Let’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 …
There 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.
My 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?
Fresh 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”.
As 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 …
In 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 …
In this episode of “Steve has a Chat“, I snagged Alysa Taylor, fresh back from the holidays. Alysa is the Corporate Vice President, Business Applications and Global Industry, responsible for the Marketing Pillar, which sits between the Sales Pillar, run by Hayden Stafford, and the Engineering Pillar, headed by James …
In this episode of “Steve has a Chat“, I caught Gavriella Schuster, first thing in the morning, on her first day back at work of 2019. Gavriella is a Corporate Vice President for Microsoft, who has been looking after Partners for decades. She heads up the One Commercial Partner organization. …
From my blog analytics I am able to see the search terms that led readers to my blog. Several of these are along the lines of “What is PowerApps?”, “Difference between F&O and CE?”, “Difference between Power Platform and Dynamics 365?”, etc. I have written about some of these individually, …
This recent post on LinkedIn, re-ignited the ongoing Dynamics 365 vs. Salesforce debate. Not surprisingly, emissaries from both camps weighed in, and the debate continues as I write this. Formerly a Salesforce shop for 10 years, we are now a Microsoft shop since 2011, so I am as biased as …
I 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 …
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 …
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 …
I 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.
I 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.
Yes, 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 …
Some 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 …
In 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, …
The 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 …
In 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
