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How to “Do More With Less” with Microsoft
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How to Write a Modern RFP for CRM Implementation
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Here’s why customers should pay for more for customizations!
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Finding The Limits of Low-Code
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Dynamics 365 Business Central and RapidStart CRM UPDATE!
In my last post, I announced that we (Forceworks) were developing an addon for our RapidStart CRM to connect to Microsoft's wildly popular Dynamics 365 Business Central. I wanted to update you on our progress. BTW, I did not record audio for this post because it has...
A Better CRM for Business Central?
At a recent event, Microsoft executives told me that Dynamics 365 Business Central was flying off the shelves. Over the years, I had occasionally peeked over the fence at Business Central, mostly out of curiosity. But "flying off the shelves" is a reason for me to...
Steve has a Chat with Vahe Torossian
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Steve has a Chat with Jukka
I had the pleasure of having a chat with a Power Platform industry leader, Jukka Niiranen. Listen or Watch below. Enjoy! [podcast...
The New Weapon – Cost Predictability
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The Works Services-as-a-Subscription Model Update
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Power Platform Blind Spots
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Power Platform Outside the Bubble
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The Microsoft Partner Dilemma
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Steve has yet another Chat with Charles
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Let’s Talk About Funnels
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It’s Time for a New Services Model for Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform
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The Myth of Single Version of the Truth
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Are you over-paying for Dynamics 365?
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Pay as you Go, Go, Go
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Hit 50K Users? Get ready for the knock-offs.
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Your organization (tenant) is over capacity
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“Even after everything, we still have adoption problems”
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We Upgraded from Dynamics 365 to RapidStart CRM
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Steve has another Chat with Toby Bowers
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A Mountain of Shitty Little Apps

When Microsoft introduced the Power Platform as a “Citizen-Friendly” set of tools for non-technical business users to create apps to solve business challenges, it seemed a worthy endeavor. Well, enough time has passed to assess the outcome. Those who jumped in with both feet now have a mountain of shitty little apps. Those who watched from the sidelines decided, “We don’t need that!” So is that the end of the tale? Let’s see.
The First Mistake
To enable broad and rapid adoption of the Power Platform, Microsoft decided to add a “seeded” Power Apps capability to all Microsoft 365 licenses. Thus instantly putting a version of this technology into millions of “citizens” hands. While IT could turn this “off”, it was “on” by default. Microsoft knew that no IT Admin would ever enable it if it were the other way around. This led to many citizens seizing the opportunity to replace their shitty little Excel spreadsheets with a slightly less shitty app. Excel was the original Citizen tool, and many organizations have a ton of Excel spreadsheets floating around, which are now slowly but surely being replaced with shitty Power Apps built by people who not only don’t know what they are doing but don’t know that there is anything beyond those seeded capabilities.
The Second Mistake
Once IT figured out what was happening, many flipped the switch stopping this unchecked motion. In response to alleviate their concerns, Microsoft launched the “Center of Excellence” CoE. A tool that could wrangle this proliferation of shitty apps to be under IT’s control again. CoE was a solution to a Microsoft-created problem. Now IT could see all of the shitty apps that had been built, including apps that never got used, multiple apps trying to solve the same problems, apps connecting to external sources, apps exposing internal confidential sources, and users having access to apps they shouldn’t. There are few things more fun than watching the faces of fear of IT when a CoE lights up.
Going back to the Fork
I have written before about the poor citizen, oblivious to anything beyond the seeded capabilities, building some contorted solution only to months later learn there were better options. They unknowingly took a fork, unaware there was more than one fork to take. Their anger towards Microsoft is deserved. But they are not the only ones to take the wrong fork; Microsoft also did. Microsoft determined at the beginning that Joe NoNothing building his own app to solve his own problem was the best path. With rare exceptions, disaster ensued, or a least a lot of wasted time. Recognizing the obvious, that no organization wants a thousand shitty little apps, Microsoft took a pivot with an emphasis on a new idea, “Fusion Teams”. Pair Joe NoNothing with Sally KnowsAlot and Bob ProDev… this is a “Fusion Team”. Now instead of a shitty little app that does not do very much, you can expect a nice little app that does not do very much. Again, even the Fusion Team has taken the wrong fork.
What Other Fork is There?
There is another fork, but you can’t see it from the seeded Power Apps. Had Microsoft called the seeded Power Apps something like Power Apps Lite, you might have been given a clue, but inexplicably, they chose not to. So you are left thinking that you have seen Power Apps and are justifiably unimpressed. But there is another “Power Apps” in the Power Platform. One that is much more capable and runs on top of a relational database called Dataverse instead of a SharePoint list or Excel spreadsheet. Why did you not know about this? Why would you? In the time you have been struggling to create a Canvas app, you could have built an entire, bulletproof solution to your problem. A solution that could be easily extended also to solve related problems.
What’s the Catch?
Ok, you got me; the catch is that the “real” Power Platform is not included with your Microsoft 365 license. It will add either $5 or $20 to your monthly cost per app user. Still pretty cheap to actually “solve” a problem rather than just canvas over it with shit.
The Fork Microsoft Should Have Created
I am sure some inside of Microsoft would agree that mistakes were made. Had they forgone the Citizen path and instead emphasized the Rapid Development low-code Power Platform as a way to solve mission-critical business challenges at a much lower cost than ever before in history, we would all be in a different place today. Fusion Teams was the one bright spot in this series of missteps.
What about Citizens?
Don’t Citizens already have a job? Why are they wasting time pretending to be app developers? As an organization, your cost to have complex mission-critical applications built by professionals is a fraction of what it was only a few years ago. Seriously, drop a zero off of the end of what you previously paid! Do you really need to reduce those cost savings even further by having Sally build some shitty app on her own? Some of you reading this are already sitting on a pile of shitty apps and can see that the “savings” were never real.
So What is the Power Platform… Really?
I’m glad you finally asked! The Power Platform is a suite of capabilities, including Apps, Automation, ChatBots, Webpages, and AI. Individually, each component is pretty cool, but when combined, there are few business challenges that cannot be solved. Forget about your shitty little “Time Off” app. I am talking about enterprise-grade; run your entire organization level stuff. That $5-$20 is starting to sound pretty cheap now, isn’t it?
Why hasn’t anybody told you about this? It’s because of that $5-$20 thing. Microsoft and most partners would actually prefer that you buy their first-party business applications for a buttload more money. If word got out that instead of customizing Dynamics 365 Sales @ $95+/user, you could spend the same amount customizing on the Power Platform and end up with the same thing at a fraction of the cost… well, that would not be good for those who sell the $95+ apps.
Prove It!
Ok, here are some examples of some of our clients.
- An NFT company that sold $90 million worth of NFT tokens on its first day manages the entire process on the Power Platform with integration directly to the blockchain.
- A Solar contractor runs their entire end-to-end business, from web prospects to permitting to construction and long-term maintenance agreements on the Power Platform.
- An Insurance Brokerage generates and tracks thousands of quotes daily on the Power Platform.
- A Mega-Church manages hundreds of monthly events, including event creation, promotion, and kiosk-based check-in for thousands of constituents on the Power Platform.
- An Opportunistic Investment firm created an in-house deep financial research solution on the Power Platform.
- A Petroleum Distributor and Convenience store operator with thousands of locations runs their organization on the Power Platform.
Still think the Power Platform is about shitty little apps built by Joe NoNothing?

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The Myth of the “Full Stack Developer”
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Dynamics 365 Business Central and RapidStart CRM UPDATE!
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- 42 – Podcast – Preparing for the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Fall 2018 release wave
- 41 – Benefits and process to building ISV solutions with Microsoft PowerApps, Microsoft Flow & AppSource
- 40 – Four MVPs in a Room
- 39 – Dynamics 365 Saturday Atlanta
- 38 – Mary Jo Foley on (Not) keeping up with Dynamics 365
- 37 – Early reaction as Dynamics 365 for Marketing, Sales Professional reach the market
- 36 – So you want to be an Independent Consultant?
- 35 – Dynamics Marketing with Kishan Chetan and Steve Mordue
- 34 – 2018 Dynamics 365 Predictions
- 33 – Unexpected Curves Crash Microsoft's Dynamics 365 Roadmap
- 32 – MSDW Podcast: Talking Microsoft Dynamics platform plays and eclipses with Steve Mordue
- 31 – Microsoft waffles regarding what's next for Dynamics 365 for SMBs
- 30 – Business Edition vs Enterprise Edition: what you need to know (Webinar)
- 29 – Azure App Service Isolated caters to enterprise security concerns
- 28 – Steve Mordue on Microsoft’s sales shakeup, SMB commitment, and partner survival
- 27 – Tip #896: Don’t get blacklisted by blasting emails from Dynamics 365
- 26 – Microsoft FastTrack: Partner Friend or Foe?
- 25 – Tip #856: Modifying disabled users
- 24 – How Can Microsoft (and Its Partners) Leverage LinkedIn?
- 23 – IT Community Champ
- 22 – Microsoft Dynamics CRM SMB Apps
- 21 – Dynamics 365 Pitch Must Reach Channel
- 20 – Dynamics 365 Needs more Cowbell
- 19 – Can Microsoft Make Dynamics 365 Work?
- 18 – Whiteboarding Microsoft Dynamics 365
- 17 – Timing Microsoft Dynamics 365: CRM partners lament 'fuzzy' pre-launch license planning
- 16 – Microsoft Dynamics 365 to start rolling out November 1
- 15 – Dynamics CRM at a crossroads
- 14 – The Reinvention of the Microsoft ISV
- 13 – Microsoft Dynamics 365: New roadmap, licensing details revealed
- 12 – Dynamics Introspective: What Is Microsoft’s Next Big Bet On Dynamics CRM Success?
- 11 – IP assets: Channel companies seek differentiation
- 10 – Add new business offerings for long-term sustainability
- 09 – The gamification platform: Cool toy or CRM partner opportunity?
- 08 – How one of Microsoft's top CRM partners uprooted its business
- 07 – Cloud channel partners, vendors grapple with metrics
- 06 – Building a successful sales team to maximize profitability
- 05 – Cloud Partner Strategy 2.0 – Going Vertical
- 04 – It just works better: Why we made the move to Microsoft
- 03 – Microsoft Dynamics Partner Roundup
- 02 – Escape from Salesforce: Beware lock-in risks when migrating to Microsoft Dynamics CRM, says one partner
- 01 – Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013: More favorite features from the field
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