Shawn Dorward
AI & Dynamics Enthusiast | Microsoft MVP | World's Okayest Shawn
Columbia, South Carolina, United States
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Shawn Dorward is the Chief Operating Office at Innovia Consulting and a seasoned business and technology leader with over 25 years of experience in ERP and CRM implementations. His expertise spans a wide range of industries and organizations—from small family-owned businesses to complex global deployments—driving digital transformation and delivering measurable business value.
Recognized as a 10-time Microsoft MVP for Business Applications, Shawn is deeply passionate about helping businesses maximize efficiency and ROI through strategic use of technology. His dedication to the Microsoft Dynamics community is evident in his frequent speaking engagements at user groups, conferences, and online events across the U.S.
Shawn shares practical insights and productivity tips through his popular blog www.LifeHacks365.com, covering Dynamics 365 (including Dynamics GP and Business Central) and Office 365 tools like Excel and Outlook.
Embracing the next wave of innovation, Shawn is currently exploring the power of AI and Microsoft Copilot. Through his platform www.TheWorldsOkayestShawn.com, he documents his journey with podcasts, blog posts, and life hacks—all designed to help others save time, increase efficiency, and navigate their own Copilot adventures.
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Allyship in Action: How Men Can Champion Women in the Microsoft Dynamics Channel
The Microsoft Dynamics ecosystem thrives on innovation, collaboration, and community, yet gender imbalance remains a persistent challenge across roles and leadership levels. This interactive panel invites leaders, partners, and peers to take an active role in fostering inclusion and equity for women in our channel.
Through real examples, data, and open dialogue, participants will explore how men can become authentic allies by amplifying women’s voices, challenging bias, and creating equitable pathways for growth. Attendees will walk away with practical strategies to build more inclusive teams, sponsor women into leadership, and strengthen company culture across the Dynamics community.
This is not just a conversation for women. It is a call to action for everyone who wants to make the Microsoft partner ecosystem more representative, innovative, and fair.
Learning Objectives
1. Understand the Role of Allyship: Learn what meaningful male allyship looks like in technology and the Microsoft Dynamics channel.
2. Identify Barriers to Inclusion: Recognize common challenges women face in the channel and how workplace systems can unintentionally reinforce bias.
3. Take Action: Gain practical tools and behaviors to advocate for equity, including inclusive hiring, mentorship, and amplifying women’s contributions in daily interactions.
Adding AI in your Dynamics Practice - A Roundtable with a Twist!
Join me for this session to discuss adding AI into your existing Dynamics Practice. I will have 2 guests join me as well as a special 3rd guest... AI!! That's right! I will provide context and background to the session and have the audio on and we will call on AI for feedback throughout. Will it make sense? I don't know. Will it add value. I don't know. Will it be fun? Yes, and will we take away real value from each other, absolutely.
10 Things You Can Start Doing Today to Save Time in BC!
TEN cool things you can do today to save time in your BC system - This session will cover key financial areas tips and tricks that end users just aren't aware of!
The Self-Healing ERP: Using AI to Find and Fix Business Central Exceptions
What if Business Central could recognize when something is wrong, determine why it happened, and help fix it before the issue spreads?
In this forward-looking session, we’ll explore the concept of a self-healing ERP. You’ll see how intelligent business applications can monitor operations, investigate anomalies, recommend action, and create a path toward more autonomous processes without sacrificing control, trust, or human oversight.
Join us to hear more about how reimaging what ERP can do when it begins to understand the business around it. And yes, we will see some of this in action!!
Before the Money Moves: Using AI and Business Central to Detect Financial Fraud
Fraud rarely looks suspicious at first. It may appear as a legitimate vendor, an approved invoice, or a routine bank account change. In this technical deep dive, attendees will see how Dynamics 365 Business Central, Power Automate, and AI can work together to identify unusual vendor and payment activity before funds are released.
Using a realistic fraud scenario, the session will demonstrate how organizations can monitor bank account changes, detect abnormal payment patterns, generate an AI-supported risk summary, pause high-risk transactions, and route them for independent verification. Attendees will also learn where native Business Central controls help, where additional automation is needed, and how to design an auditable, human-reviewed fraud prevention process without slowing everyday operations.
The AI-Ready Business: Reimagining How Companies Operate with Business Central
Most organizations are experimenting with AI, but very few have redesigned the way their business actually operates around it. The real opportunity is not adding another Copilot button to an existing process. It is rethinking how decisions are made, how exceptions are handled, and how work moves across finance, sales, supply chain, manufacturing, and service.
In this session, Shawn Dorward will demonstrate how Dynamics 365 Business Central can become the operational foundation of an AI-ready organization. Through practical business scenarios, attendees will see how ERP data, Microsoft 365 Copilot, agents, automation, analytics, and human judgment can work together to identify risks, recommend actions, and improve business outcomes.
This is not a technical build session or an AI product tour. It is a practical guide for business and technology leaders who want to move from isolated AI experiments to an operating model that is more predictive, proactive, and intelligent.
(VIBE 2.0) Monthly Support Plans: Best Practices, Pitfalls, and How to Get Started
Monthly support plans (managed services) are quickly becoming the default model for ERP and business applications, but they’re not right for every organization. Choosing the wrong approach can lead to wasted spend, misaligned expectations, and missed value.
This session explores why it’s critical to evaluate whether this model fits your business, along with real-world best practices, common pitfalls, and how to get started. You’ll learn how to structure and price plans effectively, align support to outcomes, and avoid costly mistakes, so you can make smarter, more strategic decisions.
Partner Vibe 2.0 Sessionize Event Upcoming
Shawn Dorward
AI & Dynamics Enthusiast | Microsoft MVP | World's Okayest Shawn
Columbia, South Carolina, United States
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