Directions EMEA 2022: Directions Two – Diversity Won

Directions Two – Diversity Won

Tuesday 8th November, I started my journey to Directions EMEA 2022  in Hamburg. This is only my second time to Directions after Milan last year and I was especially full of expectation and excitement about the sessions on Diversity and Inclusion – a subject that is very close to my heart.

Accompanying me on the trip were Neelesh and Greta – after we took advantage of the special offer from the Directions committee to bring “Young in Dynamics”. The chance for them to experience this fantastic Microsoft and partner get together was too good an opportunity to miss.

My objective for this year’s Directions was to find out about what’s new in Dynamics as well as pick up some hints and tips on recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce. And boy did I have some good content ahead of me!

The first evening, we were just a short walk to the CCH, a fantastic venue for the nearly 3000 people, to register and catch up with colleagues as well as old and new friends and acquaintances. I was expecting to see some traditional German cuisine, but not a sausage in sight! There was however plenty of good food to provide us with the fuel we needed to see us through the intensive knowledge sharing.

Day 2 and the first keynote set the pace, filled with stacks of information on what is new now in hot off the press latest version of Dynamics Business Central. Already in the first hours I can see how our customers, present and future, will be able to benefit from some of the changes Microsoft are bringing us. Business Central is all powered up to offer huge efficiencies to our customers.

The news that Teams users will now be able to view business central data without a licence was greeted with much excitement by all the delegates and this was my focus for the day. I attended the various sessions on this topic, and it was filled with lots of information to impart to the team back in the UK. This will remove a huge impediment to uptake. It’s a giant step forward and will make us much more competitive than others with this easy integration in the Microsoft stack.

Another topic of interest was a session by Aj Ansari on Hiring Young Talent: Here are 10 things you must do to succeed: lessons from the field. Many of the mistakes he outlined they had learned from were similar to mistakes we had made at 4PS UK, and I came away with lots of ideas to take back. Making mistakes is not the issue, learning from them and making the changes needed are key.

Eventually Wednesday evening came round, and we had the much-awaited Women in Dynamics reception. It was a real honour to have been nominated for an award in the Diversity and Inclusion category, I was proud to have been shortlisted and to have my name among the fantastic women dedicated to this. I realised that we were among a growing group of committed people who wanted to make real change. We still have a way to go, but we’re on the journey.

Day 3 started with another fact filled Keynote, commercial data, and information on the new bridge to the cloud 2 offer. The new Career Connected looks really exciting too, with Microsoft acknowledging the skill shortfall in our industry and looking to help us hire the right talent with the skills we need faster. This is a gratefully received initiative and we at 4PS UK look forward to tapping into this new stream.

The rest of the day was taken up with first witnessing the “Young in Dynamics” discussion, which confirmed my suspicions that young people have a lot to contribute to our community. Then some very good tips on how to retain, motivate and empower the women in your business, led by Elena Baeva. There followed a short get together by Women in Dynamics for prospective mentors and mentees which was thought provoking and gave some great ideas on encouraging this within 4PS and beyond.
The following (and final) day had our last keynote, with 4PS Group winning 2nd place in the community Technology award. We had one ultimate session in the Women in Dynamics series of session, which had a particularly inspiring part with Bam Boom Cloud, 21-year-old support manager, giving us 5 tips on how to create an inclusive culture.

Finally, we had to rush off to the airport then had a 6 hour wait in Schiphol airport for our flight home. You might think that this would be terribly boring and fatiguing after such a week! But in fact, this time cemented the whole experience as Greta, Neelesh and I reflected on our conference sessions and brain stormed ideas. Hard work is ahead, but with their help we can make 4PS and the Dynamics community a more diverse and inclusive place to work. Can’t wait for the weeks and months ahead to put these ideas into practice!

About Directions 4 Partners

Directions 4 Partners is the independent community for Microsoft Dynamics 365 partners from the ERP and CRM channels. It is organised for partners by partners. Directions EMEA is one of the highlights of the Microsoft Dynamics year and it’s the place where Microsoft present new releases and partners can connect, share knowledge, and grow together.

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