Steve reads his Blog

I 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 rea...

In my 20-plus years in this CRM business, I have seen my share of "Funnels". Lead Funnels, Sales Funnels, Delivery Funnels, every kind of business-related funnel you can think of, I have probably seen it. From what I have witnessed, most businesses have no idea how to use them effectively. So, let's talk about Funnels. The Numbers Game One of the most significant areas I see where customers are co...

About seven years ago we pioneered the "Support by Blocks" model, and it has served our Forceworks clients and us well. But thanks to Microsoft, it is time for a whole new model for Dynamics 365 and Power Platform Support and Services. Let's unpack this one. The Challenge Let's be honest, no business application you can buy will serve your needs as delivered. Any of them will require some modifica...

Microsoft Dynamics 365 business applications are fantastic products. Unrivaled power and features and priced accordingly. Are they over-priced? No! Are you over-paying? Maybe. So, let's unpack this one. My Cable Bill Several years ago, I moved into a new home, and shortly afterwards the local cable company salesperson was on the phone. I was easily talked into the "Gold" package because it "includ...

I've heard this term bandied about for many years now, "Single Version of the Truth". As Jack Nicholson once said, "You can't handle the Truth!" I would paraphrase that as, "You can't afford a Single version of the Truth, and you wouldn't want it anyway!". So, let's see how many of you I can get to agree on this one :). What is Implied? From a business standpoint, "Single Version of the Truth" or...

Microsoft just announced, and released in the next breath, a new Pay as You Go model for Power Apps. This has huge implications for all organizations and also for users of our free  RapidStartCRM solution. Let's unpack what it means. Pay as you go Who doesn't like the idea of only paying for what you use? I wish it applied to more things: "I only ate half of this hamburger, so I'll just you pay ha...

Shortly after we launched RapidStartCRM back in 2015, a couple of competitors followed us into the emerging space we identified. They are gone now, but new ones occasionally pop up. I hear "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery". First Mover Advantage As the very first simple-to-use CRM solution built on Microsoft's Business Applications platform, we did have an early advantage. We brought a...

It seems like a couple of times a week I get a panicked message from a customer who saw the dreaded alert: "Your organization (tenant) is over capacity" in the Power Platform Admin Center. Sometimes they are over a little, and sometimes they are using 500% or more of their allocated capacity. Let's chat about this shall we? Capacity We still have a handful of customers on the "Old Model", the comb...

One of the smartest things I have done in a while was to introduce a monthly Principals call with our customers. Our customers are all very happy with our team, so why rock the boat by injecting myself? For the same reason I might tell the waiter that my food is "fine" when it isn't. The Owner's Dilemma Every single day people go into a restaurant and have a sub-par meal. It seems the wait staff e...

I have had my head down for a while working on the next version of RapidStart CRM. We also recently deployed RapidStart CRM for our own support operations. In the process, I came across a few items that I thought would be of interest to the users of our free app, and since they would also work for any Power App, including Dynamics 365, I thought I might discuss them. Next Version Before I get into...

I 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 Mord...

So 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 Cunnin...

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 R...

I 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 re...

James 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, Jim...

When 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 exp...

In 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 fo...

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 w...

I 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 sens...

I 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...

I 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...

I 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? Certai...

"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 Par...

"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 for...

When 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 wa...