Microsoft Innovation Podcast

FULL SHOW NOTEShttps://podcast.nz365guy.com/98Personal background – living in Finland, family A bit of Finland and Nordic geography, length of winter in Finland, local delicacies Organizing Dynamics 365 events in Finland – Finland Dynamics User Group and Dynamics 365 Saturday Favourite part of the Power Platform Being one of three Microsoft MVPs in FinlandIs Project Service Automation dead? What's happening with PSA, PSA's capabilities becoming a core part of Dynamics 365 for Sales and Customer Service, the possible future linkage between PSA and Azure DevOps. Journey to become a Microsoft MVPIs it worth it becoming an MVP? How becoming an MVP enhanced Antti’s career. Value-added to the company for having a Microsoft MVP in the team – Does your company know how to leverage your status as an MVP?Approach to being an MVP – technology vs business value Advice to people wanting to become an MVP – actions one needs to take to become nominated to the MVP Program The importance of having a niche, a core pillar of strength as a consultant – being a T consultant 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/97Purvin’s role in Microsoft when it comes to the Microsoft MVP Program What the MVP Program is from Microsoft’s perspective What is “MVP for life”, and is there such a thing? How one can become an “MVP for life.”MVP Award vs Inner Circle Award – what is the difference between individual and company awardsPurvin’s passion and motivation for the Business Apps MVP program, what turns his wheels What Microsoft MVP aspirants need to start doing to be nominated into the program Types of contributions that Microsoft is looking for from an aspiring MVPTypes of contribution that Microsoft wants to see more ofWhere the different types of contributions are heading, especially the new generation of contributionsHow long should an aspiring Microsoft MVP be doing a certain contribution before seeking nominationExamples of MVPs creating outstanding content How changes in Microsoft (specifically around Power Platform) affect the MVP program, particularly what Microsoft is looking for in future generation of MVPs What types of fan products Microsoft is looking for Number of new MVPs that Microsoft is interested in taking on in the PowerApps spaceResourcesAndrew Ly, 365lyfElaiza Benitez, What the FlowJoel LIndstrom, CRM AudioJerry Weinstock CRM Innovation Blog 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/96Personal background – living in Uruguay, being bilingual (Spanish and English), the popular food in Uruguay, family Becoming a Microsoft MVP – being a 10-year MVP, how different the Microsoft MVP program was since he first got nominated About Communidad 365 – starting the Spanish speaking community Becoming officially part of the Dynamics User Group community Membership in the Spanish speaking Dynamics and Power Platform community Area of specialisation as a Microsoft MVP and professional projects How being a Microsoft MVP has impacted Pablo in the last 10 years Passion for product, deciding factor for pursuing a career in Dynamics CRM / Dynamics 365 Various project involvement over the years – customer service platform, XRM, sales, current case systemsSupport 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/95Personal background – living in Issaquah, hobbies, family Career highlights being part of the Microsoft Business Applications team Thoughts on the idea of Microsoft’s shift in focus from apps to the platform The “measuring stick” that Microsoft uses to define a top ISV Patterns that successful ISVs do effectively to become a top ISV Creating a business model around being an ISV Various tools that Microsoft have available to enable ISVs in their journey to the Power Platform Unpacking the different categories of ISVs: Build ISV, Extend ISV, Connect ISV Examples of companies that are under the three categories of ISVs Splits between the different types of ISVs Difference between vertical and horizontal solutions Understanding the Power Platform and app separation, pivoting towards starting with CDS and building dedicated applications at their layer Thoughts on possible changes in how recognition works in the future for an example use case Size of the potential market opportunity for ISVs in the business application market Opportunity for SIs to spin up new business units that specifically focus on creating IP Dev Centres – what they are, their purpose, and who can access them RESOURCESDynamics 365Become a Microsoft PartnerAzure Consumed Revenue (ACR) Dynamics 365 blogs 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/94Personal background  Recommendations for visiting Jordan – destinations, food (mansaf, falafel) Moving from Jordan to live in Norway as a career move – interviews abroad, deciding to stay within Europe Journey to becoming a Microsoft MVP – what's unique in Ahmad’s journey as a Microsoft MVP, getting married and bringing family 2 years after moving to Norway PowerApps and Flow community, co-organising SharePoint Saturday Being a SharePoint and Microsoft Flow developer, working on automation, Office 365 Working on automation in Flow Being a Manchester United fan Thoughts on where possibilities in PowerApps and Flow are headed in the future Thoughts on machine learning, cognitive services, and AI Future plans in career – pivoting to the Power Platform, Flow, Power BI, and PowerApps The best thing about becoming a Microsoft MVP The best thing about the Microsoft MVP Summit 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/93Personal and professional background – living in Perth, hobbies, working as Solution Director at DXC-Eclipse How to assess whether an opportunity is worth pursuing Weeding out the concept of “column fodder” Importance of getting to the face-to-face phase of the bid processEssential elements of a bid proposal to get you into the next phase of the bid process Handling lighthouse customers when you don’t have the industry experience Tender response (RFPS, RFQs) – structured response vs unstructured response Running a bid process – Is writing a bid proposal a project in its own right? Going into a demo – what to include in a killer demo when presenting to a customer Essential elements of a successful client presentation The thought behind and the value of having a pricing sheet  Importance of standardising your presales process How to educate your customer and combat underpricing your project What is the concept of a “cone of uncertainty”? Winning industry awards – key things when going after an award How to go about winning an industry award ResourcesWinning Partner of the Year Award (2016) – https://www.nz365guy.com/microsoft-public-sector-public-safety-national-security-partner-of-the-year/RFP (Request for Proposal) – https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/request-for-proposal.asp RFQ (Request for Quotation) – https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/request-for-quote.asp 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/88Personal background – working in Switzerland, becoming a Microsoft MVP Main Microsoft MVPs that introduced the Microsoft MVP program Journey working on Microsoft Flow and experience with PowerApps Moving from Paris to Switzerland for quality of life and job opportunity The biggest difference from Parisian lifestyle as compared to Swiss lifestyle Missing Parisian food when travelling, esp. Baguette, the best time to buy a baguette Interests and hobbies outside of work in Geneva Shuffling between Paris And Switzerland Thoughts on Nintex workflow vs Microsoft Flow Thoughts on Microsoft Flow heading into the BPM space as Microsoft continues to develop it Typical use cases he applies Microsoft Flow to How becoming a Microsoft MVP has affected his career PowerApps use cases  Features he would ask Microsoft to add to PowerApps or Microsoft Flow Matthieu’s YouTube channel Networking with or following Flow and PowerApps MVPs 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/91Background – living in Seattle, moving to the Pacific North West from Philadelphia, working in Microsoft engineering team, interests outside of work Thoughts on home automation, i.e. Alexa vs Google Home, and a rundown of house automation devices How Smith started working for Microsoft — internship in Redmond campus and working with the product, getting a job offer, working in different capacities, different teams and services How long the Microsoft Industry Accelerator has been running What’s an accelerator – Microsoft's viewpoint on what problems are being solved with Industry Accelerators, and what they are from a component level Creating additional schema on top of the core Common Data Model, having a managed solutions that are going to be put in Github that one can consume on the CDS for App environment Having multiple data models and how they are handled Breakdown of what is included in the Microsoft Industry Accelerator JSON file What is a schema – a way to represent a set of entities or tables and define the relationships between them Difference between UML (Unified Modelling Language) and ERD (entity relationship diagram How Smith decides what to leave out in the Common Data Model, and the senior leadership team’s involvement Why Microsoft sees the need to create Industry Accelerators The rationale behind creating data models to enable consistency across the industry Biggest changes between version 1 and version 2 Various components on the visual layer, pre-packaging around flows, unique experiences (Canvas apps vs model-driven), PCF controls unique to the accelerators Who owns the IP — Microsoft, partner or ISV?How Microsoft supports what’s built from an Accelerator  Best practice or success stories of partners that have jumped on the Accelerators that Microsoft have a documented case studies onFirst party app dependencies for the Industry Accelerators outside of the Common Data ModelPlans for Business Applications with regard to the Accelerator ProgrammeRESOURCESAccelerator Overview Extending an Accelerator Overview Health Accelerator Overview Nonprofit Accelerator OverviewHigher Ed Accelerator Build with ISVs Sign up to participate in the Accelerator Program CDM Industry LinkSupport 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/90Personal background – moving back to Galicia, Spain, from London, practicing the queimada, seafood in Galicia Changing jobs Becoming a Microsoft MVP, then a Microsoft employee, and then again an MVP, continuing to participate in the Dynamics community Roles handled when he was still working for Microsoft Overview of some highlights around how the core technology has changed since he’s been involved with it Changes around Dynamics 365 and Power Platform internal to Microsoft or observation about the matter being in the community How Microsoft compares to competitors like Salesforce and SAP Views around Microsoft leadership and how the company has transformed over the years Advice to people who are new to the Dynamics platform and want to build a career in the Dynamics space 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/89Personal background – living in Brussels, family, hobbies, etc. Background of  SAGlobal – role, being chairman,  Decision-making process at getting in and building a Dynamics based business Thoughts about Microsoft not pushing Dynamics GP to the market Thoughts on Dynamics 365 Business Central as a product vs Dynamics 365 for Finance and OperationsThoughts on recent big company acquisitions and the possible cycle of boutique startups coming to market Importance and the value of awards (Dynamics 365 Global ERP Partner of the Year for 2017, and Global Talent Partner of the Year for 2018 ) and is seen as world leaders in the Dynamics market space  Key ingredients to growing a successful Dynamics practice Potential revenue streams for an SI Business opportunities around AI to market Activities within the ISV space, being one of 12 global ISVs Thoughts on the Microsoft 20% tax to ISVs Support the showIf you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith