From Theology to Tech: Hylke Britstra's Path to MVP in Dynamics 365 F&O and the Importance of Soft Skills in ERP Projects

Mark Smith: 0:06
Welcome to the MVP show. My intention is that you listen to the stories of these MVP guests and are inspired to become an MVP and bring value to the world through your skills. If you have not checked it out already, I do a YouTube series called how to Become an MVP. The link is in the show notes. With that, let's get on with the show. Today's guest is from Netherlands. He works as a Microsoft Certified Trainer and Consultant in Dynamics AX or Dynamics 365, Finance and Operations. He was first awarded as MVP in 2023. He's a strong project-based worker and analytical thinker. You can find links to his bio, social media etc. In the show notes for this episode. Welcome to the show, Hylke.

Hylke Britstra: 0:58
Thank you, mark, thank you.

Mark Smith: 1:00
Good to have you on and always love speaking to folks from the Netherlands, being that New Zealand was named by an explorer from your part of the world. But yeah, you must have a Zealand right in the Netherlands, correct?

Hylke Britstra: 1:18
Yeah, my holiday starts in a week, and then we go to Zeeland.

Mark Smith: 1:22
Wow.

Hylke Britstra: 1:22
And I think it's related to New Zealand with the names and the founder Correct?

Mark Smith: 1:27
Correct, Correct. Abel Tasman, Tell me food, family and fun. You just talked about going on holidays. Tell me a bit about the food that you like and your family and what you do for fun.

Hylke Britstra: 1:39
Okay, yeah, great. Yeah, I start with family. I married with my niece. We have three children. The youngest one just became five last week. So we have a daughter of five, a son of six and a son of eight. So, yeah, I'm a father with playing a lot of soccer, sometimes playing with the daughter, with the Barbies, let's say that kind of things, but I like that. Yeah, my holiday starts in a week and we go to Zeeland. That's a place in the Netherlands. It's near the sea, so we like being on a holiday around the sea, the beach, playing soccer with the boys, being in the water. So or we go to an island in the Netherlands or we go to Sealand. So, yeah, that's part of our holiday tradition that we want some place with water near the place where we are. Food I think I like Italian food a lot, so not particularly the Dutch foods. I eat that as well, but I'm more of the Italian food. I think I like that a lot.

Mark Smith: 2:51
Nice.

Hylke Britstra: 2:52
So yeah, that's a bit about me, I think.

Mark Smith: 2:55
I like it. I like it. Tell me how you got to where you've got to in your career. What was your journey?

Hylke Britstra: 3:11
what was your journey? Well, when I finished my school, I started studying financial services management. So I started to study as a financial. I finished that study as well, but during that time I had some questions about what do I want? So I made a very different decision.

Hylke Britstra: 3:23
After that, I went to a bible school for a year. So in the Netherlands I went to a Bible school for a year so in the Netherlands we have a few and I went for a year to that and after that I did a study to become a pastor. So I also finished that study. But during that study I worked at a company where they used Accepta. So it was like a side job where I worked and they used accepta. They implemented it, and during that job I I got more and more questions about can you help us with accepta, can you help us with new questions from users creating work instructions.

Hylke Britstra: 3:58
I was young at that time, so I did everything I could to help that company by using Accepta and I like that a lot, based on the combination of processes, people and the ERP tool. So yeah, I did some very different studies when you relate it to Accepta and F&O financial operations, but more and more I saw the link between all the things I learned in study, like finance in my finance study, but the study theology for becoming a pastor. I worked a lot with people and I realized more and more that the people side is much important in ERP implementations as well.

Mark Smith: 4:57
So I think, yeah, everything came together. So at this moment I still work in the F&O area because I liked it so much that I only took more projects and later went to work for a Microsoft partner instead of working at the customer side where I started. Interesting, interesting, so is your focus now just on Dynamics 365 F&O, or do you do Business Central as well? No only F&O, what?

Hylke Britstra: 5:12
are your thoughts on Business Central? Well, I always say it's the brother of F&O. So I think there are two ERP systems in that scope and I think where I see using FNO a lot is where the companies are focused in multiple countries and they need one solution for it. I think maybe Business Central can do more and more as well. But, to be honest, I don't work with that application, but I hear about that application, of course, but for me, fno is so big that we said in our unit we really need to focus to make sure that you can reach the expert level, and doing both systems would not help me to do everything on the level that I want to.

Mark Smith: 5:56
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I totally agree with staying focused. What was your journey to becoming an MVP? How did that come about?

Hylke Britstra: 6:04
Well, it's more like I like writing a lot and I like sharing a lot and knowledge sharing. So I think it was a couple of years ago and I realized more and more I was like 15 years in the work field of AXAPTA, fno, ax that I realized I know quite a lot. If I look to other consultants that come to trainings that I give or in projects where I speak to other people, then I realize more and more with 15 years of history. Then I realized more and more with 15 years of history, you can explain things because you know the history of the functionality or you even can tell the version where the function came in AX or AXAVT or FNO. So I thought I think it's time to share a bit, because when I started in the work field, I had a lot of questions as well. So Google was my best friend, let's say I just had to find my knowledge. I Googled a lot, I went on trainings and I always appreciated the people that shared their knowledge so that I could understand the functionality as well. And I thought it's now time for me to do the same, because now I can help others and I like writing.

Hylke Britstra: 7:16
So, yeah, I just started writing, sharing on LinkedIn, and first it was not getting noticed a lot, of course, but I just said, every week I do a new article and let's see what happens. And it was not that I wanted a big audience or something. I thought if I shared the relevant things, then it can help a lot of people. And well, that became bigger and bigger. And I never had the purpose of becoming MVP, I just wanted to share. And well, that became bigger and bigger. And then I was nominated and then I thought, okay, now let's go for it, because of course it's an honor if it's doable. Of course it's an honor if it's doable. So, yeah, my route to become an MVP was mostly just starting doing what I like sharing knowledge of FNO. Help people in the best way I can. That's my passion. But yeah, it was like it became more and more the route to become MVP, even if that was never the purpose.

Mark Smith: 8:19
And how did you get nominated or who nominated?

Hylke Britstra: 8:21
you Bilur, so she is an MVP in the FNO part as well and she is a follower of my articles, so she nominated me and, yeah, I'm very grateful for that, because, of course, um, it is a very, very beautiful experience if you become mvp and you get a lot of new connections and a lot of new people in your network, and I think the power of mvp is that they are always open to help each other. So, if you have a question, we have a whatsapp group, for example, with the FNO MVPs. We always help each other when possible, so that's great.

Mark Smith: 9:01
If you had to look back over your career, what have been the highlights, the key kind of inflection points or mentors, or what you know? When I ask this question, what jumps to mind first for you?

Hylke Britstra: 9:18
ask this question, what jumps to mind first for you? Oh, that's a good one. Um, I think one of the people that helped me a lot was, uh, was the manager on my side job. So when I worked at that company I did like, uh, well, in that time that I worked there I did three studies, so he saw me studying different things, but he always took the time when I had questions to help me to explain things if I didn't understand it. Or let's say, with accepta that was the version accepta 3 where I started with. Then I had a great tooling solution, for example, but I didn't understand why people didn't want to use it. So I learned about change and and well, how people can react. Um, and I think he always trusted me in doing my job and and he just let me free to do what where I was good at, but where necessary, he always helped me also in making choices of of what was good for me for future.

Hylke Britstra: 10:12
So well, he, he pops up in my mind at first and I must say my current manager. She helps me a lot as well, of course very different questions that I have than like 15 or 10 years ago. I was a bit younger then and well, I think I learned more becoming older. Well, sometimes you become wiser in things or you look different to things, but still, of course, I have some project as well where I think, how am I going to manage it? Or I need some reflection. And then, well, also, my current manager she can ask the best questions. To be honest, that always helps me to get good perspective or get new insights me to to get good perspective or get new insights.

Mark Smith: 11:00
I like that you mentioned that a lot of skills that you have, you know, learned from probably non-technical areas and part of your, your um, your bible, training, that type of thing. As around people skills and you said that that was important Can you clarify that a bit more? Tell me, why is it important on a finance and operations project, why the people skills are just as important as technical skills?

Hylke Britstra: 11:31
Well, I think I learned that at my side job in the beginning. Ax was implemented and one of the employees near retirement did not come back when the system was going live and it was not her time to go to retirement already. She was near it but she didn't came back because she said this is too difficult for me, I'm not going to embrace this change, I'm not possible, it's not possible for me to do it. And it was like a shock to me because for me it's just a tool, what's happening, and that was just like well, maybe I did not even work with Aksapta for six months myself and I already saw somebody that said I'm not going to make this step, I'm leaving. So at that moment I realized it's not only the tool, you need to focus on people as well. And I think still at this moment a lot of attention implementations is going to the tool.

Hylke Britstra: 12:38
We all say implementations are so difficult when it becomes to like projects like F&O. And if I talk to customer, it's always like it's twice expensive. If I thought before it's twice the time we spent and that we thought and it's bringing me the half of what I expected. So like it's like implementations, it's like difficult. But if you look to it, I think focusing on the soft skills can help a lot. Because why is it so difficult? Talk to people to ask them. But also, I always think in in the triangle, you have processes, you have people and you have the erp tool. They must be connected. If we do all the focus on the erp tool, it's like too much love will kill you. Too much much focus on F&O will kill the tool, because it is.

Hylke Britstra: 13:18
I think it's a great tool, but it's like a Ferrari. A Ferrari can be a great car, but if you are not able to drive, please don't step in a Ferrari because it's going too fast for you. So it's not only the tool, but we focus so much on the tool and I think what I learned more and more is that if the processes, the people and the tooling are not connected in a good way to each other, you cannot solve it by doing more focus on the tool. That will not solve that problem. If processes are not aligned in a company, you will not solve it with a tool. You need first to make agreements and then you can solve it or, let's say, optimize it with a tool, but then it always comes back to people. Then you have to make agreements with people, you have to ask people speak to people. So for me people side is very important in that kind of projects.

Mark Smith: 14:10
Interesting If a new person was starting out their consulting career. How do they? You know, it's very easy. They can go to Microsoft Learn. They can go, you know, and get training from a Microsoft certified trainer. They can learn the skills of the product and I find you know my years experience in this place getting tech skills is the easy piece. There's an abundance of it. How do you?

Hylke Britstra: 14:35
get the people skills? Yeah, good question, well in common. I think it's more difficult to get that information from like a website, because by people skills it's not only about reading it and then understanding how it works. You need to practice it, you need to give examples. I think in our company.

Hylke Britstra: 14:54
I work at Empirize Academy and that means that we are not only doing projects, we also give a lot of trainings. We decided to make workshops about that site as well. So we have, for example, the key user workshop, where we have a, for example, the key user workshop, where we have a workshop for key user that are being key user in implementations of ERP software and we help them to understand what skills do you need and what is a project, what are project phases, what is expected from you. Also, what are your responsibilities and how are you going to manage the task. So we decided to make workshops for that kind of things, to also being able to develop your, let's say, the soft skills and the skills you need for that kind of actions.

Hylke Britstra: 15:36
And what you see for me that I give both. So I give application trainings, like I'm a certified trainer, so I can give the training for MBA 310, the finest training for FNO, for example. But I see that as a training. I share my knowledge and I help them to guide them to the system. If you look to the workshops, I also give the workshop for key user.

Hylke Britstra: 15:59
That is really a workshop where it is interactive, where we have not only that I share about how it works, but I ask them what do you experience in the project? I ask them for their highlights, I ask them for the projects and we are discussing that to check okay, why, why did it happen? What was your role in it? So I think when, when it comes to developing your soft skills, it's good to find something like a mentor that can guide you for that, or make sure that you have a team around you and do like supervision sessions, intervention sessions that you say maybe once a month when we are on the office, we are not only talking about the new features, we are also talking about what do we challenge in the projects and how did it happen or what do I need to do to make it a step forward. So I think it's really important to find people around you that can help you in the soft skills.

Mark Smith: 16:55
I like it. I like it. So it's really not something can be so much learned from a book or from a course so much as getting hands on and getting the peer.

Hylke Britstra: 17:04
And I think both, I think both, I think both. But I think learning change with only a book is very difficult.

Mark Smith: 17:12
Interesting, interesting. My wife next week is doing ProSci training, which is all around change and adoption.

Hylke Britstra: 17:19
We use a lot of ProSci in the workshops, so maybe the triangle that I always have in my mind processes, people and tooling is also, um, invented. Based on all the things I learned from pro side that I thought, oh, they are giving you so much good hints or areas to think about, so, uh, I think it's a good focus I like it.

Mark Smith: 17:43
I like it. Um, what's your focus for the next 12 to 24 months from a skilling perspective? What new skills do you think that you want to add to you over the next 12 to 24 months?

Hylke Britstra: 17:56
Well, at this moment it is like AI, so then it's really a technical one. I see things coming from Copilot in FNO but but F&O has a lot of data, so there are standard functionalities of Copilot coming in F&O, but I think that AI, in common, can also help companies when they work with the amount of data that is stored in F&O. So I think at this moment I'm focusing a lot of what can Copilot do, but also what is the role of AI with big data and unstructured data coming to structured data. Still, I think I want to make it in the connection with the triangle. So not only focus on the tool, but also, well, in my trainings. It's interesting because if I give a finance training or a project training, it's not about Copilot.

Hylke Britstra: 18:45
But after the lunch break I always ask do you want to see something from AI?

Hylke Britstra: 18:49
And people always say oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, let me see, because for them it's quite new.

Hylke Britstra: 18:54
And sometimes I even start with Microsoft Designer creating pictures to show them what is the effect of the prompt that I give to the system for the quality of the outcome, and then I show them in F&O what AI can do, but also sometimes in office in Word, and then I say OK, lately I was at a company and I said you know your company quite well, so I opened Word and I said give me an article about this company, for this specific people site, about this company, for this specific people site, and they were really impressed about what AI gave them as result, or that article about their company.

Hylke Britstra: 19:32
It was really the core of their company translated into that Word file with the article, and I think people or working with people at that moment is not that I say we have a very great tool and it will change everything, but I want to know where are you at this moment? Do you understand AI already? What are your expectations of AI and what do I experience already? And I must say I see so much possibilities but also so much people looking with big eyes, like what is happening, that I think that will be one of my main focuses for myself to understand what it does in relation to F&O, but also to be able to train people and guide people in how to work with it and how to make your first steps into AI and what's next after that.

Mark Smith: 20:24
Hylke, thank you so much for coming on the show.

Hylke Britstra: 20:27
It was a pleasure. Thank you for having me.

Mark Smith: 20:35
Hey, thanks for listening. I'm your host business application MVP, mark Smith, otherwise known as the NZ365 guy. If you like the show and want to be a supporter, check out buymeacoffeecom forward slash NZ365 guy. If you like the show and want to be a supporter, check out buymeacoffeecom forward slash NZ365 guy. Thanks again and see you next time. Thank you you.