Areti Iles
Technology Director - AI Business Solutions @ Telefonica Tech | Speaker | Mentor | User Group Leader | Microsoft MVP
Reading, United Kingdom
Actions
With 15+ years in the technology sector, Areti Iles is the Technology Director of the UK AI Business Solutions division of Microsoft Inner Circle Partner Telefonica Tech. Her role is focused on providing strategic technical leadership across AI Business Solutions with overall responsibility for shaping the Microsoft technology strategy, driving technical excellence and developing the technical capability required to support the continued growth of the business. Throughout her career as a Dynamics 365 and Power Platform consultant, solution architect and Head of Delivery, she has overseen and delivered a wide range of complex projects for FTSE 250 and FTSE 500 companies across multiple sectors.
Beyond her professional role, she actively volunteers within the Microsoft community and is a Business Applications Microsoft MVP. She serves on Microsoft’s Global User Groups Committee representing Europe, leads user groups within the UK and is on the organising committee of both the Scottish Summit and South Coast Summit conferences. Areti also co‑hosts the Power Delivery podcast and is a long-standing mentor for the Women in Power Platform group as well as an annual participant at the United Nations' Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).
Links
Badges
Area of Expertise
Topics
To ISV or Not to ISV: A Practical Decision Framework for Dynamics Partners and Customers
Knowing when to leverage an ISV, when to customise and when to stay standard has become a critical skill for successful implementations. As the Dynamics ecosystem continues to grow, customers have access to thousands of ISV solutions alongside increasingly powerful native Microsoft capabilities. At the same time, partners face pressure to deliver faster, reduce project risk and maximise long-term customer value. The wrong decision can lead to unnecessary complexity, increased costs, upgrade challenges and disappointed users. In this session, we'll share a practical decision-making framework that helps partners and customers evaluate their options with confidence.
Drawing on real-world experiences from both the partner and ISV perspectives, we'll walk through common business scenarios and the decision criteria that matter most. By attending this session, you'll learn:
- A repeatable framework for evaluating build vs buy decisions
- How to identify when an ISV solution delivers greater value than custom development
- The risks and trade-offs associated with each approach
- Questions every partner and customer should ask before making a technology decision
- Practical lessons learned from real Dynamics implementations
You'll leave with a clear methodology that can be applied immediately to future Dynamics 365 and Business Central projects, helping you make more informed decisions and deliver better business outcomes.
The Human Hack: Rebooting Consulting Culture
This isn’t about tools, templates, frameworks, or even just the latest AI technologies it’s about people and mindset. In this honest and practical session, we explore how as consultants and delivery leads, we can rediscover and develop better consulting cultures in a world obsessed with tools and delivery speed.
Expect a candid conversation as two seasoned leaders in the Microsoft consulting community are interviewed by a fellow highly experienced leader. The session will be filled with, stories, audience Q&A, and actionable advice you can put straight into action back on your projects and in your teams. Bring your questions and get involved.
You’ll leave with new ways to:
- Sharpen your critical thinking skills and learn how to ask the right questions to get to the true root of a problem.
- Build strong, trusting relationships with clients by encouraging open communication, curiosity, and teamwork.
- Make sure your work delivers clear, measurable business value by considering its impact on people, processes, and technology.
If you’ve ever felt like your work was technically perfect but somehow missed the mark, this session will show you why and how to fix it. Take away new ways to think, lead, and consult that make your engagements more rewarding, your impact more visible, and your career genuinely fulfilling.
AI is driving a significant shift in the consulting landscape, encouraging a heightened focus on tools, templates, and frameworks risking the loss of the human experience and mindset. Don’t let yourself drift into transactional delivery. Join us to reclaim the mission, rebuild the mindset, and become the kind of consultant the industry desperately needs.
AI Legislation: What You Need to Know
With AI legislation slowly being introduced and varying wildly from country to country, it is not easy to identify what you need to know about it when it comes to creating, using and managing Microsoft Business Applications and Power Platform solutions. Join this session to get an overview of:
• The current AI legislation, regulations and standards globally (EU AI Act, NIST AI Risk Management Framework, ISO/IEC)
• What current legislation means for the development and use of Microsoft solutions
• Microsoft tools available to monitor and ensure compliance (Foundry, Microsoft Purview and Microsoft Defender)
Being aware of the legislation requirements now will allow you to plan and have the right governance and controls in your tenant – and even beat the deadlines!
Directions EMEA 2026 Sessionize Event Upcoming
South Coast User Group User group Sessionize Event Upcoming
IIOM UK Member Meeting Upcoming
Scottish Summit 2026 Sessionize Event Upcoming
2026 Electronics Day EMS Europe Upcoming
London All Day D365PPUG - July 2026 Sessionize Event
European Power Platform Conference (EPPC26) Sessionize Event
Experts Live UK 2026 Sessionize Event
ColorCloud Hamburg 2026 Sessionize Event
London All Day D365PPUG - November 2025 Sessionize Event
London All Day D365PPUG - June 2025 Sessionize Event
Global Power Platform Bootcamp 2024 Aba, Nigeria Sessionize Event
Scottish Summit 2022 Sessionize Event
South Coast Summit 2021 Sessionize Event
Areti Iles
Technology Director - AI Business Solutions @ Telefonica Tech | Speaker | Mentor | User Group Leader | Microsoft MVP
Reading, United Kingdom
Links
Actions
Please note that Sessionize is not responsible for the accuracy or validity of the data provided by speakers. If you suspect this profile to be fake or spam, please let us know.
Jump to top