Hosted by Chandra Wobschall and Paul Houtkooper

Hey JDE Connection listeners! We’re back home, mostly recovered, and attempting to adjust to life after INFOCUS. There really is such a thing as a conference hangover. After a few days of conversations, sessions, meetings, hallway run-ins, and being “on” from morning until night, returning to a quiet office takes a minute. And apparently expense reports are not the cure.

Once our brains caught up with us, we sat down to talk about what made this year’s INFOCUS memorable.

There Was an Energy in the Room

One thing we both noticed was just how much energy there was throughout the conference. People were excited about what they’re building, trying, and learning, and that enthusiasm was contagious.

Even better, there were a lot of new faces. During the kickoff, Paul asked how many people were new to JD Edwards or attending their first JDE conference, and the number of hands in the air was encouraging. Of course, he followed that by asking how many had been around for 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 years.

We prefer the term “experienced.”

That mix of people is part of what makes this community fun. Someone shares what they’ve done, someone else asks a question, and suddenly another person is thinking, “Wait, could we do something like that?”

Those conversations are often where the best ideas begin.

The Best Sessions Keep Going After the Session Ends

We talked about several sessions we managed to catch between meetings, presentations, podcast activities, and occasionally trying to remember where we were supposed to be.

The common thread wasn’t necessarily a particular technology. It was interaction.

The sessions we enjoyed most had customers, partners, presenters, and attendees exchanging ideas instead of simply listening to slides. People asked questions. They shared their own experiences. They challenged ideas. And sometimes we walked out thinking, “Oh, we should try that.”

That same thing happened with the customer stories shared during the keynote. People connected with those experiences and then sought out the speakers afterward to continue the conversation.

That’s conference success in our book.

Technology Still Comes Back to People

One topic kept resurfacing as we compared notes: change.

We heard plenty about AI, mobile solutions, modernization, and new ways of working, but technology only gets you so far if the people using it aren’t part of the conversation.

We found ourselves talking about the importance of bringing the business into change early, especially the people actually doing the work. If you’re changing a process on the manufacturing floor, talk to the people on the manufacturing floor. If you’re changing how transactions happen, involve the people entering those transactions.

It sounds obvious when we say it out loud. Somehow, it doesn’t always happen that way.

And while AI was naturally a big part of the conference conversation, we also heard a great reminder: sometimes the right answer is already sitting in your toolbox. One story about solving a very real business problem with an existing JDE capability brought that point home beautifully.

New and shiny is fun. So is solving the problem.

Midwesternism of the Day

For this week’s Midwesternism, we headed somewhere familiar, especially if you grew up in certain parts of the country. It’s a place made for settling in, getting comfortable, and probably spending more time than intended. Paul needed a few clues before making the connection, which made this one even more fun.

Until next time, let’s keep learning, sharing, and most importantly, laughing together.

Toodles!

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