BA Bites - 10 Things You Need to Know About MCP (Modular Communication Protocol) and AI

What the heck is MCP and why should business leaders care? In this episode of BA Bites, we break down Modular Communication Protocol (MCP) — the quiet enabler behind smart factories, AI agents, robotics, and real-time automation.

MCP isn’t just tech jargon. It’s what allows machines, AI tools, and systems from different vendors to talk to each other — reliably, securely, and in real time. And it's reshaping the way businesses operate.

🔟 We explore 10 practical ways MCP is already being used in business:
✅ Real-time automation
✅ Plug-and-play AI systems
✅ Interoperability across vendors
✅ Bridging legacy systems with modern tools
✅ Building autonomous ecosystems

Whether you’re a Business Analyst, Product Owner, CTO, or just AI-curious — this is the protocol you didn’t know you needed to understand.

🎧 Listen now and get ahead of the curve.
📌 Better Business Analysis Institute | Hosted by Benjamen Walsh

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
So what is MCP? When you hear protocol, people's
eyes glaze over. But trust me, MCP or modular
communication protocol is one ofthe quiet enablers behind a lot
of next Gen. tech we're seeing today.
OK, and this is from IO, TS, robotics and AI.

(00:22):
And this is going to change AI. This particular protocol is a
MCP is a universal translator and command system.
OK, and it's, but it works between systems, devices, and AI
agents. So this is the next evolution.
It lets things talk to each other in a modular, standardized

(00:45):
way, even if they're built by different vendors for different
purposes. So in this episode, we're going
to explore 10 things MCP enablesin Business Today and why you
need to understand why it gives you the edge.
The Better Business Analysis Institute presence, the Better
Business Analysis podcast with Kinsman Walsh so #1 NCP enables

(01:15):
machine to machine collaboration.
So machines don't just talk, they collaborate in a smart
factory. NCP will allow a robotic arm and
a conveyor belt and a quality control camera to work together
seamlessly without being on the same platform.
So that's really important. So what that truly means is that

(01:38):
as these different companies aredeveloping their different smart
devices, think of a smart home if you've got it.
This protocol is common and is being adopted.
So it means that, for example, remember when you had the iPhone
plug and A wouldn't plug into your Android plug, and we had
USBB and we've got C and all of that.

(02:01):
And then there was different types of kind of connectors or
even protocols for communicatingagainst electronic devices.
This now makes it standard like Bluetooth, for example, or
wireless. And this is really, really
important #2 is it makes these AI agents that I've been

(02:22):
referring to Interoptable, OK? What that means is that
different AI tools can share tasks and data through MCP.
You have to step back to think about what that means.
And I'll, I'll lead you through an example.
An AI that generates, say, maintenance schedules, OK, can
pass commands via MCP to anotherAI agent that triggers alerts

(02:48):
and schedules technicians to visit.
There's no manual hand off needed.
So instead of having these tools, like maybe you use the
user interface of Gemini or Copilot, those two could talk to
one another. And it's not just you using
text. It means that images could fly
from that to say, some other tool that's enabled for MCP.

(03:11):
So if it was, for example, your smart home, the Gemini would be
able to talk to your smart home,OK?
What that enables? The reason we have this common
way of communicating, then that enables #3 which it means that
we can support modular system design.

(03:31):
So it's not just one monolithic,right?
It's modular winds. And that means that at the
moment, you've just got, if you use Claude, you're just using
Claude, OK? And if you're just using chat
TBT, you're just using chat TBT.But these are the also the
responsive agents that do more than just take in text.

(03:54):
A logistics firm can add a new AI driven routine in plug and
play different outcomes. It can plug in different
outcomes and say and, and use all that expanded ecosystem
regardless of which company has made it.
So #4 that means that MCP as thebridge between the legacy and

(04:19):
modern systems. So this is really important.
You don't just use the MCP to communicate with, for example,
between AI systems. A utility company could use it's
legacy, they're called SCADA. It's kind of a way of
communicating. So very hardware related to
communication and connect it to modern analytics.

(04:42):
So they can connect all these older systems and not throwing
them out because they won't be able to replace all hardware.
And it can now talk via MCP. And that is pretty damn
important terms about transition#5 it really enables real time
control and automation. So it will now allow AI to

(05:04):
communicate and actually take actions in real time.
So it can seems, for example, through MCP and AI could detect
something and it can send a command straight away to stop
something happening. Maybe changing a red light could
change the there was a car crashcould automatically activate a

(05:25):
sign that said there's a crash ahead, for example.
And it does that in such a way that it's all built in one
system. So it's all autonomous and it's
safety is built in. So that's really, really
important for modern workflows and it makes AI more tangible #6
is that NCP enables what's called Event driven

(05:48):
architecture. So that means if a business
event takes place, then the all the AI ecosystem can react
straight away based on that event using a common language,
using MCP, I'll give you an example here.
A sensor might detect temperature spike, right?

(06:09):
And let's just say it's cold storage, could be a nuclear
power plant. But in this case it's just
simply where cold goods are stored.
And MCP would send an alert to AI which triggers backup calling
and notifies the supervisor using different systems
regardless. So you're already using your
notification system, Slack maybeor whatever it is, SMS and

(06:33):
you're connecting this all through one platform.
Just drag and drive and, and youcould just do a trigger and say
when the temperature hits here, call this AI agent.
So it's, it's a kind of, I imagine if you thought of AUI
and there are some good tools out there that that allow you to
do this. You're literally dragging and
dropping these various agents and not just the agents you're
using NCP to now talk to them. You don't need to write any

(06:57):
complicated integration scripts #7 is it mates these multi
vendor systems work together. So one of the frustrations I was
talking to someone the other daywas that like, if you want to
watch TV show, you have to buy all the streaming products,
right? It sucks.
OK, So in the AI world, if you want to use all the best bits of

(07:20):
all the different AI agents, youkind of have to buy all of them,
right? Especially if you're like me and
you like to try what's what's new and what's evolving and they
will have their strengths and weaknesses.
But now there's no more vendor lock and drama.
So you could use devices, AI agents, but even in user devices

(07:40):
from 5 different vendors, a hospital could do that.
And because I'd be certified to do different things, right, not
every single one vendor will be graded everything.
And so NCP will allow painted devices, right, to work more
smoothly and share information with other lockdown systems #8

(08:03):
is it provides a structure for autonomous agents.
So an AI agent needs rules of engagement and MCP provides
them. If you had a fleet of delivery
Jones and they were dropping offpoints like they were drop off
points and it was going into kind of aerospace routes, then

(08:24):
it could share that across companies using MCP.
So I've sent an alert over so there weren't any crashes or
deliveries in the wrong place. And there's multi vendors.
That's really important. It's a language of AI, if you
like #9 is that it improves security and governance and the
communication. This is a standard structure.
It means better control, better logging.

(08:46):
And it means that things like bots could be used within
finance, for example, but it would track and audit and
validate what it's doing, which would remove the risk of kind of
a rogue automation. And #10 is it lays the
groundwork for autonomous business networks.

(09:06):
And this is where we're getting to with AI.
Think beyond organizations, think ecosystem automation.
So if one education provider could share it's information,
it's AI, it's insights across other education providers in a
Safeway, I'll give you an example of a manufacturer.
You might have a manufacturer, you might have a shipping

(09:27):
partner, and you might have a customs agent, right?
All in this ecosystem of delivering goods.
And if they all use MCP, they can automatically trigger
approvals and hand offs across the ecosystem.
Not just that within one organization, but literally
across the organization. In a Safeway, you start to get
the gains of the jobs to be done.

(09:49):
So MCP might be behind the scenes, but it's a game changer
and you need to know about it. So if you are hearing about MCP
at the moment or you, it's a notification that you're getting
on an AI agent, I've given you abit of an insight and read a bit
more about how that tool is enabling it.
There are actually some websitesnow we they will list all the

(10:11):
MCP enabled agents and you'll see lots of them.
And what that really means is they're all plug and play.
You can all connect them via viaa platform, yes.
And you might have to pay for some of them.
And it may even change the way we pay for AI because you might
pay the AI platform, which then is just paying for the use of

(10:32):
say, for example, Claude when itneeds to.
So it might change some of the payment modules we see too.
So I hope you've learnt something about NCP and that
again stands for modular communication Protocol.
And that's going to change AI and I'll see you next week.