For years, organizations have been trapped in product silos. You sign an enterprise agreement, you standardize on one product, and you swear by it. There is nothing wrong with that. I used to believe the same thing, until I matured.
I’m not going to climb out on a limb and say that everyone who thinks differently is immature. But I will say this: choosing a single product and dying on that hill is a thing of the past. You have to choose the right tools, and for a consultant, that toolbox is always shifting.
Outcomes over products
In my experience, I’ve implemented many of the same processes across customers in very different verticals. I’ve been fortunate to accomplish a lot with their ERP and the Power Platform. But I’ve also come to understand, especially in the age of AI, that we have to be outcome focused.
If a point solution already handles a specific function, and it has an API, an MCP server, or writes to a SQL database, use it. Then let’s put our energy into the parts that Power Automate, a Logic App, or Copilot can handle.
And what if the answer isn’t Power Automate or any of those tools? Then ask the real question. What is your outcome? What are you driving toward, and what is the best vehicle to get you there? The destination is the same: profitability, efficiency, and fewer nights burning the midnight oil. The terrain just changes depending on the sector you’re in.
Trust me, when I realized I couldn’t Power Automate my way out of every problem, and I was introduced to outcome driven concepts like “jobs to be done”, it bothered me.
Be product agnostic
The best way to serve an outcome is to be product agnostic. That doesn’t mean abandoning my foundation. It means I’m willing to work toward the conclusion, and I don’t care how we get there, as long as we get there.
Pick the harness, not the hype
Throughout this AI race, the rhetoric has been about figuring out which “Bear is best.” For me, even though I’m deeply entrenched in Microsoft technologies, my workflow includes Anthropic. Microsoft, Notion, and Perplexity have all understood the same thing: they need to be a harness where these models can live and actually help the customer.
I use Notion every day to manage my tasks, projects, and everything in between. When they introduced Notion AI, and more recently Agents, I didn’t feel the need to switch between models, because my tasks don’t call for it. When I want a daily digest, or want to build my weekly status report from my various databases, I jump into Claude Cowork and use the Notion MCP server.
I stopped using ChatGPT, not because it’s a bad product, but because it no longer fit my workflow. I still have colleagues who hold the licensing and get plenty out of it.
Look, the point is this. Don’t bring a hammer to a job site that only needs a screwdriver. Every job is different. Select the best tools and deliver outcomes.