1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:05,800 So what is MCP? When you hear protocol, people's 2 00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:09,160 eyes glaze over. But trust me, MCP or modular 3 00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:14,840 communication protocol is one of the quiet enablers behind a lot 4 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:17,160 of next Gen. tech we're seeing today. 5 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:22,400 OK, and this is from IO, TS, robotics and AI. 6 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:29,360 And this is going to change AI. This particular protocol is a 7 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:33,760 MCP is a universal translator and command system. 8 00:00:34,480 --> 00:00:38,560 OK, and it's, but it works between systems, devices, and AI 9 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:41,160 agents. So this is the next evolution. 10 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:45,040 It lets things talk to each other in a modular, standardized 11 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:49,000 way, even if they're built by different vendors for different 12 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:51,720 purposes. So in this episode, we're going 13 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:56,720 to explore 10 things MCP enables in Business Today and why you 14 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:59,440 need to understand why it gives you the edge. 15 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:04,519 The Better Business Analysis Institute presence, the Better 16 00:01:04,519 --> 00:01:15,200 Business Analysis podcast with Kinsman Walsh so #1 NCP enables 17 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:17,520 machine to machine collaboration. 18 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:24,520 So machines don't just talk, they collaborate in a smart 19 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:28,360 factory. NCP will allow a robotic arm and 20 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:31,880 a conveyor belt and a quality control camera to work together 21 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:34,240 seamlessly without being on the same platform. 22 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:38,400 So that's really important. So what that truly means is that 23 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:42,600 as these different companies are developing their different smart 24 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:45,560 devices, think of a smart home if you've got it. 25 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:50,800 This protocol is common and is being adopted. 26 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:54,920 So it means that, for example, remember when you had the iPhone 27 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:58,360 plug and A wouldn't plug into your Android plug, and we had 28 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:01,640 USBB and we've got C and all of that. 29 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:06,240 And then there was different types of kind of connectors or 30 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:09,919 even protocols for communicating against electronic devices. 31 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:13,920 This now makes it standard like Bluetooth, for example, or 32 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:16,920 wireless. And this is really, really 33 00:02:16,920 --> 00:02:22,160 important #2 is it makes these AI agents that I've been 34 00:02:22,160 --> 00:02:26,920 referring to Interoptable, OK? What that means is that 35 00:02:26,920 --> 00:02:31,120 different AI tools can share tasks and data through MCP. 36 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:35,320 You have to step back to think about what that means. 37 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:36,880 And I'll, I'll lead you through an example. 38 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:41,840 An AI that generates, say, maintenance schedules, OK, can 39 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:47,520 pass commands via MCP to another AI agent that triggers alerts 40 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:50,040 and schedules technicians to visit. 41 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:52,760 There's no manual hand off needed. 42 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:57,080 So instead of having these tools, like maybe you use the 43 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:03,080 user interface of Gemini or Copilot, those two could talk to 44 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:05,320 one another. And it's not just you using 45 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:07,240 text. It means that images could fly 46 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:11,280 from that to say, some other tool that's enabled for MCP. 47 00:03:11,640 --> 00:03:17,600 So if it was, for example, your smart home, the Gemini would be 48 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:19,440 able to talk to your smart home, OK? 49 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:23,440 What that enables? The reason we have this common 50 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:27,760 way of communicating, then that enables #3 which it means that 51 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:31,040 we can support modular system design. 52 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:34,760 So it's not just one monolithic, right? 53 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:38,240 It's modular winds. And that means that at the 54 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:41,440 moment, you've just got, if you use Claude, you're just using 55 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:44,680 Claude, OK? And if you're just using chat 56 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:48,960 TBT, you're just using chat TBT. But these are the also the 57 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:53,240 responsive agents that do more than just take in text. 58 00:03:54,600 --> 00:04:00,280 A logistics firm can add a new AI driven routine in plug and 59 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:03,040 play different outcomes. It can plug in different 60 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:10,360 outcomes and say and, and use all that expanded ecosystem 61 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:12,680 regardless of which company has made it. 62 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:19,720 So #4 that means that MCP as the bridge between the legacy and 63 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:22,240 modern systems. So this is really important. 64 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:28,120 You don't just use the MCP to communicate with, for example, 65 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:32,200 between AI systems. A utility company could use it's 66 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:35,680 legacy, they're called SCADA. It's kind of a way of 67 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:37,920 communicating. So very hardware related to 68 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:41,040 communication and connect it to modern analytics. 69 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:45,400 So they can connect all these older systems and not throwing 70 00:04:45,400 --> 00:04:47,520 them out because they won't be able to replace all hardware. 71 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:51,800 And it can now talk via MCP. And that is pretty damn 72 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:58,400 important terms about transition #5 it really enables real time 73 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:04,640 control and automation. So it will now allow AI to 74 00:05:04,640 --> 00:05:07,240 communicate and actually take actions in real time. 75 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:13,280 So it can seems, for example, through MCP and AI could detect 76 00:05:13,280 --> 00:05:17,320 something and it can send a command straight away to stop 77 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:20,120 something happening. Maybe changing a red light could 78 00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:25,320 change the there was a car crash could automatically activate a 79 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:27,560 sign that said there's a crash ahead, for example. 80 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:31,000 And it does that in such a way that it's all built in one 81 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:33,760 system. So it's all autonomous and it's 82 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:37,920 safety is built in. So that's really, really 83 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:43,720 important for modern workflows and it makes AI more tangible #6 84 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:48,680 is that NCP enables what's called Event driven 85 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:51,760 architecture. So that means if a business 86 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:58,120 event takes place, then the all the AI ecosystem can react 87 00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:02,040 straight away based on that event using a common language, 88 00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:05,240 using MCP, I'll give you an example here. 89 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:09,360 A sensor might detect temperature spike, right? 90 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:12,480 And let's just say it's cold storage, could be a nuclear 91 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:14,160 power plant. But in this case it's just 92 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:17,160 simply where cold goods are stored. 93 00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:22,560 And MCP would send an alert to AI which triggers backup calling 94 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:26,720 and notifies the supervisor using different systems 95 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:28,640 regardless. So you're already using your 96 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:33,520 notification system, Slack maybe or whatever it is, SMS and 97 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:35,280 you're connecting this all through one platform. 98 00:06:35,280 --> 00:06:38,640 Just drag and drive and, and you could just do a trigger and say 99 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:41,240 when the temperature hits here, call this AI agent. 100 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:44,200 So it's, it's a kind of, I imagine if you thought of AUI 101 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:47,040 and there are some good tools out there that that allow you to 102 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:48,840 do this. You're literally dragging and 103 00:06:48,840 --> 00:06:53,200 dropping these various agents and not just the agents you're 104 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:56,840 using NCP to now talk to them. You don't need to write any 105 00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:05,760 complicated integration scripts #7 is it mates these multi 106 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:08,560 vendor systems work together. So one of the frustrations I was 107 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:11,720 talking to someone the other day was that like, if you want to 108 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:14,360 watch TV show, you have to buy all the streaming products, 109 00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:15,280 right? It sucks. 110 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:20,000 OK, So in the AI world, if you want to use all the best bits of 111 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:23,400 all the different AI agents, you kind of have to buy all of them, 112 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:25,080 right? Especially if you're like me and 113 00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:29,160 you like to try what's what's new and what's evolving and they 114 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:30,880 will have their strengths and weaknesses. 115 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:34,160 But now there's no more vendor lock and drama. 116 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:40,440 So you could use devices, AI agents, but even in user devices 117 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:44,080 from 5 different vendors, a hospital could do that. 118 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:47,000 And because I'd be certified to do different things, right, not 119 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:49,760 every single one vendor will be graded everything. 120 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:56,520 And so NCP will allow painted devices, right, to work more 121 00:07:56,520 --> 00:08:03,360 smoothly and share information with other lockdown systems #8 122 00:08:03,680 --> 00:08:06,400 is it provides a structure for autonomous agents. 123 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:11,760 So an AI agent needs rules of engagement and MCP provides 124 00:08:11,760 --> 00:08:14,440 them. If you had a fleet of delivery 125 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:19,560 Jones and they were dropping off points like they were drop off 126 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:24,560 points and it was going into kind of aerospace routes, then 127 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:28,080 it could share that across companies using MCP. 128 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:31,360 So I've sent an alert over so there weren't any crashes or 129 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:33,919 deliveries in the wrong place. And there's multi vendors. 130 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:36,840 That's really important. It's a language of AI, if you 131 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:40,960 like #9 is that it improves security and governance and the 132 00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:43,360 communication. This is a standard structure. 133 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:45,480 It means better control, better logging. 134 00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:50,480 And it means that things like bots could be used within 135 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:53,760 finance, for example, but it would track and audit and 136 00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:58,000 validate what it's doing, which would remove the risk of kind of 137 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:02,640 a rogue automation. And #10 is it lays the 138 00:09:02,640 --> 00:09:05,760 groundwork for autonomous business networks. 139 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:08,280 And this is where we're getting to with AI. 140 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:13,600 Think beyond organizations, think ecosystem automation. 141 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:16,800 So if one education provider could share it's information, 142 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:21,520 it's AI, it's insights across other education providers in a 143 00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:25,040 Safeway, I'll give you an example of a manufacturer. 144 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:27,600 You might have a manufacturer, you might have a shipping 145 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:30,200 partner, and you might have a customs agent, right? 146 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:32,240 All in this ecosystem of delivering goods. 147 00:09:32,240 --> 00:09:36,760 And if they all use MCP, they can automatically trigger 148 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:39,680 approvals and hand offs across the ecosystem. 149 00:09:39,680 --> 00:09:42,720 Not just that within one organization, but literally 150 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:46,520 across the organization. In a Safeway, you start to get 151 00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:48,160 the gains of the jobs to be done. 152 00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:54,240 So MCP might be behind the scenes, but it's a game changer 153 00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:58,840 and you need to know about it. So if you are hearing about MCP 154 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:01,320 at the moment or you, it's a notification that you're getting 155 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:05,400 on an AI agent, I've given you a bit of an insight and read a bit 156 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:07,640 more about how that tool is enabling it. 157 00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:11,920 There are actually some websites now we they will list all the 158 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:15,480 MCP enabled agents and you'll see lots of them. 159 00:10:15,680 --> 00:10:17,840 And what that really means is they're all plug and play. 160 00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:21,120 You can all connect them via via a platform, yes. 161 00:10:21,320 --> 00:10:22,960 And you might have to pay for some of them. 162 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:26,640 And it may even change the way we pay for AI because you might 163 00:10:26,640 --> 00:10:32,840 pay the AI platform, which then is just paying for the use of 164 00:10:32,840 --> 00:10:35,920 say, for example, Claude when it needs to. 165 00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:38,720 So it might change some of the payment modules we see too. 166 00:10:40,160 --> 00:10:45,040 So I hope you've learnt something about NCP and that 167 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:47,840 again stands for modular communication Protocol. 168 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:51,040 And that's going to change AI and I'll see you next week.