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AI adoption fails when it stops at access to tools. This episode introduces a practical model that bridges the gap between AI tools like Copilot and measurable business outcomes. The focus shifts from technology to people, addressing key blockers such as time, confidence, and relevance. By grounding AI in real workflows, tailoring role-specific use cases, and measuring outcomes, organisations can move from low usage to meaningful impact fast.

🎙 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/837

👉 What you’ll learn

• Identify the real blockers stopping AI adoption in teams
• Shift from tool access to measurable business outcomes
• Design role-specific AI use cases that drive daily value
• Build AI training that fits real work, not theory
• Measure AI adoption with practical KPIs and usage data

✅ Highlights

• "These two things are very, very different"
• "Some things really need to happen in between those two places"
• "This is not about the tech. This is about the people"
• "They didn't know how to use the tool"
• "They didn't know what they were allowed to do"
• "When would they sit and just learn a link"
• "To actually tailor use cases that are relevant"
• "We have to measure how they are moving"
• "We moved a department from 15% to 83%"
• "It shifts how you are working"

🧰 Mentioned

• Microsoft Copilot (https://copilot.microsoft.com/)
• Copilot Notebooks (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/get-started-with-microsoft-365-copilot-notebooks-0775e693-11c6-4d80-8aba-fcc81a737a06)
• ChatGPT (https://chatgpt.com/)
• AI Boost Academy (https://hannabergstrom.com/) [
• Vattenfall (https://group.vattenfall.com/)
• Microsoft MVP YouTube Series - How to Become a Microsoft MVP - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzf0yupPbVkqdRJDPVE4PtTlm6quDhiu7

✅ Keywords
ai adoption, copilot, generative ai, ai training, business transformation, ai use cases, digital productivity, ai skills, organisational change, ai strategy, workplace efficiency, ai literacy

Microsoft 365 Copilot Adoption is a Microsoft Press book for leaders and consultants. It shows how to identify high-value use cases, set guardrails, enable champions, and measure impact, so Copilot sticks. Practical frameworks, checklists, and metrics you can use this month. Get the book: https://bit.ly/CopilotAdoption

Support the show

If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM

This episode dives into why large CRM and ERP projects keep failing and how AI is reshaping consulting, software delivery, and platform decisions. The core insight is simple. Organisations fail when they buy software instead of outcomes. With AI, experienced teams can move faster, strip away legacy complexity, and build only what the business actually needs. The conversation explores outcome-based thinking, flawed RFP processes, and why AI is accelerating the gap between great and average practitioners.

👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/836

🎙️ What you’ll learn

• How to frame technology decisions around outcomes, not vendors or features
• Why traditional RFP processes drive cost blowouts and failed projects
• The four core business problems most systems are really trying to solve
• How AI tools are changing the speed and shape of consulting work
• When building custom solutions now beats buying off-the-shelf software

✅ Highlights

• “So many people are still buying software like it’s a software decision rather than a business decision.”
• “You’re really only trying to solve one of four business problems.”
• “Most organizations aren’t even thinking in terms of what is the root of what I’m trying to solve.”
• “Your highest qualified people are not even in the game because you’ve already excluded quality.”
• “AI is now to the developer what Visual Studio was in the 90s.”
• “It made the good developers really good and the bad developers a lot faster.”
• “Low code was developed because we couldn’t get enough developers.”
• “There’s a third option now, and that is vibe code your own add-on.”
• “I think we’re less than 18 months away from this changing enterprise software.”

🧰 Mentioned

• Microsoft Power Platform: https://learn.microsoft.com/power-platform
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Dynamics 365 CRM):
  https://www.microsoft.com/dynamics-365/solutions/crm
• Microsoft Business Central:
  https://www.microsoft.com/dynamics-365/products/business-central
• Microsoft Finance and Operations (Dynamics 365 Finance):
  https://www.microsoft.com/dynamics-365/products/finance
• Notebook LM: https://notebooklm.google
• LinkedIn Sales Navigator: https://business.linkedin.com/sales-solutions/sales-navigator
• DynamicConsultantsGroup.com: https://dynamicconsultantsgroup.com

✅Keywords
ai in consulting, outcome-based software, crm failures, erp projects, power platform, low code vs pro code, vibe coding, rfp process, enterprise software, applied ai skills, digital transformation, consulting strategy

Microsoft 365 Copilot Adoption is a Microsoft Press book for leaders and consultants. It shows how to identify high-value use cases, set guardrails, enable champions, and measure impact, so Copilot sticks. Practical frameworks, checklists, and metrics you can use this month. Get the book: https://bit.ly/CopilotAdoption

Support the show

If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM

AI is shifting from a tool to an operating system, enabling individuals to move faster, build bespoke solutions, and dramatically increase productivity. The biggest advantage now comes from curiosity, not technical depth. Those who experiment, learn a few tools deeply, and treat AI as a collaborator can compress hours into minutes and unlock new business models. Meanwhile, large organisations risk falling behind due to governance, inertia, and slow decision-making.

👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/835

🎙️ What you’ll learn

• Use AI as an operating system to replace and create software
• Move from idea to working solution in minutes, not hours
• Build capability by mastering a few tools, not chasing every new model
• Apply curiosity-driven workflows to unlock better AI outcomes
• Avoid common enterprise pitfalls around governance and tool sprawl

✅ Highlights

• "This software rewards the patient and the curious."
• "Learn two or three of these tools really well."
• "Are you using these tools to improve your quality of life or aren’t you?"
• "This is the last software that I’ll ever train."
• "We can create bespoke applications through any of these tools."
• "It’s eating other software."
• "People who choose to be left behind."
• "From idea to iteration in 30 minutes."
• "I feel like I’m becoming a bionic person."
• "The barriers to entry are just gone."

🧰 Mentioned

• ChatGPT – https://chatgpt.com/
• Bing (Copilot Search) – https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/bing/copilot-search
• Google – https://www.google.com
• Gemini – https://gemini.google.com/
• Claude – https://claude.ai/
• Copilot – https://copilot.microsoft.com/
• Perplexity – https://www.perplexity.ai/
• Stability AI (Stable Diffusion) – https://stability.ai/
• Ethan Mollick (Wharton profile) – https://mgmt.wharton.upenn.edu/profile/emollick/
• Co-Intelligence (book) – https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/741805/co-intelligence-by-ethan-mollick/
• Suno (AI music generator) – https://suno.com/

✅Keywords
ai tools, generative ai, chatgpt, ai productivity, solopreneur ai, ai governance, llm workflows, ai operating system, automation, business ai, ai adoption, digital transformation

Microsoft 365 Copilot Adoption is a Microsoft Press book for leaders and consultants. It shows how to identify high-value use cases, set guardrails, enable champions, and measure impact, so Copilot sticks. Practical frameworks, checklists, and metrics you can use this month. Get the book: https://bit.ly/CopilotAdoption

Support the show

If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith