The Multifaceted Life of Mahender Pal: Tech Consultant, Author, Family Man

Mark Smith: 0:37
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 all the way from India. He's the principal consultant at Himbap. He was first awarded his MVP in 2010. So a long, long time ago. He's authored three books on Dynamics 365 in the CRMCE space. He has implemented Dynamics CRM for various domains like pharma, media, insurance, automobile and education. You can find full links to his bio, social media resources, etc. In the show notes for this episode, so check that out. Welcome to the show, Mahender.

Mahender Pal: 1:38
Thank you. Thank you, Smith. Thank you very much for having me on your show.

Mark Smith: 1:44
It's good to have you on here. My first question is you've been an MVP since 2010. That's a heck of a long time.

Mahender Pal: 1:53
Yeah, so basically I started around 2007. I got opportunity to work in a technology company so in August 2007,. I joined as aNET and GP developer. Great plans we used to have the great plans for it. So I was good at that time in NET and they hired me to be part of the GP team and work on theNET as well. And luckily, like in 2000, I was a guest, I joined and there was no project on GP side. In 2007, gone and now 2008 came Again, there was no GP project where they can apply me as a resource. So luckily, that time we had CRM practice there and at time there was CRM 3.0. And we got a project where company wanted to implement the duplicate detection. So that time there was no duplicate detection in CRM 3.0. And because I was good in NET, they said that, okay, just like using as aNET resource to build these web pages.

Mark Smith: 2:56
And there was another resource, one of my friend. He was working as a CRM consultant.

Mahender Pal: 3:00
So we both started working on that project and that was my first interaction with Dynamics CRM. So that I feel connected, like because I was from the NET and everything that we do from the technical side is basically related to scripting and that's from the NET side only. So that I felt like connected on that. And then I started taking interest in CRM and they provided some functional training of this Dynamics that like sales module, marketing module and service module. So that's how my journey started with Dynamics CRM. But this company was not that big so we were not getting that much project, so there was no chance for learning new things. So then time started passing. So one day I was working on something and I found a link for the Dynamics forum and that was my first interaction. I saw that, okay, what is this? So I saw there was lots of questions and everybody was posting their questions that they are trying to do this that's not working and how to do this. So I feel like, okay, there is a chance to get problems from there and try to do it my own so that I can learn something. So let's learn from other mistakes or let's learn from other requirement if we are not getting any requirement. So then around 2008, I started participating in forum and it was I was like I was spending so much time on that that, in you know, around 2010 August, I got email from Jim Glass and he said that you're very good, you know, actively involving in the community and working lots of you know forum on that, so are you interested for the 10PP program? And I was like you know. So I said yes, of course, and he you know that I was. I was not writing any blog post, so he has, so you should also write some blog post and in August I created my blog and I started working on that and in 2010, october, I got that wonderful email from Microsoft and I got a chance to become first MVP from India for dynamics.

Mark Smith: 5:16
Wow, I didn't realize that you were the first one yes, first MVP from CRM, you know yeah yeah, yeah.

Mahender Pal: 5:25
So then, like it's like 2007, and then they started in 2010, I got my first MVP that's.

Mark Smith: 5:32
That's. That's brilliant, because I'm just trying to think when was the first dynamics CRM MVPs awarded? What year was it? What was the very first year? Because I was awarded in 2012 and I know that you know David Yack, for example. He was already an MVP, but in another technology area, and he transferred. But I wonder which year was the very first year of a, the first business application MVP, whether that be in the ERP or the CRM site?

Mahender Pal: 6:05
I wonder what year it was yeah, I'm sorry, I don't know that because I'm not sure if it was 2009 2008.

Mark Smith: 6:14
I might have to ask David Yack. I might have to flick him a message after this and see what that situation was. I've never thought about it. Anyhow, tell me a bit about what you do when you're not doing Microsoft stuff. You know what's fun for you.

Mahender Pal: 6:33
Tell me a bit about your family and the best thing to eat where you live yeah, so basically I am, you know, from the Himachal, you know state, if you know that in India we have a Himachal, that land of ice, so I'm basically from there, but right now I'm, you know, staying in the Delhi NCR, so it's Haryana, sonipath. So there I stay with my family. So my I'm not working on the technology. I like to travel different, different places, you know. I like to try different food and I like to cook. So, like you know, that type of thing I do like. But traveling I, whenever I get chance, like you know, I take my car and my family and we go somewhere, you know, to meet somebody or switch it some place. So that's right.

Mark Smith: 7:19
Now you've written a lot of books three books now. You know I'd blow my mind to write one book, but you've written three. That's pretty phenomenal. How's how you know how come you haven't retired yet? Doesn't not make you a millionaire on writing all those tech books.

Mahender Pal: 7:40
But you're correct, like you know, especially it's it's very difficult for a family person because you have a small Possibilities for your families. You have kids. So when I started working my first book in 2012 that 2011 version I wrote my book. That time my kid was small, so you know they were not you know much I'm directing, like Distributing me or you know so that kind thing was there. But after that, when I, you know, wrote my second book and third book that time they were, you know it was I was feeling like you know, I had to spend a lot of time writing on these books, especially if you're any single author, right, so it's very Like you're not spending time your kids and all the weekends you are spending on writing chapters and you know so they take a lot of efforts. So that's that's how it went. And I also got, you know, other Opportunities to write the book, but now I have limited that, so I don't take any opportunity now. So, whenever, especially if they will ask, like you know, if I want to write it as a single author, so I just prefer them that if there is another that I can take part and you know we can write Actively, but it's very difficult for a family person. You know, Do that.

Mark Smith: 8:54
It's a lot of work. It's a lot of work, right, and you obviously enjoyed writing, though, because you did it three times, like one. I can understand. Like you know, you make a big career goal. You decide how. I'm gonna write a book, yeah, but what was your thinking around writing the second book? You know, did you feel that? Well, like did it last time. I know how I do it better. What were your thoughts around book number two?

Mahender Pal: 9:21
Yeah, so actually you know the first, let me give you the first thing, like why I wrote my first book was that you know that there was already very, very good Books available in the market and there was like but when I used to read them, I feel like some of the books were very hard to, you know, understand, like their language was very not a easy language. So, like you know, it was very difficult some some sentence were very difficult and they were not very you know. You know it's not easy to understand. So that was the idea. I thought that let me try to make it simple and write something in a very simple language so that you know who is reading a fresher is when it reading it. Then they can read it very, you know, simply and they can understand it very quickly. So that was the first thing. And when I saw that response on the first book and it was good response, like I was getting you know feedback from my you know readers and emails and then it then I got another book chance and then I said, okay, let's try with the new version and let's add some more Capability to books and because I worked on the same concept, so it was basically how to use Dynamics, you know, crm, a XRM platform, to build different domain application. So that was the main you know idea for the books and my whole three books are basically kind of you know, surrounding all the same idea. So that was the reason that, you know, I just tried to make it simple as much as I can do, so that that was a whole idea for writing them?

Mark Smith: 10:51
How did? How did you find the, the promotional efforts of packet? I take it you're pet with packet the whole time as your publisher.

Mahender Pal: 11:00
Yes, yes, they are there.

Mark Smith: 11:02
How well is their Promotion ecosystem, like, how well did they get your book out in front of the audiences Around the globe? Because and the reason I ask you this is because you've been publishing books before Amazon, you know, had the Kindle out there before that became so you're back when the big thick books right that that would sit on your, your shelf. How did, how did you find them? Getting there? That packet got those out into the global you know, bookstores and things like that and really got that exposure.

Mahender Pal: 11:40
Yeah, no, I think they did very well all the marketing things and they started with the initial, you know, just like sending email to that all the you know Industry experts to provide their view on the different Janets, like on the packet website, and they also all most of that. Mike, this, like whoever any website which are selling Microsoft books that they have published everywhere and they, they, they are basically doing lots of marketing activities and running that you know campaigns, where they, you know, sent bulk emails to that different users that these are the books and you do want to Try, and they also offer some kind of ebooks on that you know Some less price so that you can check that. Okay, how this book is that? Then maybe you can go for the paper book. So I think, from what I think, that they have done very good marketing and to make it, you know, this book I'm labeling for globally because I, when I see in the different website, I see the comments from the users and they are from the different you know space.

Mark Smith: 12:43
So that's, I think they did a good Marketing on the good if you look at the work that you do today as opposed to the work You're doing. Ten years ago in the space and and you know you said your books are focused around XRM story You've seen Microsoft separate I what we now call data first off from the, the, the premium app player of dynamics. Are you finding you're building more solutions like I'm talking about, even model driven apps, built directly on Data first, rather than building with the first party skew like a dynamics? You know, in the old days, right when we did the next rm solution would take dynamics rm and we would turn it into another thing. Right, we turn it into a, you know, a first aid management system. We turn it into a dog training. You know, guide dog training solution would turn it into, you know, a tool to track I'm stolen cars for police agencies. You know we do. It would turn it into all sorts of things. Now we don't have to do that, right, we can. We can grab the data verse. We can build any app. The type of work you're doing all the time nowadays is it much more that you're just building custom applications directly on data verse for customers.

Mahender Pal: 14:01
Yeah, so we do both type of you know customer decision and type of you know it depends on, basically, you know how, what is the requirement right? So sometimes, basically they want to, the customers are using you know like, for example, if they are working on that you know, field service and so they want to utilize the field service First party app, and sometimes they want to utilize the first party apps only. But if that's totally custom and that's not a traditional sales purchase things, then we start from the model river apps. For example, you know, maybe You're building some app for that pharmaceutical right and you have lots of Custom entity that need to be built and no, no up of the box and they are not using any up of the box entity. They are not using any traditional you know Sales service or marketing life cycle, so they have their own. We need to build our own custom life cycle for them based on their requirement. Then we start from the model river. So that's what we are most of our requirement that we are getting from that only so, for example, you know cleaning service app, you know that Looking for that of physician, nearest physician app, so these type of apps we are getting so Like working with that. You know email parsing using the AI, so you know getting like bidding emails, a parsing email, so that kind of work differently. Yes, now we got where and it's easy. Actually, you know, when we go with the model river app, it's easy from to build it as well as you get support from the out of the box so you know what platform provides, so you don't need to go to that core level and build from the scratch, right, so out of the box things are there. And licensing parties also easy, right. So if you go to first party of the lessons is very costly compared to the model river, so that that's basically starting something from $5, $10, right, so that's that's easy there. But now still sometime there they're kind of the dependency. You know, sometime, knowingly or unknowingly, sometime customers build something. They are all and they, you know in track, combine the both if they're custom entity and the first party, and which introduce some kind of dependency and when they are deploying the solution and that require, okay, we need this entity and that's not present and that's so you some fear. So that's kind of things still there sometime.

Mark Smith: 16:23
Have you looked much into AI lately?

Mahender Pal: 16:26
Yeah, so we recently we have done two projects and where we have utilized that AI capabilities. So, as I said, like we recently, we done one project for our US customers where we've got on the bidding emails. So we were, you know, the requirement was to get the email and pass the contents of the email and identifies. You know there was some core data set that we need to identify and put it on that different entity. So that was utilize AI and that that basically the email was unstructured email. So that was a different thing Because if it's easy, you know it's structured, it's easy that you have that you know model that you can utilize and get the data from there. But in our case it was totally unstructured. So we utilize two, three models there and work on that and build that model driver app as well as canvas app to you know, so that they can use on the mobile device and tablet device to work that.

Mark Smith: 17:19
Yeah, very good, very good. My final question for you is You've been in MVP for a heck of a long time. What's what brings you the most joy in being an MVP?

Mahender Pal: 17:35
This thing like what I will say, that you, you are known globally, right. So I was working, like you know, technology space and I was writing that Sajjwal that also you know, I introduce you globally, but in the MVP has their, it has its own space, right. So now globally they know that, yes, there is a person you sitting on the India and that you know represent and because when I was in company I know we used to hear, like you know, this whenever you have a MVP resource in your company there is a different. you know what?

Mark Smith: 18:11
do you say like?

Mahender Pal: 18:13
They treated a different, like MVP, and when you go to any office. I remember I, you know, and I was in Australia, so I went on the client side and they were I. When, I you know, first day I went there, everybody was so excited that that MVP is coming here for the review that project and that was, you know, great feeling that you know. So that that's, that's different.

Mark Smith: 18:36
Very cool. Is this? Where is this when you're working at SMS management technology? Yes, yes, because I didn't realize that, because that I set up that practice there and huge you. I left in February 2017 and I think you joined in December 2017, right?

Mahender Pal: 18:53
Yes, I miss that part and I was like oh yes, I wish that.

Mark Smith: 18:59
You missed the exciting build for the three-year build experience that was was amazing fun times. Yes in Atlanta. Sorry, no, no, an Atlanta campus, right yeah we've been in the Atlanta campus here. I don't even know that Microsoft has the Atlanta campus anymore. I think they've. They've left the building right, they've moved all over to main campus now, oh, oh, the the biceps team. So so I don't think we'll ever visit that building again. Aventa A and Aventa B back in the day. It's a long time ago. It's 10 years ago. Crazy, crazy, crazy. Mahender, it's been great talking to you. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Same here, same here. Thank you very much for having me on the set. Hey, thanks for listening On 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.