CRM MVP Podcast

One of the reasons why I enjoy attending Microsoft Inspire (previously known as World Partner Conference) each year is that I have the opportunity to interact with partners that are not solely focused in Dynamics 365. Sometimes, we find opportunities to partner with these organizations and offer each other's solutions to our customers.

For example, we have partners who focus 100% on the Finance and Operations side of Dynamics 365, we have partners who are experts in Azure, partners who are expert in merging complete IT infrastructures after an acquisition takes place, and we have even established partnership with organizations who focus on Citrix, Cisco, and other technologies outside of Microsoft.

The idea behind establishing these partnerships is to leverage the talent and experience other organizations out there have worked hard to obtain and be able to make a recommendation to our customers depending on their needs. We are obsessed with customer success, and we love to be able to work with and recommend other organizations out there that have the same level of obsession.

This year I attended a session at Microsoft Inspire focused on creating effective partnerships, and I learned several things in the process, so I invited the presenters of that session to join me on this episode and share some of their expertise with you.

Finally, my guests focus on partnerships regardless of industry or area of expertise so this will not be an episode focused on Dynamics 365. We will be back with new Dynamics 365 programming on the next episode.

Links:

http://smartp2p.net/

https://partner.microsoft.com/en-lb/inspire

My guests:

Diana Kreklow: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diana-kreklow-6201176/

Shann McGrail: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannmcgrail/

The conversation we started on Episode 31 with CRM MVPs Ulrik Carlsson, Chris Cognetta, and Steve Mordue continues now with Sean Tabor joining the party. These guys were visiting Atlanta for D365 Saturday so I invited them to the CRM MVP Podcast studio to talk all things Dynamics 365 and Microsoft MVP.

Follow us:

Ulrik: https://twitter.com/crmchartguy

Chris: https://twitter.com/ccognetta

Steve: https://twitter.com/stevemordue

Gus: https://twitter.com/gusgonzalez2

Sean: https://twitter.com/crmhobbit

Podcast: https://twitter.com/crmmvppodcast

CRM MVPs Ulrik Carlsson, Chris Cognetta, and Steve Mordue were visiting Atlanta for D365 Saturday so I invited them to the CRM MVP Podcast studio to talk all things Dynamics 365 and Microsoft MVP.

Follow us:

Ulrik: https://twitter.com/crmchartguy

Chris: https://twitter.com/ccognetta

Steve: https://twitter.com/stevemordue

Gus: https://twitter.com/gusgonzalez2

Podcast: https://twitter.com/crmmvppodcast

This episode is inspired by Scott Sewell and his obsession with Antiques Roadshow.

CRM MVP Ulrik Carlsson was visiting Atlanta so I invited him over to the CRM MVP Podcast studio to collaborate on our list of Top 10 Pro Tips regarding how to take your Dynamics 365 Implementation to the next level. These tips are all about "the finish" high level professionals put on their Dynamics 365 Implementations. These best practices are subtle, and not all users will notice the difference, but other professionals certainly do.

Top 10 beautification tips:

1. Standarize views
2. Remove unused views
3. Remove unused fields from Advanced Find
4. Use App Designer
5. Remove unusued charts/show relevant charts
6. Deactivate unused Business Process Flows
7. Remove "Quick Create" from some entities
8. Remove unwanted actions from Security Roles
9. Change Relationship Behavior
10. Implement "User Experience Enhancers"

Follow us: @CRMMVPPodcast

Don't forget to vote for #TeamGus or #TeamCRMChartGuy

We are taking a break from the "Dynamics 365 Content" to discuss a very important non-technical topic.

Back on Episode 22, when asked "Which non-MVP community leader do you want to see here at the Microsoft MVP Summit next year and why?", CRM MVP Neil Benson said:

"I'd like to see more women, I'd like to see more people who speak Arabic, and Korean, and Chinese, and Spanish, and Portuguese --- there's a lot of other countries around the world that are under-represented in the MVP Community and are just as passionate as we are about the product and about solving customer challenges. I'd like to see more of those people join the MVP Program."

The lack of diversity in the MVP Program that Neil pointed out is a reflection of our industry as a whole, and it is something that we (MVPs) talk about often.

So for this episode I invited a couple of people who are passionate about this topic to discuss why Diversity is important as well as what can we do as an industry to encourage more diversity.

By the way, I realize that some of you are probably dissapointed that we are not covering Dynamics 365 Best Practices and Expert Insights on this episode, but don't worry, we'll be back to our original programming on Episode 30. :)

Follow us:

Salim Adamon: https://twitter.com/salimadamon

Nick Doelman: https://twitter.com/readyxrm

Gus Gonzalez: https://twitter.com/GusGonzalez2

Julie Yack: https://twitter.com/coloradojules

Times like these remind me of why I travel with so much equipment, you never know who you'll have the opportunity to talk to.

For this episode, I was in New Jersey for some customer meetings and after those meetings I stopped by the Microsoft Office at Times Square and talked to my friend Scott Sewell.

Scott is a former CRM MVP and currently a Global Black Belt for Microsoft, so he has tons of real world experience working with Dynamics 365 and the business applications that surround it.

On this episode we discuss:

• How Scott ended up working in Alaska for a couple of winters
• Why Scott lived in Kenya for 2 years
• Scott's experience working for multiple Microsoft Dynamics Partners
• Power BI's story and capabilities
• What's so great about Microsoft Flow
• How awesome PowerApps really are
• Can you be an expert on ALL Microsoft Business Solutions?

Connect with us:

Scott Sewell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mscottsewell/

Gus Gonzalez: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ggonzalez2/

Follow us:

Scott Sewell: https://twitter.com/scottsewell

Gus Gonzalez: https://twitter.com/GusGonzalez2

With the release of the new Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Marketing App, I wanted to explore its capabilities and how it compares with ClickDimensions and the Adobe Marketing Cloud.

I didn't want to tackle this topic by myself, so I invited someone who has spent a lot of time working with the new marketing app, fellow CRM MVP Steve Mordue.

I also wanted to explore how the new app compares with well-established marketing automation solutions for Dynamics 365, so I invited Mike Dickerson who is the CEO at ClickDimensions to explore not only the differences but also to understand how ClickDimensions feels about the new app, and Microsoft's partnership with Adobe.

One final note regarding this episode: we had some technical issues with the solution we typically use to record our podcast episodes, so we had to switch to Plan B, and this is why this episode sounds more like a conference call rather than the crystal-clear sound you are accustomed to on this podcast. I apologize for the inconvenience.

Connect with us:

Steve Mordue: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevemordue/

Mike Dickerson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mdickerson/

Gus Gonzalez: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ggonzalez2/

Follow us:

Steve Mordue: https://twitter.com/stevemordue

Mike Dickerson: https://twitter.com/MikeWDickerson

Gus Gonzalez: https://twitter.com/GusGonzalez2

Over the last couple of months I had the opportunity to speak at two universities here in the United States. I delivered a presentation to students graduating soon and looking to start a career.

There are two things I noticed during my research for these presentations and while delivering the sessions:

1. There is a huge need for talent in the Microsoft Business Application industry
2. All these students graduating today are young millenials

So I invited CRM MVP Daryl LaBar, CRM MVP Britta Rekstad, and Microsoft Program Manager Patrick Dykema to discuss millenials, talent, and career opportunities within the Microsoft Business Applications industry.

Links:

Daryl LaBar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daryllabar/

Britta Rekstad: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brekstad/

Patrick Dykema: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickdykema/

Follow us: https://twitter.com/CRMMVPPodcast

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAhjoi4W_K7sLNpXr9Kqz8w

On average, people spend over 4 hours a day on their phones, so it makes sense for organizations to think about Mobility when it comes to their Dynamics 365 implementations. But often, Mobility falls to an afterthought on implementations, functionality relegated to Phase 2 or 3. Organizations focus on the overall solution and just want to make sure that this solution is available on the users' phones and tablets.

On this episode, I talk to Ivan Stano from Resco.net, which is the leading mobile client third party provider for Dynamics 365.

Now, since Ivan invited me to their annual mobility conference in Atlanta he probably thought I was going to take it easy on him, but that wasn't the case...here are some of the things we discuss:

• When did Resco get into the CRM Mobile Client business?
• Why did they decide to NOT release a client for Blackberry even though Blackberry was the market leader at that time?
• What was their reaction when Microsoft announced their partnership with CWR Mobility a few years ago, effectively "killing Resco and TenDigits" in the process?
• How did they manage to survive that partnership while their competitors "closed shop"?
• Are they being acquired by Microsoft?
• Now that they are partners with Microsoft, what are they doing to ensure this partnership works out, unlike the CWR partnership?
• Is Microsoft coming up with their own Field Service App? Does Resco have its days counted?

I would like to thank Ivan Stano from Resco.net for his time answering my questions and sharing their story.

Follow us: https://twitter.com/CRMMVPPodcast

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAhjoi4W_K7sLNpXr9Kqz8w

During the Microsoft MVP Summit 2018, Gustaf Westerlund asked if I had some time to talk about Episode 20 where he thought there were a few "Best Practices" I was incorrect for disagreeing with them, and that there were other "Best Practices" that he didn't even think they were actual Best Practices at all.

So instead of missing all the great details and insight from Gustaf by having the conversation later that night during dinner or at the hotel bar, I decided to hand him a mic and hit record to settle our disagreements on record and let you all listen.

Follow Gustaf: https://twitter.com/crmgustaf

Follow us: https://twitter.com/CRMMVPPodcast

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAhjoi4W_K7sLNpXr9Kqz8w