One of the best things about working in the Microsoft Dynamics arena is that what we do is becoming ubiquitous. Here we explore computing in 2025, and suggest how that is going to impact Microsoft Dynamics roles.   Where we are Four years ago, when Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s new CEO, came onto the scene, the company—and indeed the world—looked remarkably different. Computing was something you did locally on your device, and the work you did stayed on your device until you wanted to show somebody else, or move it onto a more convenient device. Fast-forward four years and computing has changed. Microsoft is now a SAAS company whose core function now is to sell licenses to companies that are undergoing digital transformation. They know that individuals, teams and whole organizations are set to be more efficient, cost effective and collaborative if they move their operations into the cloud, using tools like Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Office 365 to share ideas, work anywhere, from any device, at any time.   ­­­­­­­ Satya Nadella’s new vision That has been the last four years (and probably a bit more than that, actually…), and it’s set to continue toward 2025. Just look at Microsoft Dynamics. The move to Dynamics 365, integrated with Outlook and Office means that people can work seamlessly on something across Microsoft’s network, without having to reconfigure, chop or change—all thanks to Azure Cloud. But more than that, the very nature of computing is changing. Satya Nadella had an excellent statement on this at this year’s Build developer conference in Seattle: “The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it.” He continues: “Every part of our life, our homes, our cars, our workplaces, our factories and cities — every sector of our economy, whether it's precision agriculture, precision medicine, autonomous cars or autonomous drones, personalized medicine or personalized banking — are all being transformed by digital technology.” This manifests itself as what Microsoft calls the intelligent cloud and intelligent edge. There are three main ingredients:

1. Ubiquitous computing. Azure cloud is being built as the world’s computer, and is delivering cloud services from 50 regions around the planet. This is what Microsoft calls the intelligent cloud.
2. Artificial intelligence. In 2016, human parity with object recognition was a huge breakthrough. In 2017, it was speech recognition. 2018 has seen parity with machine reading and parity with translation. And the list continues.
3. Person-centric approach. This is multi-sense, multi-device. We interact with Microsoft 365 using our voice in our cars and with our fingers on our phone. Alone or in groups, computing surrounds us at home and at work. This is what Microsoft calls the intelligent edge.

  Ultimately, it’s clear from Satya Nadella and Microsoft’s general trajectory that computing is becoming more and more broadly distributed, and that productivity solutions like Microsoft Dynamics 365 are becoming more integrated, streamlined and cloud-focused. For those working in Microsoft Dynamics roles in the UK and US, business is likely to grow in coming years. More and more organisations are going to need to apply Microsoft products as solutions to their business’s problems, and this means they are going to need to hire a Dynamics expert, whether that be a developer, project manager, or perhaps even an outsource manager who can help manage the Microsoft Partners the business has relationships with. It also means that Dynamics developers are going to need to remain on their toes. Driven by the changing nature of computing, they will have to be adaptive, dynamic and always ready to learn more to stay ahead of new technologies. If you are in the UK or US and are looking for your next Microsoft Dynamics role, get in touch with our consultants, who are experts in Microsoft Dynamics resourcing.