“…if you give people tools, through their natural ability, their curiosity, they will develop it in ways that will surprise you very much beyond what you might have expected.”
Making an impact
These days, a line of code can change everything, and software engineers are the ones who are making it happen.
As a Microsoft Partner we have access to the vast innovative cosmos of Microsoft technology, from everything Azure has to offer, to beloved staples such as the Microsoft Office stack. We want to use these tools to make an impact, empowering our users to focus on the important things.
Where Waldo is, there’s Dynamics
To make the most of those tools, we have to learn how to actually use them. A figure approaching legendary status in the Dynamics 365 community, ‘Waldo’ is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to developing Dynamics and a certified Visual Studio wizard. We wanted nothing less for getting our crew up to speed with Business Central and the switch to AL. So, we invited him for a workshop last year in September. His profound skills and unique humor made the experience not only immensely productive, but also fun.
“We are excited about the many new options Business Central brings to the game.”, says Alexander Mädge, our CTO.
Everything from Coding in AL to debugging was covered in the initial workshop and there are more to come. We want to be on top of the challenges and enable our team to make the most of every break-through Redmond delivers.
Using Our Creative Potential
To stay ahead of the curve, we need to tap into our creative potential. Therefore, we have made it an integral part of our company culture to participate in events such as hackathons and other innovative formats, that help us do just that.
Hack4Good London Reactor, London 2019
During this Hackathon the teams were tasked with developing solutions for charitable organizations using PowerApps and Flow. Our winning App aimed at making giving as easy as shopping online. Inspired by other charity drives, which collected donations by asking customers to round up invoice amounts at the cash register, our team decided to apply this idea to online shopping.
Microsoft’s Cognitive Services AI LUIS is tasked with analyzing incoming e-mail invoices, constantly being trained to decipher the widely varying formatting. The generated data is stored within a Common Data Model database and further processed by a Microsoft Flow workflow. This flow calculates the amount due and the donation is transferred via PayPal to a charity of the buyer’s choice. We think this is a great example for making technology all about people by placing that daily good deed at the tip of your fingers. The winnings of over 3600 pounds were donated to an institution that aids people with handicaps at leading an independent life.
Connecting on- and offline
Hackathons are great opportunities for networking and reaching beyond our own horizon, making connections and engaging with other brilliant developers.
By working together under a tight schedule, our teams gather invaluable experiences. They need to self-organize, efficiently distribute the workload according to skillset and focus on their goal. It’s all about helping each other out and reveling in the fun of the challenge.