As part of the Summit EMEA Social Series, the Summit EMEA team has talked to several influencers from the industry about their experience with conferences such as Summit EMEA and why they will be attending Summit EMEA in Dublin this year. In this blog Fredrik Neiderud, Solution Designer at Standard Chartered Bank Sweden and chapter leader of the CRMUG in Sweden, gives us an insight on what he is most excited about and why he values attending this conference so much.
Why is content one of the top reasons to attend this conference?
Fredrik: “Within my role, I need to know the capabilities of this product in detail. There is a lot of written material available, but there is just a limit on how much you can read. Attending Summit EMEA, with all that content, it’s the most effective way of getting up to speed with the product.”
What sessions do you look most forward to attending at this conference and why?
Fredrik: “Definitely all the in person sessions with MVP’s and other experts, but also the product update sessions provided by Microsoft. I am also always interested in hearing real world scenarios where community leaders like myself share our own experiences. It’s said that learning from mistakes is always a good practise, but I prefer to learn from other’s mistakes rather than my own.”
How important is it to stay on the cutting edge of technology for you and your business and how does this conference support that through content?
Fredrik: “It’s a must, it’s the only way we can deliver first class support to our customers while still staying within a very tight budget. The content that is offered at Summit EMEA helps us do that and is the number one reason I attend this conference.”
Why is community one of the top reasons to attend this conference?
Fredrik: “I attended Summit EMEA in Amsterdam last year and I made some great new connections. People who are true rock stars within the community, users but also partners. Without them and the discussions we had, I wouldn’t be half the expert I am today.”
What is it about the user group community that excites you?
Fredrik: “It’s the open discussions and the true commitment from all of us, to share and to learn. Stronger together is the keyword here. Maintaining the connections and making new ones within this community is definitely the best part about meeting them in person. I love that I get to share my expertise with the vibrant community during this time. Being in this community makes my day to day work a lot easier and a lot more fun. It also gives me the energy to keep on going.”
How important is networking to you and your business and how does attending this conference support that?
Fredrik: “That is crucial. Without my network I am just alone in trying to solve these complex problems and that would never be enough, because these are problems and challenges that just can’t be solved by a single person. It’s also much easier to discuss and ask questions to an active contact, rather than with a person that you’ve just met at a conference a few years ago.”
Having access to Microsoft engineers and support technicians is not something that you’ll get every day. Is this important to you and if yes, why?
Fredrik: “I would say it’s every valuable, because it gives me the opportunity to discuss and reflect on some of the assumptions we’ve made. This concerns the small things, that are not big enough to open a support case for with Microsoft, but still interesting to discuss.”
How does this impact on your company?
Fredrik: “Definitely, it gives us the opportunity to better utilize the investment that we have made in Dynamics 365 and in the end we are ending up with a better system for our users at a lower cost.”
Thank you so much, Fredrik! Secure your tickets for Summit EMEA today and join us 24-26 April 2018 in Dublin!
Hear from Heather Williams, Tony Stein, Thomas Bonde, Sarah Chritchley & Allan Lassen on what they had to say about Summit EMEA!
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