30 am (of the following day).
• Deira City Centre Station will open from 05:35 am to 11:30 pm,
• Karama Station will open from 06:10 am to 10:20 pm,
• Al Ahli Club Station will open from 05:55 am to 10:15 pm .
• External stations, like Sharjah Al Taawon, will operate from 05:30 am to 10:00 pm,
• Fujairah Station will open from 05:15 am to 09:30 pm,
• Hatta Station from 05:30 am to 09:30 pm, and Ajman Station from 04:27 am to 11:00 pm.

Metro services
Dubai Metro services, the Red Line stations will run service in Ramadan from Saturday to Wednesday from 05:30 am to 12:00 (midnight).
On Thursday, stations will open from 05:30 am to 01:00 am (of the following day)
On Friday from 10:00 am to 01:00 am (of the following day).
There will be no change in the timing of the Express Metro service during Ramadan.
The Green Line stations will operate in Ramadan from Saturday to Wednesday from 05:50 am to 12:00 (midnight).
On Thursday, stations will operate from 05:50 am to 01:00 am (of the following day)
On Friday from 10:00 am to 01:00 am (of the following day).

Dubai Tram
The Dubai Tram will operate from Saturday to Thursday from 06:30 am to 01:00 am, and on Friday from 09:00 am to 01:00 am (of the following day).

Marine transport
The schedules of marine transit services during Ramadan :
The Water Bus will shuttle in marina stations (Marina Mall, Marina Walk, Marina Terrace, Marina Promenade) from 12:00 at noon up to 12:00 midnight.
The Water Taxi will operate from 09:00 am until 10 pm.
Dubai Ferry will be calling at Ghubaiba Station at 11:00 am and 06:30 pm.
The Ferry will operate from Marina at 11:00 am, 05:00 pm and 06:30 pm.
From Al Jaddaf Station to Dubai Water Canal Station, the Ferry will be running service at 10:00 am and 05:30 pm
From Dubai Water Canal Station to Al Jaddaf Station at 12:05 at noon and 07:35 pm.

The timing of Abra during Ramadan will be as follows:
Traditional Abra will operating at (Ghubaiba, Baniyas, and Dubai Old Souq), from 10:00 am until 12:00 (midnight).
At Al Jaddaf Station, Dubai Festival City, it will operate from 07:00 am to 12:00 (midnight).
At the Sheikh Zayed Road Station (Dubai Water Canal), it will operate from 08:00 pm to 02:00 am (of the following day).
The Electric Abra will be operating at Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall from 08:00 pm until 11:30 pm,
At Al Mamzar from 08:00 pm to 02:00 am (of the following day).

Testing centres
Technical testing centres run by suppliers will offer services in respect of light vehicles during Ramadan in the morning only without prior appointment. Technical testing services of heavy vehicles will be offered in the morning and evening.

The business hours of strategic partners’ centers will be as follows:
Tasjeel Enoc (Al Qusais, Al Awir, Al Barsha, Al Tawar and Warsan) from Saturday to Thursday will be open in two shifts. In the morning from 08:00 am to 04:00 pm and in the evening from 09:00 pm to 02:00 am (of the following day).
Hatta Center will open from 09:00 am to 03:00 pm,
Jebel Ali Centre will open from 08:00 am to 04:00 pm.

Emarat, Shamil, Al-Adid, Wasl, Al-Muhaisna, Nad Al Hamar, Al Jaddaf and Al Arabi Centers will open from Saturday to Thursday on two shifts. In the morning from 09:00 am to 04:00 pm and in the evening from 09:00 pm to 02:00 am (of the following day).

Quick Registration Centre will also open in two shifts:
In the morning from 09:00 am to 05:00 pm and in the evening from 09:00 pm to 03:00 am (of the following day).
PAL Garage will open from 09:00 am to 04:00 pm,
Al Shirawi Enterprises Centre will open from 09:00 am to 05:00 pm.
Al Mumayaz Centre will open from Saturday to Thursday (at Al Mizhar Markets and Al Barsha Mall) on two shifts.
In the morning, it will open from 09:00 am to 04:00 pm and in the evening from 09:00 pm to 01:00 am (of the following day).
Tamam Speedfit & Cars Centers will open from Saturday to Thursday on two shifts.
In the morning, they will open from 09:00 am to 04:00 pm and in the evening from 09:00 pm to 02:00 am (of the following day).

Centres that will open on Friday during Ramadan are: Tasjeel Enoc (Al Qusais and Al Barsha) from 09:00 pm to 02:00 am (of the following day); they will offer VIP Service for processing transactions only.
Wasil-Al Arabi Centre will open on Friday from 09:00 pm to 02:00 am (of the following day),
Quick Registration Centre will open from 09:00 pm to 03:00 am (of the following day).

Health.
Those who are fasting from early morning need to be aware of the risk of fatigue or feinting especially if driving long distances and should adjust their meal times and sleeping hours.

With an earlier finish we may all get a lot more exposure to sunlight. Take care to avoid overexposure. We are close to the equator and the sun’s radiation is much stronger here than is generally realized even on a cloudy day. Protect your eyes with sunglasses, if you are fair skinned then also consider sun cream, or long sleeves or a parasol and/or a hat. The locals cover themselves from head to foot for good reason. Long distance driving e.g. to Abu Dhabi also creates risk of overexposure.

Service centres
Customers’ happiness centres will be operating from Sunday to Thursday at different times.
Umm Al Romool, Al Barsha, Deira and Al Kafaf Centers will open from 09:00 am to 02:00 pm.
Al Tawar, Al Manara, and Al Awir Centers will operate from 09:00 am to 05:00 pm.

Some general Ramadan Do’s and Don’ts
DO… make the most of the community spirit. Say ‘Ramadan Kareem’ to friends and colleagues, introduce yourself to those neighbours to whom ‘you’ve always meant to say ‘hi , organise an after-work iftar, and catch up with friends and family.
DO… understand that many locals become a night owl. Everything happens later during Ramadan. Malls are open past midnight and suhoors go into the early hours.
email responses may take longer, and it may take a little more planning to process visas, or just about any other government business transaction if their working hours are reduced
DO… your bit for a good cause. Ramadan is a good time to put your money where your mouth is. The UAE has a wide range of charitable and volunteering organisations.
DON’T… forget the ‘rules.
If you’re not a Muslim, then they still apply – you’re still expected to be respectful.
It’s frowned upon to dress inappropriately, eat, drink or smoke during daylight, play loud music or swear in public. At the very least these things are frowned upon and will cause discomfort to others, and at worst you may find yourself in trouble with the police or fined.
DON’T… lose your patience. Working hours are likely to be shorter (and perhaps a little less productive), those who are fasting tend to be tired, and the UAE’s roads will be more hectic at times.

سائلين الله عـز وجـل أن يرزقكـم فيه مغـفـره ورحمه وعتق من النار.
We ask ALLAH Almighty to bless you with forgiveness and mercy and freedom from fire

May all your prayers be answered.

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Posted in Dubai and regional news, Events, General Synergy News

VAT Phase 1 – open for registration.

March 20th, 2017

An event aimed at all businesses to explain the rules of the new VAT system will cover the general application of the new VAT rules and will not focus on any specific industry sector.​ Several workshops are scheduled across the U.A.E.

Dubai
Date:12/04/2017
Morning session Time:09:00 AM-12:00 PM
Afternoon session Time: 02:00 PM-05:00 PM
Attendees:500
Place: Please note that the exact venue details will be sent to you 72 hours before the event.

Similar events will be held on 18th and 30th April in Dubai.

An excise briefing will be held Excise Tax briefing. An event aimed at businesses involved in the import, production and sale of tobacco products, carbonated drinks and energy drinks to explain the rules of the new Excise Tax system , ​will be held 10 May in Dubai.

An event aimed at small and medium businesses to explain the rules of the new VAT system. The event will cover the general application of the new VAT rules and will not focus on any specific industry sector.​
City:Dubai
Date:16/05/2017
Time:09:00 AM-12:00 PM

Similar session are planned for other Emirates details: https://www.mof.gov.ae/En/Pages/workshops.aspx

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Posted in Corporate Perfomance Management, Dubai and regional news, Events

Spa Event -Deyafa Systems Dubai – featuring ‘Core’ by Premier Software

March 14th, 2017

GEMS auditorium
10:00-12:30 16 March 2017
Microsoft Gulf Offices: Dubai Internet City

– What are the challenges an opportunities for the spa industry in the U.A.E. ?
– Hear from industry professionals.
– Find out how Core from Premier Software and Deyafa Systems can help you increase you inquiry conversion, and customer retention, and drive your SPA REVPATH.

Premier Software gets to the ‘Core’ of your business.
The industry’s leading spa business management software companies has confirmed as a key speaker at an exclusive one day event held at the Microsoft Gulf, Gem Auditorium, Internet city, Dubai.

Premier Software has teamed up with Deyafa Hospitality Solutions to host an exclusive event showcasing its flagship software system – Core by Premier Software (Core).

The event is supported by Microsoft and Synergy Software Systems,.

Developed specifically for the spa, wellness and leisure industry, Core is already the software system of choice for many leading hotels and spas across the world including the Buji Club – Burj Khalifa, InterContinental® Dubai Marina, Nikki Beach Resort & Spa, The Belfry and The Corinthia.

Core brings together over two decades of experience to deliver a business management system that provides a complete overview of your business at the touch of a button. Core is available both as a single site, and a multi-site solution.

Stephen Jones, Director, of Dubai’s Deyafa Systems will present a key note speech on spa challenges and opportunities in the region that encompasses: economic, demographic, statutory, and technological changes, key spa metrics and industry trends.

Leonie Wileman, Premier’s Chief Operating Officer, will then showcase ‘Core’ and how its capabilities help a spa be more profitable. “The spa and wellness industry is constantly evolving and many of our clients are looking for a robust IT solution that not only integrates with existing PMS, but can also flex to accommodate future growth,” she said. “The event is an ideal opportunity for visitors to explore Core, see how it works and integrates with existing systems and fully understand how it can transform a business. Core helps to maximise profitability, to streamline day-to-day operations and to pinpoint areas for growth. It is easy-to-use for everyone form the Group Financial Director’s through to the therapists and reception staff.”

The event will also showcase the Core solution with a live demonstration.

We will also hear about some implementations of Core, in prominent spas.

There will be opportunity to mix with other regional spa professionals at the event.

Deyafa Systems is a Dubai based speciality provider of globally branded hospitality solutions. Stephen Jones, Director of Deyafa Systems, said. “We are excited about the new release of Core, an integrated, new generation of spa software. It builds in Premier Software’s years of spa management experience and leverages Microsoft’s powerful technology to improve REVPATH, customer conversion and customer retention.“

Key functions in Core include: online bookings, memberships, scheduling, retail sales, automated marketing and extensive reporting features

Premier has been working with Deyafa since 2003 to provide hospitality IT solutions to both independent spas, and wellness centres, and to large international hotel groups. With its single database structure that can be tailored to meet a sap business’s exact requirements,

Core is rapidly proving to be the software system of choice for the industry.

To register:
Call Suresh 00971 4 3365589/ 33744582
or
Email: suresh.savari@synergy-software.com
or
register on line http://deyafasystems.com/PremierSPAevent

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Posted in Dubai and regional news, Events, General Synergy News, Healthcare, Hospitality

Spa challenges and opportunities in the U.A.E. – Deyafa Systems event 16 March 2017

March 7th, 2017

What challenges and opportunities face Spa operators this year?
Find out at this focused seminar to be held at Microsoft Gulf offices on 16 March 2017

Hear about the Digital Revolution from Microsoft

Key Note speech by Deyafa Systems:
Dubai Department of Economic Development, ‘Blue Book’, new requirements – dual language, e cashier
VAT introduction – are you ready?
Economic situation” Oil prices? Trump travel ban? Brexit? VAT? U.A,E, GDP and budget forecasts?
SMAC: Social Mobile, Analytics, Cloud
IoT -connected devices turn information to action
Wellness – medical tourism
New treatments
Aging population
Generation Z
and much much more…

The “Core” solution for spa has had huge success since it launch last year in the U.K. In the last quarter of 2016 it was introduced to the U,A.E. and early adopters include Nikki Beach Spa and the Burj Club.

The event will end with a live demonstration by Premier Software who have partnered with Deyafa Systems locally to provide Spa solutions to the region since 2003.

If you have not received an invitation and would like to attend then please contact Deyafa Systems as soon as possible to register. Take this opportunity to meet with other Spa professionals and to get update insights to guide your strategy.

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Posted in Dubai and regional news, Events, Healthcare, Hospitality

Synergy Software Systems, Dubai goes to Microsoft WPC Toronto 2016.

July 16th, 2016

The WPC 2016 in Toronto was the first WPC to be sold out. More than 16,000 attendees from 135 countries.

In his keynote, Satya Nadella demonstrated how Microsoft is dedicated to continue to support the growth of its customers and partners through new innovations and partnerships, driven by the Microsoft ambitions to reinvent productivity and business processes, build the intelligent cloud platform, and create more personal computing. see https://partner.microsoft.com/en-US/wpc/wpc-2016-vision-keynotes
Nadella stated that the entire Gross Domestic Product is being shaped by digital technology. You can learn more about the transformative power of technology in his new LinkedIn post, Reinventing Business Processes.
On Day 1 Satya Nadella described the three core ambitions that Microsoft will pivot the business around in FY17. It was the turn of three VPs to flesh out the story for each of these:
• Build the intelligent cloud platform – Scott Guthrie (@scottgu), Executive VP Cloud + Enterprise Group
• Reinvent productivity & business processes – Kirk Koenigsbauer (@kjkoenigsbauer), Corporate VP, Office Marketing
• Create more personal computing – Yusuf Mehdi (@yusuf_i_mehdi), Corporate VP, Windows & Devices

This year in particular, the message of digital transformation has been very strong, and has been anchored around what Scott Guthrie, Executive Vice President of the Cloud and Enterprise Group, called “a generational shift” of organisations seeking to move their business to the cloud. Scott as usual pleased the crowd with lots of great info on the scale and industry leading capability of Azure. He claimed that the 34 Azure regions are more than AWS and Google combined, talked up the increasingly “open” nature of services available on Azure and highlighted Azure’s leadership position in multiple Gartner Magic Quadrants (https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/campaigns/magic-quadrant/).

Scott referenced a great set of resources covering key Solution Areas that are enabled with Azure (https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/solutions/). Scott closed out his presentation with a review of management tools. EMS now called Enterprise Mobility + Security (https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/server-cloud/enterprise-mobility/Overview.aspx) kicked things off (apparently 40% of installed Office365 base have access to EMS). He invited Julie White to show a couple of new tools within EMS.

Azure Information Protection (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/cloud-platform/azure-information-protection) was also pretty impressive in the way that rights management and control of Microsoft Office documents was simplified and automated so that users might actually use it (all be it in the controlled world of demos).
Cloud App Security (https://www.microsoft.com/en/server-cloud/products/cloud-app-security/) can identify the SaaS apps that are running within your business and allow you to drill down into detailed information on each of these (apparently they have information on 13,000 SaaS applications).
Next up was Operation Management + Security/OMS (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/cloud-platform/operations-management-suite) allowing management across multiple environments (including non Microsoft such as vmware).

The big news here was that EMS and OMS are available to partners through the CSP licensing program.

A starring role in this section went to Facebook. Tim Campos (@tcampos) – the Facebook CIO explained that they had decided to go with Office 365 and then gave a glowing endorsement of Microsoft.

‘We need partnerships with industry leaders and we are glad that Microsoft has got its mojo back.’ He explained that Facebook employees spend four hours per day in collaboration systems with an unprecedented access to information. He discussed how tools such as Delve, Clutter and Microsoft Graph would help employees “sift through the noise”. . This was a huge endorsement of Office365.

There were some good demos across the Office 365 capability including Delve Personal Analytics (https://products.office.com/en-us/business/explore-office-delve) which was both impressive but a little Orwellian
The demo of all the capabilities of the Office suite from SharePoint to Skype was very slick and you can watch it at the 19:10 min mark in this video https://player.vimeo.com/video/174410386

In the last part of the day1 keynote there was one BIG item-
Windows10 is now available through the CSP program as a subscription service and called Windows10 Enterprise E3 at USD$7/seat/month. Providers will be able to wrap up a full end to end solution suite and buy it under a single subscription program (CSP) – Azure + Office365 + Dynamics365 + Windows10 E3.

Azure Stack (https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/overview/azure-stack/) got another call out, although there was not too much detail. A short discussion about the common APIs and services and how this would help deliver the vision of the Hybrid Cloud. However, for the service provider community this is a “must find out more” area.
Azure stack becomes an extension of Microsoft Azure and together they will become a huge connected network of compatible Azure services. @maryjofoley provided more detail in her article (http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-readies-first-technical-preview-of-azure-stack-hybrid-cloud-bundle/).
The sad news is that it has only just gone into beta and without it the new Dynamics Ax RTW will not be available till next year (as predicted by us long back in a blog post).
And for the official Microsoft site go to https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/overview/azure-stack/.

Microsoft and General Electric on Monday announced a deal to make GE’s industrial software platform available on Microsoft’s cloud, a move that puts Microsoft one step closer to its cloud computing rival Amazon. The deal also bolsters GE’s software ambitions. One memorable phrase was “Digital Twins” where IoT sensors feed data about a physical object to a virtual/ digital companion to allow near real-time review of status etc. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Twins).

Last week’s announcement of Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft AppSource to showcase just how seriously Microsoft takes this message. Available this fall, Microsoft Dynamics 365 will unify the current Microsoft CRM and ERP cloud solutions into one cloud service with new purpose-built apps to help manage specific business functions. Microsoft AppSource will be Microsoft’s new destination for business users to find and try out line-of-business SaaS apps from Microsoft and Microsoft partners.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 will bring together the best of CRM and ERP cloud offerings into one cloud service with specific, purpose built, apps for each of your key business processes – like Finance, Sales, Customer Service, etc.

To ensure interoperability and extensibility they also use a common data model and consistent application platform. The common data model is a cloud-resident, business database, with hundreds of standard business entities spanning both business process (Dynamics 365) and productivity (Office 365).

The combination of these things gives customers a comprehensive solution for business process innovation that lets them:
• Start with what they need by offering apps that fit roles, industries, businesses – and grow at their pace to run their entire business in the cloud.
• Enable greater productivity by connecting structured workflow of business applications (Dynamics 365) and processes with the unstructured work of collaboration and productivity (Office 365) so tat employees are empowered with productivity tools surfaced in the context of their business processes, and vice versa.
• Gain built-in, actionable, intelligence with business applications that infuse big data, advanced analytics and IoT into processes which proactively guide employees and customers to optimal outcomes. With Dynamics 365, data and insights are transformed into intelligent
• ompose, modify and extend processes in real-time. Power BI, PowerApps and the new Microsoft Flow can empower business users to change and adapt their processes without requiring IT support, and with a consistent, flexible, extensible platform.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a cloud service so it will not be available, as is, on premises or in private clouds.

Steve Clayton (@stevecla) Demo -Steve has the great title of Chief Storyteller at Microsoft and he gave an impressive demo that pulled almost all of Microsoft cloud assets together:
•Dynamics 365
•Office365
•Azure (IoT)
•Azure Cortana Intelligence Suite

There were also some other tools that were included in the demo that looked interesting a certainly worth further investigation. For example, Microsoft Flow (https://flow.microsoft.com/en-us/) a tool to help create automated workflows across Microsoft application portfolio.
Satya talked up the Conversations as a Platform “What if we could teach all computers and computing around us human language?”.

The wow factor as last year came form Hololens. The opportunity with “mixed reality” as an alternative to ‘Augmented Reality’ gave us some new jargon to use.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_reality).

The focus was on a proof of concept Microsoft and Japan Airline (JAL) have worked on to provide virtual training for aircraft engines and co-pilots. (https://blogs.microsoft.com/transform/2016/07/11/japan-airlines-creates-yet-another-first-class-experience-this-time-using-microsoft-hololens/).

The resignation of Microsoft COO Kevin Turner essentially removes a layer of management from the company’s operating structure. Gavriella Schuster was named full time worldwide channel chief. To her credit she took the trouble to visit the partner regional meetings and take questions head on.

Former Oracle channel chief, Judson Althoff will now have increased influence as the commercial lead. Reporting to him will be EPG (Enterprise Partner Group), SMS&P (Small, Midmarket Solutions & Partners), Public Sector and Developer Experience and Services.
Althoff took over Turner’s customary Wednesday morning vision keynote to describe the new operating model and how it will work. It was not a good sign that there was a steady stream of delegates walking out throughout his presentation. He had perhaps the most important messages for partners.
Of all information the provided at WPC apart the key question is where are Microsoft putting their focus? This is what all Microsoft internal metrics will be based on and therefore where Microsoft employees themselves will be focused. he dealt with that directly.

‘This does not mean that partners have to immediately change everything they do, but it absolutely means that the story they tell about their business to Microsoft has to align with this focus.’ Judson could not have made this clearer.
The all up drivers that shape the business:.
• Mission: Empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more
• Worldview: Mobile first, cloud first
• Ambitions: •Reinvent productivity and business process
• Build the intelligent cloud platform
• Create more personal computing
• Culture: Make a difference

…..and this is what that means for Microsoft’s sales teams:
1.Drive Digital Transformation with customers
2.Accelerate cloud adoption
3.Propel Windows 10 Enterprise deployment
4.Generate SQL Server 2016 growth
5.Drive ISV and SI momentum
6.Make experiences come to life through hardware solutions

The huge societal shift that is driving all of this is Digital Transformation and Experiences. According to PWC research 86% of CEOs think digital is their #1 priority and are using it to transform their businesses:
This is what all Microsoft internal metrics will be based on and therefore where Microsoft employees themselves will be focused.

An explicitly re-enforced theme was that SECURITY is at the heart of all of the differentiation messages. His claim is that EMS (https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/server-cloud/enterprise-mobility/Overview.aspx) is the fastest growing product that MS has ever had. This is a must add asset for cloud deployments.

SQL Server 2016 will be the richest in terms of built in capability, the most secure and also the best value that will democratise access the analytics.

There was lots more messaging -watch the whole video (https://player.vimeo.com/video/174543385)

Of all the partner programs at Microsoft relevant to Dynamics ERP and CRM VARs, none is more wide ranging and relevant this year than the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program . Coming up on two years of execution, CSP has grown from Azure, Office 365, and Enterprise Mobility Suite to include CRM Online and the new AX on Azure. Project Madeira is on the horizon but expect at least another 18 months before it gets out to our region.

An online certification programme, the Microsoft Professional Degree is a Microsoft-led initiative built on the Open edX on Azure platform. It will look to provide professionals with ‘real-world knowledge and hands-on experience to grow their skills in critical fields’. The first curriculum will focus on the Data Science Degree programme, and will target the development of skills and experience in the data science industry, which is evolving rapidly. “The ability to offer Learning as a Service, to meet a learner where they are in their own journey and provide the targeted experiences they need to reach their specific goals, is critical to closing the skills gap,” said Alison Cunard, general manager of Microsoft Learning Experiences. A study by McKinsey & Company estimates that by 2018 the United States alone could face a shortage of 140,000 to 190,000 people with deep analytical skills, as well as 1.5 million managers and analysts with the know-how to use the analysis of big data to make effective decisions.”

WPC was also a good chance to network with other partners, see new solutions, get first hand demos, meet up with AxPact and there was a mega concert with Swedish duo Icona Pop, and Gwen Stefani at the Air Canada centre but I am the wrong age to comment – suffice to say that the rest of the audience were obviously having a great time.

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Posted in Events, General Synergy News, Microsoft, Microsoft Dynamics Ax, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, SharePoint and EPM, SQL, Technology

Dubai-cross safely campaign

June 19th, 2016

Dubai Police are launching a new campaign – Cross Safely – which will run for three months to educate pedestrians, particularly labourers.

In case you are wondering, the fine for unlawfully crossing a road is Dhs200 and 65000 people were fined last year and more sobering 46 were killed by crossing at non designated spots. That’s almost one a week.

To help remember the rules on how to cross the road safely, check out this old video played at schools:

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Posted in Dubai and regional news, Education, Events

Envision 2016 takeaways – Synergy Software Systems

April 12th, 2016

Nadella, in his opening Microsoft Envision keynote said “The very nature of work is changing.” He spoke about Microsoft reinventing productivity and business process through the Windows 10 platform and other products. With all of the abundance of technology, what is still scarce is human attention and time. Our goal in reinventing business process and productivity is to help you reclaim that time to grow your focus on things that matter the most to you and your organization.”

Astronaut Scott Kelly who spent nearly one year on the International Space Station, when asked what business people could learn about technology from his experience in space, said that, as he left the International Space Station for the last time, he was “absolutely inspired by what we are capable of achieving if we dream it — and that we have to put the resources behind it.”

Nadella and Lilian Rincon of the Skype team previewed enhancements to Skype that will include making Cortana, Microsoft’s digital assistant, persistent within Skype. If you need to look something up, such as check your calendar, you will be able to click on the Cortana icon and ask Cortana to check your schedule without leaving Skype. Along with the integration with Cortana, Skype will also be able to interact with “bots” or automated artificial intelligence agents from other organizations. One example of bots included a hotel bot that helped with booking a room — all from within Skype.

Microsoft also announced an important new partnership with car manufacturer Toyota at the Microsoft Envision event. The new collaboration called simply Toyota Connected was touched upon briefly in Nadella’s remarks. The new initiative will deliver a connected car technology drawing in part from Microsoft’s Azure cloud service.

Microsoft is partnering with R3, a consortium of major banks around the world, to develop new blockchain technologies, leveraging the underlying approach from the Bitcoin digital currency to change the way they track transactions and offer financial services to their customers. The blockchain is a public ledger of transactions, and the R3 consortium consists of more than 40 banks, including big names such as BNP Paribas, Wells Fargo, ING, JPMorgan and Citi. Microsoft will work with the consortium to “develop, test and deploy blockchain technologies to modernize decades-old processes and streamline operations, potentially saving billions of dollars from back-office operations,” said Peggy Johnson, Microsoft executive vice president for business development, in a blog post explaining the news. Goals include faster trades of assets such as stocks and bonds, and direct transfer of ownership, which cuts clearing houses out of the processes, something that’s appealing to banks because it promises to cut costs and reduce the risk of fraud, Johnson said. The partnership could be a boon for Microsoft’s partners and its cloud platform. The consortium will use Microsoft Azure and also have access to more than 45 “blockchain as a service” technologies from companies that work with Microsoft. In addition, Microsoft says it will offer dedicated technical support and service to R3’s blockchain labs.

Paypal President and CEO Dan Schulman said Bitcoin is “not necessarily something that we’re betting on,” even though PayPal allows Bitcoin through the Coinbase bitcoin wallet. However, the underlying blockchain technology is “very interesting,” Schulman said. What blockchain allows is … theoretically a friction-free, cost-free way of doing transactions.” The key, he said, is to tie the blockchain into a currency that isn’t as volatile as Bitcoin.

PayPal is used by 180 million people worldwide. It’s also used by 14 million merchants, according to Schulman, the CEO of PayPal since the company’s split from eBay back in 2014. Schulman gave a fireside chat format interview with Peggy Johnson, EVP of Business Development at Microsoft. PayPal has two other brands. The company bought Xoom about a year ago. Xoom is an international money transfer service. PayPal is also behind Venmo, the digital wallet service with a social element to it. Venmo, which is popular with millennials and younger generations, is used four to five times per week on average by customers because of the social element and the ability to split the cost of payments for things like meals and entertainment. Whereas, PayPal is used on average by customers just a little over two times per month. Schulman foresees that Venmo and PayPal will be a seamless experience in the future

Clearly many prominent Dynamics partners have opted for WPC and don’t see Envision as a replacement for Convergence. The focus of this conference has massively shifted, as has Microsoft’s vision in general. Attendees included top company executives, department managers, and other decision makers. This opens up opportunities to see how the vision of “One Microsoft” can be achieved through the use of many products. For example someone attending because they are a Microsoft Dynamics AX customer had the opportunity to see how they could leverage PowerBI, Office 365, and Azure to create a more connected and efficient business environment.

Many big players announced new solutions built on top of CRM, and azure/Cortana based solutions. However relatively very few partner products were showcased. While many of the main partners had a booth, the expo floor was much smaller with very limited product selection. The attendance and the expo traffic was significantly lower than Convergence. the rationale may be that top executives focus on strategic, visionary sessions – not on deciding what third-party product would be a good match for their requirements.
Extension in Microsoft Dynamics is eagerly awaited its not yet available in the current RTW release but should be a features of the upcoming ‘AX 7 update 1’ . The ability to adapt queries for the processes of drafting or extending existing elements, without overriding into other layers. means that developers no longer need to customise elements; instead elements will be extended. All customisations and code are then stored in a separate assembly and are therefore not influenced during upgrades and tests.. This approach will significantly reduces upgrade cost and conflicts.

Microsoft announced the availability of two out-of-the-box Power BI content packs for different business users: Financial Performance and Retail Channel Performance. Both power packs can be selected from the service catalogue and be deployed ‘within minutes’.

If you missed out, then see available on-demand the keynote and several session videos on the new Microsoft Envision YouTube Channel.
They have 87 videos on the site and 16 playlists uploaded.

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Posted in Events, Microsoft, Microsoft Dynamics Ax, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, SharePoint and EPM, SQL, Technology

‘build’ 2016 -even more amazing things from Microsoft

April 6th, 2016

Windows Hello

Microsoft’s biometric identity framework in Windows 10, to set up a fingerprint or iris scan identity. Log on to your Surface, without providing a password. A demo showed an application extended with Hello, with the same biometric login experience for the app.

Pen

Use the pen to take notes in OneNote on a Surface – and it’s amazing. . Microsoft has extended those capabilities now to developers to build Universal Windows Apps (UWA) to include a pen taskbar with 2 simple lines of code. The pen experience enables mouse over events, dynamic highlighting, and includes a virtual ruler so you can draw straight lines. Big reaction from the crowd on that demo.

Microsoft also announced a partnership with Adobe to integrate pen functionality into Adobe Illustrator which graphic designers will appreciate.

Hololens

Microsoft’s vision for Augmented Reality. Samsung enabled devices for VR require a phone that plugs into the headset and the headset is fully immersive. The Hololens projects its 3D imagery onto the world around you. The headset is self-contained and does not require a phone. The glasses look like dark shaded sunglasses.

NASA has a booth and their Mars Exploration experience, will debut this summer at the Kennedy Center. The dev kits started delivery this week.

see our previous blog posts on the amazing Holo lens demo at WPC at Orlando last eyar.

Cortana

Build bots to interact with Cortana. The demo was a voice activated Domino’s order that interacted with a bot. I can see many real world uses for this technology. I’m still a luddite and would rather do my own phone calls.

Xbox
Microsoft announced a new software dev kit that will turn any commercial unit into a dev machine. The demo enables real-time debugging and attaching your Visual Studio to your Xbox.

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Posted in Events, Microsoft, Microsoft Dynamics Ax, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Technology

Synergy at the summit

April 5th, 2016

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Posted in Events, General Synergy News, Microsoft Dynamics Ax, Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Dynamics Summit 22 Mar 2016 – great success

March 22nd, 2016

Despite Heavy rain and a drive to the end of the Dubai Palm outer frond to get to the Waldorf Astoria venue, the summit had a packed attendance. It seemed that thunder and lighting had followed the attendees into the ballroom when a sound and laser show started the event.

The day started with presentations that highlighted the disruptive potential of technology, and how that can be leveraged through the scalable azure platform to brig together social listening, predictive analytics, Big data, Internet of Things, Cloud based multi platform any time anywhere Dynamics Ax Enterprise erp and CRM systems.

Key note speakers included:
Christian Pedersen, General Manger, Enterprise ERP, Microsoft
Siegfried Leiner Principal Program Manager, Dynamics CRM, Microsoft
Karim Talhouk Microsoft Business Solutions Director, Microsoft Gulf

Several videos featured other Microsoft speakers including Sathya Nadell as well as case studies of local implementations. This was followed by a panel discussion and a packed day of presentations.

Synergy Software Systems, a gold sponsor of the events, had a constant stream of visitors to their stand. Our rolling presentations showed Dynamics Ax and Dynamics CRM, and complementary solutions such as our incredible ACE construction BIM suite, Dox42 to enable end users to create richly formatted reports themselves in Microsoft Office rather than in their business systems for enhanced presentation without need for development cost, the BI4Dynamics pre-built report packs , and the Prophix produitised CPM solution.

At the end of a busy day Synergy Software Systems Director, Stephen Jones showed that despite the emphasis on the new html 5 user interface and technical architecture there are also quite a few functional tweaks to welcome in almost every module. To illustrate the general use of workspaces and the new UI he presented an end to end run through of Employee Lifecycle management in the HR module in the new release. He then showed some screens shots of Synergy’s localised Ax GCC Payroll and HR enhancements upgraded to the new release. He rounded off the packed 30 minutes with a look at the extensive capabilities of Power BI to analyse HR and Payroll data.

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Posted in Construction Software, Corporate Perfomance Management, Dubai and regional news, Events, General Synergy News, HR and Payroll, Lean Concepts, Microsoft, Microsoft Dynamics Ax, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, SQL, Technology