If your CRM could listen, learn, and log the work for you, how much time would your team get back? We sit down with longtime Microsoft MVP and AI futurist Chris Cognetta to unpack the shift from forms and clicks to agents, conversation intelligence, and contextual apps that actually serve the way people work. From hard‑won lessons on non‑determinism to real talk about governance and security, this is a practical blueprint for using AI without breaking your business.

Chris traces his journey from infrastructure and ADFS to dual MVP honors in Dynamics and AI, explaining why CRM got “smaller” as the stack expanded across Power Platform, Copilot Studio, Azure AI, and Microsoft 365. We dig into the skills that matter now—prompt engineering, human‑in‑the‑loop validation, and document classification—and why these fundamentals turn hype into repeatable outcomes. If you’ve ever heard “we don’t do AI,” you’ll learn how to build safe sandboxes with synthetic data, define connector‑level guardrails, and launch two‑week MVPs that prove value fast.

We also explore the next five years: agent‑driven sales processes that auto‑stage deals from call context, on‑site cues that prompt what matters, and domain LLMs shaped by your tenant data through Microsoft Graph. The result is a workday where the system already knows what happened, leaving humans to decide what should happen next. Whether you lead a services org, own a CRM roadmap, or just want to reclaim hours from busywork, you’ll get concrete steps to start small, scale smart, and keep costs predictable.

Ready to let the bots do the clicking so your team can do the thinking? Follow the show, share this episode with a teammate who needs a push to pilot AI, and leave a quick review with your top takeaway.

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Ever seen a CRM project teeter on the edge and wondered if the platform is the problem? We invited Microsoft MVP Heidi Neuhauser to unpack why so many implementations stall, why “more fields” won’t fix adoption, and how a single meaningful win for frontline users can flip the narrative. Heidi’s story starts where many ops leaders begin: thrust into a system no one wants to use. From there, she built a people-first playbook anchored in no-code tools, clear feedback loops, and honest conversations without managers in the room.

We dive into the practical levers that matter most: business rules that replace fragile JavaScript, user acceptance testing that reflects real work, and inclusive design workshops with influencers, skeptics, and tech-averse voices at the table. Heidi shares hard-earned lessons on avoiding report-first forms and explains how to measure success with outcomes users feel, like shaving hours off monthly reporting. For leaders navigating career growth and community, she offers candid guidance on presenting confidently, setting boundaries as a woman in tech, and turning community into a multiplier for learning and impact.

You’ll also hear a fresh take on portals strategy. If Power Pages feels heavy for your scenario, Heidi outlines how WP Portals pairs WordPress with Dataverse to deliver data-rich experiences using familiar drag-and-drop tools, cutting cost and complexity for high-volume use. The theme is consistent throughout: choose the simplest tool that solves the real problem, reuse your work to avoid burnout, and keep pace with change through release notes, user groups, and series like Power Tips.

If you care about CRM adoption, Dynamics 365 best practices, Dataverse, Power Platform, and building portals that users actually love, this conversation is a roadmap. Subscribe, share with a teammate who owns adoption, and tell us: what’s the smallest high-impact win you’ll ship this month?

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The wrench turns faster when the app gets out of the way. That’s the spirit of our deep dive with Microsoft’s Luis Masieri, Group PM for Dynamics 365 Field Service, as we unpack how AI is reshaping frontline work, customer outcomes, and the business model of service. We explore why the mission has shifted from operational efficiency to AI-first growth, and how technician experience sits at the heart of it.

We start with the mindset that separates thriving rollouts from stalled ones. Lift-and-shift thinking fails because it copies legacy processes into a new tool. The teams that win revisit outcomes, simplify flows, and invest in change management so techs, dispatchers, and managers adopt with confidence. From there, we dig into where AI delivers now: scheduling optimization agents that handle routing and exceptions, Copilot experiences that surface procedures and history, and remote assist that turns senior expertise into a force multiplier. The result is faster ramp for new techs, fewer taps in the mobile app, and better first-time fix rates.

Luis shares how Dynamics 365 Field Service balances domain complexity—assets, warranties, inventory, contracts—with approachable workflows that work across industries. We talk subcontractor realities, licensing that reduces friction, and integration between CRM and ERP to keep data flowing end to end. You’ll also hear what’s new: Outlook and Teams calendar sync for bookings, scheduling engine enhancements, the ability to extend Copilot with your own knowledge, and the steady reliability and security work that keeps everything running.

Looking ahead five years, picture a connected, predictive network where assets signal their own needs, AI agents take the first action, and humans handle the edge cases. Mixed reality resurfaces with better hardware and hands-free guidance. Documentation writes itself as work happens. The paperwork burden shrinks, and the joy of the trade returns. If you care about technician productivity, customer loyalty, and turning service into a growth engine, this conversation will help you see the path forward.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a teammate, and leave a quick review so more service leaders can find it.

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What does it take to break into tech without a computer science degree? In this captivating episode of Service X Factor, we meet Emily, whose journey from art major to successful tech professional challenges conventional wisdom about career paths in technology.

Emily's story begins at a crossroads after being laid off from her job in Chicago. Despite having no formal technical education, she taught herself coding languages like Python and SQL, leveraging her network to land her first tech position. Seven years later, she's thriving in an industry where she once felt like an outsider. Her experience highlights a crucial truth: tenacity matters more than credentials when building a career in technology.

The conversation delves into the unique challenges women face in tech environments. Emily speaks candidly about battling imposter syndrome while being judged against male counterparts and shares how she balances the demands of her career with motherhood. Rather than seeing these challenges as limitations, she's transformed them into strengths, developing exceptional organizational skills and learning to prioritize effectively.

Mentorship emerges as a powerful theme throughout the discussion. Emily credits her success to influential mentors who guided her professional development, while she now pays it forward by mentoring high school students in tech incubator programs. One particularly touching moment comes when she describes a female student thanking her for demonstrating that women belong in STEM fields.

The conversation also explores practical applications of emerging technologies. Emily shares how she's created custom AI agents to streamline both work tasks and her personal side business of thrifting and reselling items online. Her approach demonstrates how AI can be harnessed for practical, everyday solutions rather than just theoretical applications.

For listeners considering a career pivot or facing obstacles in their professional journey, Emily's parting wisdom resonates deeply: "If there was never a seat at the table, I would make my own." Her story is a powerful reminder that with persistence and courage, you can create your own path in any industry, regardless of your background.

Tune in to hear Emily's full journey and discover how women are reshaping the technology landscape one seat at the table at a time.

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The tech world isn't always welcoming to newcomers, especially women and people of color. But what happens when someone breaks through those barriers with determination, continuous learning, and a commitment to excellence? Meet April Collier.

In this candid conversation, April shares her 11-year journey as a senior solution consultant at CongruentX, starting from her Management Information Systems degree at USF to becoming an expert in Power Automate, JavaScript, Canvas apps, and most recently, Copilot agent development. With refreshing honesty, she acknowledges the challenges she's faced as one of only two women in her graduating class and the persistent battle with imposter syndrome that many tech professionals experience.

"Make your presence known" – these words, which April wrote on a rock during a team exercise years ago, still guide her approach today. Despite being an introvert by nature, she emphasizes the importance of speaking up, asking questions, and contributing to conversations. The myth that questions reveal ignorance couldn't be further from the truth; they demonstrate engagement and a desire to learn.

April provides valuable insights on several pressing industry challenges, including the need for better documentation of complex Power Automate flows, the importance of governance in environments with citizen developers, and the responsibility of creating safe spaces for learning. Her perspective on bridging the gap between technical implementations and business users highlights a critical need in the industry.

Looking forward, April hopes to create blog content and potentially speak at industry events, focusing particularly on supporting women and women of color in technology. Her journey reminds us that diverse perspectives aren't just nice to have – they're essential for solving complex problems and driving innovation in the tech industry.

Ready to overcome your own tech challenges or imposter syndrome? Listen now, subscribe to the Service X Factor podcast, and join the conversation about creating a more inclusive and supportive technology community.

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When technology meets creativity, innovation thrives. The Service X Factor podcast welcomes Reham Darwiche, Power Platform Lead at Intralox, who embodies this perfect harmony between technical expertise and creative problem-solving.

Reham takes us through her remarkable journey from discovering Microsoft Dynamics in college to becoming a respected leader in the field. What makes her story particularly compelling is how she describes technology as her canvas – "I'm an artist in my own IT department." This unique perspective shapes her approach to complex problems and has propelled her rapid career advancement from consultant to lead architect in just four years at Hitachi.

Drawing from her extensive field service implementation experience, Reham challenges conventional wisdom with a provocative statement: field service implementations should follow waterfall methodology, not agile approaches. She explains how the deeply interconnected nature of field service components requires holistic planning from the start. Similarly, her insights into Resource Scheduling Optimization reveal important limitations for companies with specialized travel requirements, like technicians who fly rather than drive to customer sites.

Perhaps most fascinating is Intralux's innovative use of AI to solve a seemingly impossible business challenge. Unable to place identification markers on conveyor belts due to food safety regulations, Reham's team developed an AI model that identifies belt specifications from photographs. This solution significantly reduces customer downtime while easing the burden on support teams – demonstrating how AI can solve tangible business problems beyond the hype.

The conversation takes an inspiring turn as Reham discusses representation in technology fields. As a mother raising two daughters, including one already interested in coding, she passionately advocates for women in tech. Her advice to "know your worth and speak up your value" resonates beyond gender boundaries, encouraging all professionals to recognize their unique contributions.

Ready to learn from one of the most insightful voices in the Microsoft ecosystem? Subscribe to our podcast for more conversations that blend technical expertise with human-centered wisdom. And don't miss Reham's upcoming presentation at the Regional Summit in Columbus on August 22nd, where she'll share valuable lessons from Intralox's eight-year implementation journey.

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Ben Vollmer, a luminary in the field service space, joins hosts Scott LeFante and Will McLendon to share wisdom gleaned from decades at the intersection of technology and service operations. What begins as a journey through Ben's unconventional career path—from real estate appraisal to leading Microsoft's field service business—evolves into a masterclass on driving tangible business value.

Vollmer introduces a compelling metaphor that perfectly captures field service's unique position: like Istanbul straddling two continents, field service sits between operational efficiency and customer experience. This dual nature creates both challenges and opportunities, as service organizations must simultaneously optimize processes and prioritize customer satisfaction. As Vollmer notes, "Think about the last brand you left as a consumer. It was probably because of service."

The conversation spotlights a massive yet underserved segment of the workforce. With approximately 70% of global workers being "deskless," most technology investments disproportionately target desk-based employees. This represents a significant opportunity for organizations to better equip their frontline workers—particularly field technicians who serve as brand ambassadors during customer visits.

Artificial intelligence emerges as a transformative force throughout the discussion, but Vollmer cautions against implementation without clear purpose. He outlines three levels where AI delivers value: personal productivity, team productivity, and organizational efficiency. For field service specifically, AI can prepare technicians before customer visits by providing contextual information about service history and customer preferences, avoiding embarrassing situations like technicians being unaware of previously missed appointments.

Perhaps most compelling is Vollmer's challenge to consultants and technology leaders: focus relentlessly on business value. "The amount of customizations I've seen consultants do that have zero value is so high it isn't funny," he notes. Instead, every technology decision should answer fundamental questions about how it reduces costs, improves processes, or enhances customer experiences.

Ready to transform your service operations? Start by exploring the business Copilots shipping with products today, connecting with the vibrant Microsoft community, and most importantly, viewing your field technicians not just as repair people, but as the face of your brand in the field.

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Looking past the AI hype cycle can be challenging when tech influencers and executives make bold claims about artificial general intelligence revolutionizing industries overnight. Sahib Sawhney, our expert guest with four years of dedicated AI experience, offers a refreshing reality check on what today's AI systems can and cannot do.

"These models are not actually reasoning," Sahib explains, revealing that even the most advanced language models are fundamentally pattern recognition systems, not thinking machines. While they can process vast amounts of information and generate convincing outputs, they lack true understanding. This distinction becomes crucial when organizations consider how AI fits into their technology strategy.

The conversation delves into practical implementation through Message Communication Protocol (MCP) servers, which Sahib describes as "the USB-C of LLMs." Unlike traditional APIs requiring precise programming, MCP provides a standardized way for language models to communicate with various tools and data sources through natural language. This creates remarkable efficiency, allowing organizations to connect multiple AI systems to various business applications through a single, unified interface.

Security and governance emerge as essential considerations, with Sahib offering practical advice for securing AI implementations using tools like Azure Entra ID, API gateways, and security certificates. The discussion highlights a critical approach: understand your governance strategy first, then implement AI solutions accordingly, rather than rushing to adopt technology without proper security measures.

Whether you're considering implementing AI in your organization or simply want to understand what's behind the hype, this episode provides the clarity and practical knowledge needed to approach AI strategically. Listen now to gain insights from someone working at the cutting edge of AI implementation, and prepare your organization for the real opportunities this technology presents.

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