So what is MCP? When you hear protocol, people's eyes glaze over. But trust me, MCP or modular communication protocol is one of the quiet enablers behind a lot of next Gen. tech we're seeing today. OK, and this is from IO, TS, robotics and AI. And this is going to change AI. This particular protocol is a MCP is a universal translator and command system. OK, and it's, but it works between systems, devices, and AI agents. So this is the next evolution.
It lets things talk to each other in a modular, standardized way, even if they're built by different vendors for different purposes. So in this episode, we're going to explore 10 things MCP enables in Business Today and why you need to understand why it gives you the edge. The Better Business Analysis Institute presence, the Better Business Analysis podcast with Kinsman Walsh so #1 NCP enables machine to machine collaboration. So machines don't just talk, they collaborate in a smart
factory. NCP will allow a robotic arm and a conveyor belt and a quality control camera to work together seamlessly without being on the same platform. So that's really important. So what that truly means is that as these different companies are developing their different smart devices, think of a smart home if you've got it. This protocol is common and is being adopted.
So it means that, for example, remember when you had the iPhone plug and A wouldn't plug into your Android plug, and we had USBB and we've got C and all of that. And then there was different types of kind of connectors or even protocols for communicating against electronic devices. This now makes it standard like Bluetooth, for example, or wireless. And this is really, really important #2 is it makes these AI agents that I've been
referring to Interoptable, OK? What that means is that different AI tools can share tasks and data through MCP. You have to step back to think about what that means. And I'll, I'll lead you through an example. An AI that generates, say, maintenance schedules, OK, can pass commands via MCP to another AI agent that triggers alerts and schedules technicians to visit. There's no manual hand off needed.
So instead of having these tools, like maybe you use the user interface of Gemini or Copilot, those two could talk to one another. And it's not just you using text. It means that images could fly from that to say, some other tool that's enabled for MCP. So if it was, for example, your smart home, the Gemini would be able to talk to your smart home, OK?
What that enables? The reason we have this common way of communicating, then that enables #3 which it means that we can support modular system design. So it's not just one monolithic, right? It's modular winds. And that means that at the moment, you've just got, if you use Claude, you're just using Claude, OK? And if you're just using chat TBT, you're just using chat TBT. But these are the also the responsive agents that do more than just take in text.
A logistics firm can add a new AI driven routine in plug and play different outcomes. It can plug in different outcomes and say and, and use all that expanded ecosystem regardless of which company has made it. So #4 that means that MCP as the bridge between the legacy and modern systems. So this is really important. You don't just use the MCP to communicate with, for example, between AI systems. A utility company could use it's legacy, they're called SCADA. It's kind of a way of
communicating. So very hardware related to communication and connect it to modern analytics. So they can connect all these older systems and not throwing them out because they won't be able to replace all hardware. And it can now talk via MCP. And that is pretty damn important terms about transition #5 it really enables real time control and automation. So it will now allow AI to communicate and actually take actions in real time.
So it can seems, for example, through MCP and AI could detect something and it can send a command straight away to stop something happening. Maybe changing a red light could change the there was a car crash could automatically activate a sign that said there's a crash ahead, for example. And it does that in such a way that it's all built in one
system. So it's all autonomous and it's safety is built in. So that's really, really important for modern workflows and it makes AI more tangible #6 is that NCP enables what's called Event driven architecture. So that means if a business event takes place, then the all the AI ecosystem can react straight away based on that event using a common language, using MCP, I'll give you an example here. A sensor might detect temperature spike, right?
And let's just say it's cold storage, could be a nuclear power plant. But in this case it's just simply where cold goods are stored. And MCP would send an alert to AI which triggers backup calling and notifies the supervisor using different systems regardless. So you're already using your notification system, Slack maybe or whatever it is, SMS and you're connecting this all through one platform.
Just drag and drive and, and you could just do a trigger and say when the temperature hits here, call this AI agent. So it's, it's a kind of, I imagine if you thought of AUI and there are some good tools out there that that allow you to do this. You're literally dragging and dropping these various agents and not just the agents you're using NCP to now talk to them. You don't need to write any complicated integration scripts #7 is it mates these multi
vendor systems work together. So one of the frustrations I was talking to someone the other day was that like, if you want to watch TV show, you have to buy all the streaming products, right? It sucks. OK, So in the AI world, if you want to use all the best bits of all the different AI agents, you kind of have to buy all of them, right? Especially if you're like me and you like to try what's what's new and what's evolving and they will have their strengths and weaknesses.
But now there's no more vendor lock and drama. So you could use devices, AI agents, but even in user devices from 5 different vendors, a hospital could do that. And because I'd be certified to do different things, right, not every single one vendor will be graded everything. And so NCP will allow painted devices, right, to work more smoothly and share information with other lockdown systems #8 is it provides a structure for autonomous agents.
So an AI agent needs rules of engagement and MCP provides them. If you had a fleet of delivery Jones and they were dropping off points like they were drop off points and it was going into kind of aerospace routes, then it could share that across companies using MCP. So I've sent an alert over so there weren't any crashes or deliveries in the wrong place. And there's multi vendors.
That's really important. It's a language of AI, if you like #9 is that it improves security and governance and the communication. This is a standard structure. It means better control, better logging. And it means that things like bots could be used within finance, for example, but it would track and audit and validate what it's doing, which would remove the risk of kind of a rogue automation. And #10 is it lays the groundwork for autonomous business networks.
And this is where we're getting to with AI. Think beyond organizations, think ecosystem automation. So if one education provider could share it's information, it's AI, it's insights across other education providers in a Safeway, I'll give you an example of a manufacturer. You might have a manufacturer, you might have a shipping partner, and you might have a customs agent, right? All in this ecosystem of delivering goods.
And if they all use MCP, they can automatically trigger approvals and hand offs across the ecosystem. Not just that within one organization, but literally across the organization. In a Safeway, you start to get the gains of the jobs to be done.
So MCP might be behind the scenes, but it's a game changer and you need to know about it. So if you are hearing about MCP at the moment or you, it's a notification that you're getting on an AI agent, I've given you a bit of an insight and read a bit more about how that tool is enabling it. There are actually some websites now we they will list all the MCP enabled agents and you'll see lots of them. And what that really means is they're all plug and play.
You can all connect them via via a platform, yes. And you might have to pay for some of them. And it may even change the way we pay for AI because you might pay the AI platform, which then is just paying for the use of say, for example, Claude when it needs to. So it might change some of the payment modules we see too. So I hope you've learnt something about NCP and that again stands for modular communication Protocol. And that's going to change AI and I'll see you next week.