Jukka Niiranen’s Post

Crappy UX in your business apps will erode the Customer Experience (CX), too.💔 I came across a photo from my eXtremeCRM 2016 Warsaw session. As it sometimes happens, I was impressed by how smart words I was able to put on my own slides.😁 Back when I was working with #CRM systems exclusively (before Power Platform became a thing), I used to be obsessed about UI design. Which is a strange focus area, given how little room there was/is for changing the UX of Dynamics 365 CRM apps (aka model-driven Power Apps). As the icing on the cake: I was doing everything without custom code.😮 The constraints give you focus, though. When Dynamics CRM 2013 "reimagined" the user interface of Microsoft's CRM system, I wanted to make the most of it. I even wrote a book chapter about "Designing a great user experience" in the CRM 2013 QuickStart - a joint effort by several Microsoft BizApps MVPs.📘 It's not because I studied UX design or anything like that. I never have. Rather I observed the real world challenges that users of enterprise CRM systems encountered. Partially inflicted upon them by business requirements that turned the systems into monster forms with hidden business logic and layers upon layers of process details invisible to the poor end users.😥 But what's the connection to CX, though? The customers aren't using the CRM system, are they? Not directly, of course. My reasoning on that slide was: 1. Bad UX in business apps 2. User adoption is low 3. Customer data isn't captured 4. Processes cannot be automated 5. CX cannot be improved 6. Customers switch to competitors The big issue with low CRM adoption isn't the inaccurate sales funnels and forecasts. You can do those with Excel. Often that's what ends up happening anyway, when the CRM system doesn't support real-life sales mgmt needs.📊 What you CAN'T do with Excel data is automate your business processes. Including ones that directly affect the paying customers. You face a hard limit on innovation and improvement that companies with better customer data assets can aim for. Competitors will outpace you.🏃♀️ It's rarely about the lack of systems, i.e. not having enought IT. It often is about the lack of true fit between what the systems could do and what the business actually does. Despite of big CRM projects and digitalization initiatives, the machine as a whole delivers subpar outputs - which may even decline after launch.↘ This is a difficult subject to address. Admitting that just building systems to meet requirements doesn't solve the problem - especially when both parties are professionals in their field. The domain experts for business processes & the system experts for business apps. Who's to blame for the failure?⚖ No one pushed me into obsessing over the UX details back in my CRM career. I was never really rewarded for going the extra mile. I did it on my own time, for the customer & for the community. I was just one guy who was empathetic towards the end users.🙇♂️

Can copilots solve the fundamental issue with #CRM systems: that no one wants to use them? Before we had the magical capabilities of generative AI, I spent a fair bit of time trying to design, implement and support CRM systems. There was never a shortage of tasks that could be done to improve the adoption rates. Technology has advanced at a rate that would have been impossible to imagine back when I started with my first #Microsoft CRM implementation project. Now we are seeing features that appear to address common pain points that users encounter while presented with long CRM forms. Is the end result going to be good for the business, though? While it is easier than ever to generate wonderful looking data, will the value of data entered into the many traditional CRM systems out there erode even faster? I wrote down my thoughts on this phenomena I call Copilotization of CRM. Read the full article and if you like it, why not subscribe to my newsletter called "Perspectives on Power Platform" while you're at it? https://lnkd.in/dddYBvwm

More license types = more financial success! What's there NOT to love about #Microsoft licensing?🤩 The image below is taken from the awesome webinar by Directions on Microsoft. Focusing on the add-on licenses availabe for #Microsoft365, it illustrates how it hasn't been just about the one Office suite for quite some time now.🤹♂️ Coincidentally, the MSFT stock price has grown pretty much in line with the number of different add-on SKUs in Microsoft's price lists. While correlation may not imply causation, it's at least easy to understand how having a broader variety of services on offer can make the sharedholders more excited about the company's growth potential.📈 Every now & then, we hear from MS product marketing how they've "reimagined" the names and prices of their existing products in an effort to simplify the offering. This hardly ever simplifies things for the customers, since the old & new names and SKUs tend to coexist in product UIs, contract terms, online articles...😰 It's notable that in this particular session, also #PowerPlatform products were categorized as M365 add-ons. From a MS commerce platform perspective, that is true, yet opening the low-code can of worms and combining it with the Dynamics 365 products that run on the very same platform - well, the chart would simply explode!😂

Being honest shouldn't be a radical choice - yet it often feels like it in the consulting business. I'm no expert on anything AWS related. If I need to learn something about their services, I'd always start by checking if Corey Quinn has written about it. Because he tells it like it is. Similar to what Corey is doing, I have also chosen the path of brutal honesty at work. Perhaps it's because I didn't start on the consulting side that I developed a habit of openly speaking about both the good & bad sides of software. Behaving in an unexpected way can sometimes cause confusion or even conflict in one's professional life. Yet like Corey posted, there's much, MUCH more value in being honest. In the end, networks run on trust. The most consistent way to gain trust from others is honesty. In a world increasingly filled with AI generated, polished crap, people are bound to be even more selective on who they trust. Everyone has opinions. Many are scared to honestly share them - especially in places like LinkedIn. So they put on a mask and try to fit in. When the better strategy could be a lot easier to follow: just being honest.

Is $105 per user per month too much to pay for a CRM app? As always, it depends. Organizations who pay big money for a project to customize and integrate their CRM with enterprise systems are surely spending a significant share on things other than the licensing part. This cost isn't as visible as the price tag for the software product. Still, just because something else is expensive, that doesn't mean you should pick only other expensive parts to go with it. The consulting hours at $200 don't need to be combined with software licenses priced $200. Often a better outcome is reached when there are clear constraints in place. When you can't just launch a massive project or you can't splash for the leading CRM software license. If you need to be smart about your spending, you'll do more homework on what the options are. At which point you may discover that #PowerApps can be perfectly sufficient for most of your real needs. When you realize that the smoke & mirrors of fancy CRM product demos aren't the features your users will actually care for. #Dynamics365 is huge. It's great when combined with a big initiative that goes far beyond mere CRM. It's powerful if you have experts to twist it to your needs. For everyone else, there are smarter options available when building your business system on top of Power Platform.

Some of y'all thought it was a joke. It's April 2nd now and I'm STILL S.M.E. for the mighty Forceworks Global | Leading Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform Partner.😎 I mean, would you just look at that AMAZING title for the company's LI page! If that's not the baddest, ruffest crew of MC's in the MSFT low-code scene, I don't know where your head's at.🤨 Not only has Steve Mordue MVP singlehandedly written The Real Playbook for MS BizApps partners via his blog over the years. His posse is responsible for delivering the most intense #PowerApps solutions for those who hate to pay for crap they don't need.💸 RapidStart is the production team that keeps churning out hit products after another, always staying true to the Power of the Platform. I couldn't be happier about this opportunity to do some hardcore advisory business with Steve and many other industry legends in his SME lineup.🤜🤛

What I remember about my father was that he worked late. It's by no means what I think describes him, nor the relationship we've had. But it is the first thing that comes to my mind. He was very passionate about what he felt he had to do at work. To fix the things that were wrong in this world. I respected him for it, and to a large extent I've followed the same pattern. Like my father, I've had a hard time letting go of problems I've observed at work - even when the working day is technically over. Whenever I've had the free capacity to work on problems, I've done so. I've found it satisfying and meaningful. It's not wrong - and the vast majority of LinkedIn career advise or VC mentality enforces this. Being able to follow your passion at work is a blessing - when it's not blocking something more meaningful. I have zero regrets of not watching streaming TV shows in the past decade and instead spending my time reading (and writing) blog posts. It was the right thing to do then. It is no longer the right thing, though. When it was my turn to step into the shoes that my father once had, there was a constant struggle at play. I knew the equation wouldn't "just work out". I'm not stupid enough to believe that. Instead, I'm fully aware of the trade-offs that are facing me. I tried to be a father and a founder. To some extent, that worked out pretty well. The only problem was: I had no room left to be me. There was no place where I was doing something not just for others - but for myself. I began to feel that I don't exist in this world anymore. I cherish all the various interactions that my extensive professional network has allowed me to experience throughout the years. They mean a lot. But they don't mean everything. I realized that to make space for myself, I had to start from YOU. Yes, you, my LinkedIn connection/follower. I had to worry less about all of this. After I click "post" here I will step away from my professional role for tonight and start living the life that is exclusively for me. I will go to a local techno event, dance the night away, and be just myself - for myself. Then tomorrow I'll go back home and listen to what my son wants to tell me. Because he's got a lot more important things on his mind than any of you are posting here on LinkedIn. Just because I'm not available for a chat, doesn't mean I wouldn't care. I do - but I care more about something that's exclusive to me. We all should.

This is my new Window of Opportunity.🔭 Today I signed the lease agreement for Niiranen Advisory office space. Nothing big & fancy, just an intimate and covenient working space nearby my home in Herttoniemi, Helsinki.🌇 But why does a one-man company need an office in this day & age? Everyone's working from home, right? Why spend money on office space?💸 That's exactly the thing. For the previous company, I worked mostly from home for 4 years straight. Yeah, we did lease an office, but 2 weeks after setting up shop, COVID hit us. The office did exist (still does) and I did work there occasionally, one or two days a week. Yet it never felt like it was actually a physical representation of our company. It was just a desk, monitors and a coffee machine (my trusty ol' Moccamaster from home, actually).☕ I've learned that I need my space. Like, I REALLY need a space where I can calm down and focus. While I've had a perfectly fine room at our apartment as a home office, it's still much more a home than an office. During the past years my kid also grew from 0 to 4 and I've been pretty close to all of it. At least physically, if not always mentally.😅 If you work 2 meters away from your kitchen, it's not just about the sounds of everyday life. It is extremely difficult to know when you are "at work". Without a sufficient physical separation of space, the mental transition does not happen. Sure, it's great to be able to juggle between family time and company time on a whim. But this optimization of productivity may eventually get to you. I know it got to me.🙇♂️ My new office is 15 minute walk away from home. Half an hour wasted each working day, compared to the home office. Still, it will be always available for me when I need it. I won't have to book a meeting room for calls, or wear noise cancelling headphones when I need to concentrate on deep work.🎧 Once I get the basics like electricity, internet and furniture set up, I hope I can also invite some of you over for a coffee & chat. Not to be "at work in the office" but rather enjoying a space that is suitable for letting new ideas come to life. But before that, I'm gonna need to do a few trips to Ikea.🚚😁