CRM MVP Podcast

Many Dynamics 365 Consultants and experts today have thoughts about becoming an Independent Consultant. Typically these thoughts boil down to simple math, the thoughts go something like this: "If my company gets X amount of dollars per hour for my work, I could make that X amount times 40 per week and keep all of it if I was Independent!".

But is it really that easy?

Listen to 5 CRM MVPs at different stages of their "Independent" careers to get some clarity regarding subjects such as the mindset needed to go Independent, timing, sub-contracting for another partner vs. getting your own customers and work directly for them, charging less to "get your foot on the door", starting with a partner or going 100% solo, being prepared to fail, and having the will to win:

• Steve Mordue: has been working independent for decades. Never worked for anybody.
• Gus Gonzalez: went independent in 2014, now leads a CRM Practice with 8 full time employees.
• Sheila Shapari: went independent a year ago, and she's at a point where she could start a practice to meet demand, or stay independent for now.
• Britta Rekstad: went independent a few months ago and provides amazing insights of what work and life has been like since then.
• Daryl LaBar: who months ago was facing two options, join a large CRM partner organization or go independent. He chose against going Independent and explains why.

Links:

1. Steve Mordue (www.stevemordue.com)
2. Daryl LaBar (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR7naI_fY4LbY-TO_nLMTYA)
3. Britta Rekstad (http://www.macgyvercrm.com/)
4. Sheila Shapari ([email protected]t)

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As you know, I attend several conferences and events each year and I do record content for this podcast at those events but I have never really debriefed after an event.

This one was different, it was my 7th eXtreme 365 conference and it has been my favorite conference so far, so I wanted to bring Ulrik Carlsson on the show so we could share why we believe this was their best event ever.

Follow eXtreme: https://twitter.com/eXtreme_365

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Ulrik: www.crmchartguy.com

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There is one week every year where the largest concentration of CRM MVPs is recorded, and that is the Microsoft MVP Summit.

During the MVP Summit 2018, I asked 10 CRM MVPs to answer the 22 tough questions you see below and I recorded their answers for all to enjoy, discuss, and learn from.

Questions:

1. Should Microsoft get rid off Dynamics 365 On-Premise? Why or Why not?
2. How do you think the new Dynamics 365 for Marketing App affects stablished Marketing Automation Solutions such as ClickDimensions, Salesfusion, Act-On, and others?
3. Salesforce and Google continue to collaborate and recently announced tighter integrations between the solutions offered by both organizations, how would a Salesforce acquisition by Google disrupt Dynamics 365's momentum?
4. One of the things Marc Benioff - the CEO of Salesforce – mentioned on their last big conference was that "Microsoft can't seem to keep their Dynamics 365 leadership in place", are those comments accurate? And if so, why do you think that's happening?
5. Salesforce continues to be a leader in the CRM space with around 25% of the market share globally while Microsoft holds a smaller share, what can Microsoft do to catch up to Salesforce?
6. How important is to master tools such as Microsoft Flow and Power Apps for a Dynamics 365 Solution Architect today?
7. Speaking from the point of view of thousands of partners who are based in the US, why should I care about the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) approved by the European Union Parliament on April of 2016?
8. As the Dynamics 365 world grows, many developers from other products or platforms are making a jump into Dynamics 365 and other related technologies, what would you recommend to these developers to focus on learning so they can make a big impact in the near future?
9. AppSource continues to grow and new items are added often, how do you keep up with what is being released and do you have any go-to apps?
10. If you were the Dynamics 365 Product Owner for a day, what are some of the changes or improvements you would like to see added to Dynamics 365?
11. If you could go back and re-do something inside Dynamics 365, what would it be and why?
12. What kind of solution or company would you like to see Microsoft acquire and incorporate into their Dynamics 365 roster next?
13. In your opinion, what is the most underrated feature of Dynamics 365?
14. Now that Microsoft eliminated the branding of XRM, how has this impacted your approach to implementations and conversations with the community?
15. There are hundreds of suggestions on the Microsoft Connect or Idea portal for Dynamics 365 enhancements, some of the suggestions date back a few years, if you had to pick one of those ideas to be incorporated into the next version of Dynamics 365, which one would it be?
16. What is your favorite thing about working with Dynamics 365?
17. What is your favorite part of the MVP Summit and why?
18. What is your favorite thing about being a Microsoft MVP?
19. If you could give one advice to aspiring CRM MVPs, what would it be?
20. We are very fortunate to live in the US and have the ability to travel to and speak at conferences and other events, but what would you say to someone who might not be able to do what we do and who's wondering if they can add value to the Dynamics 365 community?
21. Which non-MVP community leader do you want to see here at the Microsoft MVP Summit next year and why?
22. Lastly and just for fun, if there was a "CRM MVP for Life Award" and only one CRM MVP could be selected, who should the award go to and why?

I would like to thank Ulrik Carlsson and Seth Bacon for contributing questions to this list.

And of course, here are the CRM MVPs who stood outside a building for an hour in freezing weather to answer these questions:

• Colin Vermander (https://twitter.com/koolin_)
• Sheila Shapari (https://twitter.com/SheilaShahpari)
• Daryl LaBar (https://twitter.com/ddlabar)
• Neil Benson (https://twitter.com/customery)
• Gustaf Westerlund (https://twitter.com/crmgustaf)
• Britta Rekstad (https://twitter.com/MacgyverCRM)
• Leon Tribe (https://twitter.com/leontribe)
• Rick McCutcheon (https://twitter.com/rick_mccutcheon)
• Shawn Tabor (https://twitter.com/CRMhobbit)
• Joel Lindstrom (https://twitter.com/JoelLindstrom)

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There are many things you can do to increase your chances of success on a Dynamics 365 Implementation, there are also many things you can do to increase the chances of failure.

In this episode, I'm joined by CRM MVP Neil Benson to discuss the Top 10 things organizations do that increases the risk of Dynamics 365 Implementation failure. We also walk through a few real personal stories of projects that either failed after go-live, or didn't even make it to full release. We hope you learn from our experience rather than "learning the hard way".

Here are the 10 things that will increase the chances of FAILURE of a Dynamics 365 implementation:

1. Lack of buy-in from stakeholders and/or Lack of Executive Sponsor
2. Lack of Systemic, Predictable Project Execution or Methodology
3. "IT Focus" rather than "Business Focus"
4. Lack of Training
5. Starting the implementation of "Change Management" too late
6. "Dirty Data"
7. Lack of integration
8. Not having "quick wins"
9. Misuse of Microsoft Partners
10. Lack of Customer Involvement

Exclusive Discount to Neil's "Introduction to Scrum for Dynamics 365" course for listeners of this episode: https://scrum365.customery.com/p/introduction-to-scrum-for-dynamics-365/?product_id=502971&coupon_code=CRMMVP21

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Neil: https://twitter.com/customery

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Being a CRM MVP gives me the opportunity to interact with Dynamics 365 professionals of diverse backgrounds, whether they work as independent contractors, work for a large global systems integrator, or working for a customer as a CRM Admin, we all have something in common. We are all trying to learn from each other and improve our skills over time.

And sometimes is tough to add value from my side because there are times where it seems like most people follow best practices that I either partially or completely disagree with.

So for Episode 20, I decided to share the Top 20 "Best Practices" I keep finding myself at odds with, and explain why I disagree with them.

I wonder how many of these you agree and/or disagree with me on.

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On this episode I dive into all the steps and best practices I follow when setting up Security for every Microsoft Dynamics 365/CRM Implementation I lead as a Solution Architect.

I will discuss my approach to:

• Licensing
• Admin Roles
• Business Units
• Security Roles
• Teams
• Hierarchy Security
• Field Security
• Security Performance

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Back on Episode 15, fellow CRM MVPs Chris Cognetta and Joel Lindstrom walked through the best practices and details behind preparing for and migrating to Dynamics 365 Online. Unfortunately, Chris and Joel ran out of time and could not cover what happens once the Migration has been completed.

This episode closes the series as we dive into the best practices and details behind a completed Migration.

We discuss the following topics:

• Training, Testing, and Readiness
• Changes to the Microsoft Outlook client and the Mobile apps
• Leveraging technology that wasn't available On-Premise but it is now is available Online
• Dynamics 365 Upgrades and how to prepare for them

If you haven't listened to Episode 15 or "Part 1" of this series, I recommend you to enjoy that episode first and get the foundation you need to successfully move to the cloud:

http://crmmvppodcast.com/episode-15-moving-to-the-cloud-hosted-by-chris-cognetta-and-joel-lindstrom

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Follow Joel: https://twitter.com/JoelLindstrom

On this episode, Customer Service world-class experts and Community Leaders Sarah Jelinek and Ulrik Carlsson stop by the show to discuss whether Microsoft Dynamics 365 is the right Customer Service solution for all organizations out there.

We discuss:

• Reasoning behind managing customer service on a separate stand-alone solution.
• Why Dynamics 365 makes sense as a Customer Service solution
• What can companies do to prepare to move their Customer Service operations to Dynamics 365
• Common issues that arise during Customer Service implementations
• Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), the most widely accepted approach to IT service management in the world
• Other Microsoft Business Solutions that can greatly improve your Customer Service effectiveness and customer experience

Follow our experts on twitter:

Sarah: https://twitter.com/dyn365diva

Ulrik: https://twitter.com/crmchartguy

Learn more about ITIL: https://www.axelos.com/best-practice-solutions/itil/what-is-itil

Here at the CRM MVP Podcast, we like to focus on topics that are rarely discussed out there, and sometimes we like to be the first podcast out there covering a topic in particular.

In this case, we managed to accomplish both conditions, we decided to dedicate an episode to the best practices and techniques you can leverage to become a "better customer", perhaps even "the perfect customer".

Let me explain what that means.

The perfect customer - in my eyes - is the organization that manages to accomplish the trifecta of value when it comes to Dynamics 365:

1. They manage to achieve their business objectives by implementing Dynamics 365 to help them get better in all 3 areas of the Customer Lifecycle: acquiring new customers, deliver products or services more efficiently to those customers, and extend the relationships they have with existing customers. This makes the Dynamics 365 customer happy.

2. By having a solution that helps them on their Customer Lifecycle you get User Adoption, which means license revenue and utilization, which makes Microsoft happy.

3. Having a great working relationship with their partner is the third element of "the perfect customer trifecta", where the expectations from the customer side, and the partner side line up perfectly. In other words, the customer receives exactly what they need when they need it, and the partner is 100% focused on providing that specific value. This makes the partner happy.

Whether you work for a Dynamics 365 partner or a customer, this episode will include best practices and tips on how to get the most value out of Dynamics 365 as a customer, how to find the best vendor for your specific organization and needs, and how to avoid pitfalls during your implementation.

Lastly, I would like to thank Chris for sharing the Glynlyon story and best practices during this episode. They are an amazing company and industry leader in academic solutions. You can learn more about them at http://www.glynlyon.com/

On this episode, Chris Cognetta and Joel Lindstrom dive deep into Migrating to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Online.

They will tackle areas regarding preparation, data, customizations, tools, Microsoft FastTrack, and readiness, to name a few.

CRMUG Q3 2017 Magazine: https://goo.gl/B4pgiQ

Microsoft FastTrack info: https://technet.microsoft.com/library/mt812191.aspx

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Follow Chris: https://twitter.com/ccognetta

Follow Joel: https://twitter.com/JoelLindstrom