Welcome to the MVP show . My intention is that you listen to the stories of these MVP guests and are inspired to become an MVP and bring value to the world through your skills . If you have not checked it out already , I do a YouTube series called how to Become an MVP . The link is in the show notes . With that , let's get on with the show .
Today's guest is from the United Kingdom . She works at Sonata Software Europe as a digital architect . She was first awarded her MVP in 2023 , but she has 18 years experience in the dynamic space where her journey began with version three , I can assume , of MSCRM . Back then . Her blogging journey was inspired by her husband's dedication to blogging , which I love .
You can find links to her bio social media in the show notes for this episode . Welcome to the show , Anita .
Thank you , mark . Thanks for the introduction , hello all and thanks for hosting me to this show and my name is Anita Ishwaran . Just a quick recap of me about myself . I have 18 plus years of experience in AXEPTA , so it was called as AX in 18 years before , where we had a blue screen and we used to enter the password .
And then that is how I started my career and , um , it's been 18 years and we had I had worked with various versions also like ax 3.0 , then 4.2 , then 5.2 , then then it started , then it I mean there are lots of versions coming on right .
Then alongside I started also got chance to work with the integration , also because integration plays a major role , because nowadays there is no system which is a standalone .
You need to communicate with the other , and that is where the integration took me to a higher , the next level , where I could learn a lot of various technologies , because this is an Alphanau and it has to speak to different system . So then I need to promote . I mean , in order to speak to my clients , then I need to get various technology ideas .
So that is how I started my journey . Then I thought I can share my learnings with our community and that is where my blog started , which got inspired from my husband .
Interesting . So let's just start with three things I like to always start with , which is food , family and fun , before we get into the technology side of things . So tell me a bit about you in that respect .
Yeah , I'm from India . I did all my schooling in Coimbatore , tamil Nadu , and from there I moved to UK . It's been five years before and I have got I married for 14 years and I have been blessed with twin boys .
They are 13 years old and having a good time with family and , of course , being a busy mom and somehow spending time with the family where we will be able to .
I mean , all the stress will go out if you spend the time with the family , right , that is where the family is almost like a stress buster and luckily , since my husband is also from the same technology , I will be able to share all my ideas or troubles or whatever challenges I have .
At least I will share it with him and he's so good in giving me the ideas or sometimes , the solution . See , it proves like if you speak to your partner , you will be able to , whether you get the solution or not , but at least you will feel light , okay , there is somebody to have you , there is a listening ear for you .
So blessed to have a family like this , and even my sons support me a lot during my whenever I have a blog , because you need to spend some time in writing the blogs and recently I have started the channel also . So they support me a lot . Being now they are grown up , obviously they will trouble me , but still they support me in all my community activities .
And regarding food , we are purely vegetarian and we don't venture outside much . We we prefer to have home . Home is heaven for us . We prefer to stay indoors and at least maybe a couple of months two months we will go out and then venture outside , have some fun , but most of the time we prefer to be at home spending time together .
Nice , nice , and so purely vegetarian . Are you mainly cooking Indian-based dishes , then ?
in that respect , yes , mainly Indian-based , but now , since we are living in UK , so I have also learned to prefer because my kids they prefer varieties and so for their sake , I started learning the UK-based vegetarian dishes , the UK-based vegetarian dishes , and they love it because it's just another idea where I can bring all the other cooking stuffs here and at
times it becomes a flop , but most of the time it is good and they say it's good , ma .
That's so good . So when we look at the award category that you got , you'd be in this new category , which is ERP AI . Is that right ? Is that what the category award under business applications that you've got ?
Yes , so because now I was my promotion , most of my sessions and if you see my blogs now they are in the AI ERP side only because Dynamics FNO is becoming like a co-pilot . It is like nowadays co-pilot . Nowadays co-pilot is becoming a buzzword here , right so ? And my domain , the Dynamics D365 FNO , is purely AI .
It's slowly becoming the AI-based and thus I have been awarded in that category and because of my various sessions , even the integrations I have displayed displayed . I have given it , as in the ai related few sessions I have given so and that is the reason I was awarded in the aarp category nice .
So tell me , because I'm more on the power platform side of things and and , uh , you know , anything that has a dataverse back end , which obviously F&O doesn't .
My question to you is how much is AI permeating now that story from Microsoft in the ERP space , and what are the workloads that customers are most likely going to adopt first and then , what are the workloads that customers are most likely going to adopt first in the area of AI in the context of ERP ?
See , if I speak from the Dynamics 365 F1O perspective , this AI is still evolving , like , for instance , me , from a technical background . We can install a plugin to help us in generating the code .
Okay , that minimizes our workload , see , for instance , it cannot completely replace our logic , but at least it could save you some particular amount of time in writing your logic .
For instance , if I install that plugin and say , hey , get me the data , give me the logic idea for so on , so , for instance , posting of the sales order , so that would give me a template . So accordingly , I will be able to tweak it on On top of that .
From the functional perspective , if you see the copilot it has given you have some copilot with Outlook it will give you . And on top of that you have copilot for the invoice vendor automation you have . So all these they have , I mean where the workload of the users have been reduced .
But still I can say that you need to put still some effort to bring it in a better picture .
Yeah , and so that's helping you from a productivity point , in writing , et cetera . But are you having customers requesting how does they apply to their business in the context of what you're doing ? Are you having any of those type of use cases ?
No , at the moment most of them , for instance , when we are uploading the invoices . See , I think even in the Power Platform I have suggested for one of my customers where we can read the documents . For instance , they wanted to upload the invoices in our system . So here in the Power Platform you will be able to use the AA connector , read the document .
You can do an AA model right , you can train an AA model to read a set of documents and then you can train it and you can connect it with any other system . So this is what I have done .
That is for one of the customers I have done where we had a requirement to upload the set of invoices to our system and this I suggested where it will be dropped to a common folder and then we trained the AI model in such a way to read the document , extract the invoice number from it and upload the data against that particular invoice journal .
So that was one scenario where we used this AI here . That was via the Power Platform . I think you should be aware of this right Because you are from the Power Platform side .
How did you get into tech ? Why was that the career path for you ?
No , I started my career as a developer only , like from before 18 years . I started as a technical and where I was presented with that AOT where we had tables classes . It was little . Like to be frank , mark , like I was little , it took some time for me to interpret . Okay , this is stable and this is what . Why is it being used here ?
What does it do with this ERP and how do you interpret ? What answer does it give to you ? So it took some time for me to understand all those technical jargons .
So , after it took almost three , two to three years to get a complete picture of how AX because by the time I started this , ax 3.2 , ax 4.2 came into picture , and then I was I need to connect the dots where this is there and this is what has to be done in 4.2 . So it took some time for me .
But then we started working on something called as integration , application , integration framework , where you have the ability to connect , accept the external system , and that is where I got a better picture Okay , this is how you need to do and this is what it should happen when you connect to the ERP system how the authentication is handled , how the security is
handled , how the data is secured when you are transferring the data . All these , then , I was able to understand . So this is how I started my journey as a technical and now being a solution architect . Technical solution architect , I am still given .
Every day is a challenge for me , you know , because every day when I start my day , I will start with one plan , but the moment I log in , there will be some or other different issue waiting for me , okay . So then ? Okay , anita , put on your thinking hats . Okay , give the solution . Okay , is this okay ?
So before you suggest a solution to your customer , you need to think from various perspective , because that should be some integration related , okay , so why is there is a performance issue ? This might be the reason why this is not posting this . You need to give it in the live system .
There are few cases where the issues will come only in the production , not anywhere . Then I had to give a solution in such a way that it doesn't affect the other scenarios . So just the technical and the integration knowledge helped me to come to this stage here .
Yeah , yeah . This is so , so interesting , and tell me a bit about Sonata . What do they do as a company and where do they operate in the world ?
Sonata , if you remember , this is the Sonata is a gold partner in the Microsoft ERP Like . They have worked closely for thePilot and the Microsoft Fabric . The headquarter is in Bangalore , india , and it is spread across the world Ireland and UK and even in the US .
We have various branches across the world and the main product here we are working on mostly on the Microsoft ERPs Plus . There are other technologies where you have NET Also . There we have various projects which we'll be working because , since we are working with various teams here , I will have the opportunity to work with other domain as well .
So that is where I will be able to get more idea on how the particular stream is operating and how we need to tweak the changes there .
Yeah , very good . So you've recently been awarded MVP . Who nominated you ? How did that come about and what's it like being an MVP ?
Yeah , mvp . It's like a dream come true , mark , the reason being now you are 18 years in this profession and something you need to achieve Right and OK something as a part of profession . You are doing your job . Then I thought we should do something as a part of our career , right ?
That is where this came , and initially , when I started my blog , I didn't have this idea . It was way back in 2016 . I started my blog . I didn't have this idea . It was way back in 2016 . I started my blog .
I didn't know much about this MVP , but I thought I should share with the community whatever I learned , be it very small or whatever it is , because few , few things are very minor . Things would help others , like how it helped me . So I thought initially , I thought , hey , this is a very small , a very minor thing . Why should you put it in a blog ?
I used to think Then , no , it should be helpful for somebody or other . Then I will post it in my blog . So after a month or two , some or other will message me hey , anita , this has helped me a lot and that will be motivating for you . And then from there I started , from that will be motivating for you . And then from there I started from blog .
And because my husband used to write the blog earlier even his blog was a Microsoft community certified earlier and then , since he became busy with his professional life , then I thought I should start a blog and share the learning . So this whole credit goes to my husband .
First , that is how he told me this is how you need to write a blog and this is how you need to write a blog and this is how you need to present . He used to give me all the ideas , so I need to thank him . Thank him for that , all the support , what he has given . And followed by that I started the newsletter .
Because at times people might see the blog or might not see , they might miss , but newsletter , if they nowadays people are busy in the I mean at least they will , they will . Once in a day they will be seeing the linkedin . So the newsletter is another , better way to reach our community .
And then I started the newsletter also where I shared recently , whatever the integration or certification , even when I complete the certification , I will share my experience , what I have learned from it and what you can benefit and see microsoft learn . I started spreading word about the Microsoft word .
There are so many challenges Microsoft , build challenge all these I used to spread via the newsletter . So what I thought , rather than people seeing the blog , I got more responses for the newsletter . So then I started now my my . I am more active in newsletter blog I am still doing it , but newsletter is having a better response because then I started .
Now I am more active in newsletter Blog I am still doing it , but newsletter is having a better response . Because then I started understanding people are more into LinkedIn because there you get regular updates . See , from Microsoft you get regular updates because most of the updates regarding our latest technology is being posted in LinkedIn .
So the best way is to reach any of the latest update is via the LinkedIn . So the newsletter helped me a lot . So from there people started understanding okay , this is how the update is , this is how the new feature is working . Hey , this is how the build challenges seriously mark .
People used to message me in the LinkedIn whether , whether they are following me or not , they will message hey , this blog , this newsletter , has helped me a lot , and also about your experience on the build challenge or any certification that has motivated them to take it .
Because whether you pass that certification or not , but attempt it , that is what I used to tell them whenever they contact me . And with this I started the sessions as well . So I thought , rather than my voice should reach the viewers , because blog nobody knows who's anita . So I thought my session in an online session would give a better reach .
They can , I can reach them easily . Then I started giving the sessions also . So where I was giving the integration sessions , especially on the Logic Apps , adf Power Platform , so in that way people would also message me and ask so many doubts , so many clarifications . They would ask is this the right approach ?
Is that or not , whether we can use this Logic Apps . Could you advise me ? So all this maybe because of this . I was active in the community that had led me to the MVP and I wanted to thank my colleague Kamal . He was my ex-colleague in Accenture .
Earlier I was working in Accenture , so now he is currently in Microsoft , so he nominated me seeing my regular community activities and then , of course , I need to thank him for that and that is where the MVP nomination received . I got the MVP the mail on March 1st and it was like a dream come true , mark .
That's so cool . One thing I want to ask you about your newsletter that you're referring to there . Are you talking about you're doing a LinkedIn newsletter ? Are you using the linkedin news ?
yes , I am using the linkedin news . I'm seeing that a lot more lately , and so you find it very effective yes , I can reach people easily rather than see blog , I am getting a better response . But if you put it in the newsletter , then I say , even if you take my case , I regularly follow so many newsletters because I get many updates .
Nowadays in the dynamics world , not only in our technology , in various technologies you have so many updates happening , so people put it in newsletter or share it in , share their experience there . That is a part of our learning right , so that I find it very effective .
So good . Anitha , thank you so much for coming on the show . Thank you , thanks . Aa , thank you so much for coming on the show . Thank you , thanks a lot , Mark .
Thank you for hosting me .
Hey , thanks for listening . I'm your host business application MVP Mark Smith , otherwise known as the NZ365 guy . If you like the show and want to be a supporter , check out buymeacoffeecom forward . Nz365 guy . Thanks again and see you next time . Thank you .