ISV Talks Summit NA 2025 Edition: How Simple Conversations Spark Big Solutions

Well, welcome everyone to ISV Talks. I'm Carol Livingston, the host of ISV Talks Podcast and the owner of Dynamics Connections. And on this episode of ISV Talks, we're here at Community Summit. Here we are.

And I have with me Chris from Agri Hub. And Chris, welcome. Thank you for joining me. Thank you for inviting me.

Of course. So why don't we start with introduce yourself, tell us a little bit about Agri Hub and Sure. And how many times have you attended Summit too? Sure.

Yeah. My name's Chris Giesbrecht. I'm the IT manager for Agri Hub. I've been working for AgriHub for just over 20 years.

We've been on GP, so we're a GP customer. I think we implemented GP in 1997, I think. So we've been on it for quite some time. And then this is my my third summit.

Okay. Awesome. You bet. And we were chatting a little bit beforehand about your GP journey, where you're at, and how many users you have, how many ISVs.

I know we have quite a few add-in software as well. Yeah, we have a big complex system and it's kind of grown over the last a whole lot over the last five or six years, just with we've done a lot of mergers and acquisitions over the last little bit and brought a lot of companies into our into our GP environment. So today I probably have about uh 200 users interacting with the ERP data one way or another, whether that be in GP or one of my many ISV products. So I think I got 120 people in salespad and a bunch of WindSoft users.

I also have Panet Tracker, so all of our mobile warehousing is done through mobile guns. So yeah, lots of different people interacting with data in different ways. So super complex. Yes, yeah.

It's a lot to manage. Yeah. Yeah. So well, this is great to have you talk about the event and as a user and attendee.

I asked you a few questions about your experience here at Summit. And so what are you most looking forward? We're kind of early in the summit schedule or agenda at this point. So what are you looking forward to in the event?

Well, one of the things that we would like to utilize more is obviously AI, the buzzword of the conferences for the last two years. So just looking to maybe take some of it. We haven't gone really deep into the use of AI in our organization yet. But I think it's getting to that point where we need to start really thinking about how we can take it to the next level to help us do our jobs better.

One of the other things that I'd like to take away is automating some different processes, whether that be with Power Automate or Power Platform. Just again taking that workload, the day-to-day busy work type of things off of people's plates so we can free up time for more valuable work. The one other thing we were looking at is as GP announced, their end of life is coming up in the next uh few years. So we're starting to really think about what our next step is to come off of GP with having 200 users, that their job is gonna change because whatever the application that they're using is will likely be different.

It'll be a big step for us to navigate to make sure that everything works going forward. So kind of exploring BC and seeing if that's that's a good fit for us. That's a good option. And so where are you at in your tech journey on GP?

Are you still thinking about it at our evaluation stage still? We wanted to take about a year to kind of just evaluate the different options and see what's out there and and uh talk to people, see what other people are doing, right? Because now they've done a lot of GP to BC migrations, right? And every time a partner does one, something's learned, right?

And eventually it's gonna get easier and easier as as time goes on. Well, you but obviously you don't want to wait too long because uh by the time 20 uh 29 rolls around, everybody'll wanting to be so not an early adopter, right? Kind of cautiously looking, maybe planning something in the next year or two. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah, we hope to make a decision by next next spring-ish to as to which way we're gonna go. Okay. So we have lots of internal discussions to have for sure.

Yeah, a lot of decisions yet to be made. So far in the community summit agenda, what sessions have you attended? What's stood out to you so far? So it's uh still pretty early on, first day.

So one of the sessions I went to is actually the very first one was really on Copilot and uh on pieces we don't use of it, which are included in the different licensing package that we have, but where it embeds itself right into your outlook. And and you can have it just uh summarize the last two weeks of email for you and point out some action items that you might need to do. Because if anybody's seen my inbox, they know I don't see every email. So yeah, well, there's some practical uses of it, exactly.

Microsoft products across the board. So yeah, so yeah, so it sounds like you got some ideas at least at that first session. What else are you excited to bring back to the team? I know you mentioned a couple things, automation, exploring what to do with AI, possibly another big one for us is I think we need to explore change management.

I think for a big change that we're gonna have to go through with moving from GP to another platform is just learning the actual methodology of change management and best practices for navigating people through this change. And I've learned a lot by going to sessions in the past on how to how to move people and getting them involved at the right time so that they feel like they've been heard and been part of the decision of how the processes are being defined. Right. Really goes a long way in the end product you're gonna get after you're done implementing.

So you've been on GP since 1990 something, right? 97, right? Yeah, that's a lot of people using that same system many years. There's a lot of history there and of ways that we've always just done it, right?

So so yeah, it'll be definitely something we need need some help with. Yeah. Anything else you're looking forward to as far as sessions? Um as far as sessions, probably check in a few more AI and automation sessions, some BC sessions, just to learn a little bit more about it.

But again, one of the one of the biggest parts I like about coming to conferences is networking with with peers. I know I told you earlier that I sat down for lunch today with a customer, and we were talking about one of our ISV products, and the the people across the table from us, yeah, they're like, hey, we use that same one. And it's like, wow, now we all automatically had this connection, and it was like, hey, we are so glad we talked to you and found you, and it'll be so good to just keep in touch with them and like, hey, what did you guys end up doing?

Or how did you figure this out, this problem out? So really just making those connections to to different people in the community is is amazing. And that's how I've learned so much about what I know is just talking to different people. Yeah, and they can meet other users that have the same challenges and right and right.

We're likely not the only ones with that same problem, right? Even though it feels like it, we're probably not. Good. So, any advice, I guess, in terms of anybody new attending summit, like if they're a first-time attendee, what would you suggest for them?

Just don't be scared to go and talk to people like I said today. Just sit down at a lunch with people that you don't know. Because and ask them why they're here. What like what do they do for work and what is their business if they're a customer?

And like just learn more about how other people do things because that really unlocks in your brain how to how you might be able to use that knowledge inside your own organization to solve your own problems, similar challenges, similar answers. Yeah, yeah. So if they're new, don't be afraid to sit down and introduce yourself. Yeah, I know it seems scary at first to go to go talk to someone.

I don't like to just interrupt people or ask, what do you do? Yeah, and don't be scared to ask questions in sessions either. Like it's definitely everybody's always happy to help answer a question. And even if there's no time at the end of the uh session, they're usually willing to come chat with you after and give you more advice or answer that one question you had.

Right. Whether it be the presenter or another a lot of times, it's the users raise their hand or something. Yeah, that's that's great advice. That's another good tip.

I know you're a speaker as well. So, how did how'd that happen? Well, really, my first speaking engagement was through one of our ISV products. This was right when we were going through a whole bunch of mergers and acquisitions, and he knew how complicated our system was, and and he really liked my story.

So he was like, I think, I think you should come and present that at our they they have their own conference. So it kind of got me really out of my comfort zone because I'd never done anything like that before. And yeah, I've continued to speak at at multiple events and recommend that to users. And anyone can do it, anyone can submit a session to any of these conferences.

Yeah. And even with the new learners platform, don't forget you could also be a speaker or submit an idea. Right, right. And yeah, like it's a it's a great opportunity, pushes you out of your your box something that someone else doesn't.

So so should be always willing to show to share that with other people. That's the great part about our community, I think, is people are willing to share and cheer each other on. Exactly. Great.

Well, kind of in conclusion, Chris, uh if if you had to describe the summit experience maybe in the last three years, right? Maybe in one sentence, what would it be and why? It's just it's just great to to meet all these all these other peers in the community, whether it be partners or isvs or other customers, even like just walking the trade show floor, even if it's a product you might not need at that time, it's good to have that in the back of your head that hey, I was at a conference five years ago and there was a solution for this problem.

Maybe you don't need it today, but right, but you know, it could be in the future you need something. Yeah, yeah, and even talking to partners or uh ISVs that you don't think you need, just talking with them sometimes brings up some good ideas. So sure. Yeah, absolutely.

So yeah, visit the Expo Hall. Don't miss that. Right, 100%. Good advice.

Yeah. So well, any last thoughts, Chris, as we wrap up? No, overall, just thank you for inviting me to speak here. And thank you for being on ISV Talks Podcast.

You bet. It was really a pleasure having you, and everyone will see you on the next ISV Talk episode. Hi, friends.