Modernizing Customer Service Experiences Without Breaking the Bank
The article shows how Dynamics 365 Contact Center modernizes customer service without replacing legacy systems. It highlights AI, omnichannel support, and seamless integrations for a future-ready solution.
Fueling Innovation: The Critical Role of Modern Data Platforms
In this article, I’ll highlight the key roles that modern data platforms play in driving continuous innovation.
Energy Corner: How AI and Mixed Reality Can Supercharge the Efficiency of Frontline Workers
Throughout this article, we’ll explore some practical ways that these technologies are coming together to provide frontline workers with a real boost during their day-to-day activities.
Adding Intelligence to Apps with Dataverse AI Functions
AI Functions are quickly becoming more and more powerful with their pre-built applications as well as the ability to create your own models that leverage these functions to more specifically target your business needs.
Development Mixology: Low-Code, Fusion Teams, and AI
As an IT services provider that specializes in the rapid development of enterprise-grade solutions using the Microsoft Power Platform, customers often ask us about our secret formula.
SAP Sapphire 2024 Recap: Joule, Cloud, and a Growing Divide
Last week’s SAP Sapphire 2024 event certainly created a lot of buzz. I wanted to take some time out today to reflect on what I perceive to be a growing divide within SAP’s customer base.
Microsoft Copilot and the Future of UX in the Enterprise
Last year, during the introduction of Microsoft Copilot, Satya Nadella proclaimed that we’re living in the age of copilots. This is a bold statement, and it has many of our customers asking us what it all means. With that in mind, I thought it would be useful to take a look at how Microsoft Copilot technology has evolved over the course of the past 6 months.
Microsoft Fabric: How Did We Get Here?
This blog post will attempt to answer questions about Fabric and illustrate how all these concepts come together to reimagine what a comprehensive data platform looks like in the modern enterprise.
Building a Data Culture Using Microsoft Fabric
In this blog post, my goal is to help you move past all the marketing hype and recognize Fabric for what it truly is: a unique and flexible self-service data platform that can help you build and nurture a data culture within your business.
Putting Power Platform Data to Work for Your Business
So, today, we thought we’d explore this phenomenon further and show you how you can use Microsoft Fabric to put this data to work for your business.
Real-Time Alerts with Data Activator
In this blog, we’ll quickly introduce Data Activator and demonstrate how it unlocks some very compelling workflow scenarios.
Building a Scalable Data Strategy with Power Platform
With that in mind, today we’ll explore some ways to create a more robust and scalable data strategy within your Power Platform environments.
Azure Integration Services — Features & Benefits
In this final blog post, we’ll conclude with a highlight of some key features and benefits of using Azure Integration Services.
Quick Flip: We’re in the Age of Copilots
We're in the age of Copilots. Discussion focuses a lot around Microsoft - but the implication is clear: they're everywhere, and they're just getting started.
Better Together: Dynamics 365 CRM & SAP
This week, we concluded our 6-part blog series on Dynamics 365 CRM & SAP. As we draw this series to a close, we wanted to provide an overview of the series and highlight some of the key take-aways.
Better Together: Dynamics 365 CRM & SAP — Part 6
In my previous blog post, we took a tour through Dynamics 365 Field Service and showed how it could be used to extend the reach of SAP for frontline workers executing work orders out in the field. Today, we’ll wrap up our Dynamics 365 and SAP series by looking at Dynamics 365 Project Operations.
Better Together: Dynamics 365 CRM & SAP — Part 5
In my previous post, we took a tour though Dynamics 365 Customer Service and highlighted some of the key features it offers to companies that want to level up their customer service experiences. Today, we’ll turn our attention to the field and have a look at Dynamics 365 Field Service.
Dataverse: The Key to Unlocking the Power Platform
Of all the services included with the Power Platform, I’ve always felt like Dataverse is least understood. Depending on who you’re talking to, the misconceptions about what Dataverse is (and isn’t) are all over the road.
Copilots Everywhere! Understanding Microsoft’s Copilot Strategy
Nevertheless, our goal is to help you understand how to navigate Microsoft’s copilot ecosystem and find the right copilot(s) for your business.
OneLake to Rule Them All
Given the abundance of questions, I thought we’d take some time out to break down what OneLake is and why we think it’s a game changer in the data/analytics space.
Azure Integration Services — Logic Apps Deep Dive
In this blog post, we’ll demonstrate the benefits and ease of use of using Logic Apps to develop modern SAP integration solutions.
SAP & AI Builder: Affordable AI Solutions
Whenever you hear people talk about the Microsoft Power Platform, they’re usually talking about Power Apps or Power Automate. However, while it might not get as much press, AI Builder is a criminally underrated module that can really add a lot of value for businesses.
Quick Flip: Business-Led IT
James and Paul pontificate on their experiences working in, with, and under business-led IT, shadow IT, and corporate IT. What's the best way forward, for IT orgs to have real impact on business outcomes?
Embracing a Business-Led IT Strategy with Bowdark Lighthouse
A couple of years ago, Gartner introduced the concept of business-led IT as a strategic way for IT departments to address the challenge of business units independently acquiring IT solutions.
Power Platform Therapy Session: Recovering from Excel, Access, and SharePoint
In this blog post, I thought I’d open up the Bowdark therapist booth and do my best to help long-suffering Microsoft customers address concerns over Power Platform adoption.
Power Query: The Best Little Data Tool You’ve Never Heard Of
I was having a chat with an accountant friend of mine the other day and listening to his tales of woe with Excel data wrangling. As he was stepping me through the number of steps required to produc
Bowdark at 18
This week, Bowdark turned 18 years old. Like most things in life, we wonder where the time has gone and couldn’t help but reflect upon how we got here.
Azure Integration Services — SAP Integration Options
Explore various options for integrating SAP with Azure Integration Services, offering insights into how these powerful tools can be combined to enhance business processes and data management.
Talent Gaps in the SAP Ecosystem — Part 3
Talent Gaps in the SAP Ecosystem - Part 3: Wrapping up our series on tech talent gaps in the SAP ecosystem.
Talent Gaps in the SAP Ecosystem — Part 2
Talent Gaps in the SAP Ecosystem - Part 2: A follow-up to our initial post about talent gaps in the SAP ecosystem.
Quick Flip: Copilot Plus SAP Plus Everything
Give the latest episode a listen:
Talent Gaps in the SAP Ecosystem — Part 1
Talent Gaps in the SAP Ecosystem - Part 1: An initial look at the ever-growing talent gap that exists in the SAP ecosystem.
Introducing Bowdark Lighthouse
Here at Bowdark, we’re on a mission to digitize. We’re passionate about IT and believe very strongly in its ability to completely revolutionize the way that our customers do business.
Superapps with Microsoft Teams
If you’re the kind of person that pays attention to buzzwords that are trending in the enterprise software space, you may have started to hear the term “superapp” thrown around a bit more lately.
Podcast Episode! Winning Users with Alan Chai
James and I meet up with Alan Chai to discuss the future of work and the amazing work he's doing in this space.
Does Low-Code Change the Buy-vs-Build Equation?
When I first got started in the enterprise software space, one of the very first lessons I was taught was that “it’s always cheaper to buy than it is to build”. This concept was drilled into my brain.
Azure Integration Services — Why Azure Integration Services?
Why Azure Integration Services? In this four-part blog series, we’ll be demonstrating why Azure Integration Services may be the best middleware you’ve never heard of.
Podcast Episode! Space Janitors with Holger Mueller
James and I plug into Holger Mueller's big brain to talk about the current state of enterprise software.
How To: Setting Up the Microsoft Graph API in your ABAP code
The goal of this article is to set up the MS Graph API so that we can use
Podcast Episode! Quick Flip: The MPPC And TechEd Wish List That Wasn’t
James and I exchange wish lists for upcoming conferences
MS Power Apps: Fixing Multiple Component Libraries Error
I ran into a situation lately, where identical customizations had mistakenly been made to the command bar of a table in two different environments (Dev and UAT). While the customizations were ident
Podcast Episode! Season 5 Intro: The Future of Work
James and I kick off a new season of Switched On where we talk about the future of work.
What is abapGit?
Getting to know abapGit and modern version control techniques for SAP and ABAP.
Podcast Episode! Season Finale: Digitally Transformed
James and I wrap up our season on Digital Transformation topics
Podcast Episode! Compassion in Software with Dustin Bruzenak
James and I sat down with Dustin Bruzenak [https://twitter.com/bruzenak], co-founder of Modern Logic — a Twin Cities-based software development shop specializing in projects that emphas
Rapid SAP App Development with Bowdark Fuse and Power Apps
Last week, we announced the general availability of Bowdark Fuse , a solution which unlocks rapid SAP development.
Introducing Bowdark Fuse
Here at Bowdark, we’re on a mission to digitize. We want to take broken business processes and completely transform them using modern technology innovations. From simple apps and bots to full-scale
Microsoft Power Platform: More Than Just a Toy
Over the past several weeks, I’ve had interesting conversations with IT leaders who have dismissed Power Platform as little more than a toy.
How To: Send a Teams Message from your ABAP Code
In this article you’ll learn how to level up your notification game using ABAP and Microsoft Teams.
Better Together: Dynamics 365 CRM & SAP — Part 4
In my previous post, we toured Dynamics 365 Sales, today we'll look at customer service.
Better Together: Dynamics 365 CRM & SAP — Part 3
In my previous blog post, we provided an overview of the Dynamics 365 platform as a whole. Today, we’re going to zoom in on the D365 Sales module.
Better Together: Dynamics 365 CRM & SAP — Part 2
Modern CRM solutions call for a flexible platform that can scale to handle ever-changing sales and service requirements.
Better Together: Dynamics 365 CRM & SAP — Part 1
Finding the right CRM solution for your business is never easy. After all, there are many factors to take into account: ease-of-use, flexibility, cost, accessibility, and — perhaps most importantly
A Guide: BEANS — The Modern SAP Development Approach
The BEANS approach to SAP development is a reimagined version of the traditional RICEFW approach that most SAP professionals know quite well.
How to: Creating a Destination in SAP for making requests to HTTPS secured APIs
This is a walkthrough showing how to create a https destination in SAP in order to be able to call an external API within your ABAP code.
Modernizing SAP: From RICEFW to BEANS — By the Numbers
Earlier this year, I published a 6-part blog series illustrating ways to innovate around SAP using modern toolsets / techniques. After
Energy Corner: Better Work Order Management, Better Customer Communication
In today’s Energy Corner, we’ll look at how recent technology innovations can improve work order management, remote assistance, and customer communications — all from one simple, mobile application.
Podcast Episode! MPPC 2022 with Charles Lamanna
James and I went down to sunny (sweaty) Orlando for Microsoft Power Platform Conference (MPPC) 2022.
Energy Corner: Modern Solutions for Regulatory Compliance
When we started this blog, one of our primary goals was to reflect on trends and/or issues that we see our customers wrestling with and provide some practical advice on how to use various technology innovations to solve real-world business problems.
Understanding SAP BTP Pricing Options
Last week, I presented a few sessions on SAP BTP at the SAPinsider 2022 conference in Las Vegas. In addition to questions the product itself, there were many questions raised about pricing.
Modernizing SAP: From RICEFW to BEANS — Part 6
In my previous blog post, I introduced the fourth element in our BEANS framework: No-Code/Low-Code tools. Today, we’ll look at the final piece to our BEANS puzzle: Services. Specifically, we’re talking about platform-as-a-service (PaaS) services.
Modernizing SAP: From RICEFW to BEANS — Part 5
In my previous blog post, I introduced the third element in our BEANS framework: APIs. Today, we’ll look at how these APIs can be quickly put to work by a much larger development audience using Low-Code or No-Code tools.
A Taste of Our Own Medicine
As a Microsoft solution provider, we frequently prescribe Microsoft-based solutions for our customers. From Dynamics 365 business systems to custom solutions built on Azure and the Microsoft Power Platform, we’re always looking for creative ways to apply technology innovations to solve real-world business problems.
SAP & Microsoft: Powerful Alone…Better Together
Last Friday, I stumbled across an interesting tweet from SAP’s CTO, Juergen Mueller. Although SAP has been moving towards openness and multi-cloud support within its cloud platform (now known as SAP BTP) for quite some time now, there still seems to be a lot of confusion around just what this means for customers.
Modernizing SAP: From RICEFW to BEANS — Part 4
In my previous blog post, I introduced the second element in our BEANS framework: Extension Apps. Today, we’ll look at the lifeblood of extension apps and really anything we will look to build with BEANS: Application Programming Interfaces (or APIs).
Podcast Episode! Builders and the Developer Spectrum with Riley Rainey
James and I spoke with the super-interesting Riley Rainey. Before you get to any of the regular industry-specific goodness we talk about, check out his GitHub repositories focused around replicating the Apollo Guidance Computer.
Podcast Episode! Mobilize All The Things with Paul Aschmann
James and I really dove deep into the recesses of Paul Aschmann’s brain for this one. Paul is a mobility development expert at SAP, originally from South Africa and now living in North Carolina.
Modernizing SAP: From RICEFW to BEANS — Part 3
In my previous blog post, I introduced the first element in our BEANS framework: Business intelligence. Today, we’ll take a look at a more scalable alternative approach to enhancements in the SAP space: Extension apps.
Modernizing SAP: From RICEFW to BEANS — Part 2
In my previous blog post, I teased the concept of a new model for organizing gap analysis efforts called BEANS. Today, I’ll pick up where I left off in Part 1 and introduce the first element in our BEANS framework: business intelligence.
Announcing New Podcast: Switched On with Paul Modderman and James Wood
YES! It’s a Bowdark podcast, hosted by two of the very brightest and best people ever to touch a keyboard in the history of this or all other possible universes!
Modernizing SAP: From RICEFW to BEANS — Part 1
If you’ve been working in the SAP space for very long, you’ve probably heard consultants reference terms like “RICE”, “RICEF” or “RICEFW” a time or two. These acronyms are used to describe how custom development requirements should be organized during gap analysis as companies evaluate the overall fit of an SAP Business Suite solution.
Take your Fiori Apps Offline
When I joined Bowdark one of the first things I heard about was Progressive Web Apps (PWA). I was new to this topic, maybe you are as well. I’m surrounded at work by some talented people who have taken me under their wing, so to say, and taught me the PWA basics
My #1 Nerd Value: Empathy
10 years ago, at 5:06PM on a Friday late in Minnesota spring, I was packing up to leave work. I lucked out in seat selection and had a window looking out onto a beautiful pond and bike trail, so I felt antsy to get outside and do something…not-computery.
Make the Most of the Google Maps JavaScript API: Symbols and Strokeweights
This Google Maps JavaScript API tip comes hot from a Bowdork in the trenches.
Chief Nerd, Chiefly Nerdy
My name is Paul Modderman, and I’m the new Chief Nerd at Bowdark. If you wonder why someone would accept a title like “Chief Nerd”, consider the following completely true factoid: one of my senior pictures is me posing by a stack of sci-fi novels.
Modernizing Customer Service Experiences Without Breaking the Bank
09/16/2024 11:20 AM
Fueling Innovation: The Critical Role of Modern Data Platforms
08/23/2024 1:42 PM
Energy Corner: How AI and Mixed Reality Can Supercharge the Efficiency of Frontline Workers
08/19/2024 10:57 AM
Adding Intelligence to Apps with Dataverse AI Functions
07/11/2024 2:34 PM
Development Mixology: Low-Code, Fusion Teams, and AI
06/27/2024 2:27 PM
SAP Sapphire 2024 Recap: Joule, Cloud, and a Growing Divide
06/11/2024 12:00 AM
Microsoft Copilot and the Future of UX in the Enterprise
05/31/2024 12:00 AM
Microsoft Fabric: How Did We Get Here?
05/20/2024 10:15 PM
Building a Data Culture Using Microsoft Fabric
05/15/2024 2:35 PM
Putting Power Platform Data to Work for Your Business
04/09/2024 5:17 PM