Getting Hands-On with MCP & Anthropic’s AI Economic Index | 80

Send us Fan MailIn this episode of Sidecar Sync, hosts Mallory Mejias and Amith Nagarajan take a deep dive into Model Context Protocol (MCP), a revolutionary standard making it dramatically easier for AI to interact with data, tools, and systems—no code required. Mallory shares her personal setup experience with Claude for desktop, walking through a live example of using MCP to automate file organization. Amith expands on why MCP is a game-changer for association leaders, how it enables business users to go from idea to execution quickly, and why data liberation is the missing piece for many organizations. The duo also breaks down new insights from Anthropic’s Economic Index, which reveals that AI is currently used far more for augmenting human effort than full automation. It’s an episode rich with practical insights, technical clarity, and a peek into the fast-arriving future of AI in the workplace.🔎 Check out Sidecar's AI Learning Hub and get your Association AI Professional (AAiP) certification:https://learn.sidecar.ai📕 Download ‘Ascend 2nd Edition: Unlocking the Power of AI for Associations’ for FREEhttps://sidecar.ai/ai📅  Find out more digitalNow 2025 and register now:https://digitalnow.sidecar.ai/ 🎉 More from Today’s Sponsors:CDS Global https://www.cds-global.com/VideoRequest https://videorequest.io/🛠 AI Tools and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:MCP Quickstart Guide ➡ https://modelcontextprotocol.io/quickstart/userClaude for Desktop ➡ https://www.anthropic.comZapier ➡ https://zapier.comCursor ➡ https://www.cursor.so📅 Register for digitalNow2026 in Washington, D.C. from October 25–28:  https://digitalnow.sidecar.ai🎀 Use code AIPOD50 for $50 off your Association AI Professional (AAiP) certification at https://sidecar.ai/aaip🚀 Help Us Grow Our Reach - Share With a Friend or Colleague!👍 Like & Subscribe!https://x.com/sidecarglobal https://www.youtube.com/@SidecarSynchttps://sidecar.ai/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/sidecar-global/Amith Nagarajan is the Chairman of Blue Cypress, a family of purpose-driven companies and proud practitioners of Conscious Capitalism. The Blue Cypress companies focus on helping associations, non-profits, and other purpose-driven organizations achieve long-term success. Amith is also an active early-stage investor in B2B SaaS companies. He’s had the good fortune of nearly three decades of success as an entrepreneur and enjoys helping others in their journey.https://linkedin.com/amithnagarajan Mallory Mejias is passionate about creating opportunities for association professionals to learn, grow, and better serve their members using artificial intelligence. She enjoys blending creativity and innovation to produce fresh, meaningful content for the association space. Mallory co-hosts and produces the Sidecar Sync podcast, where she delves into the latest trends in AI and technology, translating them into actionable insights.https://linkedin.com/mallorymejias