What is Microsoft AppSource?

Microsoft AppSource helps enterprise users find and gauge line-of-business (LoB) software-as-a-service (SaaS) apps from Microsoft and its partners. AppSource apps are built on top of Microsoft Dynamics, Project Madeira, Power BI, Office 365, Cortana Intelligence Suite, and Azure, and include all of their existing app add-ins and content packages.

Yesterday, Microsoft officially announced Dynamics 365 and AppSource. Microsoft hopes that AppSource will be the go-to place for businesses looking for the best apps to drive growth, productivity, and profit.

AppSource has more than 200 SaaS apps, add-ins, and content packs available, including new and exclusive industry-specific business apps such as:

• “AFS™ “Retail Execution” – An end-to-end solution for CPG organizations to use as they engage with their customers in the field, covering visit and merchandising, sales, asset management, and audit as well as a full suite of BI and analytics.
• AvePoint “Citizen Services” – Government organizations can automate incident reporting, response, and resolution, so employees can solve issues faster and serve citizens better.
• Veripark “Next Best Action” – Financial institutions can maximize the lifetime value of each customer and deliver a first-class customer-centric experience by making the right offer, at the right time, via the right channel.”

Depending on their business needs, AppSource allows users to access apps from Dynamics AX, Dynamics CRM, Dynamics NAV, Project Madeira, Power BI, Office 365, or Azure. Searching through all the apps offered by AppSource can be narrowed down by category, industry, or by Microsoft product. Microsoft sees AppSource as “a place to find new apps and better ways to get things done.” Microsoft hopes that AppSource will be a big hit for enterprise customers as Microsoft pushes more apps and services to the cloud using Azure.

In a post by the engineers behind Dynamics 365 and AppSource, Dynamics 365 and AppSource represent a new approach to handling business processes. Customers and independent software vendors (ISVs) alike will benefit from listings on Microsoft AppSource:

“Microsoft AppSource provides a modern discovery and provisioning system for these solutions. For customers, Microsoft AppSource is your destination to easily find and evaluate the apps from Microsoft and our partners that drive your business. For ISVs, Microsoft AppSource is your destination to market line-of-business (LoB) SaaS apps to business users. Drive discoverability and usage of your apps within an existing global network of business customers through co-marketing opportunities, lead generation and the support of Microsoft’s worldwide ecosystem and sales force. Harness Azure’s leading, secure and intelligent cloud services platform and tools to deliver differentiated apps to customers.”

Starting in Fall 2016, when Dynamics 365 is released, AppSource will likely be able to take advantage of Dynamics 365 apps. Currently, AppSource offers most apps to businesses to try-before-you-buy to see if the apps help enterprise customers in their daily operations. Microsoft plans to reveal more information to its partners about Dynamics 365 and AppSource at WPC 2016 next week.