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Analysis of the latest CRM industry news. Discussions about CRM best practices and how to succeed with CRM.
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Amazing Apps - learn how to build agile Dynamics 365 and Power Platform business apps using Scrum
Neil Benson
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159
Amazing Apps is for Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform builders who want to use the Scrum framework to build amazing business apps that everyone will love. The podcast is hosted by Microsoft MVP, Neil Benson, and produced by Customery. [Dynamics365, D365, Power Apps, PowerApps, Power Pages, Power Apps Portals, Power Automate, Flow, Power Virtual Agents, PVA, PowerBI]
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#159. Should you use a traditional, waterfall approach to build Power Platform apps? In this episode, I break down six situations when you might be tempted to use a waterfall method and share my thoughts on whether that's really the best approach. Highlights 00:11 Everyone should try waterfall at least once. 02:18 When to adopt a waterfall approach…
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#158. It's 2025, and I still meet Power Platform and Dynamics 365 professionals that don't know what Scrum is or have an incomplete understanding of what Scrum is. Especially in job interviews! In this short episode, you'll learn: What Scrum really is Why it's a framework and not a methodology A simple hack for remembering the 18 components of Scru…
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In this episode of CRM Talk, Steve Chipman and Sam Biardo discuss AI agents and their impact on business. They talk about how AI agents have evolved from basic IVR functionality to sophisticated business tools. Steve mentions Greg Eisenberg's insights about various types of agents (acquisition, research, content, and community agents) and how they'…
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#157. Rethink the role of the scrum master. Two recent events—a thought-provoking article by agile coach Maarten Dalmijn and a leave of absence by Matthew, a beloved scrum master in my team—prompted me to question if scrum masters might be overrated. Comparing scrum teams to sports teams like Ultimate Frisbee, where players self-regulate without re…
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Sam Biardo of Technology Advisors and Steve Chipman of CRM Switch discuss the changes and trends in CRM implementations over the past few years. The key points discussed include the shift towards low-code/no-code platforms, the transition from on-premise to cloud-based solutions, the reduced need for developers and increased reliance on business an…
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Sam Biardo of Technology Advisors and Steve Chipman of CRM Switch discuss the high-level differences between these top CRM vendors. Topics include: Vendor Overviews Scope and Complexity of Business Needs Extending the CRM Database Native vs. Integrated Marketing Functionality The Consultant Ecosystems The HubSpot & Salesforce App Marketplaces Freem…
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#156. Drawing on the book "Mastering Professional Scrum" by Stephanie Ockerman and Simon Reindl, I outline critical areas for team success, such as creating valuable products and understanding organizational influences. I emphasize five core capabilities needed for continuous improvement: teaching, facilitation, coaching, technical excellence, and …
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Steve Chipman of CRM Switch and Sam Biardo of Technology Advisors talk to Sati Hillyer, founder and CEO of OneMob, about his journey from starting the AppExchange at Salesforce to developing and advancing his company's video platform for sellers over an almost ten-year period. With a OneMob microsite, sellers can provide context, content, and a cle…
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#155. Explore the importance of rethinking our approach to building business applications. Discover the benefits of questioning our assumptions and adapting to new information in the dynamic landscape of app development. Unpacking the concept of "thinking like a scientist" and its impact on creating agile business apps. Understanding cognitive entr…
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Sam and Steve are joined by Jon Richards of Evolve Video Marketing. We discuss today's buyer, using video in the sales process, how digital sales rooms work, and getting salespeople to adopt tools like OneMob.由Steve Chipman & Sam Biardo
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#154. Neil Benson takes us on a journey of learning through experimentation. Starting with the historical origins of smallpox inoculation, Neil discusses the importance of conducting experiments to drive innovation and problem-solving. Sharing personal experiences from his biochemistry studies to his current work in building applications with Power…
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Steve Chipman of CRM Switch and Sam Biardo of Technology Advisors talk to marketing guru Ross Simmonds, who shares insights on creating valuable content and leveraging AI to optimize and distribute it more efficiently across channels. Topics include the disconnect between marketing and sales teams, taking an investor mindset with content assets, ev…
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Steve and Sam discuss quote-to-cash (Q2C) solutions that enable sales teams to quickly generate quotes and receive more orders. They cover use cases for field and desk-based sales, components like CPQ and eSignature integrations, rule-based guidance, and vendor solutions from Conga to MobileForce. Also discussed are sales scenarios with frequent pr…
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#153. Keith Atherton is a proper pro developer. Keith shares his journey from developing custom apps using .NET, C# and SQL Server to embracing and mastering the development of enterprise business applications using the Power Platform. What do developers lose and gain using Power Platform compared to developing an app from scratch with .NET and SQL…
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AI-generated summary In this episode, Sam and Steve discuss the benefits of podcasting for marketing versus blogging, based on data showing more people per podcast than per blog. It then covers a survey showing that most marketers are using at least some AI to generate blog content, with the risk of too much AI hurting search rankings. Sam and Stev…
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#152. Host Neil Benson is joined by the talented Dani Kahil for an insightful discussion on managing backlogs and enhancing user stories in Azure DevOps and Jira. Neil shares his experiences with Jira, highlighting some configuration challenges, while Dani expresses a strong preference for Azure DevOps. They dive into the hierarchy of backlog items…
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Steve and Sam talk about the state of SEO in the context of CRM and leads.由Steve Chipman & Sam Biardo
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#151. Amazing Apps host, Neil Benson, dives into a case study from one of his team's own projects: "Member Super", a financial services organisation in Australia. With over a million members, they needed a CRM application that could handle their complex stakeholder relationships and provide exceptional service to their customers. Member Super's exi…
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#150. What does it take to have a successful go live event for your Dynamics 365 or Power Platform application. Neil Benson sat down with Andrew Bibby, a seasoned expert in Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform business applications. In this episode, Andrew shares his insights on the crucial process of preparing for and executing a successful g…
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#149. Andrew Welch is the Chief Technology Officer at HSO. Andrew is an expert in IT strategy and has a wealth of experience advising customers on their big strategic technology decisions. He is also an author, Microsoft MVP, and a regular presenter at conferences. Joining us today, Andrew shares valuable insights on the importance of IT leadership…
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#148. Get ready for another captivating episode of Amazing Apps! In this episode, Neil Benson engages Shawn Tabor, Director of Consulting Services at Hitachi Solutions, in an insightful conversation about the dynamic realm of Microsoft Business Applications and its role in the manufacturing and service industries. Explore Hitachi's product landscap…
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#147. When should you use Power Platform pipelines and when should you use Azure DevOps pipelines to deploy your Power Platform or Dynamics 365 applications? That's the question that Benedikt Bergmann answers in this episode of Amazing Apps. Benedikt is a Power Platform consultant known for his expertise in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM). N…
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#146. In this episode, we're thrilled to have Martin Hinshelwood from naked Agility join host, Neil Benson. Martin shares his perspectives on improving the success of agile engagements through the role of a consulting product owner, and why you should build your own business applications rather than buy Dynamics 365 if you're looking for competitiv…
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#145. We're back with another incredible episode of Amazing Apps, and this time we have an amazing guest on board. Neil Benson is joined by the Low Code Lead & Platform Evangelist at ANS Group, Chris Huntingford. Chris spills the beans on citizen developers, he talks about the concept of ecosystem enablement, the potential of low code platforms, th…
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#144. Neil Benson is joined by Matthew Venamore, a scrum master with extensive experience coaching Dynamics 365 teams. Matthew shares valuable insights into the challenges faced by new scrum masters when joining existing teams and emphasizes the importance of empowering the team. He advises taking a standoffish stance initially, observing the team …
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#143. On this episode of Amazing Apps, we discuss resourcing agile teams using the Scrum framework. Neil Benson talks about who we should have on our teams as product owner, developers and scrum master. Should Microsoft partners offer to provide a consultant for every role on the team? Listen in to find out. Timestamps (02:04) Product owner maximiz…
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#142. Neil Benson discusses the challenges of organizing a large Scrum team to maximize efficiency. He suggests rotating developers between teams and organizing teams around specific components or external systems they need to integrate with. Neil also recommends self-organizing teams and coaches teams to create their own code of conduct and establ…
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#141. In this episode of Amazing Apps, podcast host Neil Benson is joined by Allan de Castro, a senior technical consultant for the Power Platform at Avanade France. They discuss their experience applying Scrum to recent projects, including the role of an architect in the Scrum framework. The episode covers key challenges such as the importance of …
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#140. Today, it’s just me, and I’d like to discuss what EMPIRICISM means to teams building complex, enterprise Dynamics 365 and Power Platform applications. In this episode, I’ll break down what empiricism is and its importance in Scrum, provide examples of work that would benefit from an empirical approach, and share insights on how we can use emp…
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Sam and Steve discuss CRM AI use cases for sales, marketing, customer service, customization & configuration, data migration & integration, analytics, and automations.由Sam Biardo & Steve Chipman
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#139. Today’s guest is Emma Beckett, an experienced test professional who runs her own company, Fortitude 17, in London, UK. A professional footballer, Emma pursued a career in software testing, even though her first role in tech was in Desktop Support — hardware, not software! As you’ll hear, Emma is a Certified ISTQB Test Consultant and trained i…
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#138. Our guest today is Malin Martnes, a Microsoft MVP and MCT who runs her own company MaCoTra AS in Oslo, Norway. As you’ll hear, Malin doesn’t have any technical background on Dynamics 365 and Power Platform but she focuses on using these systems. In this episode, Malin talks about how she came to be a CRM consultant and set up her own consulti…
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Sam & Steve forget how to think on their own, Enterprise AI megatrends, using ChatGPT for CRM test cases and test data由Sam Biardo & Steve Chipman
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#137. Customery Academy is the online business through which Amazing Apps host, Neil Benson, trains and coaches Microsoft customers and partners to build amazing, agile business applications. In this episode, Neil shares a short history of Customery Academy, where it's at today, and its goals for 2023. Halfway through editing the episode, there's a…
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136. My guest is Richard Hundhausen, a former Microsoft MVP and Regional Director, Scrum.org Professional Scrum Trainer, and co-creator of the Nexus Scaled Professional Scrum Framework. As you’ll hear, Richard doesn’t have a background in Dynamics 365 or Power Platform, but he’s no stranger to developing apps on Microsoft technology. In this episod…
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#135. Remy is starting to hate Scrum. He thinks we should use Kanban. And get rid of Product Owners. It's a shame, then, that Remy doesn't understand Scrum. And doesn't want to understand Scrum. Don't be like Remy. Resources Kanban Guide on Kanban University Professional Scrum with Kanban training from Scrum.org Support the show CONNECT 🌏 Amazing A…
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#134. Rishona Elijah is a Microsoft MVP and Microsoft Certified Trainer, who works as a Power Platform Trainer and Evangelist at Barhead Solutions in Sydney, Australia. She spends most of her time running training sessions and delivering events around Power Platform to business users to show them what they can achieve with this technology. In this …
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Tech layoffs, low-code development, ChatGPT in marketing, social media marketing由Sam Biardo & Steve Chipman
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#133. Today’s guest is Michael Roth, a Power Platform consultant with Avanade who specializes in governance. In this episode, Michael walks us through how he keeps business apps amazing by working on only the fun stuff, i.e., governance and licensing, and understanding how users experience tech, specifically Power Platform. Michael also highlights …
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132. Today’s guest is Andrew Ly, a Microsoft Business Applications Solutioning Lead at IBM Consulting in Australia. Andrew shares his 22 years of experience in the Microsoft space, including the type of work he does and the clients he works with. Andrew also gives his two cents on the low-code, no-code approach and talks about the demand of in a da…
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#131. Today’s guest is Magnus Gether Sørensen, a Dynamics 365 Field Service expert at Delegate in Denmark. Magnus shares with us some of the Field Service projects he has worked on, as well as the interesting challenges that his customers have encountered using the application. Plus, Magnus talks about what’s new and next for Field Service and give…
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#130. Sprint 1 is a magical, wonderful, beautiful thing. Find out how my messy, unstructured and un-estimated sprint 1 unfurled on a recent project to build a Power Platform app for a mid-size Microsoft customer in financial services. In-person conferences I didn't attend: Power Platform Conference Nordic Summit South Coast Summit Upcoming online c…
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#129. Learn how to use story point estimation to estimate the relative size of your Dynamics 365 or Power Platform application's requirements. You'll also learn: How to slice user stories into the right size for estimation and development How to decide on a standard user story for comparing other stories against when estimating How to use affinity …
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#128. My wife, Natascha, is a faster trail runner than I am. Find out why estimating trail runs in units of time leads to misaligned expectations about how long it'll take for us to run the same trail together. You'll also learn: What story points are Three factors affecting the size of a requirement How to account for Hick's Law and Weber's Law wh…
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#127. Do you really have to estimate the effort of building the Dynamics 365 or Power Platform apps you've been asked to build? If you work for a Microsoft partner, you probably do -- unless you work for a customer who doesn't care how much it costs or how long it takes. Find out how I approach estimation: How much and how long? Why estimates are n…
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#126. Thanks for all your questions about estimating business applications. In this episode, I tackle four tricky situations when it comes to estimating Dynamics 365 and Power Platform applications. Should we re-estimate items in our backlog after we’re done because they were easier or harder than originally expected? — Tanika If we don’t complete …
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#125. In this episode of Amazing Applications, Emil Hovgaard and Sheelan Bhana of EY Nordic Tech Hub share the story behind EY's PowerPost application and how it has made the General Ledger posting process easier and faster for the EY organization. Emil’s background and his role at the EY organization Sheelan’s background and his role at the EY org…
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#124. When you're using an agile approach, like Scrum, how and when should you document your Dynamics 365 or Power Platform applications? After all, the Agile Manifesto says, "We value working software over comprehensive documentation", right? Before projects start, my teams document requirements in a product backlog, visualise the backlog in a use…
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#123. Learn how to use sprint goals to communicate to your stakeholders what your team has committed to building this sprint. If you can write your sprint goal in the subject line of the sprint review invitation to your stakeholders, and they stampede to accept your invite and beat down the door at sprint review, that's a great sprint goal. This ep…
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#122. Ethan is a scrum master for a Power Platform team and his team is trying to build an app but the customer's product owner hasn't shown up yet! What should he do? If your team's product owner is missing in action, in this episode you'll learn how to prevent this situation from happening, what to do to recover, and what could happen if you don'…
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