MVP Insights: Johan Persson on the Dynamics 365 Platform, Core Innovations
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 61, Giuseppe Ianni hosts Johan Persson, Senior Technical Advisor, Engage Group, Microsoft MVP, for a discussion on his experience with the Dynamics 365 platform, core innovations he’s excited about, and what attendees can expect from his sessions at Community Summit North America.
Agents & Copilots are defining the future of Dynamics, CRM, Power Platform, Azure, Fabric, and more. Register for Community Summit NA 2025, running October 19-23 in Orlando, FL, to explore and discover what this means to you.
Key Takeaways
- Entering the Dynamics journey: Johan’s journey into the Dynamics space started with him being recruited from working with servers and client deployments. “I think that there is sort of a silver lining to coming over from that side because I tend to come into discussions with a different perspective, more like a maintenance side or like a structured side rather than an application focus,” he describes. He also acknowledges that he can serve as a “translator” for clients to understand the application side better.
- Exciting innovations: Launched this summer, Microsoft’s Sovereign Cloud has been top of mind for Johan. Through the launch of this initiative, he notes the importance of being able to host with a partner or having a better technical solution to host it in your own data center. LLMs and AI is another topic Johan is excited about, but he approaches it with a different perspective. “The big plus of LLMs is actually that you have a computer understanding natural language, to the point that it actually understands what you tell it,” he explains. The model context protocol (MCP) is a third item that he considers to be a game-changer.
- Data-driven development: Coming from a security perspective, Johan highlights worries about the speed of evolution. “When things go fast, you tend to miss important things, such as security and governance.” He acknowledges that with rapid innovation, companies don’t have time to invent their own products, as they’re focused on a single standard for doing things.
- Summit NA: Johan shares what attendees can expect from his two sessions at Community Summit North America. The first is “Dynamics 365 FO 101 for D365CE Experts” on Monday, October 20th, providing a holistic view of the Dynamics 365 platform. The second is “Beyond Proprietary Boundaries: Open Source Architecture in D365” on Wednesday, October 22nd, covering the benefits and risks of open source.
