Navigating AI’s Future and Thriving in Tech with the Power Platform

Mark Smith: 0:19
Welcome to the MVP show. My intention is that you listen to the stories of these MVP guests and are inspired to become an MVP and bring value to the world through your skills. If you have not checked it out already, I do a YouTube series called how to Become an MVP. The link is in the show notes. With that, let's get on with the show. Today's guest is from Spain, my third home. She works at AXAjour, but I'll let her tell you what that says in Spanish, because it sounds so much better. She's a Power Platform Technical Lead for D365 Customer Engagement. She was first awarded MVP in 2022 or 2023?, 2022. 2022. She's passionate about Microsoft technology, loves challenges that help her develop her potential and enjoys every day and why wouldn't you in Spain? You can find links to her bio and socials in the show notes for this episode. Welcome to the show, Mar, Thank you. Now can you tell us your full name and what it means?

Mar Pedroche: 1:30
Well, my full name is Maria del Mar. That means Mary of the Sea in Spanish.

Mark Smith: 1:37
Nice, nice, nice, nice. I like it. Well, we clarify names. Axajour is how I read it in English. What is it in as a Spaniard?

Mar Pedroche: 1:47
AXAzure.

Mark Smith: 1:49
AXAzure yes.

Mar Pedroche: 1:51
Wow, wow.

Mark Smith: 1:52
That sounds really good. Yes, yes, yes. So are you based in Madrid?

Mar Pedroche: 2:00
No, I'm based in Valencia, next to the sea.

Mark Smith: 2:04
I went there for my honeymoon.

Mar Pedroche: 2:07
It's a really good place. Do you know about the?

Mark Smith: 2:09
floods. Oh sorry, valencia, I was thinking Barcelona. No, the floods have been crazy. Right that you guys have had Just it's mind-blowing. It's almost like is it out of a sci-fi movie the extremeness of what's gone on.

Mar Pedroche: 2:27
Yes, that was the worst episode of rainings in Valencia since years. I didn't remember any episode like this.

Mark Smith: 2:36
Yeah, crazy, crazy.

Mar Pedroche: 2:38
How many people are affected?

Mark Smith: 2:41
I've not really spent much time in the south of Spain. I've done the north. I've spent over, I walked across the top of Spain. I did the Camino de Santiago for 33 days, so I went from France all the way to the coast, so I've spent a lot of time there. I've spent a lot of time around Madrid. I was part of a program called vauntown I don't know if you've ever heard that, but it's a. It's a program to help, like they used to call them, spaniards, and, and what do they call us? Um, anglos, um, and, and it was a to teach spanish business people, and it was a voluntary program.

Mar Pedroche: 3:19
Yeah, von, von.

Mark Smith: 3:20
Radio VON, I think, yeah, yeah, it was part of that, and so it was full immersion. They took us about two hours outside Madrid to some big old monastery that had been converted to a flash hotel, and for one week you know, breakfast, lunch and dinner we had to eat and only speak English. Nobody was allowed to speak Spanish, and it was the end of the program allowing all these people to practice their English. And there was a professor from. There were multiple professors actually, from various universities in Spain. On the course.

Mark Smith: 3:53
There were people from companies like Diageo or big brands where English was often commonly used in the day-to-day business, and so, you know, they wanted to build their confidence in speaking English, and so we just had to. We would get paired up with each person for an hour at a time just to chat about anything, and so you just meet a person for the first time and you just be one hour and you just had to chat in English only for an hour, and so it was such a cool experience I'll never forget. I'd love to do it again. So it was amazing.

Mar Pedroche: 4:25
I love the program. I was thinking in being in the program and doing this trip that I think was more or less a week with the teachers in the campus or in the town.

Mark Smith: 4:36
Yeah, yeah, I mean I got some amazing photos and the monastery we were in was right next to a castle and just the castle was amazing, I think the town, I think it's in Castilla León, I think in the north of Spain. Yeah, that sounds right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Amazing. Tell us about you. Food, family and fun. What do they mean?

Mar Pedroche: 5:00
Well, family, right, food, family and fun. What do they mean? Well, family, right now I'm really near to my family. Because of the floods, some one of some of my, some part of my family, lost cars not, not, not the houses before, for we are really lucky here in valencia right now, but they, they lost their cars, so right now they, they need help. So some in some weekends I go, I travel to these towns that are not too far from my house, but more or less far. It's maybe 30 minutes by car I have to drive. So before the floods at the beginning, the roads were crushed because of the floods, so I couldn't go to these towns to visit my family. So right now it's time to think in your family, because we are near to Christmas and because of the floods, of course, I'm every weekend with all my family.

Mark Smith: 5:51
I bet. I bet it's such a you realize what's important in life, right when you have massive tragedy and things like that.

Mar Pedroche: 5:59
And you always think that things like, for example, cars something that you can buy a new car is not a problem right now, because some people lost families and people.

Mark Smith: 6:12
Yeah, horrible, horrible. One of my colleagues was in Valencia when it happened. She was on a project that we're doing for the UN there and she had to. You know it was very difficult to get her out back to London at that time.

Mar Pedroche: 6:28
Because the airport was closed the first days.

Mark Smith: 6:32
Yes, yes, yes, no. It was very, very frightening. What about food? You never mentioned food. What's the dish that you're eating? The dish, yes.

Mar Pedroche: 6:42
No, it was very, very frightening. What about food? You never mentioned food. What's the dish that you're eating? The dish? Well, things. We usually eat paella in Valencia. It's not something that is not a joke that we, every Sunday, we eat paella because we like to do this. So every Sunday, you will go to your parents' house. You are going to eat paella because we like to do this. So every sunday, you will go to your parents house. You are going to eat paella and we, we have a birthday, a birthday, for example, a celebration we always do paella or rice with something, because I don't know if you know the difference between these things no, no, paella paella is something that you usually cook in a paella.

Mar Pedroche: 7:19
If you know the paella, you know it's a big span. I think it's a different type of cooking. So then you put the rice and you put meat like chicken and rabbit, and you put other vegetables that have this paella and rice with things. Is anything different of paella? For example, rice with um, with, for example, with, for example, yes, with seafood and or, for example, there is something that usually use a other type of meat in the rice.

Mark Smith: 7:59
So that means rice with something Interesting interesting.

Mar Pedroche: 8:02
It's not the real paella.

Mark Smith: 8:04
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But Valencia is the home of it, right? It is where it was started and nobody makes it better than there, right?

Mar Pedroche: 8:20
So the thing I always say that if you want to find a worse rice you need to make a proposal, because here we do a real good rice when we cook and I think if you your parents, normally they cook the best paella.

Mark Smith: 8:35
Is the rice grown locally? Yes, yes. Wow, I didn't know this.

Mar Pedroche: 8:40
In Sueca, near to the Albufera. That is a lake that we have between the sea and the earth. That is a lake. It's a real lake but it has some parts of that. You can go to the sea in this lake. All of the flutes go to the Albufeira. Right now All the weather go to the water, go to the Albufeira. Near to the Albufeira there are a lot of towns that have rice.

Mark Smith: 9:13
I had no idea. Like in my mind, spain doesn't. I don't think rice. I think grains and all these other things, but not rice. Yeah, interesting, tell us about how you got into tech.

Mar Pedroche: 9:30
Well, that's a strange thing, because I didn't study anything related to IT but when I was young I loved IT. But when I was young, I loved IT. But you know, sometimes you meet someone that doesn't give you any good feeling about this career. So you decide to start studying anything else, not this type of career. So because of that, I decided to study aeronautical engineering. That means food industry and because I liked this food industry, I was really good in the career. But sometimes I was trying to learn things about technology. Because you know the technology, if you use it in industry or in some sectors, is really good, because you know how to improve the process, improve the process. So because of that, after I started working in a company, I decided to change my career and go to the technology engineering or to the technology sector.

Mark Smith: 10:34
And then, what was the very first time that you came across Dynamics 365? What was the very, very first time?

Mar Pedroche: 10:42
It was not my first technology. At the beginning I started with Mother Workplace SharePoint. I started with SharePoint Office groups. You remember the office group? I do.

Mark Smith: 10:53
I do, I've still got legacy groups in my tenant. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mar Pedroche: 10:58
That groups. So I started working in a company doing these things and managing projects about digital transformation, and after that I decided to change to a consultancy company because I was in a client and because of that I decided when I was to this company that's a consulting company I learned about Dynamics. So I hear about Dynamics and I was like, wow, what is this? And I started learning a lot and my first project in Dynamics was in 2018. 18, 18, yes, 18.

Mark Smith: 11:36
Wow, okay, not that long ago In.

Mar Pedroche: 11:38
Dynamics, so I love dynamics.

Mark Smith: 11:43
It was in 2017 that I had lunch with your boss in Madrid. In 2017? Yes, 2017. Because that's when I think 2017. Yeah, 2017 is when my wife and I walked the Camino.

Mar Pedroche: 12:01
In Dynamics Sators, I suppose.

Mark Smith: 12:03
No, no, this was before that. They hadn't even been invented at that point.

Mar Pedroche: 12:07
Because I found some pictures from these years of the first Dynamic Saturdays.

Mark Smith: 12:15
No, I think I just finished walking the Camino and we came down to Madrid after that and that's where I met him for lunch. And so, yeah, I don't think, because I know your company was heavily involved right in running Dynamic Saturdays. I wanted to speak, but my Spanish is not that good, you know.

Mar Pedroche: 12:33
So my English is not that good and I'm doing this.

Mark Smith: 12:36
Your English is amazing. Your English is amazing, thank you. I recommend a book. Have you? Do you ever read novels, novels?

Mar Pedroche: 12:45
Novel, A novel yeah yeah, Dan Brown.

Mark Smith: 12:47
Have you heard of Dan Brown? Some of them but what novel?

Mark Smith: 12:53
Because he has lots of them, yeah he wrote a book called Origin and it's all set in Spain. It's his most recent book I read it in 2017, but it's all set in Spain. It's the most recent book I read it in 2017, but it's all set in Spain and it's an amazing book. And why it's so amazing? Because it's what you don't realize the whole book's on AI and this is in 2017. And it's mind-blowing. The twists and turns in that book. It involves the royal family in Spain. It takes you all over Spain. It's mind-blowing and I'd done a lot of traveling. The twists and turns in that book involves the royal family in Spain, or it takes you all over Spain. It's a mind blowing and I'd done a lot of traveling at that point and I was like I know this place that he's talking about. I know that place that they're talking about. It is he's a. He's a master at putting the the real world into his. You know fiction and it's yeah, it it's an incredible book.

Mar Pedroche: 13:39
I felt the same when I was in Scotland because I was watching Outlander the series yes, yes, yes, Good series right and also Harry Potter, so I was enjoying a lot of the trip because a lot of parts of the country are related to this fiction.

Mark Smith: 13:59
Yes, did you go and see the bridge with the?

Mar Pedroche: 14:02
train.

Mark Smith: 14:03
With the train. Yes, you went and walked and took a photo. Yes, I done that too.

Mar Pedroche: 14:07
And one thing I enjoy also was the cows. Yes, with all the hair.

Mark Smith: 14:12
Yes, the hairy coos, Hairy coos, yeah, and the big horns. So cool, so cool. So tell us about how your. How did your MVP come about? Who nominated you? What was the process for you becoming an MVP?

Mar Pedroche: 14:26
Well, I've never tried to be an MVP. At the beginning, I started doing things because I learned for myself to be a technology expert, looking in forums and in some websites. So because of that, I decided to. I was prepared to try to share my knowledge, because the thing I think that was good for me is learning about the content that was generated for MVPs, and because of that, I decided to generate this content. You know, it's something that I have to return to the web or to the other people. So then I started working in Camina.

Mar Pedroche: 15:09
I don't know if you know the company. It's a company based in Valencia. They have an office in Madrid, but they are based in Valencia, and I met some people there. One of them is Alberto Diaz. I don't know if you all know Alberto Diaz. He's an MVP and a regional director, and Rocío Romero, that was an MVP in that day and today is an MVP, and she decided to nominate me. But I was really I think it was really early because I was only contributing for a few months at the beginning. So she decided that I had potential to be an MVP and because of that she nominated me. Well, I was doing things to contribute with all the information that I could generate to the websites and the forums and whatever, and also to the communities and after, I think, one year more or less, I have the MVP.

Mark Smith: 16:12
Nice, nice, so good, so wow, really really good. How big is the MVP community in Spain?

Mar Pedroche: 16:19
I think it's really big. Right now, I'm involved in the BIS Summit. That is one of the biggest community events in Spain. More or less, we have 1,200 people every year.

Mark Smith: 16:37
Does your company run that event?

Mar Pedroche: 16:39
Yes, they are a sponsor of this event, but the community is big because right now I think we are more or less 10 organizers of this event, because it's really, really big. So at the beginning I was a volunteer in this event and after last year they decided to come with me in the organization.

Mark Smith: 17:02
Wow, wow, that is amazing. Tell me your thoughts on AI.

Mar Pedroche: 17:10
About AI. Well, I think it's something that we have to learn right now because it's the future. Well, we can be the present, but I think the AI needs to be improved. It can be the present, but I think the AI needs to be improved. And one thing is really important is, if we talk about AI, we need to talk about security, because if you want to use the AI, you need to have your data currently in your company and secure, because it's not all the information is going to be shared. So, because of that, I think it's something that we need to learn right now, because it's something new, but it's something that is the future of most of the companies right now and, I think, all of MVPs. We need to start using it. In my day-to-day I'm using a GitHub, copilot and also Copilot.

Mark Smith: 18:06
Interesting, interesting how, like what type of things do you do, not so much for customers but for yourself, using AI?

Mar Pedroche: 18:17
Well, last few weeks I was doing a tool for XRM Toolbox and I used GitHub Copilot to do this tool because it's really handy to use it and then it can propose you things about the code or best practices or how to do things using the code. So right now, for me, it's like I compare this like using the calculator when you are young, so at the beginning me it's like I compare this like using the calculator when you are young, so at the beginning you need to learn how to make all the math without a calculator and after a few years you can use it. They give you the opportunity to use it. So for me, copilot is like this If you are learning right now, you are learning to develop.

Mar Pedroche: 19:03
You are learning to develop. You need to start only developing and understanding what you have to do, developing and then, when you are prepared and you have knowledge about this, you can use this AI Because you need to have knowledge to use it. It's not like if you don't know anything, you can use it and you are going to have a tool with with your development, development.

Mark Smith: 19:26
But I was talking to my neighbor recently, and she's a lawyer, and, uh, she, she used ai to do something and she was like it almost feels like it's cheating, you know. And my wife pointed out something very interesting, though she was like the thing is, though, if you didn't know that legal implication, ramification, etc. What you're advising and how you used ai, you wouldn't know whether it was correct, right. So if I asked, it illegal, I don't know if it's correct or not, because I'm not a specialist in law. So it's not that it's magic, it's. It still requires you right.

Mark Smith: 20:01
As you say, before you learn the calculator, you need to learn how to do maths. Then you can tell whether is this right or is this wrong, and to understand it. So I definitely think your idea of you need to understand it first, or the math or whatever you're doing, writing, whatever it might be, before you can then go. Is this a good response that I am getting from it? You can then go. Is this a good response that I am getting from it? My final question for you is what would you say to other folks out there just starting, maybe, their career in business applications or the power platform, or dynamics, or any of what advice, what career advice would you give them?

Mar Pedroche: 20:39
Well, right now, if they want to start learning about this, all the content is in internet, so everything you want to learn is in internet right now. And then don't forget that right now, because of the future is AI. You need to learn about AI Using business application, but also the AI that is right now available and it's going to be the future of the business applications as well as, for example, is GitHub Copilot for developers.

Mark Smith: 21:11
Hey, thanks for listening. I'm your host business application MVP Mark Smith, otherwise known as the NZ365 guy. If you like the show and want to be a supporter, check out buymeacoffeecom forward slash nz365 guy. Thanks again and see you next time. Thank you.