There is so much news at Ignite, we had to have a second episode this week! Microsoft Dataverse has been showing up in all of Microsoft Power Platform and Mike Bassani is back to let us know what is new, what users can expect, and how get the most out of the newest Microsoft Dataverse announcements at Microsoft Ignite 2024.  Watch Mike Bassani and Jenn Cockrell's session here: https://ignite.microsoft.com/en-US/sessions/BRK275?source=sessions

It is Ignite week and there is so much happening! Leon Welicki, VP & CPO of Microsoft Power Apps joins the show to talk about all the amazing announcements for Power Apps. Learn about what's new and how get your hands on all the cool features! Want to watch Leon's session at Ignite, check it out here:  https://ignite.microsoft.com/en-US/sessions/BRK172?source=sessions

Pipelines in Microsoft Power Platform has had a slew of new features released and we got the best person to tell us all about them! Casey Burke joins the podcast to talk about how Application Lifecycle Management is shaping up in Power Platform, how organizations should apply ALM, and what is the future of ALM. 

Microsoft Build provided a slew of news announcements for product and feature improvements. Some of the coolest features announced were in Microsoft Power Apps Studio. Luckily, we got the man with the plan, Clay Wesener, Partner Group Product Manager, at Microsoft to tell us all about what the features are, why organizations should care, and how to utilize them to the fullest! Listen in while Clay breaks it down for the hosts!

Get ready to elevate your AI game! Your AI experience is only as good as your data, and with Microsoft Dataverse, it gets a whole lot better! What do we mean by ‘a whole lot better’? We’ve got Robert Bruckner, CTO and VP of Microsoft Dataverse, here to break it all down. If you’re eager to supercharge your organization’s success with generative AI, this is the episode you can’t miss!

You may have heard the term 'Project Sophia' before or maybe not yet, but this amazing new business application technology from Microsoft is going to be a game changer for organizations. Julie Strauss, VP of Project Sophia joins the podcast to tell us how Project Sophia is going to take your data and knowledge further and deliver insights to move faster and smarter in your business decisions.  Learn more about Project Sophia here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/project-sophia/overview and here: https://adoption.microsoft.com/en-us/project-sophia/

In this episode, Derek Kwan joins us as we dive deep into the innovative catalog feature in Power Platform. Join us as we explore how this powerful tool is revolutionizing the way organizations manage and distribute approved artifacts such as apps, flows, and bots. We'll discuss how the catalog enables makers to access reusable components right when they need them, speeding up development cycles and enhancing productivity.

We'll cover key aspects of the catalog, including:

How organizations can share and find artifacts that follow best practices and are organization-approved

The role of the Catalog Manager in administering catalogs, managing access and security, and approving catalog items

The benefits of using the catalog with Power Platform CLI, including crowd-sourcing templates and components, and ensuring access to the latest versions. Whether you're a seasoned developer or just starting with Power Platform, this episode will provide valuable insights into how the catalog feature can help you streamline your development process and improve collaboration within your organization.

Copilot can respond with some fantastic answers to your questions, but sometimes the hardest part is asking the right questions. Well, this is where Erik Olsson and Stuart Ridout, the creators of Prompt Buddy come in to help you (and the rest of the hosts, let's be honest) build the best prompts to get the most out of Copilot. Join us as Erik and Stuart give us the what, the why, and the how to Prompt Buddy!  Wanna give Prompt Buddy a shot, try it here: GitHub - stuartridout/promptbuddy: Prompt Buddy is a free Microsoft Teams Power App using Dataverse for Teams. It is a space where your team can share their favourite AI prompts and upvote prompts from others. It is preloaded with Copilot categories but others can be added. - https://github.com/stuartridout/promptbuddy

We often get asked how newly announced features are received in the real world. How are they being used, what are the improvements that are needed, and how much does John Landgrave love the work that marketing is doing for him and his peers? In this post-Build episode, Principal Technical Specialists John Landgrave and Chris Simmons join us to discuss how customers are approaching the newest feature announcements and what that means for governance and security! 

Still waiting on approval for something? Sounds like that process needs to be digitized. Check out this episode where Grant Archibald, Sr. Program Manager at Microsoft walks us through the business approval kit for Microsoft Power Platform. What it is, why you need it, and what it enables your organization to do once deployed.

It must be a summer cookout, because we are doing some grilling on this episode!  Learn more about the business approval kit here: Setup of the business approvals kit - Power Automate | Microsoft Learn  https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/guidance/business-approvals-templates/setup

Microsoft Copilot Studio provides so many amazing features to help bring generative AI into your applications. Sometimes it feels like we've only scratched the surface of what we can do, but Gwen Bego, GPM Power Automate/AI Builder at Microsoft, joins the podcast to talk to us about prompt plugins, adding knowledge to your copilots, and what that means for the future of applications! 

How can customers spark adoption and innovation in their organizations? Alan Chai joins the podcast to share his inspirational and insightful story of how he utilized Microsoft Power Platform to change his organization, innovate applications, deliver business outcomes quickly, and grow adoption. T

What can help you design application workloads for current needs and future challenges? What will help you asses what areas of your Microsoft Power Platform needs attention and resources? What even is a workload? Robert Standefer and Manuela Pichler, creators of Power Platform Well-Architected joins the podcast to go over who is this for and how it can help your organization improve. 

Automation is one of the core components of Microsoft Power Platform and as organizations move from automation to hyperautomation, what does that mean for end users, admins, and makers?

We are extremely lucky to have Sangya Singh, VP of Power Platform Automations join the podcast to discuss all things automation, how Microsoft Power Platform and Microsoft Power Automate are enabling enterprises to think of new ways to implement automation, and how Microsoft Copilot is changing the way we work with automation.  We couldn't have asked for a better guest for our 50th episode!

Desktop flows are a major component of hyper automation and Microsoft Power Platform. Bill Ryan, Director of Business Programs at Microsoft, joins the show to talk about the role of Power Automate desktop flows (RPA), how Microsoft Copilot is used, and what organizations should think about when implementing Copilot in their desktop flows and how governance needs to be addressed.  

We LOVE listener requested topics, and this one is great! Juliet Helms, Senior Business Outcomes Specialist at Microsoft, joins the crew to talk about finding the return on investment of Microsoft Power Platform and how her team helps organizations realize value. Oh, and if you're wondering about the title, there is a fantastic story from Juliet on finding and measuring the value of Microsoft Copilot. 

With Build wrapping up, we were able to sync with Rahul Ranjit, Principal Program Manager at Microsoft, to chat about how a pro developer approaches low code development and what that means to their skillset and career progression. We cover how low code and pro code tooling work together and where does low code fit in enterprise solution development. 

Carsten and Daniel are back for part two of our Microsoft Copilot Studio and Azure AI Studio podcast episode. Learn how to navigate the decision tree of what copilot tool to use when building custom copilots, which will help you get greater ROI faster, and what teams are going to have to get involved when choosing the right tool!

Microsoft Copilot Studio and Azure AI Studio provide ways for developers to build custom copilots. But what tool should you use and when? Carsten and Daniel join the podcast to share their thoughts on how organizations should approach Copilot Studio and Azure AI Studio to build amazing custom copilot solutions! This episode is so great we had to break it into two parts!  The Power Platform Talks blog:

• Power Platform | UPD: Copilot Governance
• Power Platform | Copilot Studio, Azure AI Studio or Both?

Microsoft Customer Stories:

• How early adopters are transforming their organizations with copilots

Security is paramount to Microsoft. Mihaela Blendea, Principal Program Manager at Microsoft, joins the podcast to talk about security in Low Code. The difference between governance and security and what that means for large and small organizations. For more information on some of the 'projects' Mihaela discusses on the show check out the Secure and govern Copilot within enterprise-grade low code solutions breakout session hosted by Mihaela and Rahul Dey at Microsoft Build!

In this week's episode, Eric Denton, Global Black Belt - Dynamics, and Tara Mason, Power Platform Specialist join the podcast to discuss how to find the value of Microsoft Power Platform. From understanding business readiness and how organizations can snap to patterns of value, to increase to how organizations solve the solution development problems that already exist, this episode is jammed packed with great advice and steps to take!

Dataverse is big, I mean really big. It is the foundational data layer in Microsoft Power Platform and Dynamics 365. But what does this mean for Microsoft Copilot Studio, Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365, and how does AI Builder fit into this? James Oleinik, Partner PM Director for Microsoft Dataverse, joins the podcast to teach all of us about how Microsoft Dataverse and AI Builder are helping organizations bring AI-enabled modern enterprise solutions forward with first-party and third-party data from different systems of record. 

Yup, the title gives this one away. Mansi Malik, Senior Program Manager at Microsoft, comes on the podcast to teach Ken, Sean, and Wendy about the Known Issues feature for Power Platform admins. Learn more about how Microsoft communicates what issues are known with the platform and how they are working on a fix, estimated time to fix, and potential workarounds if needed. Check it out in the Known issues tab in the Power Platform admin center. 

What happens when two podcasts meetup? Well, turns out it's an awesome experience! Kenneth Johnson (KJ) and Kevin Galang from the Digestible Dynamics podcast join us to drop some knowledge on Dynamics 365, why should Power Platform customers look to Dynamics 365 and how both products are integrated and complimentary of each other. We had so much fun with this one! Check out the Digestible Dynamics podcast here: https://open.spotify.com/show/68i94lqxovOfq2weg9VKYd

In this episode, Patrick LeBlanc and Adam Saxton, better known as Guy in a Cube, join the podcast to discuss all things Power BI and Microsoft Fabric. Patrick and Adam talk about Power BI's place in the Power Platform family of tools, Fabric and why it matters, why the admin centers are different between Power BI and Power Platform, and a so much more! How long does it take for Ken to start asking questions about governance and security? Find out in this episode of Low Code Approach! 

Microsoft Power Platform governance can be complex and overwhelming for organizations. Zohar Raz, Principal Group Program Manager at Microsoft, joins the podcast to discuss what governance features exist for Power Platform admins, what to think about when setting up a governance strategy, and how Microsoft can help organizations prepare, deploy, and scale Power Platform.

In this absolutely amazing episode, Ryan Cunningham, VP, Power Apps joins Ken, Wendy, and Sean to discuss the current status and future of Microsoft Power Apps. Learn how Power Platform solution developers can integrate Microsoft Copilot in their applications, in Power Platform with extensibility, and the effect Copilot will have on their careers. This episode is a must listen for anyone interested in how Copilot fits into Microsoft Power Platform. 

Ever wonder where to get started or what you can do with Microsoft Copilot Studio? Henry Jammes from the Power CAT team (not real cats, thanks Ken) joins the podcast to discuss what organizations can do with Microsoft Copilot Studio, extensibility and plugins, and how data is used in Microsoft Copilot Studio.  

How do Power Platform admins ensure their users are creating content in the right environment? Join Hazim SarafelDin, Principal Product Manager at Microsoft as we discuss environment routing, a new managed environments feature for Power Platform. Learn how environment routing, paired with other newly announced governance features, will help admins get more control of their Power Platform environments.

In this week's episode, we take a trip down memory lane to revisit some of the biggest announcements for Microsoft Power Platform that occurred at Microsoft Ignite. Michael Roth and Chris Huntingford join us to let us know what they thought were most exciting and the impact of the announcements. From Microsoft Copilot Studio to groups and rules in Power Platform governance, this is a good look at how customers and attendees reacted to the news. 

In this episode, Sean, Wendy, and Ken talk to Mike Bassani, Partner PM Manager at Microsoft, who shares his insights on Dataverse, the data platform that powers the Power Platform. We discuss what Dataverse is, how it works, and how it works in terms of security. We also learn about the different ways to get data into Dataverse, and the security components that Dataverse provides, such as governance, authorization, token creation, and environment management. If you are interested in learning more about Dataverse and how it can help you build low-code solutions with Power Platform, this episode is for you.

In this episode, April Dunnam joins Ken, Wendy, and Sean to discuss what organizations can do as the end-of-life approaches for InfoPath and SharePoint Workflow engine 2013. What are your organizations options for migration? What can you do if a third-party software you use has dependencies on these technologies? What weird and odd way will Ken introduce himself? Find out the answers to these questions and more on the latest episode of the Low Code Approach!

In this episode, Ken, Sean, and Wendy discuss how the Power Platform can help organizations do good. To help explain what good Power Platform can do, we are joined by great people in: Heather McLean - Principal Product Manager of Innovation at Blackbaud, Ben Wong, Senior Principal Product Manager of Sky Developer Platform at Blackbaud, and Josh Bregman, Principal Product Manager at Microsoft. Learn how non-profits can use Power Platform, how Blackbaud helps organizations empower their staff and volunteers to use Power Platform, and how Blackbaud's fantastic Power Platform connectors enable organizations to take their business processes further! 

In this episode, Mik Ferland, Senior Program Manager joins Ken, Wendy and Sean to discuss one of the newly announced features for Power Platform governance, environment groups and rules. Learn more about how these new managed environments features will provide Power Platform administrators a more efficient way to manage Power Platform at-scale.

Knowledge is power, and Power Platform knowledge is extra powerful. So how do share the knowledge of using Microsoft Power Platform? Training is the key, and we are lucky to have the legend, Laura Rogers join the podcast to discuss training strategies, how generative AI has changed training, and what is the best platform for delivering training content. Laura is such a wealth of information, and we highly recommend you check out the Information Worker Mentor content here: https://www.iwmentor.com/.

In this Sean-less episode, join Ken and Wendy as Tim Robichaux, Principal Service Engineering Manager, teaches us about how Microsoft provides the cloud service updates to Power Platform that keeps Power Platform up and running, communication strategies for changes and how admins can keep up with the latest and greatest features!

As organizations move forward with implementing Microsoft Copilots across their business units, learn from Sid Gundavarapu, Principal Product Manager in the Power Apps Scale team at Microsoft, about governance and governance tools for low code. 

This one is a long one!

Learn how Microsoft uses Microsoft Power Platform internally, how Microsoft governs Power Platform, and can scale their governance strategy for fifty to sixty thousand users and ~ three hundred thousand apps!  Wendy, Ken, and Sean are joined by Lianne Zelsman, Senior Product Manager with Microsoft Digital to get the insights in what does it take to manage Power Platform across Microsoft. 

In this episode, Ken, Wendy, and Sean are joined by Emma Cooper, Principal PM Manager for Microsoft Power Apps. Emma discusses what Microsoft Copilot is, how Copilot shows up in Microsoft Power Platform, is Copilot for developers too, and slew of other topics. This is a must-listen if you are interested in Microsoft Copilot! Learn more about Microsoft Copilot check out our learning programs here: Browse all courses, learning paths, and modules - Training | Microsoft Learn

Microsoft Power Platform provides developers and makers the ability to build amazing solutions, and with Power Platform Connectors, developers can take their solutions further! Learn more about how Power Platform connectors can take your solutions to the next level in the most connected ecosystem with Jocelyn Panchal, Product Manager II and Sabin Nair, Principal Group Program Manager. 

It is time for Microsoft Ignite! Ben Walters, Senior Product Marketing Manager joins the podcast to teach us about what type of sessions are available, how to best enjoy to Microsoft Ignite either in person or virtually, and how to interact with Microsoft during the conference! 

In this episode, Wendy interviews Ken and Sean on their experiences during the Microsoft Power Platform conference. 

Hi, How may I help you?  You may have seen this prompt appear when browsing a website and wondered how do organizations add those chat bots to their sites and what else can they do? Senior Product Marketing Manager and all-around awesome guy, Jack Rowbotham joins Wendy, Sean, and Ken to chat Power Virtual Agents!

What is your data and what does it do? Simple question to ask, but hard to answer. Brad Orluk, Global Head of Microsoft Partnership at OwnBackup joins the Ken, Wendy, and Sean to discuss the role of data in low code, security of that data, and how your organization can scale with their data. 

What is Robotic Process Automation (RPA)? How do we use RPA? How has RPA changed the way we work? Join Wendy, Ken, and Sean as they are joined by Bill Ryan, Director of BPM Services as we discuss how robots are taking over workforce! (not really, but RPA is amazing!)

We love Power Platform and know that it makes a huge impact on our customers, but how can we actually measure that impact? Our good friend, Ricardo Duncan is back on the podcast to talk about the 2024 Total Economic Impact report commissioned by Microsoft with Forrester. The numbers are incredible, and Ricardo explains it all!  Want to check it out yourself? 2024 TEI of Power Platform | Microsoft Read Richard Riley's blog too:  Reduce development times and increase ROI with Microsoft Power Platform  - Microsoft Power Platform Blog

Join us for a deeper dive into Application Lifecycle Management, where we discuss which ALM tool is best for your organization with Principal PM Manager, Kartik Kanakasabesan.

Join Ken, Wendy, and Sean as we continue to bust more low-code myths. 

In this episode, we're going to bust some myths about low code development and show you how you can use Power Platform to build amazing solutions with minimal coding.

Some of the myths we're going to tackle are:

- Low code means low quality - Low code is not scalable - I could use Microsoft SharePoint for these apps. - Low code is not for professional developers

We'll also share some examples of how Power Platform has been used by organizations and individuals to solve real-world problems and create value. Whether you're a business user, a citizen developer, or a pro developer, you'll find something useful and inspiring in this episode.

So, stay tuned and join us for part one of busting myths on Low Code Approach.

The Microsoft Power Platform Conference is coming up and your hosts, Sean, Ken, and Wendy are eager to share why the MPPC is such an amazing experience and what to expect!