In the second episode of our diversity series, we have a conversation with DJ Baker, a Minneapolis business owner and entrepreneur, about some of the complexity in dealing with wealth inequity and why the wealth gap extends beyond simply having better jobs. We also share a nonprofit organization that all of us are part of launching - TechFluent. Visit www.dynamicshotdish.com & www.techfluentacademy.org for more information.
Mar 02, 2022•35 min•Season 2Ep. 8
This week we are starting a new series focused on diversity within the Microsoft biz apps space, and what better place to start than with our guest, Lucas Diaz, co-founder of Ludia Consulting. Ludia is one of the few (if not the only) minority-owned Dynamics 365 partners, and Lucas offers some compelling points on the benefits and importance of diversity in the team, as well as some instructive points on fostering a healthy diverse team. Visit www.dynamicshotdish.com for more information....
Feb 23, 2022•33 min•Season 2Ep. 8
This week we take a look at a choice that many Dynamics professionals consider at some point in their careers and that is whether or not going independent is for you. Conveniently for our conversation, Liz went down this very path two years ago and gives us some insights on the benefits as well as the risks and things to consider when determining if becoming an independent consultant is the right choice for you. If you've gone independent and have feedback, leave it below; likewise, if you're co...
Feb 16, 2022•33 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Every single person who has ever looked at licensing for Microsoft Dynamics 365 or Power Platform has definitely had questions. Lucky for us, this week we have a guest on to help give us clarity - Jay Lendl from Microsoft! Jay helps explain the different licenses available, the intention behind each, and gives us a sneak peek into what might happen next with the Team Member license. If you have any licensing questions, post them in the comments and we'll try to get them answered with Jay's help....
Feb 09, 2022•42 min•Season 2Ep. 6
As historically CRM people, we tend to approach the Power Platform and Power Apps mostly from a CRM perspective - salespeople, customer service, etc., but not very often from a financial or accounting lens. Our episode this week goes into a unique financial tracking use case for a Power App, to manage a high volume of interest-bearing loans for a financial services firm. It might give you a whole new perspective on where Power Apps can help solve business problems! Visit www.dynamicshotdish.com ...
Feb 02, 2022•26 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Have you ever felt like you don't belong in your role, or that you don't deserve a promotion so you don't pursue it? Commonly known as impostor syndrome, we discuss this week the idea of not feeling like you're good enough with our guest AJ Hawley, an independent consultant in the Dynamics space. AJ shares some great perspectives and some tips that he uses when he starts to question himself. If you have any of your own suggestions to help, leave them in the comments! Visit www.dynamicshotdish.co...
Jan 26, 2022•32 min•Season 2Ep. 4
This week we take a departure from technology topics and discuss something more personal - the struggles that women can face working with (or for) other women in industries, like tech, where women are in the minority. This is something that both Liz and Ashley have encountered and have worked to avoid doing themselves so it's close to home. We have some ideas on how to make things better, and would love to hear any others our listeners may have. Visit www.dynamicshotdish.com for more information...
Jan 19, 2022•35 min•Season 2Ep. 3
We kick off the new year with a discussion of a (somewhat) newer feature in the Power Platform, dataflows. As Merlin has just been working hands-on with them and Ashley is currently in a project that uses dataflows, we dig in and discuss what they're good for, a couple of considerations, and at least one complaint. Leave your dataflow impressions in the comments! Visit https://www.dynamicshotdish.com for more information.
Jan 12, 2022•33 min•Season 2Ep. 2
As you might imagine, we're not always perfectly polished as you may see or hear on our podcast, so our parting gift for 2021 is blooper real. Probably best viewed on YouTube - enjoy! For more information on Dynamics Hotdish, visit https://www.dynamicshotdish.com.
Jan 05, 2022•16 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Earlier this fall, we decided to have our own book club and read a book over the quarter to discuss in an episode. Here is that episode! Here to wrap up 2021 is our casual discussion of this quarter's book, "Get Your Sh*t Together" by Sarah Knight. We debate which of the Chipmunks we each align with and discuss the things that really stuck with us from reading it, and the things maybe we didn't care for. We're thinking of doing a book quarterly, so if you have any suggestions leave them in the c...
Dec 22, 2021•51 min•Season 1Ep. 50
For our final installment of our DynamicsCon Live content encore, listen in as we discuss Dynamics 365 Customer Voice, the features it offers, and some use cases where it fits well. If you need to survey your customers, Customer Voice is a great option - and you may already own it! Visit https://dynamicshotdish.com/ for more information.
Dec 15, 2021•25 min•Season 1Ep. 49
Continuing our DynamicsCon Live encore content, this week is Dynamics 365 Customer Insights. We discuss what it's good for, what it does and doesn't replace, and contemplate the best ways to get benefit from the product. Feel free to ask any questions you may have about Customer Insights in the comments! Visit https://dynamicshotdish.com/ for more information.
Dec 08, 2021•33 min•Season 1Ep. 48
Our first encore of our DynamicsCon Live session, this week we jump into Dynamics 365 Marketing and discuss some of its capabilities, strengths, weaknesses, and why you might want to consider it (or not) now that it's grown up a bit. If you have any direct experience with Marketing, leave your thoughts in the comments! Visit www.dynamicshotdish.com for more information.
Dec 01, 2021•37 min•Season 1Ep. 47
The shift to remote work made everything virtual, including training on new software or processes, which meant many organizations had to do virtual trainings for the first time (others have been doing it for years anyway). This week we discuss some of the key things to keep in mind that are different with virtual trainings as compared to a live, in-person session, and offer some suggestions to help keep virtual audiences engaged and learning. Visit www.dynamicshotdish.com for more information!...
Nov 24, 2021•30 min•Season 1Ep. 46
This week we return with a guest speaker, Matt Fleming, to discuss Azure DevOps (ADO) and the benefits of using it to keep track of your work in any project, but especially some benefits for use with Dynamics and Power Apps. If you've been looking for a better way to keep track of the work you need to do and collaborate with a team (internal or hybrid with a partner), ADO might be the answer you're looking for. Listen in! Visit www.dynamicshotdish.com for additional information.
Nov 17, 2021•41 min•Season 1Ep. 45
We are so excited that in person conferences are back! Join us as we talk about the experience of being back in person and the great content from DynamicsCon Live in Anaheim, CA. Visit www.dynamicshotdish.com for more information.
Nov 17, 2021•17 min
Over the last couple of years Microsoft has been slowly moving functionality from the legacy interfaces (which have been unchanged since CRM 2011) to the updated UI. This week we talk about the pace of changes (and a promise from Microsoft) in the Power Platform Admin Center, and some things you can now find there, plus we discuss the recent release of the new solution management preview and it's benefits. Visit www.dynamicshotdish.com for more information.
Nov 03, 2021•33 min•Season 1Ep. 43
As Merlin starts the episode discussing, training is often shorted - often it is viewed as something nice to have, or something that can be done quickly and cheaply and still get good results. This week, we unpack the issues with considering training in this way and talk about how to make sure your training plan actually teaches the audience the things you want them to learn. Visit www.dynamicshotdish.com for more information.
Oct 27, 2021•32 min•Season 1Ep. 44
Anyone working in Dynamics 365 has gone through some sort of implementation or go-live event where a checklist (would have) helped. In this week's episode, we discuss the importance of having a checklist to make sure you get all of your steps done, even in a process that you feel comfortable with. We also provide a few key checklist items that we recommend for things like go-lives, trainings, or just general moving of solutions from dev to test. Visit www.dynamicshotdish.com for more information...
Oct 20, 2021•37 min•Season 1Ep. 42
Perhaps the better question is, who doesn't love custom controls? In this week's podcast we go through a handful of our favorite custom controls, where we like to use them, and Merlin learns something. Visit www.dynamicshotdish.com for notes.
Oct 13, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 41
Any company that has been using Dynamics for a while is going to have a few older processes that would benefit from a new feature (or three), but how do you make it a priority? Our discussion this week covers the idea of implementing new features into your existing deployment while still trying to meet the needs of new processes or projects. We give our thoughts on how to determine when to add features, how to get help rolling them out, and a hack on figuring out what that new feature you've got...
Oct 07, 2021•42 min•Season 1Ep. 40
A few months ago we did an episode on negotiation strategies and how to get what you need in a job or paycheck, and we'd said at the time we might need to circle back to persuasion and influence in general. Well, this week is that time and Liz educates Ashley and Merlin on how we can persuade others to do what we want and presumably take over the world. Visit www.dynamicshotdish.com for notes.
Sep 29, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 39
If there is one constant in the internet age, it's that there is always too much email to read. How many vacation days are destroyed by fear of the inbox when you return? This week, we extend on our productivity discussions to touch specifically on email as a productivity destroyer - and we discuss the many times Dynamics users want to be notified of something via email, and why you should tell them no (and what to tell them instead).
Sep 22, 2021•35 min•Season 1Ep. 38
On the heels of discussing integration Office tools, the next logical question is how best to manage things like contacts and activities to avoid double entry and still have Dynamics 365 help you out. This week, our discussion starts into this topic, with some best practices on managing contacts so they appear everywhere but minimize your data entry, as well as conversation on what syncs and what doesn't when thinking about tracking your activities like phone calls and appointments. For more inf...
Sep 15, 2021•24 min•Season 1Ep. 37
For years Microsoft has been pitching the ease of integration with their business and Office tools with Dynamics, yet for a long time those integrations were still not great. It feels like we've finally reached the golden age of integration, so this week we discuss various integrations with other Microsoft tools and applications that we think work well and makes users' lives easier. For more information, visit www.dynamicshotdish.com.
Sep 08, 2021•36 min•Season 1Ep. 36
Following up on our last episode about managing time, this week we cover some of the tools we appreciate to help manage time and make us more productive. As you might guess, the conversation is heavily Microsoft-centric, but we like some others too! If you have any tools you like to evangelize, let us know in the comments! Visit www.dynamicshotdish.com for more information.
Sep 01, 2021•33 min•Season 1Ep. 35
Where does the time go? This week, we discuss some tips and challenges to effective time management. We also discover that Liz is the best at this among us, Ashley has grown the most over time, and Merlin is still a novice (but he's working on it). Join us, and share your time management tips in the comments! Visit www.dynamicshotdish.com for more information.
Aug 25, 2021•34 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Anyone who has gone through a Dynamics 365 project has a few things that they wish they would have known when they started. Well, this week we dig into some of those things that have stuck with the three of us over years of CRM projects for the benefit of our faithful listeners. Listen in to learn from our mistakes!
Aug 18, 2021•42 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Over the last 2-3 years, Microsoft has gotten back into the accelerator game, providing industry-specific data schemas for organizations and partners to use to jump-start their configuration in some use cases. This week we discuss the value that an accelerator provides, the best ways to approach them, and cover the accelerators that are available today. Visit www.dynamicshotdish.com for more information.
Aug 11, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 32
This week we discuss something important for everyone with a job - negotiating! Negotiations can be difficult or stressful but they are essential parts of getting a new job, a promotion or every day business dealings. Listen to hear our tips and feel free to leave your own pointers in the comments. Visit www.dynamicshotdish.com for more information.
Aug 04, 2021•35 min•Season 1Ep. 31
