Microsoft Innovation Podcast

FULL SHOW NOTEShttps://podcast.nz365guy.com/168Find out more about David Gersten – based in Southern California, lives in Northern Orange County and what he loves to do during his free time How David get into the technology ERP? the tools he had used to have a better understanding David’s area of specialization and his focus area  CRM projects, Is David doing it for customers or just for in house use? Talks about the organization he is working for at present and his role The core things about the practice management Discussions about their go-to-market strategy Shares what Business Central Segments he focuses on What makes Dynamics Consulting different from other firms that also offer Dynamics 365 Business Central?  Talks about their strong relationship with Microsoft The strategies he thinks works for his career in terms of marketing What he considers as SMB and how he classifies an SMB?  What he has discovered to be effective when it comes to sales game plan An introduction about what GP is  Discusses what Dynamics Community GPUG User Group is How did he start getting involved with the User Group? The formula for running a successful local User Groups  As a Partner Advisory Committee, what's involved   Introduction to Channel Marketing Alliance How does the Channel Marketing Alliance help people in the Dynamics Community? Talks about IAMCP and what it does  What makes David so into the community David’s thoughts on the importance of communities in the Dynamics 365 space Where does David see all of this in the future? Support the showIf you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

FULL SHOW NOTEShttps://podcast.nz365guy.com/167A brief introduction about Aung Khaing a.k.a AK, originally from Myanmar and presently residing in New Zealand A discussion about his personal and family life What is so special about Myanmar What is the best thing about living in Wellington and what AK and his family enjoy doing together?Aung Khaing's journey to becoming an MVP  Discussion about his involvement with the PowerApps Component Framework (PCF) AK’s recommendations to people who want to get involved in PCF  The type of language should they be good at to create PCF Controls Resources, training materials and tools available for people to see examples of how they can use PCF – Create and build PCF, PCF Gallery, PCF CommunityWhat's AK doing actively as part of his community engagement  Support the showIf you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

FULL SHOW NOTEShttps://podcast.nz365guy.com/166Getting to know Michael Vakoc – from the Czech Republic, who now lives in the US and how he met his wife  Michael’s favourite thing about Prague and what brought him from Prague to the United States  Michael’s transition from Microsoft teams to Power Virtual Agents  A discussion on how he got started working with Microsoft  Michael’s role and his involvement with Power Virtual Agents  An Introduction to what a Power Virtual Agent (PVA) The expectations and what the interest is from a customer’s perspective like in the market How Power Virtual Agent is built, features, and the benefits people can get from using it The relationship between Power Virtual Agent and Power Automate The story of CDS – do we need it for Power Virtual Agent? What's the support model for finished apps from Dynamics 365? The type of personas they see working with Power Virtual Agents The type of industries that can adapt and use this technology How much does AI Play in the Power Virtual Agents Product? How do microservices (275 prebuilt connectors) work with Power Virtual Agents?  Talks about the product pricing for Single App and Unlimited App Minimum requirements for licensing The ability of the Power Virtual Agent to hand-off to a real agent Does Microsoft have their own live agent? How can people access it and use it?  Ways to capture issues when a bot does not have an answer Support the showIf you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

FULL SHOW NOTEShttps://podcast.nz365guy.com/165Personal and career background of Nicholas Hayduk and what makes him busy every day The biggest surprise of becoming a Microsoft MVP Benefits of being part of the MVP Community Talks about his focus, his responsibilities and his area of specialty  A discussion about Portal licensing and PowerApps Portals Discussions about the award he got from Orlando Community Summit Talks about Nicholas' speaking events he will be doing in the future – Summit in Barcelona and MVP Summit Talks about the changes happening in MVP Program when it comes to “Nomination” The big things he is planning within his company and what product are they working on right now What his company focused on? Portals or Consulting? Talks about the typical industries he is working in His recommendation to people who are wanting to become a Microsoft MVP base on his observation Any activities in the MVP community that concerns him the mostSupport the showIf you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

FULL SHOW NOTEShttps://podcast.nz365guy.com/164Peter Linke talks about the place he lives in and how he spends his time when he’s not working. Talks about the Orlando Microsoft Ignite event – how great the event was A discussion about the history of Peter’s company Peter’s journey to becoming an ISV Discussions about the product lineup they have now Peter’s career as an ISV and how did he start from being an ISV to becoming a CEO Explained what a team service is and what they are building in team service that they were able to sell – time tracking solution What is proMX AG, how did it start and the evolution to where they are today How has proMX AG adopts changes, and how they ensure that their business is aligned Talks about how they plan out their marketing strategy to rise above the competition  How they get partners to promote their product? What are the four solutions they have built?  Introduction to PSA How Peter handles selling their products internationally, for instance, doing transactions from a currency perspective The process of how they train their partners in remote locations How they handle the 24/7 support in different Time Zones The key lessons he has learnt in this Industry  Three points he wants to recommend to people starting an ISV business Talks about selling software as an ISV and do they have trained salespeople  The timeframe and how quickly do they move to this sale cycle Talks about co-sell, how Peter see success with co-sell content The challenges ISV’s have and the ability to protect their intellectual property – anything special around preventing the unauthorized use of their IP Peter’s advice to new ISV’s about working with Microsoft and what should they do to foster a great relationship with MicrosoftSupport the showIf you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

FULL SHOW NOTEShttps://podcast.nz365guy.com/163Olena Grischenko was born in Ukraine, lived in Russia and moved to Sidney, Australia ten years ago Became a Microsoft MVP in September 2019 How did Olena get into the MVP Program? Who nominated Olena to become a Microsoft MVP? What was Olena working on before she was nominated to become an MVP? Talks about the benefits and positive things that are coming up on the changes in the community Olena’s skills when it comes to Business Applications What gaps Olena sees in PowerApps Portals that needs to be addressed  Shares Olena ideas about PCF Who supported Olena the most and what lead her to become independent? Talks about the company called PowerLabs What made Olena take her career using Microsoft Technologies? A discussion on what made Olena focus and grow to use Microsoft?  Olena’s advice to those who want to engage and share more of their ideas in the community How should they get involved? Support the showIf you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

FULL SHOW NOTEShttps://podcast.nz365guy.com/162Family and Career background of Hayden – where he and his family lives and what’s his home city famous for  The things he enjoys doing with his family during his spare time Hayden’s role and his responsibilities in Microsoft and its importance Hayden and his team’s mission and goal The opportunity for business to modernise, digitise and create a competitive advantage A discussion on what he sees around customer profile The things he does to make the new Power Platform licencing technology available to all Microsoft plans to achieve the 500 million apps that are going to get created in the next five years – according to Satya Nadella (Inspire) What thinking does the community need to change to achieve this? Opportunities available for people who are changing or switching careers  Talks about how customers should be looking at the Power Platform from the Office 365 Hayden’s thoughts on companies adopting the Power Platform and resources internal teams at present Shares examples in various industries where AI capability is being implemented For the FY20 what Business App partners should be focused on this financial What option Hayden sees for SMB Partner to play as they move forward Shares his opinion on what a modern Microsoft Business Application Partner looks like What should Microsoft Business Application Partner be doing to be successful? What should partners do to improve their chances of success? The role for the professional developer along with the IT professional in a world of low code applications for the citizen developerRESOURCESTools and weapons by Brad SmithSupport the showIf you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

FULL SHOW NOTEShttps://podcast.nz365guy.com/161Beth Burrell talks about what is it like living in Tampa, Florida – known to be the lightning capital of the world  Her journey to becoming an MVP and her award category  Discusses the most significant changes that happened since she became an MVP   How she handles the constant amount of noise, how she is working out on what to focus on and what not to  Beth’s path to becoming an MVP  The importance of venue, speakers and social media in an eventBeth’s advice to other people putting on a D365 Saturday event or Power Platform Saturday event   What people need to do for an event to work well  Her thoughts of being in the MVP community   Being in the program, how does she manage to balance work and life.Support the showIf you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

FULL SHOW NOTEShttps://podcast.nz365guy.com/160Simon’s brief introduction about his life and what he does when he’s not working Talks about his educational and professional background How Simon started with the Power Platform Talks about his journey to GSK Discussion about what is GSK, who is GSK and his role on GSK Simon’s definition of Digital transformation Talks about the Power Automate and the Flows they built The key Flow they now depend on that builds on what they can consistently use in their organization Areas where they use Flow at present Talks about the next challenge they might deliver next year The important functions in Power Automate and building Flow for productivity The hero PowerApps they have right now that is the best example of their application The recommendation he can give to people on how they can get started in creating a COE inside an organization  How they make sure that the Apps they are building are supportable by the organization long term Discusses how they manage the Governance, Digital guide rails and the Support infrastructure How did the Power Ranger Community in GSK come about? A discussion about the story behind the Power Ranger Community in GSK The impact of having individuals who are great in developing various products and how it changed the view of capabilities of those who are non-technologies and coming to power Platform The social tool they use so they can share information within the team which allows conversations to flow where people can learn Support the showIf you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

FULL SHOW NOTEShttps://podcast.nz365guy.com/159A brief introduction about Kylie’s life – she grew up in Canada, presently residing in Washington, DC.  The story of Pink Monkey  How she started with Microsoft Business Applications and her area of responsibilities   Kylie’s journey towards becoming a Microsoft MVP Kylie’s industry role and to the various companies she works for   The different industries she works with  Discussions about the CRM User Group  Advice for people who are wanting to start a new user group community   How to effectively promote a user group chapter as a whole and the individual event as well  Kylie's speaking experiences in different conferences on topics like Change Management and User Adoption  Discussions about the process of how she comes up with an idea and the techniques she uses to prepare for speaking at a conference or event   Support the showIf you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith