2025 was one of those years where everything connected.
What started as curiosity around AI, integration patterns, and platform thinking turned into a year of writing, speaking, learning, and giving back to the Azure Integration community — across blogs, podcasts, meetups, and conferences.
This post is a personal reflection on what I contributed in 2025, what I learned along the way, and why I believe integration is entering its most interesting phase yet.
2025 was not only significant professionally — it was personally transformative.
Midway through the year, I made a major transition:
I left Shell and India, where I had been working as a Senior Solution Architect, and relocated to the Netherlands.
Relocating countries brings perspective.
It forces you to rethink assumptions — not just about life, but also about how organizations operate, collaborate, and build technology at scale.
Shortly after the move, I joined i8c, where I currently work as a Solution Architect, contributing to large-scale integration initiatives for Mercedes-Benz.
Writing: Turning Experience into Shared Knowledge
AzureIntegrationService.com — Deep Dives & Architecture Thinking
My personal blog continued to be the place where I go deep — beyond announcements — and connect dots between architecture, patterns, and real-world implementation.
In 2025, I published content across three main themes:
AI + Azure Logic Apps
- How Azure Logic Apps is evolving into an AI orchestration backbone
- Build 2025 announcements explained from an architect’s perspective
- Agent Loop patterns, deterministic workflows + probabilistic AI
Enterprise Integration Patterns (EIP) with Azure
- A complete multi-part series reimagining classic EIPs using modern Azure services
- Messaging, routing, transformation, reliability, monitoring, and error handling
- Practical mapping to Logic Apps, Service Bus, API Management, Event Grid, and Functions
Community & Ecosystem
- Podcast recap and reflections on the future of integration
- Microsoft community and recognition programs explained for practitioners
The goal was simple:
Create content I wish I had when designing large integration platforms.
i8c.nl — Customer-Focused Integration Stories
In parallel, I also contributed Azure Integration–focused blogs for i8c.nl, where the emphasis shifts from theory to customer impact.
In 2025, my i8c blogs focused on:
- AI-powered automation with Azure Logic Apps
Exploring how Logic Apps, AI, and enterprise governance come together in practical scenarios. - Hybrid integration with Logic Apps Standard and Azure Arc
Demonstrating how on-premises systems and cloud services can coexist in a single integration platform.
These posts reflect the same architectural principles I write about personally — but grounded in customer realities, constraints, and outcomes.
Speaking: From Blog Posts to Live Conversations
Writing is powerful, but nothing compares to live conversations with the community.
In 2025, I had the opportunity to speak at multiple community and customer events across the Netherlands and Belgium.
Community & User Group Talks
- Microsoft Integration User Group (MIUG.be) — June 2025
Speaking with the Belgian integration community on the future of Azure Integration Services. - AZUG.be (Azure User Group Belgium) — September 2025
A deep dive into modern Azure integration architecture and platform thinking. - Azure Heroes Netherlands (Rubicon) — September 2025
Session on The Future of Azure Integration Services, discussing AI, event-driven architecture, and platform governance. - MIUG.nl (Netherlands) — November 2025
From Workflows to MCP Servers: Supercharging Logic Apps with Model Context Protocol
Exploring how Logic Apps fits into the emerging AI agent ecosystem.
Customer & Academic Sessions
- Customer Round Table: Azure Integration Services and the Future of Integration
A focused discussion with customers and peers on where integration is heading. - Technical University Session (Belgium) — October 2025
Guest lecture on Azure integration, architecture evolution, and industry trends.
Each session reinforced one thing for me:
The challenges are shared — and so should be the solutions.
Podcast: Conversations That Go Beyond Slides
One of the highlights of the year was participating in a two-part podcast series:
“The Future of Integration with Kent Weare” (Part 1 & Part 2)
These conversations went beyond tooling:
- Why integration is foundational for AI
- The reality of hybrid landscapes
- Lessons from BizTalk migrations to modern Azure platforms
- Where integration architects should focus next
Long-form conversations like this are where nuance lives — and I thoroughly enjoyed contributing.
LinkedIn & Community Visibility
Throughout the year, LinkedIn became an extension of my blog and talks:
- Sharing blog posts and architectural insights
- Promoting community events and meetups
- Reflecting on Build announcements and industry shifts
More importantly, LinkedIn enabled dialogue — comments, questions, and follow-up discussions that often led to new ideas and future topics.
Sessionize: A Living Speaker Profile
While most of my 2025 sessions were organized directly via communities and partners, my Sessionize profile continues to act as a catalogue of my recurring themes:
- Azure integration architecture
- Governance and platform design
- Event-driven and cloud-native patterns
It’s less about the tool itself and more about keeping ideas accessible and reusable across communities.
What 2025 Reinforced for Me
If I had to summarize the year in a few takeaways:
- Integration is no longer “plumbing”
It is the backbone of AI, automation, and digital platforms. - Community learning scales better than solo expertise
Talks, blogs, and discussions accelerate everyone. - Clarity beats complexity
Whether writing or speaking, simplifying integration concepts creates real impact. - The best ideas emerge at intersections
AI + workflows, rules + agents, cloud + on-prem — that’s where innovation happens.
Looking Ahead
I’m grateful for everyone who:
- Read a blog post
- Attended a session
- Asked a tough question
- Shared feedback or challenged an assumption
2025 was about contributing consistently.
The next chapter is about going deeper, especially around AI-driven integration platforms and real-world adoption.
If you’re building, migrating, or rethinking your integration landscape — the conversation is just getting started.
