MVP Insights: Kristen Hosman on Preparing for Summit Sessions, Business Central Resources

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 45, Giuseppe Ianni talks with Kristen Hosman, Owner, Mount Evans Consulting, Microsoft MVP, about her journey to becoming an MVP, community involvement, Community Summit sessions, and upcoming releases.

Key Takeaways

• The MVP program: Kristen started her journey in the community as an end user for Dynamics GP, then switched to Business Central as a consultant. She started speaking in 2016 at Community Summit, then applied her experiences to create a blog. This led to her being recognized by an MVP at the time and now she has been an MVP for five years. She has used her role as an MVP to continue sharing her expertise through speaking engagements, blog posts, mentoring, and serving on planning committees. Having the opportunity to help others in the community has driven her passion to maintain involvement.
• Community Summit: This year at Community Summit North America, Kristen will host an Academy class scheduled on Sunday, October 19th. She will be providing a quick guide to implement Business Central. “This session is designed to give back to the community in a way that I really like to and that is helping people implement Business Central.” She will also be doing a panel session with Erik Hougaard, talking about when to customize and extend Business Central or when to use app source.
• Resources for sessions: When preparing sessions, Kristen pieces together the content from her personal experiences helping clients as well as looking at what Microsoft is doing. “I look to the support tickets that we’re getting, I see a lot of repetitive questions coming in that lends to a lot of topics for my blog as well.” Additionally, as Microsoft pours more into Business Central, there are even more resources available to learn from.
• Payables agent: The Payables Agent is an upcoming release that Kristen is excited about. “I’ve had the opportunity to work with Microsoft on testing that and giving feedback during the build process,” she shares. “It’s assisting with faster onboarding, reduced training time.” Automation has also been increased, leaving more time for strategy and other business processes.