Dynamics Profile: CRM MVP says confidence to contribute comes with hard-won expertise

When Natraj Yegnaraman received an email in February notifying him that he had been named a Microsoft Dynamics CRM MVP, he thought it was a scam.

"I was nominated in October, but I didn't get any emails in general so I thought it was going to be April, so I'd just wait until then," he says. "Then on February 1, out of cycle, I got the email. But I thought it was a spam email or some phishing attempt. I didn't open the email until I went to the MVP site and saw that Microsoft was going to award MVPs every month instead of quarterly. Then I believed it."

Originally from India, Yegnaraman now makes his home in Melbourne, Australia, where he is a technical consultant for Catholic Church Insurance Limited, an organization owned by the Catholic dioceses and religious institutes of Australia that serves that country's Catholic community.

"We have an on-premises CRM 2015 instance, so I'm managing it," he says. "I provide guidance [about] the capabilities of the platform in terms of banking and insurance. They have a lot of legacy systems. We have a 2016 instance ready to go but that's not until the end of this year or next year."

Up to speed

Consequently, Yegnaraman says his role is to bring his company up to speed on new CRM capabilities, including Azure and the Dynamics 365 ecosystem, to meet the needs of its users prepare in the event his company decides to move online.

"I also present at our monthly company-wide meetings where I promote the capabilities of the platform," he says. "So, for example, one ...