Episode 425: The Secrets of the Business Central MVPs

In this episode of Dynamics Corner, hosts Kris and Brad interview Jesper, a prominent figure in the Business Central community. They discuss what it takes to become a Business Central MVP and explore the intricacies of the MVP program, the significance of co-development, and the future of AI in enhancing productivity. Jesper shares valuable insights into the evolving landscape of Business Central, providing listeners with a unique perspective on the opportunities and challenges facing the community. Tune in to discover how passion and innovation are driving the next wave of Business Central leaders.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome everyone to another episode of Dynamics
Corner.
What does it take to become, orwhat even is, an MVP?
I'm your co-host, chris.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
And this is Brad.
This episode is a quote on June3rd 2025.
Chris, Chris, Chris.
What does it take to become aBusiness Central MVP and what
does it mean to be a BusinessCentral MVP?
And also, what is theco-development program?
Well, with us, today, we hadthe opportunity to talk about
all that and more with JesperSchultz-Witt.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
Hey, good afternoon Take two.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
How are you doing Good?

Speaker 3 (00:49):
afternoon.
Yes, I always want to try myfancy new headset but for
whatever reason, they decide towork every other time.
I do not know what it is, butif the sound quality is all
right, like this, then we'rejust going to use my setup here.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
You know sometimes you can't beat just the old
school wired ones.

Speaker 3 (01:06):
Yeah, I'm tempted to buy one of those.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
I went to the wired ones a while ago because the
batteries you know as much asthey say.
Oh, you have eight hour batterylife, but you have this.
It just becomes more of aproblem and I found I was always
charging them.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yeah, especially like sometimes they want to tell you
like, hey, now you've got 50%left.
It's right in the middle of aconversation, so you get
completely like broke so odd, sowired it is next time when I
talk to you, gentlemen, it'll bewith a wired headset.
That's great.
I haven't spoken to you.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
It feels like I haven't spoken or seen you in 20
years 20 years.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
I actually checked.
I think last time was.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
San Diego.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
On the show.
Was it San Diego?

Speaker 1 (01:51):
No, it was Orlando.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
Yeah, orlando, yeah, I didn't join Direction Sene
this time around because youknow the travel and there are so
many conferences.
No, no, there's a lot ofconferences and scheduling with
work and everything.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
We understand.
I understand it's just likewith us.
I can't make every conferenceor every event.
It becomes a challenge, bothphysically aware and tear on
your body, but then also workand life and everything.
So there's a big balance ineverything too.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
I just came back from Dynamics Minds actually, which
was a refreshingly differentkind of conference, because
normally I tend to go todirections which, even though
directions in media anddirections in AI are slightly
different, but it's still kindof built up in the same way,
whereas Dynamics Minds was very,very, should we say, community
focused.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (02:41):
That's excellent wow, that's excellent.
Like with a lot of socialevents in the evenings and also
some like less technicalsessions but more like sessions
they call it the fifth track,but sessions that you know gets
your mind going likephilosophical.
Yeah, like you know, I went tothis one um panel discussion
that was with with um, wherethey discussed, you know, what

(03:02):
is ai going to do to ourproductivity and and is, will it
finally be that we get some,you know, something out of it?
I mean, normally when somethingboosts your productivity, well,
that just means you knowsomeone else pours more on your
plate and you just have to doother things.
Right, but you will get moreproductive, but you won't really
gain anything from theseproductivity tools that should

(03:24):
ideally help you in your life,right?

Speaker 2 (03:26):
And then it kind of took that discussion and they
went on for an hour or somethingdiscussing back and forth with
a very interesting panel and DonI'm sure Carl wasn't there you
just tipped my mind because I'llunpack a lot Because one thing
I realized and I didn't havetime to speak with it, I know
I'd spoken with Chris and a fewothers about it that this last
Directions conference is thosetypes of sessions.

(03:47):
I think what we're missing insome of these types of sessions
or, excuse me, some of theseevents and Dynamics, minds
looked amazing from afar.
I always say I have to get overthere, but the scheduling in,
like this time of year, isextremely difficult.
This whole May June period isextremely difficult.
So sometimes when you havethese conferences and even more
so with me this year, because Ieven had to withdraw from

(04:09):
DynamicsCon for personal reasons, so I had to pull out of the
conference, so I was out of theloop from a lot of things for
about six weeks.
But with these conferences andsuch I like to hear that's
refreshing is a lot of theseconferences.
They're all wonderful, a lot ofvaluable information.
We talk often about, okay,here's a new feature, or here's
this or here's that, but what Irealized the directions after

(04:32):
going through a few sessionssometimes what we're missing is
like the practical use of someof these, right, so what you're
saying to get your mind going toget your mind thinking now we
have this new feature, how canwe apply it?
Let's you know, instead of justsaying, okay, here you click
this, you do this, you do that,it's okay.
Well, let's just say, we havethis scenario and you have to go
through this kind of walkthrough it, versus just defining

(04:52):
it from a technical point ofview.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
I mean, with AI, wouldn't it be great if like
would give you some time backand you could actually spend
that time with your family ormaybe doing some more things
that we human beings weredesigned to do?
I just fear, you know, it'sjust going to enable us to do
more again and we're going to beeven more efficient, even more
productive.
But sometimes I feel like, hey,maybe I could get more
productive if there would bemore Jesper time, or Jesper and

(05:16):
his family time.
And sometimes you know everyday where you get bored and you
just, you know, let yourthoughts simmer for a while and
then you come back completelyre-energized to work and you
will have, you know, amazingideas.
rather, than you're always, youknow, chasing, chasing, chasing.
So anyway, these sessions doright, they kind of start some
thoughts and you're just kind oflike you hit it right there,

(05:38):
because it's true, we are.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
It's I.
When I used to do a lot ofhiking, I used to come back and
I used to do a lot of thinking,because I was clear and, as you
said, it's the working eighthours a day?
Oh, excuse me, not even eighthours.
Working 20 hours a day, orworking, or working, or working
doesn't mean that you're moreproductive.
See, you're hitting the keywords and I think what we really
need to change to your pointwhere these AI tools will make

(05:59):
us more efficient because we cando more.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
Right, or we can do more right, or you can do other
complex things faster becauseyou have.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
yeah, perhaps that matters right, like time that
matters, but what we need to dois let the air take care of that
, yeah we should yeah thingsthat you know that we're
passionate about and that exciteus, and then maybe, you know,
have some more time to donothing and think big thoughts.

Speaker 2 (06:24):
I think it's we have to change.
It's the time value, the timevalue of money, or the time
value money, like we valuethings by time.
And I think that for us to beable to truly adopt the AI
efficiencies I think we and forpeople to be able to have, like
everyone talks about, the youknow-life balance or all those

(06:45):
other things to your point, Ithink we need to change how we
measure.
Right, it's not measuringJesper's working eight hours a
day.
It's Jesper's producing this inthe time that he's working,
which now, if you're using thetools and such to help you,
there's still value in that, andthen maybe you'll get a little
more time for the creativity andthe thought, which also will

(07:06):
allow you to produce more.
It's not to say that you go offon vacation and you don't think
about anything, but, like youhad mentioned, sometimes having
that downtime is you could sendme on a tangent, I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
You know, brad and I talked about this, so we're
actually trying to figure outwhat we could do A separate
segment on this podcast calleddynamics corner, unplugged,
where we talk about dynamics butwe also look at the impact that
can give you can provide you inyour life where you do
something outside, more, maybemore strategic conversations

(07:38):
within your organization becausesomething's you know ai is
taking care of the boring stuff,like you said, where you then
you can just focus on beingcreative, strategic and then
kind of help picture that forall the audience to understand
you can do more fun stuff whileAI is doing all the boring stuff
.
Right, those conversations needto happen more often because

(07:59):
then people get excited Like,well, now I want to do AI
because I can get to do all thisstuff fun stuff, spend more
time with family, be morestrategic.
So we need more of those.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
Let's see what humanity makes of this AI.
I think we have a chance hereto do things differently from
the other previous centuries,some millennials or whatever.
We got some productivity toolswe were pretty good at figuring
out.
Let's do something else.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
No, I hope so I think you're right.
I think, with everything, wewere pretty good at figuring out
.
Let's do something else.
No, I hope so.
I think you're right.
I think, with everything, we'reabout to have a shift, but
there's a lot of things I wantto talk to you about.
It's great to see you again andvirtually great to talk with
you again.
I've always enjoyed theconversation.

Speaker 3 (08:35):
But before we jump into so many things I'd like to
talk with, we spoke I think wasin February- 2024, where we, you
know, spoke a lot aboutco-development, our, shall we
say, open source ambitions onthe Business Central team, and
back then I just stepped into mynew role as an I'd call it an

(08:59):
individual contributor, but thatmeans that I no longer have a
team to manage, but I've turnedmy focus completely over to the
partner channel.
And well, now I'm a year intothat role, right.
So one would think, you know, alot has changed, but it's kind
of looking back and the timejust flies by so fast.
So, um, when it comes to to theco-development, open source

(09:21):
story in business central, it'spretty much status quo.
Uh, I have dedicated a lot moreof my time on that, because
that is my love child, if youwill.
Um, I, I really I meanespecially looking at how much
is happening and how quickthings are moving out there.
I think it's more important thanever that that the product
group and and the partnerchannel move closer together and

(09:42):
and that we kind of help eachother where we can, rather than
reinventing the wheel and in allcorners of the app.
And I think if we just getshould we call it the
application platform right, thenwe can focus on.
Maybe Microsoft looks at theagents part and, hey, how can we
automate and infuse everythingwith AI?
Of course, partners as well,but you know, if we take more

(10:06):
like the platform approach andgive you the tools that you need
to build great AI and then wecollaborate together on you know
the features, because withoutthe right features and the
product, you know, ai will notbe able to help us much either.
Right, so, but I think thatthere's a huge opportunity there
for us to really get ahead ofthe game and, quite frankly,

(10:31):
outpace our competition, becausethe partner channel is vast.
And I still think this is theright way.
So that's why I spent a lot ofmy time trying to push the story
forward.
But I very quickly realized, uh, that that I'm me as a one-man
army, trying to push that storyis not going to work.

(10:53):
I just hit my cap, like howmany pull requests on github
kind of process a day turns outthe answer is one and a half, uh
, in average.
And then, you know, then we had, I think, in 2024, wave 2
release, we had 156 codecontributions from a partner in
the product and then, and theother one was two more, so still

(11:15):
below the 160, but it seemslike around 160.
That's where the cap is.
So then I thought, okay, fine,well, I also need to.
I need to then think newthoughts.
How can we, how can we, youknow, get around the bottleneck?
That is me, um, and that's whatI've been spending a lot of my
time on in the past year, tryingto crack that knot.

(11:37):
That that's it's tough.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
It's difficult to replicate yourself, but you can
use maybe AI to help you.
Yeah, but also I shouldn'treplicate myself.

Speaker 3 (11:46):
Right, I should, because there's no need to have
multiple yes-persons, it shouldmore be.
That lies in the nameco-develop, and that's why we
don't call it contribution modelanymore.
It's literally.
We want the entire AL code baseto be something that we jointly
develop.
It doesn't matter if you're apartner developer, it doesn't
matter if you are a partnerdeveloper, it doesn't matter if
you're a Microsoft engineer.

(12:07):
We should all be able tojointly develop on this thing.
And of course, you still needsomeone to judge.
Hey, you know, is this featurefor the greater good or is that
maybe more for a vertical niche?
And currently that's a littlebit where the bottleneck is.
So that's, you know, our, ourprogram managers, product
managers and and or, like the,the internal microsoft engineers

(12:29):
I'm kind of looking into like,hey, you know, you guys are just
as as well equipped to to makethese calls right.
If you, if you, I mean if yousee a feature suggestion on bc
ideas and let's just say youknow 20 different partners from
20 different verticals say likehey, you know, that would be
very cool to have in the, in theapplication platform, then who

(12:50):
am I to say no, I mean, thepeople have spoken right.
So I kind of I'm hoping that wecan go in that direction and
that it becomes more self-drivenand and that you know some,
some community member says like,hey, I'm gonna wear the product
manager hat today and you know,I'm gonna read through the
specs and then I'm gonna passthem to someone else to sanity

(13:12):
check.
And then someone else says,well, I'm gonna be a tester,
well, I'm gonna be the developer, and then you kind of, you know
, build this little virtual vteam centered around github.
You find the feature you wantto develop, and when everyone is
happy, of course, there's acheck here at Microsoft.
That, you know, is all thequality gates.
You know, do we live up tothese and so on, and does it

(13:33):
really make sense?
But in the end, you know,conceptually I don't think
Microsoft needs to be involvedin every smaller addition to the
platform.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
No, I agree with you.
I can see that work and I canthink it's working.
And again, the ability to havea different viewpoint and what
features make it into theapplication, because I know a
lot of features come from thedevelopment team there at
Microsoft and also, as youmentioned, the co-development
that was added to it.
So there has to be a mix ofwhat actually should make it

(14:03):
into the application, and Ialways go back to as long as it
doesn't get to the point whereit becomes overly complex to use
it.
That's always been one of myfears with anything with an
evolution.
If you keep adding features andfunctionality, it gets to where
it's difficult to keep up withit or maybe difficult to know

(14:23):
exactly what's there.
And at the rate of releaseversus the rate of adoption from
the partner point of view, andthen also the rate of adoption
from the customer point of view,because, to go back to what
we're saying earlier about beingproductive and be able to do
more, it's all these new thingsare added.
The partners need time toabsorb it as well as the

(14:45):
customers, right?
So if you look at, even if youwent with, the partners are
primarily helping the customer.
Some customers can beself-sufficient because they
have a large enough team ontheir own.
It's how long does it take forthose features to flow down to
where they actually getwidespread use, to where you're
not already piling on morefeatures because now the next
wave comes up?

Speaker 1 (15:03):
So it's, it's a challenge, I see.
Yeah, the adoption, yeah, givethem some time to adopt.

Speaker 3 (15:09):
Yeah, but ideally so.
This is a completely differenttopic, but also something that
the Business Central team islooking very much into right.
It's like can we somehow maybemanage the rollout of features
to a higher degree than we donow?
Because right now, as you said,every half a year a release
comes along and you get thefeatures, whether you like it or

(15:30):
not.
Of course, some of them arehidden behind features switches,
some of them are hidden, youknow, behind some settings, but
generally you will get thefeatures right now.
How about that?
That you know we would releasefeatures and they just and you
just give the partners, shouldwe say, infinite time to ramp up
, to build theirverticalizations on that feature
.
And when they say they're readyand the customer is actually
requiring this feature and saylike, hey, we need it now, well

(15:52):
then we roll it out.
That is so much easier saidthan done, but that would be
super cool because that wouldtake away.
You know, yes, a new wave wouldcome, a new possibilities would
come, but the customer wouldn'texperience much change.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
I don't know if there is a right answer.
I mean, I think anyone willtake a different view, because a
lot of the features andfunctionality are great, because
you also have newimplementations as well, so they
could take advantage of it, andthen you have the existing, so
it's just something.

Speaker 3 (16:19):
Some of them were interested in rolling out, and
then that was still.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
Listen, I have been passionate about the product my
entire life.
I still am passionate and I'mstill excited about every
release and feature, and I lovethe way things are going, even
with the co-development.
I mean, I think, everybody tohave the opportunity to
contribute, uh, to assistinstead of uh like, I'm one of
those instead of complaining,you can actually do something.
Uh, so do something, and youknow you have the opportunity.
So if you're not doing, thendon't complain, as I said.

(16:50):
So enough of that.
So I'm glad to see it's goingwell.
So what have you been workingon with the partner channel in
this past year in your new role?

Speaker 3 (16:58):
Yeah.
So I mean I try to how should Inot put that?
So I try to be a partnerambassador, if you will.
Um, within the product group.
Mostly you're just just beingout there on either in-person
conferences or, you know, onviva, engaged slash, yammer um
or an ex, and just listening andkind of, when I see someone you

(17:19):
know just maybe being upsetabout something and tries to
take that back and say like okay, what actually happened here?
And then does that person havea point?
And if there is a point, thenmake sure that we a, you know,
fix the issue and then belearned from it.
Um, because very often, you know, we are so extremely busy and

(17:39):
then, you know, we just sprintforward and kind of um, maybe
forget to learn our mistakes,which is one of the most
important things that we can do,right, because mistakes will be
made, that is inevitable, but Ithink it's our, you know, as
long as we learn from them, thenI think we, I mean it's all
worth it, right.
So maybe sometimes to slow downand say like hey, you know,

(18:03):
here's a partner and thatpartner has a point, what do you
think?
So that's one of the thingsthat I've been trying to spend a
little time on yeah.
And then the other thing thatyou know the two of you are MVPs
, so you probably know, but I amalso trying to take our MVP
program to new heights.

(18:24):
Am also trying to take our MVPprogram to new heights.
Now maybe I should.
I don't know how much peopleknow about the MVP program.
That's what I wanted to getinto is.

Speaker 2 (18:33):
I was just about to ask some questions about that
because it's long before, evenyou know, I was became honored
to become part of the group orto have that.
I had some questions about itmyself.
So, with you being the one assort of the program ambassador
for Business Central, maybe youcould tell us a little bit about

(18:53):
the program.
So the MVP acronym, you know.
You see people say mostvaluable player.
You know, most valuable personFrom the Microsoft point of view
.
What does the MVP mean?

Speaker 3 (19:04):
That's the most valuable professionals.
So it's a, it's partners thatum are, should we say, community
leaders that have shown or havefound a niche in the community
where other community memberswill look towards them for
guidance or to be inspired, or,you know yeah, know yeah as
leaders of the broader community.

(19:25):
And the community is large, asyou know, right, I mean, it's
multiple thousands of people,whereas the group of MVPs, even
though it has grown in the pastthree years, from approximately
30 to now we're almost 70, butit's still just a very small
subset of what is the BusinessCentral community, right, it's
still just a very small subsetof what is the Business Central
community right.

Speaker 2 (19:45):
So for the Business Central product, there are 70
Microsoft valuable professionals.
What is it again Most valuable?

Speaker 3 (19:55):
professionals.
Okay, they are kind of dividedinto two sections.
We've got the functionalconsultants that know everything
about how a business center issupposed to work, that know
everything about how a businessis supposed to work, and then
we've got the technicalspecialists that maybe are a
little bit more on the geekyside of things, you know, being
more hardcore developers orknowing the technical in and out

(20:15):
.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
That's the best side to be on.

Speaker 3 (20:16):
By the way, I mean, I love the functional stuff Even
some that are in both camps,which is, you know, even more
impressive when you've got bothskills.

Speaker 2 (20:23):
Yes, yes, that's how we learn to survive is you can
put your foot in both camps thatway, when there's enough flow.
So there are 70 professionalsfor Business Central in the MVP
program and we see them outthere, and you had mentioned
that those are individuals thatare inspiration to others, or
people look to, for I don't wantto say guidance, but they look

(20:46):
up to for inspiration, as yousay, which is good.
What does it take to become anMVP?

Speaker 3 (20:53):
yeah, as I said before, like you should probably
find your niche, um.
So if you go just about 10years back, there weren't all
that many conferences and backthen it was plenty.
If you were one of you know the, the people who really had an
area of expertise, and then youwould then go on a tour to the
conferences that were around theworld and you would then be a

(21:15):
speaker and, just, you know,share your knowledge, because
that actually already makes youa specialist in that area, right
, and people will come to youand say, oh well, you know
everything there is about, youknow item tracking, and then you
would become that de facto mvpin that area.
Now that is not not fullyenough anymore, I would say,

(21:39):
because with you know that manyconferences being there and that
many speakers and also thecommunity as a whole growing,
that would mean that by thatdefinition we would have, I
don't know, 500 mvps orsomething, um, and that's more
than we can handle.
So I would to two if you haveaspirations of becoming an MVP

(22:00):
first.
So diversity is maybe a goodword to use here.
First you need to be, you needto find an area where that isn't
already well covered.
So being a speaker in theUnited States is not enough,
because we have plenty that dothat.
So get a second leg to stand on, uh, even better.
I mean, of course, you can'thelp in which region you're born

(22:20):
into, so, um, but even better.
There are regions in the worldthat have fewer mvps than others
, right?
So europe and the us or northamerica, I should say are pretty
well equipped.
If we go to africa, I thinkbusiness central has one, and if
you go to Africa, I thinkBusiness Central has one, and if
you go to South America,there's zero.
So, out there, if you happen tobe a community leader

(22:48):
organizing user groups in Brazil, argentina, whatever, or maybe
the entire South America, andyou actually manage to pull that
off, right, you stand a prettygood chance of becoming an mvp
in the business central team.
Of course, you can also stilllive in the us.
It doesn't matter where you'reborn or where you live.
It's where you do your things,right, I mean, it's, it's where
you, where you help thecommunity.

(23:11):
So that's one you know, um, wewant to cover the entire globe
and what.
Wherever in the whenever partin the world you are, if you're
looking for a community leader,if you know, um, we want to
cover the entire globe and what,wherever in the, whatever part
in the world you are.
If you're looking for acommunity leader, if you're
looking for someone toorchestrate, you know so we say
user groups and whatnot you knowanother good one.

Speaker 1 (23:28):
Um, I know last year, you know, ben and I were
talking about this.
You know, one of the thingsthat my goal was is to work with
other mvps.
I had an opportunity to workwith other MVPs from all the
other different categories youknow my power platform and CE
and uh, so we put a in and Ithink Cecile and I as well.
She's a BC MVP and we created acommunity in the Philippines

(23:52):
and it's like, well, there'snever done one before.
So we did one together and itwas fascinating because they
didn't quite understand or knowabout Business Central.
So you know what I mean.
Like it was so cool to see thatthere's other young
professionals that want to doERP and Business Central is one

(24:13):
of the things that was presented.
So it's pretty cool to you know, that's an opportunity for us.
With all the technologiesavailable, you could do all of
this remotely because we alllive in different parts of the
world and we just met everySaturday morning at six in the
morning my time every Saturdayput a community together and

(24:33):
then seeing it all you know comeinto fruition, it's fascinating
.
It gives a lot of giving backto the community, right?
I think that's one of the bigcomponents about becoming or
being an MVP is that you want togive back that knowledge, that
you also got an opportunitybecause I, you know I learned
from other MVPs as well.
Right, so it's inspiring to youknow, work towards that.

Speaker 3 (25:00):
Yeah, and it's a great example that you bring
there right with the philippinesI mean emerging markets, and
you may be leading the way forfor another, for for young
talent there.
I mean that that is exactlywhat it means to be an mvp.
Yeah, and of course, you know,you don't necessarily I mean
that there are now we're justtouching upon these, uh, user
groups and being a communityrole model.
But of course, you know, ifyou're just excelling and

(25:20):
creating great videos, you know,maybe taking away the
complexity of things andexplaining them in a way that
other people understand them,that is also a great way to help
the community Writing blogs,even books.
If you have that kind of giftthat you can put together one of
these, um, so so, yeah, I meanthere are many ways, uh, to be a

(25:45):
community leader, um, but butfind, yeah, find your niche.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
Find something that is not already done by by, by
others so, to pull it back, anmvp, as you had mentioned, is
someone who's an inspiration asa community leader, who helps
drive business central forwardin areas and continue to be in
areas that may not be covered,as you had mentioned.
So I mean there may be manyspeakers not to say that being a
speaker doesn't make youinfluential in a sense, or to

(26:12):
show that you demonstrate yourpassion, but it's a little bit
more sometimes to go beyond and,as you had mentioned, the
underserved markets that may nothave the visibility of Business
Central, to get involved there,to bring education, knowledge
to users in a way that I don'twant to say glorifies, but makes
and helps with the adoption ofthe use of the product.

Speaker 3 (26:33):
If you want to stay in the US and you want to become
an MVP there, that's also ofcourse you can also do that.
I'm just saying the competitionis a little bit more fierce
there.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
No, I understand what you're saying.
I'm just trying to say someideas.

Speaker 3 (26:45):
This podcast is a great way.
This is one of the examples ofsomething that really worked.
And now if someone else comesalong like yeah, well, now you,
now you've got something to beatright.
I mean we don't need.
You know dynamics corner anddynamic street, uh.
So so you know, sure, if you'rein for a little, you know

(27:08):
competition, then by all meanstry to create a competing
podcast in the us, but uh else,maybe find something else where,
where?
Because there are so many areas, in both functional areas but
also regions in the world, thatyou know where the community is
weaker or where there's wherethere could be I like the way
that you explain it find a nicheor find something that's unique

(27:30):
and different, that bringsadditional value to the business
.

Speaker 2 (27:33):
Central product and again, it doesn't matter where
most importantly though, itneeds to be your passion.

Speaker 3 (27:38):
So don't try to say, hey, I want to be an MVP, now
how do I do that?
No, find out what's yourpassion.
What do you really really love?
Because, as you said, chris,right, I mean you had to get up
on Saturdays at six.
You don't do that unless youare passionate about it, unless
you you really want to do this.

(27:59):
You don't want to spend yourweekends or evenings and and
sometimes you know what it whatit takes to be a community
leader is not what it says inyour job description.
A few are so lucky out therethat you know job description
and community work kind ofoverlap, so they get paid to to
create great content for thecommunity, which is awesome but
most of us are not that luckyright right.
Besides your full-time job,being part of a community

(28:19):
requires some effort, and that'sonly possible if it's a passion
it is.

Speaker 2 (28:25):
And I'm happy that you said that, because you do
have to have a passion.
And just with anything it's notjust the MVP program or
business center or anythingBecause I had some great mentors
growing up and that's whatsomebody had told me early on.
They said do what you enjoy, doit well, and the money will
follow.
It's the same type of thing.
Whereas if you have passion andyou're doing something because
it's your inner being that'sdriving it and you really

(28:45):
believe it and want it, then itdoesn't become work, then you
don't mind doing things andyou're doing it for a different
reason.
Whereas if you're doingsomething just for a specific
reason let's just say we wantmore money or we want to be an
MVP then if you don't make it,you may get disappointed or you
may over-try and it may havesome challenges on yourself
because of your mental health oryour stress or something

(29:09):
because of all that you'retrying to do.
So if you're passionate aboutit, it's visible, people will
see that you're really in it andyou'll be driving there, which
is good.
I like that approach and I'mhappy that you said that,
because I see many people say oh, I want to be an.
MVP, and that's what their goalis.
Their goal is not to dosomething, their goal is to have

(29:29):
the title.
As they say, the title, yeah.

Speaker 3 (29:32):
That's a cool title to have.
It is a cool title.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
Not trying to minimize the title, I mean
anybody who has that if youspeak with them.
I speak with many, and everyonethinks it's an honor it truly
is, and everyone that I speakwith has the passion too.

Speaker 3 (29:48):
So I think we all know the same ones.

Speaker 2 (29:50):
Yeah.
Now we spoke about what ittakes to kind of get into the
program.
That's what I was going to donext.
Now you have your niche andyour passion and your driving.
Now how do we do this?

Speaker 3 (30:04):
Yeah, so if you found your thing, then someone else
needs to recognize.
You, needs to say, hey, youknow that guy or girl you know
does something, doing somethingamazing here, and then that
person nominates you and it hasto be either a fellow MVP or

(30:24):
someone from the Microsoft team.
And then, of course, thatperson has to accept and has to
write a little bit about.
You know, hey, what that wecall it activities.
It's where your list.
You know what did I actually doso that you know?
This application for an MVPtitle then ends up on
Microsoft's desks here and wetake a look at you know, does
that person qualify?
And again, as I said, you knowthere are caps like how many can

(30:48):
there be?
And do we think is that a goodfit for the group?
And so on.
There are all theseconsiderations that then flow
into evaluating whether thatperson would be eligible for an
MVP title or not.
And you might get a no, buthopefully, you know, that won't
stop you from continuing yourpassionate work that you had
before.
Because if you did it for theright reasons, for your passion,

(31:11):
because you like being a memberof the community, because you
like being a community driver,then whether you get the title
or not shouldn't really mattertoo too much.
It should just be a token ofappreciation that you got it.
So you shouldn't hopefully youshould not be thrown off your
path by by maybe not making itthe first time.
Um, and it does happen moreoften than not that that people

(31:31):
do get rejected, and that isbecause there are a lot of uh,
you know, people that want tojoin the group of MEPs and
there's only limited number ofseats, right, so so, and also
people it's very hard actuallyto see.
Like, hey, someone already maybe doing a great job over here,
and I, incidentally, happen towant to do the same thing, so

(31:55):
it's not.
Having the big picture of whatis my niche is actually not as
easy as it sounds.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
So but you know.
Yeah, but just one thing youtalked about being nominated.
Are there any limitations onwho can be nominated?
As far as who you are?
You know, if you work for, doyou have to work for a partner?
Do you work for a customer?
I know, if you work for apartner, do you work for a
customer?

Speaker 3 (32:16):
I know, if you work for microsoft, you can't be an
mvp, but that is yeah, and Ialso think you'll have a hard
time if you work for one of ourcompetitors, um, because you
will get led into, uh, you know,some of the more secret
information.
So no, of course I mean you.
You should obviously belong tothe, to the business central
community, else I don't see anyreason for you to join the

(32:39):
Business Central MVP program,and that's the only one that I
care about.
I mean, of course, you knowthat there are other products,
like you know Power this, powerthat, or you can be F&O, or you
can be you know something elseentirely Copilot, obviously, all
the new AI groups, and you canactually also be MVP in more
than one technology area, as wecall them.
But I'm only looking at thebusiness central part of things,

(33:02):
so I'll stick to talking aboutthat, because that's what I know
.

Speaker 1 (33:07):
Yeah, I love the you know called out.
You know, even if you say youget a no or you don't get
nominated, you know there are alot of wonderful community
members that just put work everyyear on great content.
Maybe they don't do a lot ofvideos or blogging, but they

(33:30):
always show up in conference,right, they always speak about
things that they're sopassionate about.
They're really, really good.
They've done it for years andI've never seen them get
nominated or but they keep doingit.
And that's what I love aboutthe community is that the title
is amazing.
Right, the title is great, butat the end of the day, it's like
what's your passionate about?
And it shouldn't stop, youshouldn't slow you down.

(33:52):
You know for for helping aproduct grow, because you know
for helping a product grow,because you know, at the end of
it all, like we built careersoff of this product, right, I
mean that's.
I think that's how all of usstarted.
I mean that's how I started.
I worked as an end user,discovered Dynamics Nav and fell
in love with the product andthen, like, just did local user
groups, right, and then afterthat you kind of grow into the

(34:13):
bigger conferences and getexcited about that stuff.
But you build a career andbecause of all the people that
I've come to watch theirspeaking session, I got to learn
from them that helped me buildmy career.
So if you think about it thatway, you can make a huge impact
in people's lives of like youngprofessionals like I.

(34:36):
Was sitting there and seeingsomeone speak and say, yeah, I'm
learning something, and thenbring it back to the company my
work and then be a superhero atwork and then you get
comfortable and maybe you getthe confidence of going up there
and you become that and thenit's like an awesome cycle
eventually and then you may getan MVP title right.

Speaker 3 (34:59):
Eventually enough, people will notice you, right,
they're going to know who youare and they'll be like hey,
chris, of course I know, chris.
And then that's where you know,maybe the time has come to get
nomination.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
So just to go back.
So now we have a niche that wehave passion for.
We have someone who we know therequirements passion for.
We have someone who we know therequirements, that pretty much
is someone who's passionateabout the business central
products in the community can benominated.
They'd have to be nominated byeither an existing MVP or
someone from the Microsoft team,I'm assuming from the business

(35:29):
central team, because it's thearea that we're in Now.
They go through the nomination,someone you had mentioned.
They would have to writesomething up, I'm assuming, why
this person should be an MVP.
Then we go into an evaluationperiod, correct, and what are
some things that are evaluatedor what can someone do to

(35:53):
evaluate or how does theevaluation process go, going
like behind the scenes on theMVP program here.

Speaker 3 (36:00):
Yeah, that's pretty straightforward actually.
So you'll have to list, youknow, your top.
I think it's 25 activities.
You can list more, but there'slike a list of 25 or 26 or
something.
What are the accomplishments inthe past year that you're most
proud of?
And important here is it's oneyear, one reward.
So you know, don't list stuffthat you did five years ago,

(36:21):
even though it might still havebeen a great thing that you did
back then.
But it doesn't really count it.
We will always look at the lastyear and also just quickly
mentioning here after a yearyour title will have to be
renewed and you'll have to gothrough the exact same thing
again.
So it's not mbp for life, it'smbp alumni for life.
Yes, once you have the title,you will forever be, have been

(36:42):
part of the mbp group, but theactual to be part of the, to
stay part of the program, youactually will have to get a
renewal.
So this process where you gothrough your activities and see
like hey, what, what greatthings they do for the community
in the past year, you'll haveto do every year.
And there you simply, well,simply, simply.
But let's just say you know youwent to directions na and you

(37:04):
had some sessions and you writedown like well, I did a session
on this and that and this was myreach.
You know, there were that manypeople in the room and then
maybe it was recorded orsomething, so you had a bit
broader reach.
And then I'm gonna go in andsay like well, that's pretty
cool, but you know 25 others, no, that's not enough 150 others

(37:24):
so it's a good start, right.
But then you maybe also went tosummit and then you maybe help,
you know, set up this user groupin the philippines and and well
, then you also had a podcast,uh, which you know a lot of
people listen to.
And then slowly, you know, thispicture shapes like okay, that
person is definitely a communityleader still and has really in

(37:46):
the last year done things forthe community that were
appreciated and noticed byothers, and then, and that can
actually I mean it can be onehuge activity, like something
that is just, you know, ifsomeone says like hey, podcast,
and then people say, brad andChris, you know, if we get to
that, you know, and there is nocompetitor, it's like there is

(38:06):
just one podcast then that wouldactually might just be enough,
right, if you have weekly,bi-weekly episodes, you will do
so much for the communitythrough this one effort that
it's plenty.
You will do so much for thecommunity through this one
effort that it's plenty.
Or if you have many smallthings, you know, then of course
it delivers.
I mean, it's it's probably goodto have something that that
people see as a synonym to you.

(38:28):
So when I say this name, thatpeople think something I
understand you know you're asuper expert in item tracking
and so item tracking, oh yeah,sure ask Chris.
You know, if you have builtsomehow this notion that people
will put your name synonyms tosomething else, then you have to
have to become a communityleader in that right, and if

(38:49):
that is an important area, thenthat is enough.

Speaker 1 (38:52):
Yeah, so you build your persona right, like oh yeah
, that person fits there.

Speaker 2 (38:57):
I like that this is good.
I like the deep understandinghere because I know that there's
a lot of questions out thereabout this program, so I'm happy
that we're sort of unpacking it.
I have a lot more questions,but I'm not going to ask them,
yeah.

Speaker 1 (39:14):
You know, there's almost every conferences at
least I've been to would haveasked MVPs and surprisingly, a
lot of the questions get asked,not necessarily about becoming
an MVP, it's about the productsand what have we seen, and

(39:37):
things like that.
So was I had an opportunity tobe part of that, the dynamics,
con, um, so it was.
It was a um humbling feelingbecause, you know, I, we, for me
, I came in there thinking like,okay, they want to be.
You know, a lot of people maybewant to become an mvp and they
want to know the process.
They can clearly now listen tothis podcast, what it takes to
it, but at the same time, likein those uh sessions, it's like
hey, I got this problem.

(39:58):
Like how would you solve itright?
Or what, where is the productgoing in your opinion?
So it's, it's uh, I love thissession because it kind of puts
us um, uh, you know we have tobe honest, right, like, okay,
are we really an expert?
You know?

Speaker 3 (40:15):
years ago actually, we had this ask the mvp, so we
would invite people on stage.
I like not people, mvps onstage, but the group was smaller
, right, so it was directionsamia.
There might be 15 people orsomething, and it was in the us.
There might have been 10 mvpson stage and then the audience
could ask questions, but then atsome point I think we were 35
or something on that stage andit just.
You know, mvps love to talkbecause they have so much I

(40:41):
think, we got through two orthree questions and it was just
chaos.
So is it like, yeah, maybe we'veoutgrown that format of asking
yes?
I think so.
Some do like to speak, butyou're right, I mean that is
also.
I mean, people look towardsmvps for guidance right to get
the question answered becauseyou have been marked as being
one of the most knowledgeableprofessionals out there.

(41:02):
So that's kind of also whatthat award should give you.
Also, I guess if you are aspeaker, you might have an
easier time getting a slot inone of the bigger events when
you are an MVP.
So that's one of the perks Ithink that come with that title.

Speaker 2 (41:18):
There are many perks that come with it.
It's also a great group ofpeople, by the way.
I've met so many people thatare truly genuine and passionate
people at Business Central andit's strange.
You almost become friends withpeople around the world
virtually, and then when you getto meet them in person, it's
great.
And it's also with othercommunity members.
It's not just the MVPs, but theMVP group's great.

Speaker 3 (41:38):
So just to bring it back.
That should be the next thingwe talk about here.
Then, when you have made itinto the MVP program, then what
you get of it right, Becauseyeah, Well, before we get into
that.

Speaker 2 (41:47):
so now we have the nomination, we have the criteria
.
How long does it take?

Speaker 3 (41:53):
Oh, that depends a bit, but we do let new MVPs in
every month, so but there are afew things that need to, you
know, go through the system andwhatnot.
But usually I mean it can be asquickly as I think, two months
or something but it might dragout a little because also, like,
depending on how many newapplicants come in it's I in.

Speaker 2 (42:16):
I also have a normal daytime job, so sometimes I just
need to say hey, I'm going tostack up a few and then I'm
going to do a review.
So after your nomination itshould take two or more months.
So don't expect to heartomorrow.

Speaker 3 (42:34):
It's not going to be within a week or two.
No, because you write out yourapplication and then it has to
go through the system and theneventually, you know, every
beginning of the month I get alist of now there are new
candidates in the system and goreview.
Then I do my review and then Isend them on and then there's
some regional people that lookat you know, is this market
saturated or not?

(42:54):
And then it goes on to the nextlevel and then at the end of
the day, everyone needs to havesaid yes, this person should be
an MVP for the business centralgroup, in my case, and then that
person is going to get a thumbsup.
I think again on the first ofthe month, so just yesterday or
the day before yesterday, therewas a new one.

(43:14):
Yes, there was Another memberof the.

Speaker 2 (43:17):
As I always say welcome to the party.
Congratulations Everyone whogets it.
It's honestly well-deserved.
I mean, the individuals thatget picked I know from the
Business Central community areamazing individuals as well.
So now… yeah, two months giveor take.

Speaker 3 (43:33):
Say it again please Two months give or take.

Speaker 2 (43:36):
Okay, excellent, excellent.
So now what comes with it?
And then also, the renewalperiod is one time per year,
correct.

Speaker 3 (43:45):
You have to submit yes that's for the fiscal year
of Microsoft, which always runsfrom July to June, so I don't
know why it's not from Decemberto December, but it's like
mid-year.
So yeah, for that year.
And then you would typicallyget to know like, like hey, now
it's time for your annualrenewal process.
Uh, I think probably in marchor something, and you would

(44:07):
hopefully you have alreadycollected all the things that
you did, because if you haven't,then you're, you know, got some
work to do.
Um, but then, yeah, you kind offill out the tool and then
again the same thing happens.
You know, until the, I think,first of first of march or first
of june, may or june, I have tothen go through the list of all

(44:28):
of the mvps together with myteam.
Um, of course, you know, I notjust look at the activities that
are listed, but I'll also askyou within the product group
like, has anyone noticed Brad?
Has he done anything good forus lately?
Yeah, I worked with Brad and hehelped me here and there.
Of course, all that feedback Itry to gather feedback.
Also, when I've had theopportunity to watch you live

(44:51):
somewhere, I will have made mylittle notes.
Or when I participate in apodcast I will like are these
guys actually able to let metalk, or will they constantly
interrupt me?
No, I've got feedback right,and then, together with all the
feedback from the product groupand the activities that you've

(45:12):
listed, you kind of form apicture whether we think you are
still a good match for theprogram.

Speaker 2 (45:18):
So the renewals in June?
When did the renewals getannounced?
So a new nominee within two ormore months, or two or more
months later?
Uh, not within two months.
And then for the renewals, therenewals you said in july to
june.
So when did the renewals getannounced for those mvps?
I?

Speaker 3 (45:34):
think it's the beginning of july, the beginning
of july.

Speaker 2 (45:36):
So that's you will.
You will get an email it's thebeginning of July.

Speaker 3 (45:37):
The beginning of July , you will get an email.
It's usually what people likeMVP say Refresh, refresh,
refresh.

Speaker 1 (45:44):
Yeah, 30 days then.

Speaker 3 (45:48):
Yeah, there's a specific date for that.
Sometimes it moves a little bitso I don't really have the date
.
But I know that I had to submitall of my stuff by the 1st of
June.
This time around, excellent.
So now it's like out of myhands.

Speaker 2 (46:05):
Now you can see if you overruled or not.

Speaker 3 (46:07):
Yeah, and that's actually kind of nice that I
don't have that I'm not the onlyone with any power here Like
it's good to have more peoplelook at it, and of course I
don't sit by myself.
I will go to the product group,to the other members of the
Business Central team, and seeif they observe the same things
that I did.
It's a lot of work, but ittakes some time with almost 70

(46:29):
people, individuals to discuss,and you want to be fair, and so
it's actually quite the process.

Speaker 2 (46:34):
I can imagine that's what I was thinking.
With that number of people,it's a lot of work for you to
check in to validate.
I also would say like hey.

Speaker 3 (46:41):
I've got this great blog.
And then you click on the blogand you see, well, it has had 50
visitors in the past year.
It's like, okay, is that now?
What am I missing?
Is the counter off?
And then you need to startlooking, you know.
Does someone else mention thisblog?
Or also the content in the blog, right?
Is it like just a rewrite ofsomething that someone else
wrote and maybe just shortenedit?

(47:01):
Like, what's the value of this?
Does it bring anything new tothe table?
So you know, with every MVPlisting up to 25 primary
activities, there's a lot ofinvestigation to be done.

Speaker 1 (47:14):
I can imagine.

Speaker 2 (47:15):
I cannot imagine.
So you started talking aboutsome of the benefits of being an
MVP.
So, other than having aconnection with other passionate
members, what are some of theother benefits?

Speaker 3 (47:28):
No, I do think that the community that comes with it
is the ultimate benefit.
Oh, absolutely, microsoft paidbenefit.
But having you know, other mvpson speed dial and whatever
problem you run into, you canalmost be certain there's
someone that can help youbecause they are so skilled I
laugh because you say they havethem on speed dial.

Speaker 2 (47:47):
That's absolutely true.
It's true because if you have aquestion, if you have a problem
, it's almost like you shoot itout there and you have all of
these individuals well youbecome friends.
Well, they're more than willingto help and they come up with
the answers where sometimes it'sit's just really nice, uh, it's
an extreme benefit.
It's, which also, as you said,it's a benefit.

(48:10):
But you are also part of thatyourself because you are
providing a lot of value, as youhad mentioned, to the community
as well.
So it's not's not like youbecome an MVP and you get all
this free speed dial talent towork with.
You're also part of that groupand you can provide that same
information to others as well.
So I just want to be clear thatit's not a one-way street.

Speaker 3 (48:31):
Some actually also have these groups or these
networks outside of the MVPprogram.
It's just another network thatyou get into and it's kind of
like you know, somehow peoplefind each other in that group.
Yeah, so that's um, and andthen what else?
I mean, yeah, sure, you get alicense for this and that.
I don't even know specificallyright now what license we run,
but I think it's a businesscentral license and then some

(48:53):
m365 license and whatnot.
So that's more like thetangible benefits, but that's
just for you to be enabled totest the product better, create
more content.
I do.

Speaker 2 (49:08):
Maybe it was my naivety at the beginning, just
to say, just to share in some ofthat as far as what you get
access to.
But the benefits, the tangiblebenefits, are extremely helpful
to allow you to drive morepassion or more inspiration to
others with the community,because it's tough to be someone
who's passionate about theproduct if you don't have access

(49:30):
to it all the way.
So some of the benefits theyhave with giving you the
Business Central license, theygive you some Azure credits as
well so you can do some of theAzure functions or use some of
the Azure services with somecredits.
Copilot Studio was another bigone that now you can work with
Copilot Studio with BusinessCentral.
So it does help those that areout there promoting the product

(49:55):
be able to have access to thatas well.

Speaker 1 (49:58):
It gets you more motivated, right, because now
you have all these tools and foryou to be very passionate about
the program or Business Central, it allows you to think, oh,
maybe I should try this or dothis and have it all, talk to
each other and whatnot.
So it does motivate you tocreate more content that
eventually will help.

Speaker 2 (50:15):
It just makes you have less of a life, chris, it
doesn't?

Speaker 1 (50:18):
I don't know if it's motivating, you get lost and you
start saying, oh, that is true,because there's sometimes at
night I'm trying to figure itout like, oh, maybe how could I
make this work?
How?

Speaker 2 (50:26):
can I make business central connect to this language
model so I can use it locally?
Right, they give me all thetools.
Now I have to play with them,which is good.
I mean, it is it's there'sstefano jimena.

Speaker 3 (50:34):
he will be able to tell you about that.
Yes, the thing right, that'sthe niche where he kind of
established himself.

Speaker 2 (50:42):
Yes, the stuff he is doing is I don't want to go down
that you know to take us on toomuch of a tangent, but the
stuff he is doing ismind-blowing.

Speaker 3 (50:51):
So yeah, but now you've got this new MVP
community and you've got somelicenses.
But then also and that's alittle bit, depends a little bit
on which product you're an mvpfor, but at least for business
central we also try to.
So we do what we call pgiproduct group interactions.
Those are meetings where youmeet up with the product group

(51:12):
and it's it's not supposed tojust be a one-way communication,
because that, at least for now,I'm only speaking on behalf of
the business central team,because this is different for
other teams.
But we also have these partneroffice hours right where we tell
you like, hey, here's some newcool features and this is how
they work.
But that's kind of when thesefeatures are done and we're just

(51:32):
trying to, you know, teach thecommunity, um, what have we done
and how do you use these things.
But that's not really wherewhere our mvps shine.
I would like to involve mvpsearlier in the development
process, um, and that's wherethese pgis come in.
So, um, we kind of also sharethoughts.
Every mvp is under nda.

(51:54):
So you can't just go out andlike, after these PGIs and start
blogging about what you heard,unless specifically that we say,
hey, this is okay go ahead butwe can prep the MVP channel
right to say here's what'scoming, and so that you can be
ready with your content when theproduct releases.

(52:14):
because that's, you know, awin-win.
You know, we, when we have thebig moment, the big bang, like
here's a new release, and thenwe have someone to evangelize
and then to kind of go out andteach the other community
members, like hey, this justcame, and then this is how you
use it and look how cool it is,you know, then that's just again
a win-win.
So, um, yeah, you do.

(52:36):
You do get closer to theproduct group.
When you're a business centralMVP, you do get a peek behind
the curtain.
We will throw some balls in theair and you can catch whatever
you want.
Let's just say, you know, hey,now we just had the
sustainability model, and if youcare about sustainability and
you say, hey, you know thatwould be cool, we're going to
say like, hey, we're going todevelop sustainability module.

(52:58):
Would anyone be interested inhelping us with that?
And then you can say like, yeah, keep me in the loop.
And then we're going to shareour plans, give you test
environments sometimes and tryto at least prep you.
And also like, because you havethe outside view right.
You might actually already havehad some customers talking

(53:18):
about this, and so we're goingto listen to whatever feedback
you come with as an MVP, andthat is one of the parts that I
value the most and that I try todrive, because I think, again,
there's so much to win whenproduct group and MVP group move
closer together thanquote-unquote just making you

(53:40):
evangelists of the stuff that noit's, it's the saying that you
say often is great, it'stogether we win, which is true
it's if everybody contributes.

Speaker 2 (53:47):
It's, I say over and over.
Rise and tides raise all ships.
So if the product does well, weall do well that have the
passion and and about it.
And also you have those thatevangelize that, if they can
have something to help them beable to, to, to evangelize a
little bit more than the productwins as well too.

Speaker 1 (54:06):
So it's, uh, you know it's a large world, a long-term
play.

Speaker 2 (54:09):
No, it is, it's, it's .
Uh, you know, I'll be sad whenI have to retire one day and
maybe stop using it.
You're not going to.
Man, you'd be bored the waythat I run around.
Yeah, I won't know what to do.
I was, uh, I took vacation forthe first time in a long time.
Um, you did what?
Now, I don't think I knowvocabulary that is no.

(54:30):
I took a real vacation.
I didn't uh, I did not usesocial media.
I fell off the face of somepeople say I fell off the face
of the earth for a while, whichwas great.
I had a lot of good family time, which was good, and I decided
to purposely not check anythingand it was so nice.

Speaker 3 (54:46):
It was so rewarding.
I usually I mean in Europewe're a little bit small because
we have a little bit morevacation, I think, than you guys
in one block, because the firstweek I will kind of cool down
and like need to park all mythoughts that are Business
Central related.
And I've got one week wherethere's absolute radio silence
and nothing like it's all aboutfamily and vacation time.

(55:09):
And then the last week is likeOK, now I need to start thinking
Business Central again.
So like yeah, three weeks isperfect, if you can ever.

Speaker 2 (55:16):
For that reason I think the three weeks is perfect
.
But when you're in that oneweek and that's sort of where I
was with that radio silence itwas I say this because I
encourage others to do it,because as many as often as
people think, oh, I'm going tomiss something, I'm going to
miss something.
As I always say to Chris nobodycares Like, you don't miss much
, you know what you miss.
If you're trying to worry aboutall that stuff, you miss your

(55:37):
vacation.
This is what I realized a longtime ago, whereas if you focus
on what it is, everything willbe there.
When you come back you cancatch up if you need to, and
even if you miss some stuff, youknow.

Speaker 1 (55:52):
Hey, perfect example of why AI is important.
Right, Like if you even takethat as an example as part of
your speaking session how youcan utilize AI.
Dude, I'm with you.
I went camping.
I was out for a week as well,Came back and just had
everything summarized.

Speaker 2 (56:06):
That's exactly what I did.

Speaker 1 (56:07):
Didn't feel like I'd miss anything right.
I knew what I had to like.
What's my priority?

Speaker 2 (56:11):
No no.

Speaker 1 (56:13):
Dude, that's amazing.
It's a perfect example.

Speaker 2 (56:15):
Co-pilot with Outlook is and I'm not just saying it
because we're talking withJesper from Microsoft but
co-pilot with Outlook was great,because I did the same exact
thing.
I said summarize my emails bytopic and I told her what to do,
and it gave me a good bulletlist of things to go by and it
was to go with Jesper's pointearlier you can do more now.
So now I wasn't so in your data, was trying to read through

(56:36):
everything and, believe it ornot, it was pretty accurate.
You know I did.

Speaker 3 (56:41):
Yeah, no I mean, I use it like every day, obviously
, like you know, also like whenyou, when you're late to a
meeting and you can summarizeand get you up to speed.
Sometimes you've got theseoverlapping meetings or maybe
even meetings where I know Iwon't play an active part, I
just won't participate and Ijust have it.
Give me a resume.
And should it be the case thatI feel by the resume, oh, I
missed out on something here,well then I can watch the

(57:02):
recording and get all the gorydetails, but more often than not
everything was in the resume,like all the important things.

Speaker 2 (57:08):
I laugh because we're the same.
And I even say now, when I havemeetings on Teams, I tell
everyone I'm going to record itfor transcription only, just so
that we can summarize it, sothat way I don't have to worry
about taking notes.

Speaker 1 (57:17):
So these are.
You can even ask like is thereanything that I need to do?
Did someone call me out so it'slike you don't miss out?
So, because sometimes peopleforget to let you know, like,
hey, this is, uh, chris'sresponsibility, you know?

Speaker 2 (57:31):
um, I just ask copilot we'll have the world
where we'll have ai in themeetings, only nobody has have
the meeting and nobody has to bethere.
This is where I think we'regoing.
We're going to a world wherenobody will just expect AI to do
everything, because now I canbe absent from a meeting in a
sense, but I actually wouldn'twant that because this personal
interaction is actually some ofthe more important stuff, but I

(57:51):
want to be in the meetings whereI really again something that
has to do with passion.

Speaker 3 (57:55):
Right, I want to be in the meetings where I feel
like I make a difference.
It's just a meeting where Ineed to sit in just to be
informed.
Well then, have co-pilot makeme a resume and let me spend
five minutes on this rather thanan hour.
But in the meetings where Ifeel like I make a difference, I
want to be in.
I want to have these candidconversations.
That's what makes my connection.

Speaker 2 (58:19):
And that's where I think in this world will be is
relationships are going to bethe most important in the future
.
It's no longer going to be someof the other things that we
focus on now, but having thathuman relationship is going to
be the most important.
I hope so, I think so and Ihope so.
Well, mr Jesper sir.

Speaker 1 (58:31):
I have a question really quick because, jesper,
you had called out regionaldirector and I've seen them
everywhere.
Are those regional directorsspecific to products as well,
and if so, does BCM work Withthe terminology again?

Speaker 3 (58:46):
because regional director, I think, is also a
title in the MVP program.
Yeah, and then there's alsoinside.
I don't think they're called,it's just some acronym again or
something.
I don't think they're called,it's just some acronym again or
something.
But there are people that arespecialized on a market and say,
okay, maybe that person doessomething you know particularly
important or relevant to themarket in Asia or something.

(59:07):
So yeah, Gotcha, Okay, justcurious.
Yeah, there's something,there's some terminology of mix
up there.

Speaker 2 (59:14):
But yeah, terminology gets us all done.
Well, mr yes, well, mr yes,thank you very much.
Take the time to speak to ustoday.
I always look forward tospeaking with you.
I'll have to speak to you quitewell.
I have to have like a regularcoffee hour or something to to
catch up on the world.
Always fun, it's always fun, uh.
But thank you for all that youdo for business central, thank
you for all you do for thepartners with the co-development
, with the partner program andalso in helping with the mvp

(59:36):
program, where we can have somewonderful, talented individuals
within the MVP program and veryimportant like if you want to
jump aboard the co-developmentyou know, find me on LinkedIn,
write me a message saying hey, Idon't know how to start and
I'll be happy to like literallyhold your hand and guide you
through it.

Speaker 3 (59:52):
Like how?
Because it might seem like, ohmy God, how do I even get
started in the complex process?
But with a little bit of help,you know, it's easy enough, and
also there are many MVPs outthere that have tried it before.
Right, brad?

Speaker 2 (01:00:06):
I mean you've made your contribution.
I want to do more.
Don't call me out.
I did fix a spelling mistakerecently.
I was going to mention that'sappreciated.
Now it's gone.
Even the contributions toanybody there.
That even if you see a spellingmistake, making a spelling
mistake, or something somethingsimple like that, it doesn't
have to be a big Start with that.
It doesn't have to be a complexsolution is what I'm trying to

(01:00:27):
say.
But even something as minorthat makes the product better by
correcting a syntactical erroror maybe some grammatical or
spelling errors, or it mighthave to be slightly.

Speaker 3 (01:00:37):
You saw something like hey, why does it behave
like this on the sales side, buton the purchase side it's just
slightly different.
Drives me crazy.
Well, create an issue and we'lltake a look at it.
It's like, yeah, man, thesethings should behave the same
way and then you can fix it onceand for all and everyone will
be happy, right?
So, anyway, need or think, or,like you know, start slow, but,

(01:01:01):
but uh, start, uh, and and I'msuper happy to help you there.
And I think, yeah, linkedin orviva engage is probably just a
way to get hold of me these days.
Um, so please do.
And and also, if you arecurious about the mvp program,
I'm also always happy to talkabout that or just chat about ai
in the world and whatever thatwill.

Speaker 2 (01:01:18):
We'll have to have another talk on, because I love
those conversations, but thankyou again for all that you and
also thank you very much fortaking the time to speak with us
.
I know time is valuable andevery minute that you have once
you spend, you don't get backand you spending it with us is
extremely valuable andappreciated from both of us.
So, thank you, let's talk withyou soon.
Ciao, ciao.

Speaker 1 (01:01:36):
Thanks.

Speaker 2 (01:01:36):
Jesper.
Thank you, Chris, for your timefor another episode of In the
Dynamics Corner Chair and thankyou to our guests for
participating.

Speaker 1 (01:01:47):
Thank you, brad, for your time.
It is a wonderful episode ofDynamics Corner Chair.
I would also like to thank ourguests for joining us.
Thank you for all of ourlisteners tuning in as well.
You can find Brad atdeveloperlifecom, that is
D-V-L-P-R-L-I-F-Ecom, and youcan interact with them via

(01:02:10):
Twitter D-V-L-P-R-L-I-F-E.
You can also find me atmatalinoio, m-a-t-a-l-i-n-o dot
I-O, and my Twitter handle ismatalino16.
And you can see those linksdown below in the show notes.
Again, thank you everyone.

(01:02:32):
Thank you and take care.