We all need recipes! Some we learn from books, some we ask for, and some we accidentally stumble across. Software recipes are no different to culinary ones, in that, they enable us to cook up great things with ease and repeatability. Rami's Microsoft Dynamics 365 Extensions Cookbook is no exception!
I have followed Rami's technical community contributions and blog for many years, and so I was really pleased to learn of his well-deserved Microsoft MVP award back in 2015. When we first met, I was immediately struck by his infectious enthusiasm for Microsoft Dynamics CRM and related technologies, along with his commitment to continuously improving the way we deliver solutions on this unique platform.
Naturally, we both share the same passion for the benefits of using Microsoft Dynamics 365 online, along with all of its value-added services. Rami's recent major public sector implementation of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Online is the first of its kind in New Zealand, which clearly shows that the trust in Microsoft's ability to deliver a world class software-as-a-service is ever-growing. This is further evident as an increasing number of organizations are choosing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Online in conjunction with Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Azure to build their next generation of business solutions. Microsoft’s continued and significant investment in areas such as Machine Learning, Big Data, and IoT (Internet of things) allows them to constantly reinvent the platform to increase the value and productivity that they can bring to their customers.
For me, Microsoft's platform-first approach has always been their market differentiator. Now that the Dynamics product team is being steered by Scott Guthrie (Microsoft executive vice president, Microsoft Cloud and Enterprise), we are increasingly seeing Microsoft Azure services being utilized to bring new features and to rapidly evolve the platform into areas that present exciting new "Digital Transformation" opportunities. For instance, companies that historically would have been purely focused on monitoring of their product sensors, now, with an Azure IoT Hub, can now take advantage of Microsoft Dynamics 365 to provide predictive maintenance to their customers through Microsoft Azure Machine Learning. Furthermore, sales organizations that previously relied on their sales staff to spend valuable time and effort on maintaining account plans can now use Customer Insights and LinkedIn Sales Navigator to increase productivity and drive business growth. These kinds of projects no longer need large teams of data scientists and machine learning researchers, but are available to us mere mortals, enabling our users and customers to do business in a way that was previously cost prohibitive and inaccessible to most.
In this book, Rami offers clear and concise solutions so that you may benefit from his many years' experience with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics 365 platform, and get the most out of its powerful features and extensibility points. The recipes are logically organized into categories to make it easy to understand their applicability, each with not only clear and practical steps on how to implement them, but also crucial technical details of how and why they will work. We are certainly lucky to be part of such an active technical community with many great contributors, so I particularly like that for each technique Rami shows you, he also offers you additional resources to grow your understanding and develop your skills further.
It is true that we will rarely encounter an implementation challenge that has not already been solved by someone before us. I am a firm believer in learning from the experience of those people so that we may stand on the shoulders of giants! By following Rami's recipes in this book, no matter whether you are using Microsoft Dynamics 365 On-Premises or Dynamics 365 Online, if you are implementing large-scale enterprise solutions or smaller ones, the consistency and quality that the contents of this book will bring to your implementation will not only give you more time to focus on delivering business value, but also make your solutions more supportable and upgradable in the future.
As we see Microsoft continuing to develop their exciting platform, I am confident that by reading this book, you will learn many valuable practical skills from Rami that will accelerate your career into the next chapter of Microsoft Dynamics 365's evolution.
Scott Durow
Solution Architect, Develop 1 Ltd.
Microsoft Business Solutions MVP
Author of the Ribbon Workbench and SparkleXrm