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In this episode, Mark Smith speaks with Caleb Mattingly about how startups and enterprises should approach AI governance, compliance, and risk as AI adoption accelerates. The conversation focuses on ISO 42001, common misconceptions about AI security, and why compliance is less about badges and more about trust, data quality, and long term viability. You will hear practical perspectives on when compliance becomes essential, how it functions as a sales enabler, and why human oversight still matters more than autonomous agents in high risk environments.

👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/810

🎙️ What you’ll learn

• How ISO 42001 differs from traditional security standards like ISO 27001
• Why AI compliance is primarily about data quality, bias, and risk anticipation
• When compliance becomes a sales lever rather than a legal checkbox
• Why most organisations are not ready for autonomous compliance agents
• How startups should time compliance investments without killing runway

✅ Highlights

• “ISO 42001 does not prove that your AI system is secure at all.”
• “Most of it is not security related, it’s about data quality and bias.”
• “AI is only as good as the data that you give it.”
• “Compliance acts as a sales lever before it acts as a security guarantee.”
• “AI can make a lot of mistakes very quickly.”
• “Most companies are not ready for AI agents with admin access.”
• “SOC 2 in two weeks is not a thing.”
• “Compliance and security are not one to one.”
• “Enterprises care about whether you handle their data securely.”
• “It takes a minimum of five months to get SOC 2 done properly.”

🧰 Mentioned

• International Standards Organization: https://www.iso.org/
• ISO 42001: https://www.iso.org/standard/42001
• ISO 27001: https://www.iso.org/standard/27001
• SOC 2: https://www.aicpa-cima.com/topic/audit-assurance/audit-and-assurance-greater-than-soc-2
• EU AI Act: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj/eng

✅Keywords
ai governance, iso 42001, ai compliance, startup compliance, data privacy, soc 2, iso certification, ai risk management, enterprise sales, ai regulation, security and privacy, responsible ai

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

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Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

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This episode explores how AI coding agents are reshaping how software is built, through the practical experience of Vardhaman Deshpande. The core insight is that pro-code developers using natural language with modern AI models can now build features and agents faster than many low-code tools. The conversation examines velocity gains, trade-offs between pro-code and low-code, and what this shift means for professionals building AI-powered solutions.

🎙️ Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/809

👉 What you’ll learn

• When pro-code plus AI is faster than low-code tools
• How natural language is becoming a new interface for software development
• Where Copilot Studio fits, and where it may slow teams down
• How AI agents accelerate feature delivery and testing
• What skills matter as AI-driven development matures

✅ Highlights

• “My workflow is actually faster than doing something in a low-code, no-code environment.”
• “Pro-code plus AI coding agents might actually be faster to build than low-code.”
• “Recent models are amazing at translating natural language to code.”
• “Earlier something that took weeks I can probably do in a couple of days now.”
• “The velocity of creating features for products is going to explode.”
• “Why do you need that middleware?”
• “Prompting rather than configuring is the transition we’re starting to see.”
• “How much of pro-code versus low-code is realistic remains to be seen.”
• “Things which were prohibitively time-consuming have become possible now.”

🧰 Mentioned

• Microsoft Foundry: https://azure.microsoft.com/products/ai-foundry/
• Azure AI Services: https://ai.azure.com/explore/aiservices
• Copilot Studio: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365-copilot/microsoft-copilot-studio/
• GitHub Copilot: https://github.com/features/copilot
• Power Virtual Agents: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-copilot/blog/copilot-studio/microsoft-power-virtual-agents-now-part-of-microsoft-copilot-studio/
• Microsoft MVP YouTube Series - How to Become a Microsoft MVP - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzf0yupPbVkqdRJDPVE4PtTlm6quDhiu7

✅ Keywords
ai agents, pro-code, low-code, github copilot, copilot studio, microsoft foundry, azure ai, natural language coding, software velocity, ai development, microsoft ecosystem, automation

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

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

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In this episode, Esther Angell shares a grounded approach to adopting AI without hype or overwhelm. The conversation focuses on starting with real business problems, using the tools you already have, and improving efficiency without losing trust or human connection. Esther explains where AI delivers real value for small teams, the risks of misuse, and why culture matters as much as capability. The core message is simple: solve the work nobody wants to do, move fast, and stay purposeful as AI adoption accelerates.

👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/808

🎙️ What you’ll learn

• How to identify the right problems before introducing AI
• Where small businesses can gain real efficiency with AI
• Why overusing AI can damage trust and customer experience
• How to reduce risk when using free and built-in AI tools
• Practical ways to start small and fail fast with AI initiatives

✅ Highlights

• “You can't be in a state of curiosity and judgment at the same time.”
• “AI shouldn’t be your decision-making platform.”
• “We still have people making those buying decisions.”
• “Most folks are using it, but at a preference level.”
• “What tools do you own, and are you using them?”
• “Content is great, but it can get you into trouble.”
• “People are doing business with a small business because they feel connected.”
• “Most AI projects are not successful.”
• “Start with the thing nobody really wants to do.”
• “Small businesses can be more nimble.”

🧰 Mentioned

• Microsoft Power Platform: https://www.microsoft.com/power-platform
• Dynamics: https://www.microsoft.com/dynamics-365
• Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com
• HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com
• Google Workspace: https://workspace.google.com
• Gemini: https://gemini.google.com

✅Keywords
ai adoption, small business ai, automation, efficiency, digital transformation, crm, power platform, entrepreneurship, ai risk, ai culture, process improvement, human centred ai

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

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This episode features a conversation with Daniel Cohen‑Dumani on why many organisations feel stuck on AI despite rapid advances. The discussion focuses on agentic AI, the growing gap between consumer and business adoption, and why strategy matters more than experimentation. You will hear practical guidance on narrowing AI efforts to real business problems, building organisational memory for reliable agents, and avoiding paralysis caused by hype and fear. The conversation also challenges traditional systems like CRM and reframes AI as a tool to learn, not shortcut, building sustainable capability inside organisations.

👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/807

🎙️ What you’ll learn

• How agentic AI is shifting from demos to real work execution
• Why many businesses are still years behind practical AI adoption
• How to identify one business problem where AI can move the needle
• What organisational memory is and why agents depend on it
• How to use AI to learn skills rather than replace thinking

✅ Highlights

• “There’s not going to be a slowdown. I think this is just a new normal.”
• “I think business are more lost than ever.”
• “We live in a bubble, but businesses are still two years back.”
• “2026 is really the year where we’re going to see business start knocking off things using agentic AI.”
• “Every business today have to be driving a bus on the highway and changing the wheels.”
• “AI is going to disrupt your business. That is a fact.”
• “Context is the key to having reliable agents.”
• “An agent without memory is nothing.”
• “Innovation has to come from the bottom up.”

🧰 Mentioned

• Agentic AI: https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/agentic-ai
• OpenClaw: https://openclaw.ai/
• Snowflake: https://www.snowflake.com/
• Knowledge graph technology: https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/knowledge-graph
• Artificial general intelligence (AGI): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_general_intelligence

✅Keywords
agentic ai, ai adoption, organisational memory, business strategy, ai agents, knowledge graph, crm systems, enterprise ai, ai learning, automation, digital transformation, ai disruption

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

Simon Hudson explores how organisations can build real AI capability by grounding Copilot and AI tools in strong information architecture, governance, and canonical knowledge. He discusses using SharePoint as the brain of the business, the limits of today’s agent hype, and why AI should be treated like essential infrastructure rather than a bolt-on. The conversation highlights practical patterns for reducing hallucinations, improving productivity, and using AI to support executive and ethical decision-making.

🎙 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/806

👉 What you’ll learn

• How to use SharePoint and metadata to create a canonical source of truth for AI
• Why good governance and information architecture are prerequisites for effective AI
• Practical ways to reduce AI hallucinations through grounding and authoritative records
• How role-based AI assistants differ from narrow task-based agents
• Why AI adoption should be treated as core business infrastructure, not optional add-ons

✅ Highlights

• “If you haven’t got good governance and good information architecture, you cannot have good AI.”
• “I came up with this concept using SharePoint to create the brain of the business.”
• “It’s the authoritative record, and in it, it is fully human legible.”
• “We’re really doing is creating virtual employees or virtual staff.”
• “I don’t like the word agent. I think it’s too tech.”
• “AI is more like electricity.”
• “People think they’re using Copilot, but they’re not talking about the same thing.”
• “Most organisations don’t really know what their ethical position is.”
• “The AI is completely impartial. It goes, yeah, but you said.”
• “That knowledge bank enables people to be much more productive.”

🧰 Mentioned

• Copilot Chat: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/copilot/overview
• Copilot Studio: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/microsoft-copilot-studio/
• Microsoft MVP YouTube Series - How to Become a Microsoft MVP - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzf0yupPbVkqdRJDPVE4PtTlm6quDhiu7
• Microsoft Ignite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s315Ms2nWr4&list=PLlrxD0HtieHi5KXOFyeMkZbq226jkxRzh

✅ Keywords
ai governance, microsoft copilot, sharepoint, information architecture, metadata, business productivity, ai agents, canonical data, digital workplace, executive decision making, ethics in ai, knowledge management

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

Sam Fankuchen shares how organisations can move beyond AI hype to build real capability. The discussion focuses on creating an AI-ready culture, using AI agents with human oversight, and adopting AI responsibly in regulated environments. Sam explains why transparency, ethics, and experimentation matter, and why delaying adoption carries its own risks. The conversation is grounded in practical experience, showing how AI can scale human impact while keeping people, trust, and quality of life at the centre.

👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/805

🎙️ What you’ll learn

• How to build an AI-ready culture without waiting for perfect certainty
• Where AI agents deliver value beyond chatbots in day-to-day work
• How human-in-the-loop design reduces risk while increasing speed
• Ways regulated industries can innovate responsibly with AI
• Why slow AI adoption can be more dangerous than thoughtful experimentation

✅ Highlights

• “We have more AI agents than we do employees.”
• “Ethics means understanding where we are in the curve of possibilities.”
• “We are not going to turn back the clock.”
• “Companies that do not figure this out will not be around.”
• “There is no such thing as total comfort with AI.”
• “You need a safe place where people can share what they are learning.”
• “AI is an extension of culture, but also something new.”
• “Every minute that we wait diminishes value.”

🧰 Mentioned

• Microsoft Teams: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-teams
• AI agents: https://cloud.google.com/discover/what-are-ai-agents
• Sam’s powerful 9/11 story and what catalyzed his civic journey [06:18]: https://tobijohnson.com/167-keeping-civic-engagement-alive-despite-funding-cuts-with-sam-fankuchen/
• Nonprofit Leadership Podcast: https://nonprofitleadershippodcast.org/can-ai-enhance-rather-than-replace-empathy/

✅Keywords
artificial intelligence, ai agents, ai culture, responsible ai, human in the loop, regulated industries, ai adoption, business transformation, ethics, productivity, collaboration, ai 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

Danny Burlage joins The MVP Show to explore why AI adoption in organisations is stalling and what actually moves it forward. The conversation moves beyond personal productivity to focus on AI as infrastructure, process transformation, and organisational capability. Danny shares what he sees in European enterprises, why Copilot adoption has lagged, and how companies can move from isolated pilots to real business impact by redesigning end to end processes and building AI literacy at scale.

🎙 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/804

👉 What you’ll learn

• Why personal productivity gains rarely convince executives to invest in AI
• How to reframe Copilot and AI as organisational infrastructure, not a tool
• What separates AI proof of concepts that fail from those that reach production
• How gamified training can accelerate AI and Copilot adoption
• Where real AI value emerges through cross functional, end to end processes

✅ Highlights

• “We see adoption of end user or bring your own AI going through the roof”
• “The whole Copilot experience when they hit the market was not that great”
• “At this moment, if I compare ChatGPT towards a Copilot, Copilot is better”
• “Nobody’s interested in saving half an hour per employee per day”
• “They’re all interested in how can we improve organisational wide processes”
• “AI has been seen as a nice bit of new tech rather than infrastructure”
• “Most software developers are becoming prompt engineers on steroids”
• “That’s where the actual proof of the pudding is”
• “We’re slowly getting there but we’re not there yet”

🧰 Mentioned

• Microsoft Copilot: https://www.copilot.com/
• Microsoft Teams: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-teams
• SharePoint: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/sharepoint/collaboration
• ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/
• Azure AI Foundry: https://azure.microsoft.com/products/ai-foundry/
• Facilitator app in Microsoft Teams: https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoftteams/facilitator-teams
• Microsoft MVP YouTube Series - How to Become a Microsoft MVP - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzf0yupPbVkqdRJDPVE4PtTlm6quDhiu7

✅ Keywords
ai adoption, microsoft copilot, enterprise ai, ai literacy, digital transformation, agentic ai, process automation, copilot training, ai governance, business processes, generative ai, productivity

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 explores how organisations can move from AI curiosity to real value using Microsoft Copilot and agents, drawing on practical insights from Yves Habersaat. The conversation focuses on adoption that starts where people already work, keeps early use cases simple, and scales only when the need is clear. It also covers real-world agent scenarios, model choice, and why low-code tools are often enough to deliver results quickly.

👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/803

🎙️ What you’ll learn

• How to introduce Copilot in tools teams already use every day
• Why Teams is often the fastest way to see AI value
• When simple agents are enough and when custom builds make sense
• How to approach agent design without overengineering
• Why understanding the use case matters more than the tool choice

🔴 Highlights

• “A lot of customers want to try concretely what is AI.”
• “They want to use AI in the day-to-day basis.”
• “Teams is a really good entry point.”
• “You can have concrete results without spending a lot of time.”
• “Keep it simple at the beginning.”
• “After, you add more complexity and more logic.”
• “Copilot Studio has evolved a lot.”
• “You need to understand the use case first.”

🧰 Mentioned

• Microsoft Copilot - https://copilot.microsoft.com/
• Agent SDK (Microsoft 365 Agents SDK) - https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/agents-sdk/
• Azure AI Foundry - https://ai.azure.com/
• Azure - https://azure.microsoft.com/
• ChatGPT - https://chat.openai.com/
• Microsoft MVP YouTube Series - How to Become a Microsoft MVP - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzf0yupPbVkqdRJDPVE4PtTlm6quDhiu7

✅ Keywords
microsoft copilot, ai agents, copilot studio, microsoft teams, azure ai, agent sdk, ai adoption, prompting, enterprise ai, ai workflows, low code ai, applied ai

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