Matt Fleming joins Boyer as Solution Architect for new Microsoft CRM & Power Platform practice
Boyer & Associates is pleased to welcome Matt Fleming to our team. Fleming has eight years of experience in the CRM industry and will serve as the company’s solution architect for its new Microsoft CRM & Power Platform practice.
Fleming landed his first job sort of by mistake. He had applied for a computer support internship at Minneapolis’ firm PowerObjects. When he arrived for his first day in January 2013, his new boss left for several minutes and then came back to get him started.
It wasn’t until six months later that his boss explained the minor delay — They thought they had hired an entirely different person! They ended up hiring both people. Rather than the support internship, Fleming was put directly on a project for email migrations to Exchange online.
Soon, the company moved him to a customer support position, and before long he had worked his way up to performing upgrades and then doing full-time consulting. He taught himself all about Microsoft’s CRM software on the go.
“I did not go looking for a job doing CRM. I did not know what CRM meant,” Fleming said. “My familiarization with CRM was reading the PowerObjects’ website trying to figure out what it actually was.”
The more he discovered about the solution, the more Fleming enjoyed working with it. He liked exploring the many different ways the software could solve business problems. When Microsoft introduced the Power Platform to work alongside CRM and further improve business processes, Fleming was only more sure that this was the right career for him.
“The platform itself is so powerful. We can do anything. It’s just a matter of setting realistic expectations to do the work. It’s a good platform to help businesses and people accomplish their objectives easily,” he said.
Fleming said one of his favorite — and largest — projects was to completely replace a homegrown system for enterprise giant C.H. Robinson. He was part of a team of 12 people working on the three-month project to move 2,500 employees to a new system. For Fleming and a few of his coworkers, it was also their first time co-leading a project.
Overall, Fleming enjoys the variety he experiences as a consultant. No two companies are the same, and everyone has their own way of doing business.
“Everyone always has some new twist or flavor that they do that makes that business unique,” he said. He likes discovering how each business operates and creating a solution that will best meet the individual company’s needs.
As a solution architect, Fleming gets the perfect mix of talking through business processes with the client and working on his own developing the best solution to reach their goals.
He particularly enjoys working with the Power Platform toolset. Because it’s a low-code/no-code solution, developers rely on preconfigured building blocks to create the solution rather than recreating the wheel with brand new code every time. This frees up Fleming to focus on solving the more complex problems.
“The platform itself is so powerful. We can do anything. … It’s a good platform to help businesses and people accomplish their objectives easily.”
Matt Fleming, solution architect
Fleming noted that the Power Platform offers a fully integrated, multi-faceted solution that can solve several problems at once. Microsoft’s continued investment into the platform solidifies the idea that this is a long-term solution clients can trust.
“We can really help that customer to stick with one technology and have products that seamlessly transition between the applications,” Fleming said. “I think the flexibility is the big key. It’s really giving businesses the tools that they need to be able to solve any of their business problems.”
Fleming and Lee Witkop, Boyer’s new VP of the practice, had often joked that they would start their own business together some day. Last spring, that daydream started becoming a serious possibility, and they brought in CRM wizard Merlin Schwaiger to start strategizing.
In December, the trio officially joined forces with Boyer & Associates to start a new Microsoft CRM and Power Platform product line at the ERP reseller. Fleming is excited to be part of something new. His entrepreneurial spirit loves the idea of taking a risk and chasing after a new challenge.
Fleming is also passionate about making a difference in people’s lives and has started mentoring those new to the industry. He plans to start a YouTube vlog focused on Power Platform tips. His dream is to one day earn a Microsoft MVP award — typically given to those who volunteer to educate others on Microsoft solutions.
When he’s not working as a solution architect, Fleming likes to dabble in physical architecture, especially wood reclaiming projects. “When I’m not working, I don’t focus on technology at all. I like to do stuff with my hands,” he said. He also enjoys spending weekends at a cabin his extended family owns and playing video games.
Fleming and his wife, Elizabeth, live in St. Paul and are both active in the St. Paul Winter Carnival. Fleming referred to his wife, who has a doctorate, as very smart and compassionate. The couple has two young children: 4-year-old Kade and 1-year-old Brennan, who just learned to give kisses. They also have a Jack Russell Terrier and 10 fish.
