Latest / The DEX Show: A Show for IT Change Makers / 🎙️ Reality Bytes: Jon Leighton Returns! How Community Continues to Shape DEX

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🎙️ Reality Bytes: Jon Leighton Returns! How Community Continues to Shape DEX · The DEX Show: A Show for IT Change Makers

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome it, change Makers to the Deck Show with Tim
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Flower and Tom mcgra Let's get into it. Hello, change Makers,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Deck Show.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Show within a show within the show. It's that's special
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Reality Bikes, that special edition of Reality Bites where me
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: and the team get to talk to fascinating next thing
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: as we have a privilege of calling colleagues and you'd
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: almost think it was the dog days of summer. We've
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: only got Sean and Diana here with me to welcome
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: our guest today. But that's not because it's everyone's on
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: summer holidays. It's because everybody's moving between experienced locations. We
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: had London last week and we saw many of you
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: there live. It was wonderful to see and meet so
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: many listeners and hallo if you came and said hello.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: It was lovely for Tim and I to meet you
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: there and hopefully everybody enjoyed the show. We released from
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: experienced London last week and this week of course we
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: have experienced Boston always is if anything even more special
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: occasion or just a special occasion, I should say, And
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: what better guest to welcome back to Reality Bias Maybe
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: maybe apart from Sam John, our first returning Reality by
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: his guest.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: It's John Layton, of course, friend.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: Of the show, supporter of the show, and as I
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: say returning guests, John, welcome back.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: How you doing. I'm doing brilliantly. Thanks Tom, and I
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: feel honored to get a second opportunity to hang out
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: with some of my favorite next. Thing is wonderful to.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: Be here, beautiful And you know, like I always, I
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: always try and I do mention when I get the opportunity.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: But so many wonderful guests down the years we've had
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: through your recommendations and introductions, so we really we don't
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: just consider you a friend of the show, but what
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: you know, one for team and I.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Love that and you know we're blessed in the sort
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: of role I do. We met so many interesting people
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: with a story to share, and when we can bring
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: them in to have a conversation with you and see,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: that's just phenomenal. We love doing that.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: We love to receive and to speak and John to
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: kick things off. Maybe because many people in the dex
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: community listen to the show will know you personally, some won't,
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: and they won't even know what it is you do.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: So what is your kind of quite unique remit here
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: at Next Thing.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah sure, so, folks, my name is John Layton. I
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: run a number of our community programs at Next Think,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: and all of those programs are really about how do
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: we help professionals learn, grow, and of course deliver value
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: back into their organizations. I think, you know, we take
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: this really seriously when you think about tom I mean,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: collectively our community is positively impacting kind of the working
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: lives of what twenty million plus people around the world.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: So we fit this a really important mission, take it
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: really seriously, and that really drives a lot of our
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: efforts around community.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: Nobody downs your conviction on that front, John, And we've
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: just got to see you in personal experience, and maybe
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: by the time this airs, we'll will likely be in
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: Boston together all being well, my goodness, Maybe just use
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: experience itself as a sort of illustration of your role
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: and go into some of the things you get up
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: to at these world famous tex events.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah sure, I mean, listen, listen. Being in London just
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: such an incredible experience, and I think honestly we feel
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: blessed to be able to spend that time with our
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Next Think customers, our Next Think community. Just hearing about
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: their real world success is the progress they're making, you know, Tom,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: I think we live and breathe here and next thing right,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: it's an incredible place to work. But I'll tell you
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: what it's so inspiring when we spend time with our
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: customers and here about their wins, their stories, what it
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: means to them, I think, you know, as you know,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: we had so many of our customers take to the
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: stage and experience to share their story. That's a key
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: part of you know, what we're driving via the community,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: creating that opportunity for them to raise their voice, you know,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: and we believe there's a ton of value to our
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: customers in going on stage, you know, talking about the
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: business value of their decks initiatives. When we think about
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: it in that way, every IT program, you know, requires
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: continuous funding, and I think we were able to help
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: DEX professionals practice you know, the art storytelling. They're going
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: to need that when they're trying to influence their leadership,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: you know, with the hard day to the proven value,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: but also the act of storytelling. And I think aside
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: from the stage presence, you know, we really want to
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: honor the members of our Ambassador program in both London
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: and Boston. You know, these are the true pioneers of decks,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: so we love just to take that extra time and attention,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: you know, really make sure they have a great experience
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: and create that dedicated time for them to kind of
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: meet with one another as well. So I think you
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: folks will have seeing some of the artwork we co
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: created with our ambassadors, which we absolutely loved. It was
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: really reflecting their version of the dex equation. Incredible, a
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: sort of diversity of thought in terms of what they
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: came up with, but you know, real consistency in the theme.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: So Tom, I'd love to encourage our audience here to
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: go and check out that artwork and get the views
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: of what the dex equation is from our ambassadors directly.
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: Ie more generally, where does community fit into the broader
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: dex picture and why do you think it matters so much?
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: Why is it such an important component of decks as
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: a technology in general?
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think listen even beyond dex right, you know,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: next thing is we're a cloud, we're a SaaS company,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: and I think you know today it's it's non negotiable
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: that you have a great product, and you know, folks
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: We're blessed. We've got incredible product team. There's an incredible
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: vision and we see all of that, you know, energy
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: and thought from our product teams bringing that to life
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: in the products. Right. But when you're working with some
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: of the biggest organization the brands in the world, we
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: also have to think about the other part of SaaS.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: You know, great software is essential, but what about the
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: as a service? And I think for next think that's
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: about having a really great onboarding experience. You know, we've
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: got a phenomenal set of professional services teams helping people
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: get started. It's about how do you educate yourself? You know,
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: all of the free learning courses that ago in the
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: team put together really high quality instructional design. You know,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: it's even in the small spaces. It's the high quality documentation,
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: easy to consume, easy to understand, our support team, and
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: also an incredible level of guidance provided by our customer
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: success teams. You know, I think are those elements as
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: the as a service part of SATs you know, really
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: really important. So I think when it comes to community,
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: that's about how do we bring our customers together, whether
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: it's online, whether it's virtual, whether it's in person really
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: with a drive for them to share the solutions they're building,
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: also to share their challenges and actually to provide inspiration
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: to one another on the art the possible. I think
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: it was one of our ambassadors, Bob, and he said
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: this beautifully. He could have said, the only limit to
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: then the value Next Thing can provide is in the
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: is in the imagination of our engineers. So I think
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: you know one of the elements you know that we.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Really that's a crazy great quote.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: It's beautiful, isn't it. I love it, and it's just
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: but it gets to the heart of where you know,
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: our customers connect with one another. It's a whirlwind of inspiration.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: They're bouncing off one another and I've witnessed it firsthand
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: when they're crowdsourcing together trying to find common solutions, you know,
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: So you know that becomes really important. And then you know,
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: I'd also say, I think some of our customers actually
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: have a dex team, right, It's incredible. They've got I
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: don't know three four five people dedicated to Next Thing
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: and driving improvements. And when you're in that scenario, you've
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: got people to bounce ideas around with and to inspire you,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: but other customers. Actually it is a team of one
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: and that can be a little bit of a lonely place.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: So I think that's where our community can step in
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: as well. And you know, it's great to see people
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: reaching out across our community and in sparring those folks
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: that there were maybe a team of one. It's it's
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: super to see the community support those folks as well.
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: That's fantastic. Totally align with that, and how much of
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: this connects to the demands DEX places on practitioners, those
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: party of one or people who are having dex ops teams,
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: especially in learning to engage colleagues with a new way
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: of thinking about their IT estate and then finding ways
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: to make that data speak to you.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a really important point. I think, you know,
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: my six and a half years or so at next thing,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: I think I can say I've yet to meet a
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: DEX professional that couldn't wrap their hands around the tech
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: side of decks, right, But what we saw was this
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: gap emerging around how do you operationalized decks? And a
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: lot of that comes down to challenges really around organizational
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: change management more than the technology. It's about how people work,
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: how people think, what are the metrics that they've been
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: measured by. Especially you know in typical IT organizations with
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: strong leaning into IT and itsm you know, the metrics
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: in those environments sometimes haven't changed in twenty or thirty years. Right,
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: So it's actually a deep rooted organizational change that can help. Now,
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: just to be clear, I mean, I see you know,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: I've seen customers roll out next thing because another tool
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: in the talk, and they've achieved incredible results. Right. It's
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: just when I see organizations that are starting to talk
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: about experience, you know at the C suite and in
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: IT leadership, and that thread runs all the way down
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: and it becomes more of a mindset change. I think
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: that's where organizations are kind of three four five xing
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: the improvements they can make, right, And I think in
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: our user groups it's a really common theme. You know,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: how do we drive adoption? How do we get more
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: folks across it? Everyone's incredibly busier course, right, but how
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: do we get more people just starting to think about
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: ingesting nexting insights and data into existing processes, or how
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: do we ensure that DEX teams are really able to
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: reflect the business value of the the improvements they're putting together.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: That's where a lot of the conversations are taking place
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: around our user groups.
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: Totally agree, John. I think community itself and all of
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: the different activities we do they are pivotal in connecting
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: the mesh and connecting the dots, whether it's around the process,
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: the people, technology value, or how we are having communication
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: in base.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: Right, So you've spoken, sorry, Dean, is that communication piece
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: absolutely vibe to right? And it's been true. It's been
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: wonderful watching some of our customers actually really really put
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Are we encouraging them to do this right? We're encouraging
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: them to think like a marketier And it sounds alien
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: to it, folks, but you know, actually, when you can
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: put a brand behind your decks initiative, and we've got
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: some customers that have done this incredibly well, that brand
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: you start to use to build trust with your employees, right,
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: that actually we do care about your experience, that we're
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: listening and we're going to act on that. So that
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: communications piece of dex maturity really really important.
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: Totally agree. And you've spoken before about next Thing's partnership
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: with its customers and partners. Can you expand on what
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: that means in practice and how next Thing strives to
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: stay attentive to the needs of its customers organizations.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, sure, so I listen. I think it's multifaceted. I think,
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: you know, in many areas, I think the partnership approach
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: I always like to think about partnership with a capital
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: per right, it's not a partnership a convenience. We're deeply
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: invested in our customers winning, in our customers being successful,
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: and I think that starts with the people we work
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: with on the ground. But in one level, you know,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: we've got a super team of client directors in customer
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: Success who sort a laser focused on helping customers realize value.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: And ideally that's just not about traditional IT metrics of value,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: it's how does that align with business value? So beyond
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: techs ops, it's the business lens that our teams are
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: focused on. And you know, and I get to see
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: all of those feedback loops as well, the feedback loops
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: and next Thing between our frontline teams talking with customers
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: all day every day, and the channels that they're able
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: to bring those insights back and feed our product teams
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: just phenomenal. You know, Clearly there's also the continued investment
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: in our community programs as well, in making the time
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: to create these opportunities for customers to learn from one another.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: But we also learn a ton from those engagements as well.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: We learn a ton from the tech cafes where customers
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: come on and you know, talk to one another and
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: hear from our product teams. Our product folks are just
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: always so willing to either jump on a call with
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: a customer or come along and share their insights and
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: sort of product insights. Event Honestly, you know, for me,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: this is what now my fourth software company in fifteen
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: years since I moved across from being an operational a T.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: And I've worked in some organizations where kind of product
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: were kept at an ivory tower, you know, really difficult
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: to just have a sensible conversation. There is just none
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: of that here at the next thing. There's just a
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: desire for our product teams to work as closely to
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: our customers as possible, to kind of learn what's working,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: to learn about new challenges. And I think you know
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: that that manifests through a brilliant research team we have
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: with Patrick Mark Orehana this sometimes on this show, right,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: you know, all of that together just creates a wonderful
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: opportunity for us just to learn from the people that
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: are doing the real hard work on the ground across
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: our customer base.
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: Hey, John, I'm curious how much of that ethos, the
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: focus on customers and collaboration you're speaking about, stems from
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: having a CEO founder who helped develop the technology and
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: still take such a hands on interest and how it's
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: being used to help customers.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a great, great question, Sean, I mean, and
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: I remain, of course in awe at Pedro not not
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: just the vision and the continual drive, even after twenty years,
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: to continue to enhance that vision and make it a reality,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: you know, between Pedro and Sam that you know it.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: I've been blessed to be a number of our experience
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: events each year, and always Pedro and Sam talk about
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: kind of the next big thing coming and they make
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: a commitment, and what's wonderful is then next thing honors
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: that commitment and generally, by the time the next experience
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: event kind of rolls around, we're kind of showing off
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: the kind of the thing they teased the year before.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: So it's just super the cious you know, as a
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: hugely innovative organization, but also honoring our commitments. You know,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: when we say something, we're going to do it, So
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: that's brilliant. And then and honestly, a part of the
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: kind of or a Pedro I think, is just how
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: approachable he is. You know, we hosted an ass Pedro
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: Anything session for our ambassadors a month or so ago,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: and he spent an hour with our ambassadors live right
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: just talking, you know, taking their questions, just having a conversation.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: So he's such a kind of natural in those sorts
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: of environments. So we see that experience as well. You know,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: he's of course he's a really busy guy, but he's
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: always making time to talk to our ambassadors, to talk
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: to our customers, to understand them, and even you know,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: the the overriding kind of community ethos really comes from
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: Pedro and really permeates through the company. And that's been
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: the way from the very start twenty years ago. You know,
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: this idea that if we could get together this community
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: of DEX professionals and listen intently to them, that's going
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: to help us drive the right product innovation and produce
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: solutions to the problems they face.
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: Good stuff all right. Let's talk then about career prospects
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: for any DEX practitioner in the field right now twenty
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: twenty five. What opportunities are out there that are emerging.
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: How can Next Thing support those people as they develop
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: their expertise and grow their careers.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, sure, so listen, I don't think it comes as
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: a shock to any of us. It is tough out
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: there right now, isn't it across many sectors and it
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: folks are not immune to that. But we do strongly
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: believe that by developing both a deep understanding of decks
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: and the value at decks, and then tying that to
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: sort of practical understanding and expertise within the next Thing solution,
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: it becomes a great differentiated for folks in the job market. Right.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: I think now we're always standing by the support DEX professionals,
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: whether they'ret one of our customers or not. And in fact,
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: in the last year or so, you know, we've been
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: fortunate enough to help a number of people kind of
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: move into new roles and sort of continue their career
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: as a DEX pro And at the same time, we've
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: witness folks getting promoted based on their efforts, getting bonuses
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: really down to the value that the dex's initiatives they're
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: leading a driving So we definitely feel it's a strong
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: differentiator for folks. We encourage people to get involved, to
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: learn more, and you know, as a I'll call it
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: a slight side project. You know, we keep track of
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: what we call a next think alumni, and that's folks
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: that for whatever reason may not be working at one
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: of our customers anymore, but we're always on hand to
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: try and offer them some support, try and help them
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: get connected to others in the community to find that
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: next role. So it just goes way beyond this notion
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: of the fact that someone works at a customer or not.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: It's really about just trying to support DEX professionals and
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: deliver on that career growth promise that we believe in.
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: Very cool, all right, at the highest level, I'm if
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: I'm understanding you correctly, then I guess the partnership with
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: individuals kind of comes to life through the Ambassador program.
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: Is there anything you haven't yet mentioned that's particularly exciting
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: or unique about this initiative.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think we've perhaps touched on a couple of
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: pieces earlier in the conversation, but I would say, what
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: one of the things we're really trying to do with
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: our ambassadors, we're not kind of bound by Next Think
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: is a piece of technology. Right. Like I said earlier,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: I think all of our ambassadors just have been able
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: to wrap their hands around next Think is a set
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: of capabilities really without too many problems, And of course
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: the latest versions of Assist make it even even easier
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: to do that. I've got to tell your story. Actually,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: I met a brand new customer three or four weeks
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: ago based over in San Francisco, and we hadn't even
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: they were literally just deploying the collectors, right, and they
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: hadn't even had any of the wonderful professional services engagement
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: that we do to on board folks. And yet on
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: day one, once those collectors are out, they were already
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: using assist and starting to bring data back, starting to understand.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: I think they described it to me as the best
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: onboarding type technology they'd ever seen in their career from
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: a SaaS company. So, you know, I think that that
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: ASSIST capability is absolutely phenomenal. But going back to the ambassadors,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: I think, you know, it goes beyond just the tech, right,
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: It's really about how do we support them in the
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: broader set of skills you need as a dex pro.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: For the last couple of years, you know, we have
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: a deep interest in sort of XLA Next Think apart
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: or a founding member of the XLA Institute. So you know,
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: for the last couple of years, we've run x l
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: A training for ambassadors, We've hosted store retelling workshops, We've
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: led sessions on things like influence and adoption strategies on
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: how to measure value again from that business lens, how
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: do you tie in the value to it, to the
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: value that brings to your organization. So I would say
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: that's you know, we're really excited about twenty twenty six
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: and our ambassador planning, but it's about again, it's it's
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: more than just learning about the tech. Our AGGA and
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: the Learn team do a phenomenal job of providing training
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: in those areas. So this is more about what are
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: those other skills sometimes called the soft skills right that
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: are going to help you develop your career and also
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: to drive this adoption of Next Think and increase the
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: value that it delivers in your organization.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: Wonderfully said as ever, John, and you know, just you know,
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: as important as as community is that to that part
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: of as a service that is constitutive of what Next
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: Think covers. You know, I think you're as in important
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: a part of that community. You know, I know you're
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: Your reputation is absolutely phenomenal among so many DEX practitioners,
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: and and and so much. The next thing puts on
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: so real pleasure to have you back on the show.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: Always appreciate your contributions to to Next Think in the
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: DEX community, both in and out of the context of
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: the DEX show, and and and great to see you.
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: Last question then for you, how can people listening if
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: they're not already get involved in in the community stuff?
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: And then you've ambassador programs and such like.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: Sure, well, well, firstly, listen, you're way too kind. We
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: couldn't do what we do from a community without having
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: a great product at the heart of it. Right at
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: customer success teams couldn't do what they do so well
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: without a high quality product. So it's a you know,
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: a one team effort. And even in the community space,
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: there's a whole team of us from Andrew Charlotte, Sarah Ever,
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: kat Yanella Josh All driving this same sit right, So
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: even even within our team. It's a huge team effort.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: By no means just me, but I think you know
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: to answer the question. You know, for our current customers
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: and partners, go search for next Think community, right, Go register,
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: Come and be part of that conversation. It's dead easy
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: to go and do that. You go and find us, register,
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: come and be part of the conversation.
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: For future customers, I mean, if you're already talking with
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: our teams, we'd love you to come along and be
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: part of the community. Come along to the events here
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: from other customers and go take a look at that
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: kind of phenomenal sort of learn training that I've been
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: bigging up. So Sadel there really as well. Go search
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: for next Think Community, go and register, and then the
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: team will be in touch to help you get on
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: boarded into community and come and be part of it.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: And I think for those that are like I'll say,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: on the Periphery, which is a great book by the way,
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: I just read, for those on the periphery that are
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: just really learning about decks, finding out about the concepts,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: just interested in knowing more. Tom, the work you and
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: the team have done with the deck Shub, what a
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: phenomenal place for folks to go and learn from other
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: people in the industry, from ourselves. You know, so many
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: batter customers, as you said, sharing what they're doing on there,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: shown the deck SERTs that you work really hard on
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: putting together what is it now, seven or eight deck
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: SERTs that folks can go and take for free on
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: the Deck's Hub. You know, all of those things are
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: a great way for people to get connected to our
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: community and goes without saying, Tom the podcast as well,
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: a brilliant way to stay connected and tune into what's
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: handing in the deck space.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: It's a love fest, ladies and gentlemen. But what on it?
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: Just Tom?
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but what a better excuse to fill those show
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: notes with a useful useful links and resources or any excuse, John, any.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: Excuse to have you back on the show.
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: And I guess about the time this goes live, I'll
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: be seeing you again in person and hopefully many listeners
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: out there at Boston and experience and I look forward
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: to that.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much. Yeah, come see aer Ambassador Hub. Would
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: be delighted to get you connected to some other customers
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: in Boston and obviously a massive array of high value
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: sessions and tom they get to meet you.
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: Indeed, indeed, quiet quiet the occasion worth.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: For price of particular.
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: Learn to make sure that you never miss an episode.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: Subscribe to the show in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your
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• 24:37
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• 24:40
  Speaker 1: If you'd like to learn more about how next Thing
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: can help you improve your digital employee experience, head over
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: to nextthink dot com.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for listening. Until next time,