Community Corner 24: #MSFlowConf/Flow News

[GabrielStJohn]

#MSFlowConf 2018

On December 8, 2018, there was a first-time event that was highly anticipated by the Microsoft Flow Community. There was A LOT of hype around the #MSFlowConf on Twitter, and there wound up being well over 5,000 registrations for the Conference initially. We saw peaks of 2,000 viewers tuned into this FREE online event and it was truly amazing to see all of the speakers tuning in to answer questions and the friendly chats that were constantly going on during the stream. 

Some of the sessions delivered at this event were sessions that can usually only be seen while attending a training or a  conference in-person, which is incredible to have them readily accessible. The fact that so many people interested in Flow can come together online for an event like this truly means that we are in a beautiful time period where we have such amazing ways to communicate and collaborate with each other instantaneously even though they are 5,000 miles apart.

It only fits that Microsoft Flow is a part of this ever-growing field of new and innovative technology. End-user workflow automation as a whole is still in its adolescent times. The average citizen developer is now capable of SO MUCH more than they were 10 or even just 5 years ago and Microsoft Flow is at the forefront of the great technological tidal wave that is automation in the modern workplace. 

Enough about all of that, here are some of the great resources that were mentioned during the #MSFlowConf:

• Jon's Flow Learning Resources:

  • https://aka.ms/flowverload

  • https://aka.ms/flow-in-a-day

  • https://aka.ms/bui

  • Jon's YouTube Channel
  • Microsoft Flow YouTube Channel

• Just a few of the Speaker-Provided Resources:
  
  • https://www.programmableweb.com
  • Building Nested Flows
  • Flow User Group Home Page
  • CRM Innovation Blog
  • Sandro Pereira Blog
  • Daniel Glenn's Website
  • Scott Shearer's Website & Blog

Flow News

I recently read an article from Tech Target that was explaining how Microsoft is stepping into DMS (Document Management System) marketplace as a competitor after a long time of being an optimal partner for such services due to its massive growth in recent years in the areas of both AI text recognition, and AI integration with SharePoint. At the bottom of the article, it goes into details about how Microsoft Flow is essential in order to properly utilize SharePoint for DMS.

Here is the excerpt:

"Microsoft Flow integration key for DMS

Text recognition is not the only thing that makes the Microsoft DMS a threat to other platforms in the marketplace. Microsoft Flow -- the workflow engine that Microsoft recently introduced -- along with PowerApps and SharePoint, gives Microsoft a significant competitive edge.

SharePoint now delivers workflows that can interact with scanned documents or images, while still supporting the capture of the images via PowerApps or a traditional scanner.

Microsoft has gone from being one of the best partners for DMS platforms to being a competitor. Since SharePoint is bundled in Microsoft Office 365, it will likely not cost clients any extra."

Please go and read the article if you have time. It's very interesting to know some of the different ways Microsoft is leveraging Flow to be its secret weapon that is growing and gaining its reputation over time. Flow has only been around for two years, I am excited to see where it goes within the next five!

As always, thanks for reading!! Happy New Year and have an awesome weekend! 

-Gabriel

Microsoft Flow Community Manager