MVP Insights: Stalin Ponnusamy Details Summit NA Session, Biz Apps Expertise, Power of Automation
Welcome to “MVP Insights,” a podcast that explores the universe, ideas, and opportunities of the brightest stars in the Microsoft business applications ecosystem.
In this episode, John Siefert is joined by Stalin Ponnusamy, Associate Director and Practice Lead, Protiviti, and Microsoft MVP. The two discuss Stalin’s journey to becoming an MVP, his expertise in CE/CRM and the Power Platform, how he overcame a complex invoice processing project, and details his first Summit NA session.
This episode is sponsored by Community Summit North America, the largest independent gathering of the Microsoft Business Applications ecosystem, taking place Oct. 13-17, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas. Register today to connect with thousands of users across the Microsoft business applications ecosystem at the for user, by user event.
Key Takeaways
- MVP overview: Stalin’s biz apps expertise lies in Dynamics 365 CE/CRM and Power Platform, with a strong foundation in cloud knowledge. Since 2007, Stalin has been dedicated to the CRM industry, focusing on sales, customer service, and marketing modules. As an MVP, Stalin was recognized for his expertise in the CRM space, a reflection of his dedication to technology and the community. Balancing work, family, and community activities, Stalin contributes through blogs, forums, YouTube videos, podcasts, and speaking engagements.
- Overcoming challenging projects: Stalin describes a tough project he worked through and how he solved the complexities. The project he discusses involves a sophisticated invoice processing system that was initially straightforward but grew in complexity due to additional business requirements. The system, which uses AI and OCR to process invoices sent to a shared email box, categorizes them based on confidence levels. Initially, it was designed to map data to legal entities and vendor accounts directly when the confidence level was high. However, as the project progressed, the business requested more features, such as viewing invoices within the model-driven application, tracking the number of invoices processed through each path, and generating reports. These added requirements, including mapping invoices to legal entities or purchase order numbers when OCR readings were not accurate, significantly increased the project’s complexity and scope. In order to reduce the project’s complexity, he created a model-driven app to automate the process.
- First-time Summit NA Speaker: Stalin will be leading a session at Community Summit NA 2024 for the first time ever. In his session, “Improve Sales Productivity using Sales Accelerator,” Stalin will discuss a feature called Sales Accelerator in the Dynamics 365 CRM suite, which has been in use for over two years. This tool is designed to streamline the sales process by guiding sales representatives with AI-driven insights, providing them with the right information at the right time, which replaces the traditional method of manually noting down tasks and reminders. The Sales Accelerator aggregates information from various sources and presents actionable steps, making the sales process more efficient and effective.
- More from Stalin: Connect with Stalin on LinkedIn, view his YouTube channel, and tune into his blog.
Stream the audio version of this episode here:
