Welcome to the MVP Show . My intention is that you listen to the stories of these MVP guests and are inspired to become an MVP and bring value to the world through your skills . If you have not checked it out already , I do a YouTube series called how to Become an MVP . The link is in the show notes . With that , let's get on with the show .
Today's guest is from the Netherlands . He works at Dynamics People , a Dynamics 365 and Power Platform technical consultancy . He was first awarded as MVP in 2023 . He's interested in CRM , social CRM , email marketing , social media integration , customer service and adding value to CRM projects .
You can find links to his bio and social media in the show notes for this episode . Welcome to the show , Wilmer . Thank you , mark . Thank you for having me . Tell us a bit about you . Tell us about food , family and fun . What do you do when you're not focusing on your career ?
Well , I would like to start by saying that I was born in Ecuador . I am originally from Ecuador . In my spare time , I like to go out with my girlfriend , sometimes go to the gym , play some video games when I have the time . Sometimes , of course , I like to work in the community .
Fantastic . Tell me what's amazing about Ecuador . Give me some background . I don't know much about Ecuador .
Well , it's a Latin American country , next to Colombia and Peru . You will find everything you have mountains , you have the jungle , you have beaches . The food is really amazing . The specialty in there is seafood . My favorite dish , for instance , is the ceviche .
Is the ceviche done in coconut or lemon ? What type of fish do you use ?
You can use it every time of fish . Even shrimps you can use . You don't use coconut . I think that's the Peruvian version . The Peruvian version is just lemon .
Lemon Beautiful . Hopefully I'll get to go there one day . What took you to the Netherlands ?
Well , that's a long story . A long story is when I was working in Ecuador , I decided to move to another country in 2015 . That country was Uruguay . In Uruguay , I learned a lot . Then I decided to move to Spain in 2019 to continue my professional development . Last year I moved to the Netherlands . I'm living in Amsterdam , so far , I really like it .
What's your favorite thing about Amsterdam ?
Everything , I mean the vibe of the city . The city is really beautiful . If I can complain something , it could be the weather , yeah , but some minor things . I really like it . I'm really happy here .
Nice , nice . How did you get into IT ? What was your career journey ?
Well , that's what I studied in the university . I started working on the Syrian word in 2012 , which is another Syrian the year after I moved to Dynamics . That's how we used to call it back then . What version was that ? 2011 , on-premise I think the best version of the all-on-premises version .
Yeah , Before we all started moving to the cloud .
Yeah , well , I would like to say . Then I met the 2013 , which I hated . Then , well , of course , 2015 , 16 and go on .
What's the of all the tool sets that you have in Microsoft Business Applications , whether it be Dynamics 365 , customer Service , field Service , marketing , etc . Even then , moving to the Power Platform , power Automate , power Apps , power Virtual Agents , power BI and Power Pages Watch all those . What's your favorite tool set to work with it and do projects in ?
Used to be sales sales model . Nowadays , I'm more focused on the Power Platform . I would like to say that Power Automate is my favorite model , Nice .
Are you building full apps on the Power Platform , like model-driven apps ?
Yeah , I'm building model-driven apps , Canvas apps , Nowadays even custom pages using the Greater Kit , which I love it . From time to time some Power Pages sites , but I think in every project I end up using Power Automate , which I love it . I even know a little bit about the Power Automate desktop .
Yeah , if you look back in your history , you would have worked with Windows Workflow Foundation as your automation tool inside of CRM back then . How do you find the difference between the automation tools there and then Power Automate ?
Well , to be honest , I didn't work with the workflow foundation .
Did you do any automation back in CRM 2011 ?
Yeah , that was using Kinsk , kinsk , kinsk , kinsk , kinsk , kinsk , kinsk , kinsk , kinsk , kinsk , kinsk with soft using SQL Server .
I used to use King with Swaysoft . Yeah , that would have been good for migrating data in , but did you do any event reminders or any kind of email automatic emails , anything like that back in CRM 2011 ? No , not that I remember . Wow , that was the main automation tool which was borrowed , really , from SharePoint back in those days .
One thing that it could do was workflows that were synchronous , not just asynchronous workflows . So we still don't have full synchronous workflows yet in Power Automate .
Yeah , I know , it's a pity .
What other shortfalls do you see in the Power Platform that you would like to see Microsoft build out ?
Well this is a hope from my side that I would like to see more engagement on the AI Builder and BVA model With this AI skill challenge , which is really good . That's a good thing for the starters to get no more of these two models .
But I have to say from my personal point of view , I haven't implemented in a big project , so the features that I know from these two models is because I like to play around with these two models .
Yeah , and what type of things do you use particularly AI ? Builder for A builder yeah . What do you use it for ?
Well , the times that I tested in my developer environment was to upload some documents , to recognize some key phrases or the typical model that you have to train a little bit for invoices Right Right , you mentioned that you'd work with Power Pages .
What were the use cases that you're using Power Pages for ?
Well , a big part that I remember was to build a Power Apps portal back then so the user can log in to the site and they want to request a certificate as proof that they attended to a course . This could be online or on site Right . So from the Power Pages site I call .
I remember that I called Cloudflow to generate a PDF document using just Word templates , and then the Cloudflow called a Power Automate Desktop sending the PDF document and the Power Automate . Desktop added a digital signature in the PDF document . In the end , I was sending an email to the customer with the PDF attached .
Wow , that's brilliant . That's brilliant . Is that the only project you work with Power Pages ?
No , no , no . No , that was one of the biggest that I remember .
This one was a little bit smaller with the knowledge base cases , and was it for a utility company or a retail company ? What type of company was using it ?
The last project it was for it was a company that was selling licenses Gotcha , Gotcha .
Excellent , Excellent . Tell me how did you become an MVP ? What was that process for you ?
It was a little bit rough , I would say , because last year I applied to become an MVP . Microsoft rejected me . But I'm glad they did , because they gave me a really specific feedback , which it helped me a lot to improve . So that's why I started my own blog .
That's why I'm participating more often in community events , building some solutions like I don't know PCF or some other different apps .
Okay , okay , and tell me , which do you prefer as a model-driven apps or PCF as in ? Do you prefer creating controls and things like that ? It depends .
I will say it depends on the requirement . Of course , my first option will be a custom page . If I cannot do it , then I will go for a PCF .
Interesting . What's the most creative PCF you've built ?
Drag and drop files . To upload the files to SharePoint .
Yep , brilliant , brilliant . I see that you speak at a range of events . Are they all remote or in-person type of events ? You've got your PowerPages Bootcamp , I see .
I participate in some online events . This year I started participating on on-site events .
let's say , Nice , nice , and what is easier about on-site events as opposed to online events .
Well , I will say there is no comparison . I really like to be on on-site events , the networking , the people , everything is way better .
Do you feel that you present differently in person as in to remote ? Good question . I don't know , maybe I don't know . Do you do anything different as in ? Do you do anything different around when you're doing presenting online , around how you engage your audience , as opposed to how you engage when you're in the room with them To be ?
honest , I think it will be easy to present online , but I feel more comfortable to be on on-site . I don't know why .
Interesting . Do you get more interaction from people online or more interaction , yeah ?
no , no , on-site . On-site Interesting Maybe it could be that one , I don't know , but I feel more comfortable on-site .
Yeah , interesting . What's been the highlight of becoming an MVP for you ?
Well it was a tough , bad bad .
Once that I get it , I was so happy and I'm still trying to ignore all the emails that I get every day , but in the end , I mean , it's nice to be recognized by from Microsoft for all the work that you do for the community , but that is only one of how you say it in English , is just a small detail , because the biggest part of this is to help the
community , you know , to share your knowledge . So that's why I started this bad .
What's been your experience in the last six months with AI more generally ? So , outside of AI builder , things like co-pilots , things like large language models , what have you been doing in the AI space ?
Not that much , to be honest , and I really I want to try the co-pilot features for , for instance , PowerPages site to create a site , and also I would like to try out these minor features with co-pilots in the sales model .
Okay , okay . Have you been doing any hands on with it , any learning of it ? At the moment , just just learning on the release wave .
So I'm waiting for those features to become preview , even to try it out on the sales model .
Are you aware you have early access to it ? Yeah , yeah , you've got access on your MVP tenant that you can actually the co-pilot . I think I've had co-pilot in mind now for three months , four months maybe , have you have ?
you had .
have you had a look at that ? No , no , no , no , not yet . Yeah , so it might be worth , but definitely I will look at it . Jumping into your MVP ten it's one of your benefits and you get early access to all that even before it hits any other wave cycles .
H ey , thanks for listening On your host business application , MVP Mark Smith , otherwise known as the NZ365 guy . If you like the show and want to be a supporter , check out buymeacoffeecom . Forward slash NZ365 guy . Thanks again and see you next time .