The AI Enthusiast — The Easy Button · Issue No. 07

02 — VENU POLAKI

The Easy Button for Enterprise IT

What if solving complex IT problems was as simple as pressing a button? AI Skills and MCP connections make this possible — turning multi-step manual processes into one-command solutions.

🔎

Diagnose

AI reads the ticket, pulls logs, checks systems — all in seconds

⚡

Resolve

Identifies root cause and suggests fixes based on historical patterns

📚

Learn

Captures knowledge from every incident, making the team smarter over time

“A skill solving our problems is like having an Easy Button.”

03 — VENU POLAKI

What is MCP?

Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open-source standard created by Anthropic that lets AI models securely connect to external data sources, tools, and APIs. Think of it as USB-C for AI — one universal connector instead of custom integrations for every system.

📂 Filesystem MCP

AI can read, write, and search files on your computer. “Read the CSV on my desktop and summarize it.”

🐙 GitHub MCP

AI can create PRs, search code, manage issues. “Create a PR for the bug fix on branch main.”

🗃 Database MCP

AI queries Postgres, MySQL, Oracle directly. “Show me all orders from the last 7 days with status pending.”

📧 Email MCP

AI reads and sends email through Apple Mail, Outlook, etc. “Find emails from Sarah about the Q1 report.”

MCP servers are always-on connectors that run as background processes. The AI calls them whenever it needs to interact with external systems.

04 — VENU POLAKI

What are Claude Skills?

Claude Skills are reusable, custom instruction sets — folders of text, code, and data — that teach Claude to perform specific tasks consistently. They turn a general-purpose AI into a specialist for your needs without re-explaining instructions every time.

🎫 /triage

Say “/triage 45678” and Claude looks up the ticket, checks related systems, and provides a diagnosis — all automatically.

📈 /storelookup

Say “/storelookup 4521” and Claude returns store details, device inventory, GPS coordinates, and open tickets.

🌅 /endofday

At end of day, Claude reviews your work, creates knowledge docs, and updates the team knowledge base automatically.

📸 /screenshot

Claude reads your latest screenshot, analyzes the content, and takes action — like reading error messages and suggesting fixes.

Skills are on-demand instructions invoked with slash commands. They load context dynamically and can chain together multiple MCP tools.

05 — VENU POLAKI

MCP vs Skills: What’s the Difference?

This is a common point of confusion. Here’s the simplest way to think about it:

🔌 MCP Server

The connection

✦ Always-on background process
✦ Connects to one external system
✦ Provides raw tools (query, read, write)
✦ Like a USB cable to a printer
✦ Configured in .mcp.json

⚡ Claude Skill

The workflow

✦ On-demand, invoked by slash command
✦ Orchestrates multiple tools & MCPs
✦ Contains domain knowledge & logic
✦ Like a print macro that formats & prints
✦ Lives in ~/.claude/skills/

Together: A ticket system MCP gives Claude the ability to read tickets. A triage skill tells Claude how to diagnose the ticket, which systems to check, and how to format the results.

06 — VENU POLAKI

MCP Architecture

How AI clients connect to enterprise systems through MCP:

Claude Codeor Claude Desktop

→

Your Machinelocalhost

→

MCP: Oracle SQL

MCP: New Relic

MCP: Filesystem

→

Oracle DB

New Relic API

Local Files

Each MCP server is a lightweight process on your machine. The AI client discovers available tools at startup and calls them as needed. All communication stays local — your data never leaves your network.

07 — VENU POLAKI

Building Your Own MCP Server

Any developer can create an MCP server. The protocol is open-source and well-documented.

Quick Start (Python)

pip install fastmcp

# server.py
from fastmcp import FastMCP

mcp = FastMCP("my-server")

@mcp.tool()
def query_database(sql: str):
    """Run a SQL query"""
    return db.execute(sql)

mcp.run()

Configure in .mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my-database": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["server.py"],
      "env": {
        "DB_HOST": "oracle-prod"
      }
    }
  }
}

🐍 Python — FastMCP

📦 TypeScript — @modelcontextprotocol/sdk

🦀 Rust / Go

☕ Java / C#

08 — VENU POLAKI

Most Popular MCP Servers

Open-source ecosystem • GitHub stars as of March 2026

#	Server	Stars	Description
1	awesome-mcp-servers	83.7k	Curated directory of all MCP servers
2	modelcontextprotocol/servers	81.7k	Official reference servers by Anthropic
3	microsoft/playwright-mcp	29.4k	Browser automation by Microsoft
4	github/github-mcp-server	28.1k	GitHub’s official MCP server
5	PrefectHQ/fastmcp	23.9k	Python framework for building MCP servers
6	GLips/Figma-Context-MCP	13.8k	Figma design data for AI coding
7	googleapis/genai-toolbox	13.5k	Google’s multi-database MCP toolbox
8	hangwin/mcp-chrome	10.9k	Chrome browser control from AI

The MCP ecosystem has grown to 12,000+ servers in under 18 months.

09 — VENU POLAKI

MCP Server: New Relic

Connecting AI to application performance monitoring:

Configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "newrelic": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y",
        "@newrelic/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "NEW_RELIC_API_KEY":
          "$NR_API_KEY",
        "NEW_RELIC_ACCOUNT_ID":
          "$NR_ACCOUNT"
      }
    }
  }
}

What You Can Do

📈 NRQL Queries
“Show average response time for checkout-service over the last hour”

🚨 Alert Analysis
“What alerts fired in the last 24 hours?”

🔎 APM Deep Dive
“Find the slowest transactions in payment-api”

📈 Trend Detection
“Compare error rates this week vs last week”

10 — VENU POLAKI

Setting Up a Claude Skill

Three files in a folder — that’s all it takes.

📁 Folder Structure

~/.claude/skills/
├── triage/
│   └── SKILL.md
├── storelookup/
│   └── SKILL.md
├── endofday/
│   └── SKILL.md
└── screenshot/
    └── SKILL.md

📄 SKILL.md Example

---
name: triage
description: AI-powered ticket
  diagnostics and system checks
trigger: "triage ticket",
  "diagnose incident"
---

# Triage Skill

When invoked with a ticket ID:
1. Look up ticket via HDA MCP
2. Parse the issue description
3. Check New Relic for anomalies
4. Check Splunk for related logs
5. Cross-reference known issues
6. Provide diagnosis + next steps

11 — VENU POLAKI

Available Skills Library

Built-in Skills

docxCreate, read, edit Word documents

pdfRead, merge, split, OCR PDFs

pptxCreate and parse PowerPoint decks

xlsxOpen, read, edit spreadsheets

frontend-designProduction-grade web UI components

presentHTML slide deck generator

claude-apiBuild apps with Claude API

Template Skills

skill-creatorCreate & optimize skills

mcp-builderBuild MCP server integrations

brand-guidelinesBrand consistency tooling

internal-commsInternal communication drafting

web-artifactsBuild web-based artifacts

12 — VENU POLAKI

EASY The Triage Skill: Instant Ticket Diagnosis

One command replaces a manual process that takes engineers through multiple systems and screens.

❌ Before (Manual)

Log into ticket system
Search for ticket number
Read through pages of detail
Open New Relic in another tab
Search for related app
Check Splunk for logs
Cross-reference manually
Form a hypothesis

⏱ 15–30 minutes per ticket

✅ After (Triage Skill)

> /triage 45678

Ticket #45678 — Store Terminal Offline
Store: Location 5-8852, Dublin
Reported: 2 hours ago

Diagnosis:
Network switch showing intermittent
packet loss (12%) since 14:30 UTC.
Correlates with New Relic alert #NR-7821.

Recommended Action:
Restart network switch port 24.

⏱ 30 seconds, fully automated

13 — VENU POLAKI

The ROI: Even Small Savings Compound

Just automating the ticket lookup step — before any diagnosis — already saves significant time.

📐 The Calculation

Ticket lookups per day2

Time per manual lookup~2 min

Working days per year260

Time saved per person/year~17 hours

Team of 20 engineers~340 hours

340 hrs/year

That’s 8.5 work weeks returned to the team — from one simple automation

Beyond Time
Reduced context switching • Fewer login frustrations • Instant access to structured data

Conservative estimate — login (15s) + search (30s) + navigate (15s) + scroll/read (60s) = ~2 min per lookup

14 — VENU POLAKI

EASY Service Resolution Toolkit (SRT)

The Easy Button for Major Incidents

When a major incident impacts hundreds of users, the SRT skill scans multiple systems simultaneously to identify the root cause — what would take a team of engineers hours of manual investigation.

🔎

Scan

Queries New Relic, Splunk, databases, and monitoring tools simultaneously

📈

Correlate

Cross-references performance trends, error spikes, and infrastructure changes

🎯

Pinpoint

Identifies root cause and provides actionable remediation steps

Cutting diagnosis time from 45 minutes to 5 minutes during a major incident doesn’t just save engineer time — it directly protects revenue.

15 — VENU POLAKI

Language is No Barrier

LLMs don’t care what language a ticket is written in. The triage skill translates the full detail — not just a partial summary you might get from a person in the middle.

🇮🇹 Ticket in Italian

“Il terminale nel negozio di Milano non riesce a completare le transazioni. L’errore si verifica dopo le 15:00 e sembra essere correlato alla connessione di rete...”

🌐 Triage Output (English)

Summary: Store terminal in Milan failing transactions after 3 PM. Network connectivity appears to be the root cause.

Full Context: Complete ticket detail preserved, not summarized. All technical specifics, timestamps, and error codes translated accurately.

🇫🇷 French

🇩🇪 German

🇪🇸 Spanish

🇵🇹 Portuguese

🇹🇷 Turkish

🇨🇳 Chinese

🇯🇵 Japanese

16 — IRV CASSIO

AI-Powered Device Validation

Claude analyzed 47 tablet screenshots across 10 devices and compiled a comprehensive validation report — including issue analysis and action items.

Report Output

Devices Tested10

✅ Fully Updated5

⚠ Partially Updated2

❌ Update Failed3

Screenshots Analyzed47

What Claude Did

Read 47 screenshots via vision
Identified device serial numbers
Checked firmware versions
Compared against target versions
Classified update status
Analyzed error messages
Identified root causes
Generated structured report
Created action items per store

Manual: ~3 hours → With AI: ~5 minutes

17 — IRV CASSIO

Claude in Chrome: The AI Negotiator

A user let Claude’s Chrome extension take over an AT&T support chat. The result? A $100 billing credit — fully autonomously.

How It Worked

User opened AT&T support chat
Told Claude: “I need a refund for the outage”
Claude took over the chat entirely
Escalated politely, cited service terms
Handled repetitive responses patiently
Secured a $100+ credit
Also prepared an FCC complaint as backup

Why AI Wins Here

✦ Never loses patience with repetitive responses
✦ Stays on-message through long negotiations
✦ No emotional concessions under pressure
✦ Can prepare legal escalation simultaneously

Enterprise Parallels

The same Claude Chrome extension can interact with vendor portals, internal dashboards, and web-based tools — extending AI to any browser-based system.

Source: Nate B. Jones, March 2026

18 — VENU POLAKI & JOE SIEGMANN

The End-of-Day Knowledge Skill

Inspired by Joe Siegmann’s idea — AI reviews your day’s work and auto-generates knowledge that makes skills smarter and humans more informed.

📝

Review

Claude reviews all work performed: tickets resolved, code committed, issues investigated

🧠

Capture

Creates structured markdown knowledge files: patterns found, solutions that worked

🔄

Compound

Skills continuously learn. Tomorrow’s triage is smarter because of today’s resolutions.

The Flywheel Effect: Every incident resolved creates knowledge → knowledge improves skills → skills resolve incidents faster → engineers have more time for complex work → more knowledge captured. The system gets smarter every day.

19 — IRV CASSIO

Learn & Get Certified

Anthropic launched free courses and its first technical certification in March 2026.

🎓 Anthropic Academy

Free, self-paced courses with certificates. 15 courses across three tracks:

Developer: Claude Code in Action • Claude API • Intro to MCP • MCP Advanced • Agent Skills • Subagents

Product: Claude 101 • Cowork • Bedrock • Vertex AI

AI Fluency: Framework & Foundations • Educators • Students • Nonprofits

🏆 Claude Certified Architect (CCA)

Anthropic’s first official technical certification — proctored, architecture-level exam.

✦ 60 proctored questions
✦ No external tools or AI allowed
✦ Scored on 1,000-point scale
✦ Free for first 5,000 partner employees

5 Competency Domains

1. Agentic Architecture (27%)
2. Claude Code Workflows (20%)
3. Prompt Engineering (20%)
4. API & Tool Use (18%)
5. Safety & Governance (15%)

20 — IRV CASSIO

NVIDIA NemoClaw & OpenClaw

Announced at GTC 2026, NVIDIA’s NemoClaw brings enterprise-grade security to autonomous AI agents — what Jensen Huang calls “the new Linux.”

🌐 OpenClaw

The fastest-growing open-source project in history (247K+ GitHub stars). An open platform for autonomous AI agents that can self-evolve, learn, and take action.

✦ Open-source agent framework
✦ Community-driven development
✦ “Every company needs a strategy for it” — Jensen Huang

🔒 NemoClaw (Enterprise)

NVIDIA’s enterprise layer on top of OpenClaw. Adds sandboxed environments, policy-based guardrails for network access, data privacy, and security.

✦ One-command install via OpenShell
✦ Privacy & security guardrails built in
✦ Runs on DGX Station, DGX Spark, or any GPU

What This Means: Imagine always-on AI agents running locally in your data center — monitoring systems, triaging incidents, and resolving issues 24/7 with enterprise-grade security. The skills and MCP patterns we’re building today are the foundation for this future.

21

Next Steps

Key priorities for the upcoming quarter:

1 Reduce Costs

Explore local LLM options to reduce API costs. Evaluate GitHub Copilot licensing for developer productivity gains.

2 Role-Based Access

Implement proper role-based access controls to meet security and compliance requirements across all AI tools.

3 Training & Testing

Schedule more hands-on training sessions for the team. Establish thorough testing cycles before production rollouts.

4 Expand Skill Library

Identify and develop additional use cases. Expand skill library and knowledge base for broader coverage.

EASY

The Easy Button is already here. Press it.