Episode 2 - What is Microsoft Dataverse and what does it have to do with the Power Platform

Microsoft Dataverse is part of the Power Platform and it was a common data model and is also the database that the majority of the core Dynamics 365 Business Applications live on.

In this episode of the ‘Powerplatform explained’ Podcast series we want to clarify what exactly he Dataverse is, why a partner should care and how he can make money from it.

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Microsoft have provided the ability to integrate with Dataverse through providing configuration capabilities in Business Central. So, you can do single or bi-directional synchronisation of Accounts, that’s Customers and Suppliers or Vendors in Business Central terms, Contacts, Currency and Salespeople/Purchasers with the Dataverse.

Also, if you or your customer is using Dynamics 365 for Sales then additional data synchronisation can be enabled for Products from Items and Resources, Price Lists, Opportunities, Sales Orders, Sales Invoices, lots of out of the box capabilities can be configured. And it doesn’t stop there, if you wanted to write your own custom connectors to hook Business Central into Power Automate to drive workflows, or even use the Microsoft provided Business Central connectors, those capabilities are also possible options for you to consider on a scenario-by-scenario basis.

Then, the other option you could consider building for integrations is around virtual tables. These are tables that exist in Business Central but do not synchronise to, nor do they then reside in Dataverse. Virtual tables can be made available to Microsoft Dataverse, but they need to be accessed via development of custom APIs or through the standard Business Central APIs.

Dataverse is something that is difficult to position and sell on its own, no one goes out to market with a “Would you like some of this new data platform?” messaging, it just doesn’t resonate with customers.

So, you need to consider the capabilities it provides and then combine them with other parts of the Power Platform.

Do you want to define a proposition around extending the existing core entities such as Accounts and Contacts to provide new solutions in market for your customers? Do you want to go and build new tables that can help with additional data capture and storage needs for your customers?

When those things are combined with the power of the Unified Interface in model driven Power Apps or new workflow integration solutions through Power Automate then you can begin to uncover net new opportunities in your customers that you maybe hadn’t considered before.

Finally, don’t forget about the potential of Power BI in the equation here too, the ability to deliver dashboard style KPIs on top of the data that you help your customers capture then analyse and act upon.

All of these things bring annuity licence revenue opportunities with the usual expected margins and extended consulting and services opportunities for continual, ongoing development for customers as their needs change and evolve over time.

As we have said before, there’re a lot of ways in which partners can look to begin to make money from the Microsoft Power Platform, the key is for each of them to come up with their own ideas and then turn them into products, solutions or services to suit their own market and customer requirements.