The other day I found myself thinking about a story I read as a child and how closely it relates to a lot of what I see happening now with those in the Microsoft world.

Maybe you’ve heard it – it’s the story of Henny Penny, a barnyard chicken who was peacefully enjoying her life when suddenly an acorn fell on her head. Unbeknownst to her that it was just a simple acorn and perhaps a signal of the shifting seasons, she immediately concluded that the sky was falling. From that point on, Henny Penny made it her mission to run to “tell the king”, the person somehow responsible for her well-being, that the sky was falling. On her journey, she managed to tell everyone else, too. The others (aptly named Goosey Loosey, Ducky Wucky, and Turkey Lurky) believed what she said hook, line, and sinker and dropped their barnyard activities to join her on her quest to tell the king the sky was falling. No one dared suggest it could have been an acorn, a signal that the season was changing, something they had likely seen before in some way, shape, or form. The only conclusion was that this had to be the worst possible scenario yet.

Now Henny Penny and her group of fine feathered friends happened to stumble on a “nice” fox along the way who listened to their plight and kindly told them about a shortcut on their path to see the king. By the end of the book, you find out that the king never received the message that the sky was falling; the nice fox and his family enjoyed one of the best feasts they’ve ever eaten (as the shortcut led straight to fox’s den); and Henny Penny and her crew were never heard from again.

Now, it’s a slightly depressing story for a kid’s book but it does teach some valuable lessons. First off, jumping to the worst possible conclusion benefits no one and can bring you to a worse place than where you started.

We all know the market is changing. The introduction of Dynamics 365 (as a CRM replacement, for financials, operations, etc.) certainly has changed the way we look at doing business within the Microsoft sphere drastically. Will some of our customers look at Dynamics 365 rather than GP? Probably so. Will we see start to see a market shift over a shorter period than what makes us feel comfortable? Pretty likely. But here’s the thing – jumping feet first into a conclusion that all this change is bad for everyone – is not helpful for your business and certainly not helpful for all the people you try to convince of the same along the way. Changes happen – it doesn’t mean you’re going to die.

The bigger lesson to focus on is the signal of the change in seasons. Henny Penny certainly didn’t enjoy the pain she felt when the acorn fell on her head, but she should have focused on the fact that the season was changing and start adapting to it.

Whether you are a partner looking at what products to recommend to your customer or a customer noticing all the change in the Microsoft space, the key is to focus on what will adapt with you. What are you investing in that will stay with you through the change of seasons?

I was on a call yesterday with one of the largest partners in the Dynamics space who have decided that from here on out they’ll be recommending SmartConnect – our integration solution – because it future proofs their customer’s integrations. Whether the customer is starting out with GP or NAV and eventually decides they’d like to move to Dynamics 365, SmartConnect will adapt with them and allow those integrations to be moved to their Dynamics product of choice.

By focusing on the fact things will change, this partner is making a huge step by future-proofing all their customer’s integrations and providing incredible value on the services they implement.

So, moral of the story? Don’t be like Henny Penny. Don’t jump to the worst possible conclusion about what is happening with your business or the market. Take advantage of the signal of the things changing and set yourself up for success. Find products that will adapt with you. Invest in technology that won’t leave you stuck and feeling helpless.