>> Host: Live from Atlanta, Georgia, it's theCUBE. Covering IFS World Conference 2018, brought to you by IFS. >> Welcome back to theCUBE's live coverage of IFS World Conference here in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm your host, Rebecca Knight. We have a three-guest panel with us today. We have Amy Eager. She is the technical solution architect APS10 evangelist. Mark Large, the head of business systems at Volac, and Jay Gnuse, who is the information technology director at Chief industries. Jay, Mark, Amy, thanks so much for joining us. >> Absolutely. >> Thanks. >> So, tell me Amy, you are an evangelist. I love that you have that in your title, very cool. Tell me a little bit about what you do as a technical solution architect. >> So, I really have sort of a dual role. And technical solution architect is something very important to me, because I have the luxury of working with our prospective customers. So folks that haven't joined the IFS family yet, as well as our existing customers. So, for example I've known Jay for over 10 plus years, and we've worked on various technology aspects together. When customers upgrade and they need new hardware, and all those types of things I provide advice on that. But being a product evangelist, which is my second time. I'm very honored I was the APS9 evangelist, and the applications 10 evangelist, and that means that I get to go out and spread the word about all the benefits that IFS Applications 10 is going to bring to our customer base. So it's very exciting. >> So, you were on the main stage this morning, you're going to be back this afternoon. What are some of your favorite features that you sing from the rooftops? >> Well, I think really we got to see a great look at some of that this morning. The fact that you can interact with a business application simply by typing a few words in, and talking to the arena bot. I think that is really next generation, and going to take us to the next level. Obviously we see more and more of our users wanting to interact with their business applications the way they do with their phones and their consumer apps. So I think that's really very exciting, that certainly would be one feature, and just continuing to extend our user experience through what you saw this morning and the IFS arena client. Really putting the information right in the hands of the users. >> And then in an intuitive way, an easy way. >> Yes, absolutely, if it's not easy they're not using it so. >> That's a very good point, good point. So you both have these buttons on that says, "I'm an early adopter of IFS Applications 10". >> Yes. >> I want to hear from both of you, why were you an early adopter? We'll start with you Mark. >> Well, we were on Apps8 before we joined Apps10, and we did a lot of development work with IFS on Apps8, and it sort of came to fruition within nine, so within nine, a lot of the work we did was available. We didn't upgrade to nine, so when the opportunity with ten came along, we said let's go for it. We have a very good relationship with IFS, so we trust each other, which is key to any upgrade program. And there's so many new features that we can really benefit from as a business. >> And do you feel almost a little bit of an ownership in the sense that you, because you were with Apps9, and you may have even helped IFS sort of think about what could be next. >> Yes, yeah, so we definitely own the system. And in working with R&D they listened to what we're saying, so that, you know, for a software provider, that's a real key thing that they listen to their customers. IFS has definitely done that on Apps10, especially with the arena client, which launched today, and the arena bot, which I was one of the first people to use, so it's a very good tool. >> Very cool. Jay, how about you, why did your company choose to be an early adopter? >> Yeah, we've really got a great team at Chief, so we knew that we could find the problems and create the cases accordingly that are needed, so that IFS could fix them. And then we also have some very creative people on our team that can come up with enhancements, or small tweaks to the program to help and shape it for the future. So that was one of the reasons. We also are really excited about the training that we received, and that was something we were looking forward to, and sure enough we did get a lot of training, lot of questions asked, so we feel like we know IFS better now than we did before thanks to all the training with it, especially with R&D. >> So what are some of the benefits that you're already seeing? So, IFS Apps10 is going to be out to the general market later this year, or early next? >> Amy: Just shortly following the conference. >> Oh, excellent, okay. But you've been playing around with it for a while now, what are some of the benefits that you're seeing? >> One of the features that we like is the ability to edit customer order lines. Multiple lines at the same time, that's a nice new features that makes it a little quicker for our end users. Another one is the part cost history details. We should be able to save some data space by using that one. We also like the ability to move functional objects in the equipment object navigator. That's easier now, before we had left over objects sitting out there, and now we can move them. So that's nice. I really like the ability to pin records on the detail screen. It's kind of hard to describe how it works, but once you see it, it's easy and it's a very nice feature. And then, of course, the manufacturing visualizer is huge for us. With it, our customers have to make changes, and may be late in the game, and with that, we can see what's going on on the shop floor, and we can adjust accordingly. >> Yeah. >> How about you, Jay? I mean, sorry, Mark. (laughing) >> Yeah, so we, that's been a gamechanger for the business, we've gone from the webportal for booking holidays to the arena client, you can do it in the pub, or anywhere on the go, basically. Which is really good. >> I like being in the pub. >> Yeah, the pub's good. >> That works for me. >> And then um, Wadaco, which is the warehouse data collection system, which is all about scanning and handling units, and we manufacture lots of different products for the human and animal markets, and we have a sashay and then a box and an outer box and then onto a pallet, that's lots of transactions, but in Wadaco now, handing an issue you can do it as one transaction, so instead of ten transactions, you've got one transaction. That's a massive gamechanger for the way in which we use the system. >> One of the things we've heard a lot in the keynote, and also just in these interviews that I'm doing here, is just how customer-centric IFS is. And you're customers, so can you tell us a little bit about how, how has this company, earned your trust? What is it, what is it doing that's so special than other companies, that its competitors aren't? >> It's the relationship, it's all down to relationships. We have four values in our company, performance, ambition, collaboration, and trust. And actually, if you take all those four key values, IFS follows them, we work together well with best of breed system, we collaborate well. We're both ambitious businesses, and we trust each other. So if you've got all those four things, you've got a win. >> Right, right, right. So what do you want to see out of the next Woco. So we're at Woco 2018, I know it's only day one, but when you think about, you are valued and dear customers to IFS, so what do you want to see with this relationship going forward? >> Well I think the title this year, the what's coming next, is really important, and it's so great to be able to see all the new features that they're rolling out, and what they're doing, so looking forward to that again next time. >> And it's also the expansion of the arena client, you know, it's quite small at the moment, and there's all the updates coming, we're getting to see them firsthand, but this time next year or in 18 months, the arena client will be massive. And it will be the future. >> It's true, it's true. And how much are you talking with each other? I mean, that's one of the things that we've heard, too, is that customers, you know, it's almost like companies don't want their clients talking to each other but that's not so at Woco, that we want the feedback, want the interaction. What's the experience, can you describe what it's like? >> Well, to me, I mean, it really is sort of the foundation of IFS. I really believe that, I see that, I think we all do. The relationships that we have with our customers, that is something unique. This is not a vendor supplier customer type relationship. We are partners in this, and I think another unique aspect that I would love to point out is the fact that, not only do we want our customers talking to each other, we have perspective customers here. This is not a situation where it's all just long-term customers, we've all known each other. We have perspective customers here that are really gaining insight into what it means to be part of the IFS family. And that's certainly, I'm very proud to say, I've been with IFS for over 20 years, and that's something that has always been the case with our organization, and it means a lot to us for our customers to feel that way as well. >> So, now that the software has been deployed, how are you keeping, how can customers keep it up to date? >> Well, this is another aspect that we, we really introduced this in IFS Applications 9, but it continues on with IFS Applications 10, of course, which are quarterly updates. So, through the lifecycle of a release, an update will come out every quarter, they are cumulative updates, excuse me, so if you see update four comes out, and there isn't anything that you need, then you skip that, maybe you skip the next one, but six comes by and you say, there's something there that I want to apply, it's like applying a patch. So they can really stay current, and that's our driver. And another unique thing about this is not only are we introducing fixes and corrections, we know those exist in software, but we also try and introduce little feature, functional enhancements in these updates as well. So there could be a new feature available to you, or a new lobby, or something new with the bot perhaps coming in an update, so, it's very important to us to not only, of course, deliver fixes and patches when needed, but also functional enhancements throughout the lifecycle of the product. >> And have you experienced this yet? >> Yeah, even on the beta version, we've been taking updates, so we're on update four at the moment, so, uh, and update five's ready. We're going to make the decision if we want to take it now or we wait til RTM which is July for us. Which is quite soon. >> Right, right, no, it's just around the corner. Exactly. And so, I assume you'll be early adopters of Apps 11, too. >> Mark: Maybe. (laughing) There's no reason why not. >> Right, exactly. Well, Jay, Mark, Amy, thank you so much for joining us. It's been a really great conversation here. >> Amy: Thank you so much, thank you guys. >> Jay: Thank you. >> Mark: Thank you. >> I'm Rebecca Knight, we'll have more from IFS WOCO 2018 just after this.