Shows
Power Hour PodcastRunning a business in the Power Platform: Power Hour Podcast #3 - CEO Steve MordueIn this episode of the Power Hour podcast, we interview Steve Mordue, CEO of Rapid Start Apps Global. We discuss the inception and philosophy behind Rapid Start Apps, emphasizing simplicity and user-friendliness for SMBs. Steve shares insights on entrepreneurship, the importance of selling, and his role in the community. He also reflects on his experience with the MVP program, networking with Microsoft, and the future of the Power Platform. ------------------00:00 Introduction to Rapid Start Apps Global03:14 The Philosophy Behind Rapid Start Apps05:57 Entrepreneurship and the Importance of...2025-01-2852 min
Leaders of B2B Podcast - Interviews on Business Leadership, B2B Sales, B2B Marketing and Revenue GrowthAdapting to Technological Changes with Steve Mordue of RapidStart GlobalIn today’s episode, we’re joined by Steve Mordue, CEO of RapidStart Global, formerly Forceworks. Steve talks about managing a global team and the future of AI and remote work. He discusses his journey from starting Forceworks to adapting to new technologies, highlighting the need to stay ahead in the tech industry.Key Takeaways:(00:54) Slowing down and effectively delegating tasks is vital.(05:25) Transitioning from Salesforce to Microsoft and creating RapidStart apps.(10:50) The benefits of remote work and its early adoption.(15:40) How AI is transforming CRM syst...2024-07-2450 min
Steve reads his BlogSteve has a Fifth Annual Chat with Charles LamannaI caught Charles the other day for my fifth annual Chat. We talked about many things fresh off of Ignite—copilots, of course, but also Project Sophia and his thoughts about AGI.
2023-11-2948 min
The MSDW PodcastMPPC 2023 Recap with Asif Rehmani and Steve Mordue With the second annual Microsoft Power Platform Conference (MPPC 2023) now over, Microsoft MVPs Steve Mordue and Asif Rehmani joined us to review their experiences and observations at the event. Microsoft had positive numbers to share on growth in both customers and community, but it was the company's messaging on Copilot overpowered other announcements at the event. Nevertheless, attendees and community presenters were at the show to talk about a whole lot more than the latest AI hype. Steve and Asif tell us about some of the sessions and themes they took note of in areas including governance, security, DevOps...2023-10-0940 min
Steve reads his BlogSteve has a 5th chat with charlesThis was my fifth chat with Charles Lamanna.
2022-09-1327 min
Steve reads his BlogSteve has a Chat with Vahe Torossian
I had a chance to sneak up on Vahe Torossian, a Microsoft Corporate Vice President and the man in charge of Sales for Microsoft Business Applications. While Vahe has been with Microsoft for 30 years, many of you may not know him, so I wanted to fix that. Vahe is no ordinary Seller; he’s the “Top” guy who sets the sales strategy and motions for the entire global team. Vahe is also the guy who runs the really big enterprise customer meetings, and he’s super-friendly, as you would expect for the Chief Rainmaker. We covered a lot of gro...2022-09-1356 min
Steve reads his BlogSteve has a Chat with JukkaI had the pleasure of having a chat with a Power Platform industry leader, Jukka Niiranen. Listen or Watch below. Enjoy!
2022-08-2558 min
Steve reads his BlogSteve has yet another Chat with CharlesI have had my head down working on some big things since RapidStart CRM growth exploded, and it has been a while since you heard from me. Well, I'm getting back to it with a follow-up chat with Charles Lamanna who recently took over for James Phillips as head of Business Applications for Microsoft. This was my fourth chat with Charles, and it was interesting to back listen to them in order. It really gives you a sense of where Microsoft has come. I managed to catch him in his office having just wrapped up their year-end. Enjoy!
2022-07-0127 min
Steve reads his BlogSteve has another Chat with Toby BowersI have had my head down working on some big things, and it has been a while since you heard from me. Well, I'm getting back to it with a follow-up chat with Toby Bowers, the Leader of the Microsoft Bizapps ISV Program. I managed to catch him in his car, and got a great update on some new things happening in the ISV arena. Enjoy!
Transcript Below:
Toby:
Hi, this is Toby.
Steve:
Hey Toby, Steve Mordue, how's it going?
Toby:
Hey, Steve. I'm doing...2021-08-0236 min
Steve reads his BlogSteve has a Chat with Ryan CunninghamSo I noticed Ryan Cunningham, Product Lead for the Power Apps side of the Power Platform for Microsoft, suddenly come available in Teams. So of course, I ambushed him, and we had a great conversation about Power Apps and the whole Microsoft Business Applications group. Enjoy!
Transcript below:
Ryan Cunningham:
Hello. This is Ryan.
Steve Mordue:
Hey, Ryan. Steve Mordue. How's it going?
Ryan Cunningham:
Oh, Steve Mordue. How you doing? Does this mean I'm in trouble?
Steve Mordue:
No, you are not...2021-01-071h 02
Steve reads his Blog$10 bills for $3 each, for a limited time!Today, Microsoft business Applications group is announcing a special offer for Power Apps Per App Passes. It felt pretty significant, so I thought I would write a short post on it.
The Offer Starting today, you can buy Power Apps Per App Passes for $3 each. The catch? Minimum 200 users... but still.. that is a pretty big deal for mid-sized and above companies. For example, combined with our free RapidStartCRM, that gives you an enterprise grade CRM for 200 users for $600/month!!! In addition to this offer, the Power Apps Per User plan is $12, instead of $40, but...2020-12-0102 min
Steve reads his BlogMicrosoft marching masses to peak of Mt. StupidI recently became aware of an interesting concept in psychology called the Dunning-Kruger Effect, and Citizen Developers came to my mind. What the hell am I talking about now? Read on to find out.
The Dunning-Kruger Effect Essentially the Dunning-Kruger effect is one's own perception of their reality. Often displayed as the following image:
For those of you who are listening to this, instead of reading it, I will describe the image. On the vertical axis is confidence level, from low to high. On the horizontal axis is Competence level, from "Know Nothing"...2020-11-2306 min
Steve reads his BlogThe beatings will continue until morale improvesJames Phillips, the head of engineering for Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform, that we all either use, or make a living on, recently tweeted "The name changes will continue until morale improves". It was a joke people!!!
Relax My inbox blew up with people asking me what "morale" issue James was referring to. Jimbo was paraphrasing an old quote that I used for the title of this post. In fact, Jimmy is not even responsible for naming as far as I know, that merry-go-round is operated by Alysa Taylor's team. I think JP was acknowledging the angst o...2020-11-1905 min
Steve reads his BlogMicrosoft taking away Direct CSP from Small PartnersWhen I moved from Salesforce to become a Microsoft partner about ten years ago, they were just launching the "Advisor" model for cloud license sales. The road got rocky after that.
Life was Good The Advisor model was great. Microsoft handled everything, billing, support, collections, etc. All we had to do was bring customers and get paid a commission on the licenses that were bought. Cloud was exploding at that time a rate Microsoft did not seem prepared for. The Advisor model was putting too much of a strain on Microsoft, so CSP was born. CSP sought...2020-11-0508 min
Steve reads his BlogSteve Reads Jukka’s PostIn one of our private MVP channels, another MVP “joked” that Jukka Niiranen should consider reading his blog like I do, so I “joked” that I would do it for him, and then Jukka “joked” that he “fully approved this innovative art performance“, and so.... all jokes aside… a Special Edition of Steve Reads his Posts, where I instead, Read one of Jukka’s posts.
But before I do that I have known Jukka for several years now, and I consider him "the" top blogger when it comes to all things Power Platform. I also write a lot about the Power...2020-09-2217 min
Steve reads his BlogI recommended Zoho!In this past week, I had two potential customers who were deciding between our RapidStartCRM Power Apps or Zoho. For one of them, I had no choice but to recommend Zoho. I you want to know why, keep reading.
Customer Number 1 I got a call from Bob, the owner of Little Bitty Inc., in Podunk, Nebraska. Bob was managing the finances for his 5-person business in his checkbook, and managing his sales with a Google spreadsheet. He said he had been considering Zoho, but then saw an ad for our RapidStartCRM talking about how it...2020-09-1805 min
Steve reads his BlogThe Evolution of an ISVI get that it is mostly partners and Microsoft employees that read my blog, I have not really targeted my content toward customers, which was probably a mistake, but that is a topic for another day. Today, I want to break down some significant changes we made to our ISV strategy and why.
Every ISV is Different Our strategy is obviously not going to work for every ISV. For us, I think it makes sense, for others it could be non-sensical. In this post, I want to further expand on our recent strategy to make...2020-09-1608 min
Steve reads his BlogISV Connect ED!, also our Apps are now FreeI had planned on making this two posts, but frankly I have too much on my plate at the moment, so its a twofer. The first part is about something new I launched, and the second part is about a bold move I made.
ISV Connect ED I have certainly been one of the "complainers" about Microsoft's ISV programs, including ISV Connect. Well, you can only complain so much, and then, if you are in a position to, you have to take action. I decided that what ISVs were missing, was a community that was ISV Focused...2020-09-1006 min
Steve reads his BlogSteve has a Chat with Toby BowersI recently wrote a post with suggestions for Toby Bowers, the new Leader of the Microsoft ISV Program. I assumed he had read it, but just to be sure, I ambushed him on the phone. If you are a Microsoft Business Applications ISC, this is the guy who will make or break you. We had a great discussion about his plans for ISVs. We also chatted about my latest undertaking, ISV Connect ED, he acted like it was the first time he heard about it, but I already know that it has been chatted up in the halls in...2020-09-0732 min
Steve reads his BlogSuggestions for Toby Bowers on ISV ConnectI guess it is fairly obvious from my post yesterday, that I am pretty pissed off at Microsoft. I have always been one of those "Don't point out a problem, without suggesting a solution" kind of guys, and I have done my share of pointing out problems with Microsoft's Business Applications ISV efforts. So here are some ideas.
Why ISVs? First, why should Microsoft even give a shit about ISVs? Certainly prior to sharing in ISV's revenue there did not appear to be much reason, based on how Microsoft had historically engaged with ISVs. I guess we...2020-08-0611 min
Steve reads his BlogMicrosoft continues inching into ISV Turf"Microsoft has always been a partner-led company, and we are committed to creating more opportunity for our partners across our businesses." and "This ethos of being partner-led will be there in everything we do". Satya Nadella has said these things, but I am wondering...
Lip Service? One of the major factors that brought me to transition my company from a Salesforce Consultant, to a Microsoft Partner in 2011 was the "Partner Ecosystem" story. After almost 10 years with SFDC, during which their relationship with consultants was borderline antagonistic, I was fed up. Microsoft sounded like a breath...2020-08-0406 min
Steve reads his BlogCRM is not just about Sales"We're not looking for a Sales solution", said the person on the other end of the phone call. I have heard this many times. While those of us in the Power Platform arena know that Sales is only one of the business problems we can solve with the tools today, many still think "Sales" when they hear Dynamics 365.
Once more from the top I have previously explained some of the evolution of what was formerly known as CRM, at least as it relates to Microsoft's offerings.... but I will try once more in super-layman's terms. Up until...2020-07-0709 min
Steve reads his BlogPower Apps - The truth about $10When Model-Driven Power Apps first appeared on the scene, it brought with it a $40 per user license called Power Apps P2. Earlier this year Microsoft launched a $10 per App "Pass". Clearly $10 is going to get some eyeballs, along with a lot of skepticism about it having a place in an organization that may be paying $100 per user plus. So let's talk about it.
"Your going to like it" I believe it was at last year's MVP Summit; there was an off-site dinner for the bizapps crew. I saw Charles Lamanna, Corporate VP of the Low Code Application...2020-06-1809 min
Steve reads his BlogWalking the TalkI usually avoid discussing my products or services on the blog, people seem to get annoyed. But I was having a chat with an ISV the other day, who said he had found me via this blog. He asked me how much of my ISV opinions were "theoretical", and did I actually have any ISV solutions. So if you don't want to hear about my stuff, stop reading or listening now.
AppSource As many of you know, I have had a love/hate relationship with Microsoft's AppSource. Apparently I must be a masochist, because I have...2020-06-1209 min
Steve reads his BlogSteve has another chat with Alysa TaylorIn this episode of "Steve has a Chat", I catch up again with Alysa Taylor, Corporate Vice President for Microsoft,
to get the latest from the Queen of Marketing for Microsoft Business Applications Group. We chat about the success of Virtual Events, Customer Insights, Power Apps vs Power Apps, and touched on SMB. Enjoy!
BTW, don't forget, Mark Smith (@nz365guy) and I do PowerUpLive every Tuesday at 4PM EST, click here to be alerted, and here's a link to the replays!
Transcript below:
Alysa Taylor:
Hello?
S...2020-06-0427 min
Steve reads his BlogSteve has a third chat with GuggsIn this episode of "Steve has a Chat", I catch up again with Steven Guggenheimer "Guggs" to get the latest on the ISV Connect program. It seems that the word is out at Microsoft about calls from me... they all seem ready now. But I still had a few surprises for him. Enjoy!
BTW, don't forget, Mark Smith (@nz365guy) and I do PowerUpLive every Tuesday at 4PM EST, click here to be alerted, and here's a link to the replays!
Transcript below:
Steven Guggenheimer:
Hello. This is Guggs.
Steve M...2020-04-1133 min
Steve reads his BlogTried Dynamics 365? Take another look at Power Apps.As I think back to past customers of Dynamics 365, not all of them were successful. The challenges that brought them to Dynamics 365 were real enough, but at the time we only had one solution to try and solve them with. I would love to snap my fingers and take Power Apps back in time.
Sledgehammers Dynamics 365, borne out of it's predecessor, Dynamics CRM Online, is a software marvel. I'm talking specifically in this post about the "CRM" side of Dynamics 365. For a midsized to large business, D365 has all of the tools you would need to transform...2020-04-0606 min
Steve reads his BlogSteve has a third chat with Charles LamannaI try and sneak up on Charles Lamanna a third time, but he was ready for it, "fool me once". Recently promoted to CVP, Citizen Application Platform I wanted to check in with Charles, who was working from home, about some of the things that are going on. We covered a lot of topics, including the post-virus workplace, RPA, API Limits, Multiplexing and Restricted Entities. Enjoy!
Full transcript follows:
Charles Lamanna:
Hello, it's Charles Lamanna.
Steve Mordue:
Charles, Steve Mordue. How's it going?
Charles Lamanna:
Hey Steve. I g...2020-03-3033 min
Steve reads his BlogThe Cost of Hemorrhaging MoneyMost people I am talking to today are starting to think about their businesses in these odd times. Many are naturally concerned about a reduction in revenue. But the counter-part to revenue is cost. Since the revenue side may be out of our control to some degree, the cost side is more critical than ever.
Athletic I work with a lot of businesses of all sizes. From my first-hand experience, the smaller the business, the leaner they operate. That is not a result of smaller profit percentage, many have very high margins. The biggest difference...2020-03-2504 min
Steve reads his BlogThe Last Nail in the On-Premise CoffinThe Conona Virus is having many different effects on the world, most are negative, but there are some that may actually be positive. For example, with workers being asked to work from home at an unprecedented rate, and that will no doubt go higher, one major point of failure will be on-premise based solutions. Let's unpack this.
Remote Workers Looking from the balcony of my downtown apartment, my view is dominated by office buildings. They are full of financial services firms, law firms... professional services firms of all kinds. Most of these office spaces consist...2020-03-2407 min
Steve reads his BlogDynamics 365 Team Member gets LockedYou were warned, you panicked, then realized nothing was happening immediately. So the trusty Team Member licenses kept chugging along, continuing to perform well beyond their boundaries. I wrote about this day coming back in May of 2018, and now finally, it's just around the corner.... prepare for the panic.
Sum it up In a nutshell, if you bought Team Member licenses after October 1st of 2018, this applies to you immediately. If you have older Team Member licenses, I'm sure you will have to replace those on an upcoming renewal. Microsoft has released, as part of early access...2020-02-2607 min
Steve reads his BlogPower Apps PotholesThere are a couple of different ways to approach building a Power App... and I am not referring to Canvas vs. Model-Driven here, but rather, the environment type. Today, you can build a Power App on either a "vanilla" CDS environment, or on a Dynamics 365 CDS environment. Why does it matter?
Vanilla Let's quickly discuss the Vanilla approach as it is the safest, which I will explain why later. If you log into the Power Platform Admin Center you will be presented with a list of Environments that you have in place. If you have Dynamics 365, any...2020-02-1206 min
Steve reads his BlogPower Platform - ISV ReadyAs an ISV I want to be able to take full advantage of everything that Microsoft's Power Platform can offer. Like SI's and customers, I get excited when I see the roadmap of features that are coming... it is mind-boggling. Unfortunately, just because something goes GA, does not mean it is "ISV Ready".
ISV Connect Technical Summit I recently attended the least "technical", technical event I have ever been to. As part of Microsoft's larger "ISV Connect" effort to create excitement for ISVs, they had extended what had previously been a smaller F&O ISV focused event...2020-02-0505 min
Steve reads his BlogBusiness Models ContinuedI know had previously written about Partner business models, but I can't find that post. I recall discussing our "Blocks of Hours" model, and how it was working well for both us and our customers. But I was seeing some cracks in it, and decided to create yet another business model, that we are starting to use now, that shows even better potential.
What is a Business Model? At some point in talking with a customer about how awesome you and your team are, and hearing about what they are hoping to accomplish, they will ask "So...2020-02-0406 min
Steve reads his BlogShining a Light on Shadow ITThe IT organization, inside of most enterprise customers, is primarily focused on Security, Governance and Compliance these days. One of the biggest tools in their arsenal is the word "No". That approach, to requests from various departments for solutions to help them accomplish their goals, planted the seeds for Shadow IT, and that Genie is not going back in the bottle.
Shadow IT In every organization, that is of a size to have an actual IT Department, Shadow IT exists. If you work or run one of these departments, and think there is no Shadow IT in y...2020-02-0410 min
Steve reads his BlogSteve Reviews a SolutionI know... this is out of left field right? Me doing a review of a Power Platform solution. But I know the team behind it, and I thought hmm... maybe this could be an angle for some new blog content. So, what the hell! BTW, I am not being compensated for this, nor did they offer... cheap bastards.
What's wrong with sales today? Sales has always been a black box. Great sellers have their secrets, but would rather not share them. Bad sellers just show up and check boxes until somebody finally notices they did not sell...2019-12-1905 min
Steve reads his BlogDynamics 365 - ISV Protection?As an ISV, with solutions for both Dynamics 365 and Power Apps, I was encouraged about the attention that Business Applications ISVs are getting recently. Unfortunately, I.P. protection is not one of the items coming anytime soon.
Managed Solution Myth Many ISVs believe that their managed solutions are safe. Having taken great pains to ensure that their managed solution never gets in the wrong hands, by requiring that their own teams install it for example. Thanks to some utilities in free open source solutions like XrmToolBox for example, managed solutions are not even close to safe. Using...2019-11-2705 min
Steve reads his BlogPower Apps - Licenses vs. PassesMany of you have probably heard me talk about the new Power Apps Per App Plans. At $10ea, I know a lot of people are inquiring about it from my Save 90% post a while back. It's real, but it's different. Until Jukka writes the definitive post on this, I will give you my thoughts.
Licensing One thing that most everyone can agree on, is that licensing for the Power Platform is complicated. It was complicated enough when it was just user-based licensing to determine what license a user needed, for whatever it was they needed to do...2019-11-2506 min
Steve reads his BlogPower begets PowerOkay, I know it has been a while since I wrote a post. It's been a very busy time, and since Mark Smith and I started do a weekly live show, I felt the base was sort of covered. But people have pointed out that my retweeter has run out of fresh content, so I am compelled to write this.
Whirlwind Continues So I had a last minute change of plans, and headed over to Ignite for the first few days. Wow! It was the Power Platform show. If you have not been looking at...2019-11-0806 min
Steve reads his BlogSteve has another chat with GuggsIn this episode of "Steve has a Chat", I catch up again with Steven Guggenheimer "Guggs" to get the latest on the ISV Connect program. I also had a few surprises for him. Enjoy!
BTW, don't forget, Mark Smith (@nz365guy) and I do PowerUpLive every Wednesay at 4PM EST, click here to be alerted, and here's a link to the replays!
2019-10-3128 min
Steve reads his BlogSteve has another chat with Charles LamannaIn this episode of "Steve has a Chat", I try and sneak up on Charles Lamanna again, but no dice. Recently promoted to CVP, Citizen Application Platform I wanted to see if I could get Charles to help clear up some of the confusion around licensing and API limits that seem to be the topic of the day. He was more than happy to help me set the record straight. Enjoy!
Full transcript follows:
Charles Lammana: Hey Steve. I bet you're recording this, aren't you?
Steve Mordue: Charles, you know I am. Did...2019-09-1629 min
Steve reads his BlogPower Platform - Architecting 101The Power Platform is on fire! Lot's of partners, developers and citizens are all creating all kinds of things at a rapid pace, it all seems so easy. Unfortunately many of them will get down the road and realize they should have taken a fork a few miles back. Let's see if we can map out the right path from the jump.
Whatcha gonna do? Before thinking about where to start, you should have clear idea of where you want to end up. Depending on the problem you are trying to solve, some choices will become obvious...2019-08-2909 min
Steve reads his BlogDynamics 365 - Buried SkeletonsRecently, our contact on a large multi-year customization effort for a customer left. The new person who came in seemed to be of a mind to change things up. What was a highly effective and collaborative effort, suddenly became a battle over every hour billed. I'm on the verge of kicking them to the curb, but...
Screwed by Nature There is an interesting anomaly in our business, that can ultimately lead to disaster; the seeds are planted as soon as you hire a Microsoft Partner. I don't think customers think about the end at the...2019-08-2904 min
Steve reads his BlogSteve has a Chat with Mona BasetTypically I am catching Microsoft leaders on my "Steve has a Chat" podcast, this time I thought I would try and pounce on an Enterprise Customer to get some candid feedback on PowerApps. Mona Baset, AVP of Information and Analytics Services for Atrium Health was game for a chat.
Atrium Health is comprised of 40 hospitals and 900 locations in the Carolinas and Georgia. Some of the things Mona and I discussed, included the place for PowerApps in a large organization that is committed to Salesforce.com. It was quite interesting to hear how PowerApps is viewed from the...2019-08-1225 min
Steve reads his BlogPowerApps vs. PowerAppsIt seems clear to me from listening to people on social media, comments on my posts, and generally having an ear to the ground, that too many people, including many who should not be, are still confused about PowerApps... and wouldn't they be?
A Quick Quiz. What is a PowerApp? A Mobile Application you built on top of SharePoint
A Mobile Application you built on top of the common data service
A Mobile Application you built on top of Dynamics 365
A Custom Application you built in Dynamics 365
A Custom Application you built on the Common Data Service
A Custom...2019-08-0607 min
Steve reads his BlogReduce your Dynamics 365 License costs by 92%?I hinted in my last post about possibly being able to reduce your Dynamics 365 license costs by up to 92%. I may have been a little too coy, so I titled this post more overtly. Was I just bullshitting you? Well... not all of you.
It Depends Follow me here as there are a lot of "ifs", but many organizations will meet them.
IF, you are paying $115/user/month for the Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Plan Licenses.
IF, you are only using the basic out-of-the-box features.
IF, the advanced capabilities you are using were all custom built.
IF...2019-08-0507 min
Steve reads his BlogUpdating to Unified Interface? PowerApp it!The Dynamics 365 Web Client is going to be deprecated soon. If you have not transitioned to the Unified Interface, time is running out to be in control of that process for yourself. Maybe there is a reason to look at this "chore" as an "opportunity".
Unified Interface The Unified Interface is awesome, a vast improvement over the previous Web Client. Yet a significant number of organizations are still using the Web Client. Microsoft needs you to get off your ass and move. In fact they recently created an Online Community dedicated to this single purpose. In my...2019-08-0103 min
Steve reads his BlogThe ISV Revenue Sharing Addendum ReviewThe ground is shifting under Microsoft Business Applications ISVs. Only time will tell if it is shifting forward or backward. Regardless, to continue existing, you will need to sign a new document, so let's take a look at it.
A room full of Elephants Microsoft's new "Business Applications ISV Connect Program" hopes to be a comprehensive program for ISV success, yet it's most often referred to by partners as the "Revenue Sharing Program", due to its prickliest aspect. But sharing 10% or 20% of your revenue with Microsoft is not the only thing you need to understand. In fact...2019-07-2511 min
CRM AudioLicensing updates with Steve MordueThis episode is brought to you by ClickLearn. Today Steve Mordue joins us to discuss the changes to Business Applications licensing announced last week at Microsoft Inspire. Topics in this episode: Licensing changes Goodbye plan licenses Attach license pricing for Dynamics 365 Forms pro vs VOC licensing Seeded PowerApps and Flow Per-app licensensing Licensing for the future of the platform Links: Mark Smith and Steve Mordue weekly Youtube live stream https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va9_vEEtlSg2019-07-2441 min
Steve reads his BlogSteve chats with Muhammad Alam
In this episode of "Steve has a Chat", I was able to catch Muhammad Alam before he headed out for Inspire. Muhammad is the General Manager of the Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations (F&O) team, and recently Microsoft Business Central was added to his list of responsibilities. He has been with Microsoft since 2005, so he knows where the bodies are buried.
We covered a lot of ground, including these burning questions:
Will Microsoft get to a single Cloud ERP Solution?
Will Mike Ehrenberg ever let go of Business Central?
Why many customers don't even...2019-07-111h 00
Steve reads his BlogMicrosoft’s Partner Network needs an EnemaI recently tweeted a link to an obscure Microsoft post I found about eliminating IUR. I thought at the time, "this is going to get messy". I followed up with a post on it myself, which promptly blew up, and now there is actually a petition someone started. Just to be clear... I did not sign this petition, and I will not be wielding any pitchforks at Inspire. Why not?
It Had to Happen The vaunted "Microsoft Partner Network"! Wow, that sends chills down the spines of all other software companies! "Oh no! Here comes a Microsoft...2019-07-0906 min
Steve reads his BlogMicrosoft to Partners, ”The Free Rides are Over!”The news media and investor market is certainly embracing the "Softer" side of Microsoft introduced since the appointment of Satya Nadela as CEO. While the company's stock is at an all-time high, it seems Microsoft's network of Partners are being gradually introduced to a new "Harder" side.
Update: You can still read this, but Microsoft reversed this decision. Partners Pummeled In recent months, partners have seen a continuous barrage of changes that are catching most off-guard. Many have described some of these changes as types of "Partner Taxes". For example:
Mandatory, but unnecessary, requirements to purchase...2019-07-0708 min
Steve reads his BlogSteve has a Chat with Jeff York2019-06-061h 01
Steve reads his BlogSteve Chats with Hayden Stafford2019-06-061h 02
Microsoft Innovation PodcastMicrosoft Business Applications Summit 2019: What to Look Forward To with Steve MordueFULL SHOW NOTEShttps://podcast.nz365guy.com/100The Microsoft Business Applications Summit will be happening in a few days. In this special podcast episode, I am joined by none other than Steve Mordue to talk about what to look forward to and share our thoughts on some of the key things around the Summit.We're all excited, so here are some of the things we discussed about this upcoming two-day event:Looking back to the first Business Applications Summit in 2018 What’s exciting about Business Applications Summit compared to other Microsoft events Thoughts on t...2019-06-0449 min
Steve reads his BlogData, Data everywhere, but not a drop to drink.Originally posted on March 7, 2012
Some of you younger whippersnappers may not remember the days when data was stored in file cabinets. That's not a metaphor, I mean actual metal file cabinets. It's true! In the olden days, we used to have rooms full of them.
We had a cabinet for employee records, another one for customer records, and others for tax records, financial records, payroll records, marketing records, sales records, active projects records, closed project records, old Elvis Presley records... let's just say lots of cabinets.
If I wanted to get a...2019-05-2704 min
Steve reads his BlogPower Platform and the Definition of DoneOne of the sessions at D365 Saturday Philadelphia this past weekend was "Managing a D365 CE Project" by Jennyfer Hogeland, it was a great session. On one of her slides she described "Definition of Done", and that phrase stuck in my head.
Done I don't know about you, but when I hear the word "Done", I assume something has completed. When I am "done" with a meal at a restaurant, they take my plate away, bring me my check, and the wonderful relationship I developed with my server comes to an abrupt conclusion. When the...2019-05-2010 min
Steve reads his BlogAre you brave enough to ask your customers how you are doing?I am currently in the software consulting business supporting Microsoft's Power Platform. As you may know, I write about it a lot, but for this post I wanted to veer off a little bit from my typical subject matter. Instead I wanted to talk about customers, and their experiences with companies that provide services.
Epiphany I was talking to one of our customer-facing people a few months ago, who was working on one of our larger customer projects. I asked him how things were going. He started to go into the customer's asks, and the...2019-05-1408 min
Steve reads his BlogPowerApps - Why Spreadsheets SuckWhat a wonderful invention spreadsheets were. For many things, I don't know how we even managed before them. Okay, I do know, because I am that old... we managed things poorly. Spreadsheets solved so many challenges, that they eventually created new ones.
1-2-3 The first spreadsheet software I actually used was called 1-2-3 from Lotus, back around 1985. I created all sorts of spreadsheets, Shortly after, I switched up to Lotus Symphony, which was basically spreadsheet software with a programming language. With Symphony, I built a complex job-costing system for my business at the...2019-05-1310 min
Steve reads his BlogCommon Data Service - Strategies and SilosSo the buzz about the Common Data Service (CDS) has reached a deafening stage. It is the most exciting thing that has come out of the Microsoft Business Applications group in a decade. The possibilities jumped into the category of "endless". So how do you start with something that is endless?
Quick Primer I previously wrote about the Common Data Service here, but let's have a quick primer for this conversation. The Common Data Service (CDS) is basically a database that runs under your applications. You can have many applications running on a single CDS...2019-05-1007 min
Steve reads his BlogDynamics 365 Business Central - Is it a SMB Solution?It seems that many people are confused about where Dynamics 365 Business Central fits into the landscape. Is it an ERP... a CRM... is it for SMB... Midsized...Enterprise? Is it part of the Power Platform? At the risk of annoying my BC Partner friends once again, I will take a stab at it.
Origins It would be helpful to know the origins of Dynamics 365 Business Central "BC", to understand how it came to it's current position, and then I'll discuss it's current position. Once upon a time, there was a product called Navision that Microsoft...2019-05-0911 min
Steve reads his BlogDynamics 365 - The Upsides to the new ISV ProgramI recently wrote a post about the coming Revenue Sharing model for Microsoft Business Applications ISV's. As expected, there is some screaming going on about forking over some of your revenue to Microsoft. But there is another side of that story... what Microsoft will be doing in return.
Recap Starting soon Microsoft will be moving to a pay-to-play model for ISVs. The first reaction I am hearing from many ISVs are various "avoidance" schemes. Remember, this only applies to SaaS products. Since all of these SaaS products are hosted by Microsoft, and they have all...2019-05-0216 min
Steve reads his BlogPowerApps Component Framework - Frosting on the CakeI usually wait a week or two to weigh in on new announcements from Microsoft. I like to let the noise die down a little, and see how others are responding to the news. But I am way too excited about the Public Preview launch of the PowerApps Component Framework.
What's in a Name? The journey to Public Preview has been a rather long one. Originally coined the "Custom Control Framework" (CCF), which gave way to another name, "PowerApps Control Framework" (PCF), to ultimately landing on the name "PowerApps Component Framework", this "framework" has been...2019-04-2406 min
Steve reads his BlogMicrosoft steps up to Salesforce’s AppExchangeLet's be real... the Business Applications ISV motion from Microsoft to date, has been a shit show. Many budding ISVs struggled to navigate the program(s) only to reach the conclusion that there was not much there. For all the talk about how important ISVs are, Microsoft's actions to date have failed to live up to their words. I want to personally apologize.
The Boy who cried Wolf! I am usually pretty cynical, but over the past few years, I have consistently fallen for the promises from many Microsoft team members, each of whom was...2019-04-1808 min
Steve reads his BlogPower Platform - CDS Explained for Normal PeopleThere is quite a bit of information in the wild for technically savvy people, around the Power Platform and it's underlying Common Data Service. I want to see if I can make that understandable to us Normal people.
Skipping History I know, many of you were thinking, "Ugh, here comes Steve's long, drawn-out 'How we got here' story". But this is for the normal people, who don't really give a shit how we got here, they just want to know if there is something here they can make use of... or not.
Platforms on...2019-03-2507 min
Steve reads his BlogDynamics 365 - Dead is a Strong WordMy fellow MVP, good friend and co-collaborator on PowerISV, Mark Smith (aka @nz365guy) is on a "Shock and Awe" campaign that opens with the phrase: "Dynamics 365 is Dead!". But is it?
The House that D365 Built At the recently concluded MVP Summit, Mark had the opportunity to lob his "D365 is Dead" grenade at Charles Lamanna for reaction. Charles seemed legitimately puzzled by the thought, and simply replied that "D365 pays for the entire Business Applications Team and Advanta campus". So... not dead.
Uprising I think we are a long way from k...2019-03-2407 min
Steve reads his BlogPower Platform - The Uncommon Data ServiceFresh from a week of "drinking from the firehose" at the Microsoft MVP Summit, several things became quite apparent to me. MVPs like to drink, and the Common Data Service, is anything but "Common".
It will continue... indefinitely It seems that whenever Microsoft announces a "new" way to do something, they are hesitant to say the the "old" way will be eliminated. "We have no plans to deprecate the old way in the foreseeable future". In reality, they can't wait to pull the plug on a whole slew of inefficient, or misaligned things; but they...2019-03-2405 min
Steve reads his BlogPower Platform - The Developer’s DilemmaAs I have been exploring the Power Platform, I continue to make new discoveries every day. I am not a developer, but I have developers on my team. Lately, I am noticing that we are pulling them into projects much less often than in the recent past. I wonder what the future-state of this will be...
Power Platform We are in that fuzzy time, between something "new and significant" being launched, and the world understanding what it is, and what it means. Many customers are still saying things like, "I don't want this new Power Platform, I...2019-03-1505 min
Steve reads his BlogSteve Chats with Steven (Guggs) GuggenheimerIn this episode of “Steve has a Chat“, I called Steven (Guggs) Guggenheimer, who was not surprised that I had the Record Button on when he answered.
"Guggs" is the Corporate Vice President - AI & ISV Engagement at Microsoft. Among other things, he is responsible for engaging with Customers on AI, as well as assisting Partners with ISV Motions focused on Microsoft Business Applications.
We chatted about a bunch of stuff, including the fact that I can't do calendar based math, the AI Landscape and Partner Opportunities in it, as well as ISV plans and a lo...2019-01-3043 min
Steve reads his BlogSteve Chats with Alysa Taylor2019-01-1041 min
Steve reads his BlogSteve Chats with Gavriella Schuster2019-01-0317 min
Steve reads his BlogMicrosoft Business Applications - Breaking Down the Landscape2018-12-1810 min
Steve reads his BlogDynamics 365 vs. Salesforce - The Debate Rages on2018-12-1709 min
Steve reads his BlogPower Platform - Ryan’s Five ThingsI was recently at Extreme365 in Austin, I even had a role in Keynote! One of the sessions was a "Fireside Chat" with the Bizapps product team. Aside from there not actually being a fire that I could see, there was some great conversation. Ryan Jones, who works with Charles Lamanna on the platform team, said something that stuck in my head.
Five Things When asked about what ISVs can do better in working with Microsoft and AppSource, Ryan said Microsoft focuses on five things.
Availability/Reliability (This actually seems like two things)
Performance
...2018-12-1404 min
Steve reads his BlogDynamics 365 - A Single ERP Solution?Let me caveat this post with a couple of things; first, I am not an ERP partner, so I don't actually have a dog in this fight at the moment. Also, none of the following came from anybody at Microsoft, it is purely out of my own head and my opinions from my reading of the tea leaves as I see them. I am also sure I will piss a few people off, but that has not stopped me before.
The Emperor's New Clothes In this fable, the Emperor is convinced that his new invisible...2018-12-1208 min
Steve reads his BlogDynamics 365 - How about some Solution Quality?Solutions for either Model-driven PowerApps, or for extensions to First-party Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement apps share a lot in common. In fact, almost everything in common. What they do not share in common among each other, or themselves, is quality of build. Customers, Partners and ISVs all build Solutions for various reasons, and the quality is wide-ranging.
Who uses Solutions? Unless your business requirements happen to fit exactly into the out of the box first-party applications, a circumstance so rare that I have never seen it, Solutions are going to come into play. They serve a...2018-11-2406 min
Steve reads his BlogAppSource - 19th time’s the CharmI am fresh back from the Microsoft Dynamics Partner Advisory Council meetings last week. AppSource, and the whole ISV strategy was a central topic. Unfortunately I cannot share too much because of NDA handcuffs, but I can share some public themes, and my opinions.
You have said this before Yes, I am aware that I have written much about AppSource in the past, in fact, exactly 18 posts. In many of those posts I said something along the lines of "Now is the time to get onboard with AppSource", and I am about to say it...2018-11-1806 min
Steve reads his BlogDynamics 365 - Consumption vs. LicensingI was listening to Gus Gonzales' recent podcast on Ten Features that should be removed from Dynamics 365. As usual, Gus makes some great points, but when he was discussing limits, I think he left out a part of the story, that leads to a larger question.
Mismatch We were recently engaged in a P2P scenario, where a partner had quoted a fixed price to their customer, to perform some work that they needed our help with. We were engaged by the partner on a hourly basis to perform this work. The project turned out t...2018-11-1707 min
Steve reads his BlogDynamics 365 - The Price of CurrentcyYes, I know, I made up a new term, "Currentcy". I am sure there is a better word for what I am thinking, but I have already typed this one, and changing it at this stage of the game, would simply require too much effort. But probably not as much effort as writing this whole paragraph to justify it, but now I've gone and done that, so there is really no going back now. So let's talk about Currentcy.
The other side of the Mirror I have been spouting off quite a bit lately, about...2018-10-2509 min
Steve reads his BlogPower Platform ISV - Inception to DisruptionSome of you may know, that one of several things I am involved with, is an ISV Consulting Collaborative called Power ISV. Together with four other ISV-focused Business Applications MVPs, we are helping existing ISVs to modernize, new ISVs get started, and guiding ISVs on other platforms over to the Microsoft Cloud. We also want to reverse the adage, "Those that can't do, Teach", into "Those that are doing it, Teach".
Imagine, if you will Looking around the Microsoft ISV space today, and specifically looking at AppSource, there seems to be a lack of imagination. It feels...2018-10-2106 min
Steve reads his BlogSteve chats with Charles LamannaIn this episode of "Steve has a Chat", I sneak up on Charles Lamanna, General Manager of the Application Platform at Microsoft. I called him "out of the blue" at the end of his day, and we chatted about a bunch of things, including the new Open Data Initiative, Licensing, PowerApps, Team Member, ISVs and more. Enjoy!
2018-10-1147 min
Steve reads his BlogMicrosoft & Salesforce.com - The 800-Pound Gorilla vs. the Elephant in the RoomThe photo with this post was from a short-lived marriage that I called the "Can't we all just get along" phase in the Microsoft/Salesforce relationship. This love fest came to an abrupt end when Microsoft acquired LinkedIn, in spite of vehement efforts by Salesforce to block it, leading to irreconcilable differences and a hasty divorce. Since then the two behemoths have been circling and sizing each other up in the ring.
David vs. Goliath? In the cloud business applications space, Salesforce.com is sitting somewhere around a 20% market share, Microsoft sits around 4%. You have...2018-10-0108 min
Steve reads his BlogHow I.T. can create value exceeding their expenseIn a recent post, I referenced this post that I wrote 6 years ago. I thought I would go back and record it, unedited. Let me know if you agree that it sadly still applies to many companies even today. Originally published - May 22, 2012 Let's face it, I.T. is a big expense. As a former CEO of several organizations, I can tell you looking at the I.T. expense is a head shaker. Chalked up as a "cost of doing business" today, I.T. is a significant line item on just about any company's budget. It is also one of t...2018-09-1407 min
CRM RocksPower Platform with Steve Mordue
Episode 68: Markus Erlandsson talks to Steve Mordue from Forceworks about the Microsoft Power Platform. Steve starts by explaining what the Power Platform is and how it includes the Common Data Service (CDS), PowerApps, Power BI and Flow. Steve continues how this change to the Power Platform will change the apps that we build for Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement.
https://media.blubrry.com/crmrocks/content.blubrry.com/crmrocks/crmrocks-com-Episode-68-power-platform.mp3
Bio
Steve is a Microsoft Dynamics 365 MVP, CEO of forceworks who was recently one of the first partners to achieve the Gold I...2018-09-1400 min
Steve reads his BlogThe Changing Role of the Microsoft Business Applications PartnerSix years ago, I wrote a post that was directed at IT Directors/Managers, about the need for them to re-imagine their roles in the face of the then rapidly growing cloud thing. Today, the role that needs to be re-imagined is that of Microsoft Business Applications Partner. Between Microsoft and the Citizen Developer, the space previously occupied by the Partner is getting narrower. You can't Get There from Here Not that long ago, if you wanted to bring Business Applications into your organization, a significant part of your budget planning had to include a pretty big chunk for an...2018-09-1005 min
Steve reads his BlogDynamics 365 for Marketing - Steve chats with ThomasSo I have actually been having a little fun with the "Steve Reads his Post Podcast", and decided to see if I might take it further. But I didn't want it to be "just another podcast". I thought it might be fun to just call somebody out-of-the-blue with the record button on, and see where it goes. It could be a disaster! You tell me. For my first of this type of podcast, I decided to call Thomas Manders, CEO of Coffee+Dunn, who we are partnering with on Dynamics 365 for Marketing. I knew Thomas would be a good...2018-09-0732 min
Steve reads his BlogDynamics Developers - Time to Get your Head out of your AssAs I was writing my last post on Re-Thinking, I got an email from some off-shore developer, offering to assist us with any "Dynamics CRM Online" projects we may have. Based on this pretty big clue, I put on my pompous know-it-all hat, and blasted him for offering his ancient skills to a cutting edge partner. His apologetic reply included, "there is just so much to get up-to-speed on, I don't even know where to start". Then I felt like an asshole. But he did give me the idea for this post. Skills Deprecation In many of my recent posts...2018-09-0607 min
Steve reads his BlogBusiness Applications - It’s Time to Re-Think ThingsRecently, I found myself looking in the Google Play Store for a mobile app to solve some issue. I found several options that were close, but none met my need perfectly. My choices were: a) continue to live with an unmet need, b) Use one of the apps that was close... but not really, or c) Hire a mobile app developer and build one, which would be insane. The challenges for Business Applications have been similar up to now, but that is changing. The Current Landscape If you are a business in need of a Business Application, which, as a...2018-09-0608 min
Steve reads his BlogDynamics 365 for Marketing - The Giant Stands Back UpDynamics 365 for Marketing - The Giant Stands Back Up Back in April, I wrote a post called "Dynamics 365 for Marketing – A Giant Tripped by a Grain of Sand" about Microsoft's new Dynamics 365 for Marketing Application. It was not a favorable post. Regardless, Microsoft added us to a very small Pilot program for the product in a, "Keep the troublemakers close" strategy. A lot has changed since then. The "Trip" In that April post, I referred to an eager fictional intern named Justin, and his lazy fictional boss, who concocted a licensing scheme for Dynamics 365 for Marketing that made no sense. Th...2018-09-0408 min
Steve reads his BlogDynamics 365 - Unpacking a recent postAs an experiment, back in February, I thought I would try using the LinkedIn "Create an Article" feature, to see how it compared to just posting to LinkedIn from my own blog. I can confidently report that the test was a huge failure. Anyone thinking of using LinkedIn's "Create an Article" feature... don't, it gets almost no traffic at all. But I did like the Article, and hardly anybody saw it, so I thought I would re-post it here on the good ole reliable blog. A while back I wrote a post called "Dynamics 365 – Are you Reporting or Engaging?" In th...2018-09-0304 min
Steve reads his BlogMicrosoft Business Applications - Freelancers vs. PartnersSometimes people ask me where I come up with post ideas, here's one way. I saw a LinkedIn post today from a recruiter, suggesting the use of "freelancers" for Dynamics 365, and presumably other Microsoft Business Applications. While freelancers may have a place in the process, there are some very good reasons, that you should seriously consider an actual Microsoft Business Applications Partner instead. Freelancers I don't have anything against someone looking to make a buck. We're all in business to do that. But, whether a freelancer is a true "hired gun", or someone who is simply moonlighting on the side...2018-08-3006 min
Steve reads his BlogDynamics 365 & PowerApps - Let’s build a HomeThere seems to be quite a bit of confusion lately about Dynamics 365 and PowerApps, particularly now with Model-Driven PowerApps. Microsoft's #FreightTrain, seems to have become a #BulletTrain of innovation, and sometimes things like "naming" and "explaining" lag behind. Let's see if I can unpack this one. Warning, this is a long post, so you might want to listen to it instead. The PowerApps Path When PowerApps burst onto the scene, it was a citizen developer tool for building simple apps using what is called the Canvas Model. The Canvas Model allowed you to "connect" to multiple data sources, including Dynamics 365...2018-08-1535 min
Steve reads his BlogDynamics 365 - The Battle for SimpleMobile phone apps ruined everything. As a result of minimal processing power and small screen size, mobile app developers had little choice but to keep things basic. Given that mobile devices are used by everyone on the planet, including a lot of people who are not particularly smart, mobile apps also had to be "simple". Now everybody thinks that everything should be as simple to use as a mobile phone app. Simple = Simple? What may seem simple to a hard-core coder, does not seem simple to me. What may seem simple to me, may not seem simple to you. What...2018-08-0807 min
Steve reads his BlogDynamics 365 - CDS Changes Everything You KnowDynamics 365 Customers and Partners have had a few changes pushed to them in recent years. Dynamics 365 was evolving at a pretty rapid pace since it hit the cloud, and when James Phillips took over the team, he took both of his feet and smashed the gas pedal. It's like the USS Enterprise when it hits Warp Drive (I get a chill every time I see that). Trees in the Forest I have been seeing a lot of posts about the October Release Notes and the #freighttrain of new features coming. Everybody seems to be writing about their favorite new feature...2018-08-0407 min
Steve reads his BlogDynamics 365 - The Transition to Unified InterfaceThere is no need to panic...yet. Procrastinators can freely ignore this post, for now. But if you are one of those people who hates scrambling at the last minute, then maybe this will interest you. Waves Microsoft likes to call the significant updates for Dynamics 365 "Waves". They have also announced that there will be two major Waves each year, with minor "ripples" ongoing. The thing about "waves", as you may recall from your last beach trip, is that you cannot stop them. Nor can you slow them, or divert them. If you are in the Dynamics 365 ocean, you cannot...2018-07-2706 min
Steve reads his BlogDynamics 365 for Marketing - A Giant Tripped by a Grain of SandMicrosoft Dynamics 365 for Marketing has finally launched! It has been available for purchase since the first of this week. An awesome platform of modern technology, able to do things not even possible before. How many eager customers have clamored to jump on board this revolutionary marketing #FreightTrain of innovation? My guess...none. The Product is... Awesome! Compared to every other Marketing Automation platform out there, this one makes them all look like antiques. Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Marketing is a virtual showcase of everything Microsoft can bring to the table... and most of that, only Microsoft can bring to the table...2018-07-0208 min
Steve reads his BlogDynamics 365 for Marketing - ABM ReduxI recently wrote a couple of posts about Dynamics 365 for Marketing, that some may have deemed negative. I, like many other partners and customers, had a few issues with it. But make no mistake, I am a huge fan of the offering, and I am confident those hiccups will be resolved... some steps have already been taken. But for many, the application, as delivered is actually perfect. An ABM Engine I wrote a post over a year ago about Account Based Marketing (ABM). Well, what is old is new again, and ABM is having quite a renaissance. Dynamics 365 for Marketing...2018-07-0208 min
Steve reads his BlogDynamics 365 - Strategy SimulatorThere are a lot of opinions floating around the Dynamics 365 channel today. Talk to any partner and they will say things like "If it were up to me, I would do this or that... but don't tell anybody I said that". Seems to me, if we don't tell anybody what we think, we should not be entitled to complain about any results!
"Microsoft wouldn't listen to me" This is the most common response I get, when I suggest to someone that they should share their opinions with Microsoft. Whispering to each other in the corners is not...2018-07-0214 min
Steve reads his BlogDynamics 365 - CDS for Non-TechiesSteve wrote about CDS for Non-Techies recently, in this podcast, he reads that post to you.
2018-07-0108 min
CRM MVP PodcastEpisode 27: Analyzing the current Marketing Automation landscape, with Steve Mordue and Mike DickersonWith 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...2018-05-2058 min