MVP Insights Podcast: Alicia King on AI Agents, Consulting, Community Contributions

Welcome to “MVP Insights,” a podcast that explores the universe, ideas, and opportunities of the brightest stars in the Microsoft business applications ecosystem. 

In episode 50, Giuseppe Ianni hosts Alicia King Keener, Technology Consulting Director, RSM US LLP, Microsoft MVP, for a discussion on how she became involved in the community, the way consulting has shaped her perspective to support others, exciting developments, and Community Summit.

Key Takeaways

• Community contributions: Alicia started creating content about two years ago, making an abundance of LinkedIn connections from searching for resources. She recognized that she wasn’t giving back, so she started posting a “tip of the day” in an effort to contribute to the community. “When you touch one person, it touches another person…So if I could give information to someone that made their day better and actually allowed them to go into a meeting and be the hero…To me, that was success.” This has given her a number of opportunities to interact with people offline and outside of her virtual connections.

• Consulting perspective: Working in consulting, Alicia notes that she rarely comes across the same situation twice. “You’ll find things that are similar, things that are a little bit different, some things are the same.” Consulting has helped her to develop creative thinking and become an active listener to come up with client-specific solutions.

• D365 and Teams: Microsoft has been leveraging Microsoft Teams to interact with D365, which Alicia appreciates. It has enabled her to create Power BI reports in Teams, for example, and then leverage D365 data and security, allowing users to create records within Teams. “I don’t have to know anything about the 365…I’m in my own language using a very universal tool called Teams to actually interact with that DS365 database, and I think, for me, that is an absolute game changer.”

• Summit NA: Alicia will be speaking at this year’s Community Summit North America. She shares insights on her session, “Discover the Powerful Tax Engine in D365 Finance and Supply Chain Management,” as well as what attendees can expect from her at the event.

• AI agent potential: The AI agents are something that Alicia thinks will be interesting. Use case-specific agents will elevate industry-specific decision-making. The agents are sifting through data and providing logic and summarized information. Users can build rules into the agent so it can make decisions itself, too. “Having that automated process is going to really shift the way people do business.”