Jon Gaunt and Aaron Patrick on their Digital Disruptor Awards + App News and mildly offensive accents

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_02]: How would I rank him? Who are your first?

[00:00:02] [SPEAKER_02]: The industry needs people to be pushing the boundaries, and I think this just shows what we're doing as a community. We're changing things, right?

[00:00:09] [SPEAKER_02]: Lee.

[00:00:09] [SPEAKER_03]: Lee. Lee 100%. Me and Lee. We draw.

[00:00:12] [SPEAKER_02]: But Lee's like non-offensive.

[00:00:14] [SPEAKER_02]: If you think about who's out there, the names on the list, I can't believe I got to the top of that one.

[00:00:21] [SPEAKER_04]: Apriln have been granted their license by the FCA. It'll be really interesting to see if that does impact their speed to market.

[00:00:30] [SPEAKER_01]: Employment Hero have rebundled their packages, and what does that mean?

[00:00:33] [SPEAKER_01]: So we have a great update from Reveal.

[00:00:35] [SPEAKER_01]: I've got a thing from Modular.

[00:00:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Carbon have launched a marketplace. When you talk marketplace, you think, oh, this is the place that I go to go and plug in other apps.

[00:00:43] [SPEAKER_00]: And yet this is something completely different.

[00:00:45] [SPEAKER_01]: I do not believe I've ever seen something like this, and it is perfect disruptive.

[00:00:51] [SPEAKER_01]: I hope that can help you diligently because you've got all the validated data in the platform.

[00:00:55] [SPEAKER_05]: And then John, someone can sign me if they want to help, and I worry at times about, like, the amount of people who need help.

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_01]: We don't need to talk to managers because we have white privilege.

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_04]: Wow.

[00:01:08] [SPEAKER_04]: Well, about two minutes of controversial banter. Let's see how that goes down, shall we?

[00:01:14] [SPEAKER_04]: Look at John. He's like, don't you dare tarnish me.

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_01]: It's weird seeing John being the uncomfortable one out of us three, isn't it?

[00:01:22] [SPEAKER_04]: I'm going to mention one.

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_04]: Hello and welcome to another episode of Digitools in a cruel world.

[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_04]: We will be joined today by some amazing award winners for our recent Digital Disruptors Awards event that was held as the official pre-account text event.

[00:01:40] [SPEAKER_04]: We were very pleased and honoured to be asked to be able to work with account text and to procure such a great event and to have such a wonderful line of guests that joined us on the day and the guests that actually joined us in the evening.

[00:01:57] [SPEAKER_04]: For those of you who didn't make it, it will be back, and we hope to grow bigger and better.

[00:02:03] [SPEAKER_04]: Without further ado, I introduce my Kai Hoes and you already know John Tune, Ryan Pearcey. How are you guys?

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm really good. And I think that controversy was only controversial if you zoomed in really, really, really closely to Ryan because I think it was one of those moments you're blinking your missy when he ran past me in no clothes.

[00:02:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I think it would be all right.

[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Was I? I don't remember this.

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, this is what happens when you drink too much beer.

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, is that what happens?

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_04]: We all saw it with like a wear.

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, we didn't all see it but you know, it was like the thing that came to mind was the early bird catches the worm.

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_01]: And God there wasn't a bird in the room.

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_04]: Anyway, Brian, for you.

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm good. I'm good. I'm excited to hear from the award winners today. It's been great kind of going through that living, I guess, the experience of them actually receiving the award and being pretty chuffed about it.

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_01]: And I want to hear what they have to say. Why do I think why do I think they deserved it from the nominations they received and also the judges deliberating and making the decision?

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_04]: How did you feel about being bridesmaid though not bride?

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Right, I was just happy to wear the dress.

[00:03:16] [SPEAKER_04]: Ah, cute.

[00:03:18] [SPEAKER_04]: So Ryan was nominated as digital disruptor of the year.

[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_04]: And it was not from John Roy because believe me we are not going to him.

[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_04]: And so thanks to the people who did vote over him and recognize the great work has been done to build this community of wonderful accountants who contribute so much to us and feedback terms and hopefully will continue to join us on the next round of events that we will hold

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_04]: and continue to give their feedback to our app sponsors and app vendors as well.

[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_04]: So shall we kick on with app news before we meet some of the winners?

[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_04]: The first thing to start straight are the gate.

[00:04:05] [SPEAKER_04]: April had been granted their license by the FCA.

[00:04:11] [SPEAKER_04]: So that was a ten-up for the books.

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_04]: They have been FCA authorized.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_04]: We know that they made the application not too long ago and they've only been around for the last one year.

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_04]: They have clearly done a band-up job of recruiting lots of different customers to the platform.

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_04]: They are now an EMI, which means that they will be able to issue things like cards from their sales.

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_04]: And I think that was always the intention of April to go into more card issuing and they will also be able to allocate i-bans.

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_04]: It does not mean that they will be able to give the same protection against fraud in the way the Revolut had done for many years, you know, that you have an EMI license.

[00:05:03] [SPEAKER_04]: You don't have a full banking license so it comes with its own regulatory approvals.

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_04]: But the fact is that it allows them to issue cards and bank accounts and then hopefully evolve from there.

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_04]: So it's great news here from their perspective and we're sure that it's going to go a long way to supporting those customers who use April.

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_04]: And we're doing it then.

[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_01]: Definitely, I mean they, I guess the main thing for this is they don't need to rely on third-parts much so can to build out stuff internally and use things internally.

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_01]: It should enhance the security, shouldn't it?

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, be entrusted to see how that rolls out for the April platform over time.

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_04]: It will be. And in theory, the thing that comes with this means actually usually you're on the hook to declare to resubmit processes, policies on a regular basis to the FCA.

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_04]: Which means that there's obligations that come with that from a team perspective, a compliance team that can then continue to make sure that onboardings happen but then the KYB, the AML provisions will check off once more.

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_04]: So it'll be really interesting to see if that does impact their speed to market because in the past I think they were using the license of a third party.

[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_04]: And most of the vintests that you leverage a license of a third party obviously the speed to market is not quicker because they're not taking on all of that compliance piece.

[00:06:33] [SPEAKER_04]: So I wonder now if this will impact on the speed to opening of account or again the speed to getting started and that's just worn out in the fact that once you are a FCA, regulated in any way the compliance obligation increases.

[00:06:47] [SPEAKER_00]: I have a second update from apron as well which is that they have just launched to F&A into their products. So along with the new licensing things that we just talked about some additional features, some additional security features, I guess to help make your account a bit more secure as well as everything

[00:07:06] [SPEAKER_00]: else. And I think we're kind of all pretty much normalized with 2FA now it's kind of the standard thing and a lot of organizations ourselves included generally would ask for 2FA as a minimum requirement now when it comes to dealing with apps, particularly when we've got client data held in those

[00:07:24] [SPEAKER_00]: features and we've got things like cybersecurity essentials and other certifications that we've got to maintain. Along with that they have also launched a new practice practice hub so new interface to that so it makes it a little bit easier to navigate around your your client lists and what you're what

[00:07:39] [SPEAKER_00]: you've got going on and they've got a new user account type as well so practice hub members so you can see a better overview of what clients you're responsible for, who you've been assigned to and where you could have made payments or do things in that.

[00:07:55] [SPEAKER_00]: And finally as well they've also added the ability to add multiple photos and photo merging within the product so you can do a couple of neat little things there which are in at the OCR products at the moment just to make that management of you know sort of like multi page

[00:08:11] [SPEAKER_00]: multi page invoices for example a bit easier or you know where you've taken more than one picture but actually it's part of the same thing to merge that together so that's all there really ready to go in the product and you know neat little bunch of updates from them.

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah I guess I just expect to a fan nowadays person which just seems to be mandated by everyone so I just expect after you to everything so I guess you know if with the fca license it makes sense to have to a fan place I guess they just come had in hand.

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_01]: Well I've got something from employment hero they have re bundled their packages they've now changed to a light plus an unlimited package and what does that mean so light essentially is also making your payroll streaming streamline your HR but not getting full.

[00:08:56] [SPEAKER_01]: I guess HR functionality plus elevates that further bringing performance management bringing expense management and also an MS and unlimited brings in everything as well as HR and employment law advisory so just restructured everything since employment hero bought keep a while ago and I guess they've been realign the platforms restructuring what's

[00:09:26] [SPEAKER_01]: got to say is that it feels more expensive so hopefully there's a lot more I know they've got a lot more going with it including smart match which is their first AI powered area but key thing is that it has to be I guess value for money and the way they've structured you before could pay for payroll separately and now because they want to bring

[00:09:47] [SPEAKER_01]: the money and what's it called a fully integrated HR and payroll platform everything is focused on I guess all be in one place one pricing package that covers both tools.

[00:09:59] [SPEAKER_00]: So we have a great little update from reveal, which is that you can now do PDF reporting within their products so I know that the team they've been working on this for a little while because I caught with some of them.

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_00]: It's fine I think it was or which is way back when is it now.

[00:10:16] [SPEAKER_00]: And they were looking at a whole bunch of updates, which have kind of been triggered off by their integration with zero which was a big thing for them and now they've kind of done that they're there so fine tuning the product.

[00:10:26] [SPEAKER_00]: And you know one of the big things about being able to do this is obviously if you can put reports into PDF.

[00:10:32] [SPEAKER_00]: It means there's a little bit easy to share some clients does prefer to have a document that sometimes they want to print out as well but also that they want to be able to email around others without having to go through a portal which you know which will be limited to particularly users in some instances.

[00:10:44] [SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah it's great to see that and it also means that you've got some additional accessibility functionality as well as the ability of course if you wanted to use you could put it through a product like chat GPT and get it to extract information and ask questions about it so you

[00:10:58] [SPEAKER_00]: can see that there's a whole bunch of new stuff in there. The PDF reports that they've got available at the moment in the product are ones around sales ones around suppliers, the main finance thing finance reports and then they've got a whole bunch of new Sage 50 dashboards

[00:11:16] [SPEAKER_00]: that are not as a consequence of the product development work that they've done. So we've got some stuff around invoice profit on average stock costs, last stock cost product profit overviews and they've also got some additional zero dashboards.

[00:11:31] [SPEAKER_00]: So things around balance sheets P&Ls budgeting and sales quantity dashboards so it's a whole bunch of features here but the key one is that PDF reporting functionality which is great to see.

[00:11:45] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's interesting nowadays that people build out for reporting platform and then only bring PDF reporting towards the end. I guess it's showing how times have changed right that people enjoy their reporting directly now on their tablets live rather than creating a pack at the end of a given month.

[00:12:00] [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe we have evolved as an industry and we are living in real time finance now. It's exciting to see that I've got a little thing from modular so they have basically built into zero payroll so module has been powering embedded payments for a long time.

[00:12:19] [SPEAKER_01]: I guess mostly in the sage platform then they built into zero for the bill pay now they built into zero payroll and which is probably just missing piece from their payroll from their zero integration and the full pulling sucking down the employee information to pay is critical.

[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Now from that aspect they now integrate into zero sage iris and bright pay so probably one of the broader payroll payment platforms out there at present.

[00:12:48] [SPEAKER_01]: So if you are payroll bureau modules want to be considered whereas I guess historically it was very focused on sage and iris is now expanded out and I think yeah we need to be considering modular.

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_01]: In our digital transformation team as well now is something that was very localized and one we kind of didn't really focus on it's one we need to pick up and look at again.

[00:13:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely I think yeah we're probably in a similar boat actually modular they've always felt like maybe weren't quite a really great fit for us unless it was around payroll and other things and yeah yeah I know that their technology powers everything at Revolute were doing at young terms of their functionality so yeah great great see you.

[00:13:30] [SPEAKER_00]: That modular just keep ticking off the things that they're really good at with this payroll integration to zero and you know the great little feature.

[00:13:37] [SPEAKER_00]: I've also got a fascinating update I think it is from carbon in that they have launched a marketplace and it's a practice marketplace so I guess when you're talking about technology and you talk marketplace you think oh this is the place that I go to go and plug in other apps and yeah this is something completely different what carbon

[00:13:55] [SPEAKER_00]: have started to do is they are starting to collate firms that they're either interested in buying another firm or that we're wanting to sell their firm and carbon are collecting this information together.

[00:14:07] [SPEAKER_00]: They're connecting all of the key attributes in terms of your revenue your region size in terms of headcounts and types of clients and number of clients and things and I'm doing it across all sorts of scales and and then also you know making this into something.

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously if you're interested in buying you can tap into and go have a look and obviously again if you're looking to sell you can go in and provide some information.

[00:14:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Quite how it works in terms of you know if there's a fee to pay or if there's some sort of commission basis if a successful sale happens and things like that.

[00:14:43] [SPEAKER_00]: It's not immediately clear I must admit from the for the details are on the website I'm sure if you go into the teas and season dig around and they'll find a bit more information.

[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_00]: But I mean I think this is genuinely fascinating because there aren't really many places anywhere that you can find this I mean you kind of see blocks of fees or practices maybe going up for sale and accounting web periodically and obviously there's a whole bunch of brokers.

[00:15:08] [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah really interesting to see and I think it'd be it'd be great to see you know what kind of metrics they're collecting on some of these businesses are looking to sell in terms of you know are they fully remote are they fully on site in terms of being in an office are they.

[00:15:25] [SPEAKER_00]: You know are they using technology what's their efficiency look like if they can capture all of those all those pieces of information and I mean if they can kind of cover the cover the globe is that there's a great opportunity for someone looking to be highly acquisitive I think.

[00:15:40] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah fascinating is the right word to I do not believe I've ever seen something like this and it is you know perfect to bring up on the podcast it's disruptive and what I hope that they will do on this is it can help with the due diligence side because you've got all the validated data entirely in the platform one that you should I guess already be using as a carbon firm so yeah you the trust is built it should speed up the process.

[00:16:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Yes let's see if people will probably use it hopefully this is something we can maybe get someone from carbon on to talk about how it's working what they envisage this to do what they want it to grow into but it should definitely disrupt this market.

[00:16:20] [SPEAKER_04]: No what is the most adorable thing is that Sienna can do these really brilliant Indian accents and I just love it and she's like she's so proud that she can do it she's so proud of herself that she's like been able to pick that up.

[00:16:34] [SPEAKER_04]: And I think it's super cute because I'm just like when she speaks it's just like a little child voice and really think that she just audition her for some sort of like show you know they just need a token like Indian Indian accent yeah in the form of like a no tween a tween.

[00:16:54] [SPEAKER_01]: Is it as good as my Indian accent though.

[00:16:57] [SPEAKER_04]: Do you want to try and replicate your.

[00:16:59] [SPEAKER_01]: It was only ever done once it's a once in a lifetime event that one.

[00:17:04] [SPEAKER_04]: Can I show you my plan accent.

[00:17:09] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah you can.

[00:17:10] [SPEAKER_04]: Okay but plan accent is this.

[00:17:13] [SPEAKER_04]: I'd like to talk to the manager please.

[00:17:15] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean they're just salad like you.

[00:17:19] [SPEAKER_01]: It is salad like you.

[00:17:20] [SPEAKER_01]: I was just you being bossy.

[00:17:22] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[00:17:22] [SPEAKER_03]: No I never asked to speak to the manager.

[00:17:25] [SPEAKER_01]: We don't need to talk to managers because we have white privilege.

[00:17:28] [SPEAKER_01]: Fuck you.

[00:17:32] [SPEAKER_04]: I'm so proud of you.

[00:17:34] [SPEAKER_04]: I'm so proud of you for identifying with your.

[00:17:37] [SPEAKER_04]: Thank you so much.

[00:17:38] [SPEAKER_04]: You know me in that moment.

[00:17:40] [SPEAKER_04]: You know mine.

[00:17:41] [SPEAKER_01]: That was good.

[00:17:42] [SPEAKER_04]: Well that's two minutes of controversial banter let's see how that goes down shall we.

[00:17:48] [SPEAKER_04]: Look at John he's like don't you dare to furnish me.

[00:17:52] [SPEAKER_04]: I don't have any white privilege it's not me I live up here in the dark when we hang our teabags out or washing line.

[00:18:00] [SPEAKER_01]: It's really weird seeing John being the uncomfortable one of us three isn't it sir.

[00:18:05] [SPEAKER_01]: It's normally John saying something and us two are like oh we can't possibly put that in.

[00:18:10] [SPEAKER_04]: You know why you entered the territory which I think is so like reasonable to finally start talking about the differences and nuances because if we don't start having conversation then.

[00:18:22] [SPEAKER_04]: And actually being able to have it in a light way as well as like a deep way.

[00:18:27] [SPEAKER_04]: It's just it becomes such an uncomfortable thing that just escalates because nobody feels comfortable talking about it.

[00:18:35] [SPEAKER_04]: So I appreciate you.

[00:18:36] [SPEAKER_04]: Ryan I appreciate you.

[00:18:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.

[00:18:39] [SPEAKER_04]: You're welcome.

[00:18:46] [SPEAKER_03]: Johnny Gawnt.

[00:18:47] [SPEAKER_03]: Johnny Gawnt.

[00:18:48] [SPEAKER_03]: Johnny Gawnt.

[00:18:49] [SPEAKER_03]: You always say to people that they are your favorite don't you.

[00:18:52] [SPEAKER_05]: I don't make genuinely.

[00:18:54] [SPEAKER_05]: How would I rank him.

[00:18:56] [SPEAKER_05]: You were your first.

[00:19:00] [SPEAKER_03]: You are such a charm.

[00:19:01] [SPEAKER_05]: Lee and then John.

[00:19:02] [SPEAKER_03]: Lee.

[00:19:03] [SPEAKER_03]: Lee 100%.

[00:19:04] [SPEAKER_03]: Me and Lee we draw.

[00:19:06] [SPEAKER_05]: But Lee's like non-offensive.

[00:19:10] [SPEAKER_03]: Well you know I mean Ryan's.

[00:19:12] [SPEAKER_03]: Oh hang on.

[00:19:14] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean John.

[00:19:14] [SPEAKER_05]: I mean mentioned Ryan.

[00:19:16] [SPEAKER_03]: You didn't even mention Ryan.

[00:19:18] [SPEAKER_05]: Unforgettable.

[00:19:22] [SPEAKER_03]: We'll cut that we'll cut that later.

[00:19:24] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah yeah yeah.

[00:19:24] [SPEAKER_03]: Not really.

[00:19:25] [SPEAKER_05]: Well it's like he's put a suit jacket on tonight to try and be the big man.

[00:19:28] [SPEAKER_03]: That is the big man.

[00:19:30] [SPEAKER_03]: You know to show.

[00:19:31] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:19:31] [SPEAKER_05]: Like try and show up but.

[00:19:33] [SPEAKER_03]: Shoulder pants.

[00:19:34] [SPEAKER_03]: This is his wife's.

[00:19:37] [SPEAKER_03]: What do you mean.

[00:19:38] [SPEAKER_03]: Is it?

[00:19:39] [SPEAKER_05]: The pants are on the way around have a look.

[00:19:41] [SPEAKER_03]: No.

[00:19:42] [SPEAKER_05]: There you are.

[00:19:43] [SPEAKER_05]: It's the ladies jacket.

[00:19:44] [SPEAKER_05]: It's the ladies jacket.

[00:19:45] [SPEAKER_04]: He's the boss today okay.

[00:19:46] [SPEAKER_04]: He's done a good job of just being up there like.

[00:19:49] [SPEAKER_04]: It's a hunter get isn't it like evolve we evolve you know to see the shoulders.

[00:19:53] [SPEAKER_05]: He told me about when his baby they planned when his baby was going to be born.

[00:19:59] [SPEAKER_05]: And he said it's cheaper to have a summer baby than a winter baby.

[00:20:05] [SPEAKER_03]: We move on from that because you've won an amazing award today.

[00:20:08] [SPEAKER_03]: Are you shocked.

[00:20:09] [SPEAKER_05]: Absolutely and what a trophy like really really proud it's like a big big team effort

[00:20:15] [SPEAKER_05]: and I think it's that bit of we've spent the last like 12 18 months like busy busy building stuff

[00:20:21] [SPEAKER_05]: and now it's like we're coming out of coming out of stealth mode.

[00:20:25] [SPEAKER_05]: So yeah it's really nice to be recognized.

[00:20:26] [SPEAKER_03]: Is it really coming out of stealth mode when you're pretty much for the last one year

[00:20:31] [SPEAKER_03]: entertain most people on LinkedIn with your ambitious influencer style

[00:20:38] [SPEAKER_03]: and generally building in public.

[00:20:40] [SPEAKER_05]: It's hardly an influencer is it.

[00:20:42] [SPEAKER_05]: It's more of a car crash.

[00:20:47] [SPEAKER_05]: I guess I guess part of it is that there's something inside me that wants to help

[00:20:53] [SPEAKER_05]: and I worry at times about like the amount of people that need help

[00:20:57] [SPEAKER_05]: and so I part of it me pushing myself out of comfort zone to try

[00:21:02] [SPEAKER_05]: and maybe get people to talk a little bit more

[00:21:05] [SPEAKER_05]: and I think that's that's what I like about where you guys doing

[00:21:08] [SPEAKER_05]: it's almost like you say what it you say how it is

[00:21:10] [SPEAKER_05]: and I think that's the way that we need to be a bit more open and honest

[00:21:15] [SPEAKER_04]: and not really care.

[00:21:16] [SPEAKER_03]: So yeah it isn't always easy as Ryan experiences on a daily and weekly basis

[00:21:21] [SPEAKER_03]: and John obviously doesn't really give monkeys he's like

[00:21:24] [SPEAKER_03]: love me if you love me hate me if you hate me

[00:21:26] [SPEAKER_03]: make so different to my daily bread

[00:21:30] [SPEAKER_04]: but no it is tricky to like get the balance right

[00:21:33] [SPEAKER_04]: and I think that you've done a really good job of being able to

[00:21:37] [SPEAKER_04]: transmit your energy to share with us your journeys that you've gone on

[00:21:42] [SPEAKER_04]: and also the teams that you've built the friends that you've made along the way

[00:21:45] [SPEAKER_04]: I think that you know there's a lot of respect for you in the industry

[00:21:49] [SPEAKER_04]: I've only trained this last year so I hope that you really

[00:21:52] [SPEAKER_05]: I'm a little bit touched. Thank you.

[00:21:55] [SPEAKER_04]: And also I'm just saying that because I'm your favourite.

[00:21:57] [SPEAKER_05]: You're just saying those things I reckon return aren't you?

[00:22:02] [SPEAKER_04]: No I'm glad that you could join us.

[00:22:03] [SPEAKER_04]: Thank you.

[00:22:04] [SPEAKER_04]: What do you think though like do you think that anyone shocked you tonight

[00:22:07] [SPEAKER_04]: in terms of like you thought someone was going to win

[00:22:09] [SPEAKER_04]: what they've been wearing and you weren't going to get stuck?

[00:22:11] [SPEAKER_05]: No I'm super excited the Ridge Sergeant one

[00:22:14] [SPEAKER_05]: like I just think that he's such a little bit of a ninja

[00:22:20] [SPEAKER_05]: he's doing so much work but he's just behind the scenes

[00:22:24] [SPEAKER_05]: and like so I'm from Bristol and the whole thing he's done about the boat parties

[00:22:29] [SPEAKER_05]: and everything he's just really kind of quiet great connective people

[00:22:33] [SPEAKER_05]: so I'm really really pleased to see Richard come over.

[00:22:37] [SPEAKER_04]: It's great it is really good to see the fact that he was recognised by so many people

[00:22:41] [SPEAKER_04]: I mean I personally felt that there were lots of people who deserved that award

[00:22:47] [SPEAKER_04]: and maybe that's just because it's so long overdue

[00:22:50] [SPEAKER_04]: there were every single person that was nominated

[00:22:53] [SPEAKER_04]: and even the shortlist I just remember people with disrupters and deities

[00:22:58] [SPEAKER_04]: and it was long overdue for most of those

[00:23:02] [SPEAKER_04]: but yeah Richard Sargeant for me it was the way that he's quietly impressed

[00:23:07] [SPEAKER_04]: he's quietly made the difference to so many people's business

[00:23:12] [SPEAKER_04]: and day-to-day it was great to see like the support for it.

[00:23:17] [SPEAKER_05]: And for me he's just got a heart of gold, absolute heart of gold

[00:23:19] [SPEAKER_05]: to me he's an absolute gent so for me that was the one that was kind of like

[00:23:23] [SPEAKER_05]: it was great to see his name up there and then see him as a winner

[00:23:28] [SPEAKER_05]: back for me just like yeah.

[00:23:30] [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you for joining us Johnny I'm really proud of you.

[00:23:38] [SPEAKER_04]: I'm so so happy that you won, honestly I think how does it feel?

[00:23:42] [SPEAKER_04]: Now you've got in your hands a very special digital disrupter of the year award

[00:23:48] [SPEAKER_04]: How do you feel?

[00:23:49] [SPEAKER_02]: Well this will never leave my side now so everywhere I go I'm going to be taking this with me

[00:23:55] [SPEAKER_02]: obviously it'll be coming to bed with me you know shower with me so hopefully it's waterproof

[00:24:00] [SPEAKER_02]: No honestly this means the world to me I think more than anything this is the one where

[00:24:04] [SPEAKER_02]: you don't get to vote for yourself so the fact that people out there

[00:24:09] [SPEAKER_02]: have just given me that opportunity and give me the vote just means the world to me

[00:24:14] [SPEAKER_02]: and you guys as well six weeks ago this didn't happen six weeks ago I would never have got this right

[00:24:19] [SPEAKER_02]: and you guys smashed it out of the park and yeah couldn't be happier at all.

[00:24:24] [SPEAKER_04]: You know what I think that you're giving us a lot of credit but I can tell you that the judges feedback

[00:24:28] [SPEAKER_04]: was pretty resounding when it came to you out of that trick.

[00:24:33] [SPEAKER_04]: I don't know who you bribed how many people you had to kiss how many people you had to like

[00:24:39] [SPEAKER_04]: get in a private room and really sell yourself to how many contracts you signed as a result

[00:24:45] [SPEAKER_04]: selling your soul but the feedback was pretty consistent that the amount of content

[00:24:51] [SPEAKER_04]: you released on a daily basis the amount of help you give and support you give to the app community

[00:24:57] [SPEAKER_04]: and in general to everyone that's working with QuickBooks I mean you are literally dressed in everything green

[00:25:02] [SPEAKER_04]: like is it like is that your whole wardrobe?

[00:25:06] [SPEAKER_02]: It's my brand yeah it's my brand that's all I have and it makes it really easy

[00:25:10] [SPEAKER_02]: I go to the clothes aisle and I find a green top or green fair trousers and I buy it

[00:25:15] [SPEAKER_02]: it's easy but no you've got to be brand loyal and to the point of who I had to bribe

[00:25:21] [SPEAKER_02]: and if I didn't bribe them I threatened to take away their QuickBooks certification

[00:25:25] [SPEAKER_02]: so I had that power you see so you know now I drink.

[00:25:29] [SPEAKER_04]: You were really really delighted that you were the one that won it

[00:25:32] [SPEAKER_04]: I think there was some other great names in your category and you probably saw the shortlist

[00:25:37] [SPEAKER_04]: and I don't know whether you have like any perspective on who you thought was going to win this category actually

[00:25:42] [SPEAKER_02]: I honestly when I saw just being nominated was all I was really like that was my key

[00:25:48] [SPEAKER_02]: like I've been nominated every fact because the nominations we had this time for digital structure

[00:25:54] [SPEAKER_02]: if you think about who's out there doing what they're doing at the moment

[00:25:58] [SPEAKER_02]: the names on the list are just yeah I can't I generally can't believe that I got to the top of that one

[00:26:04] [SPEAKER_02]: and I think as well what's exciting about it is the fact that this is just a start

[00:26:09] [SPEAKER_02]: like there's so many more coming through you put the list of the newcomers that are coming through

[00:26:14] [SPEAKER_02]: The Projected Child, wow like how you were literally sitting there going time after time

[00:26:19] [SPEAKER_02]: and everyone who was giving the wrong they're the winners next right or at some point

[00:26:24] [SPEAKER_02]: they're going to be coming up and coming for this and we need it

[00:26:27] [SPEAKER_02]: the industry needs it the industry needs people to be pushing the boundaries

[00:26:30] [SPEAKER_02]: listen to people like yourself this is the podcast let's get involved in the community

[00:26:34] [SPEAKER_02]: and I think like this just shows what we're doing as a community we're changing things right

[00:26:39] [SPEAKER_02]: we're being different we want to be brave we want to be out there

[00:26:44] [SPEAKER_02]: and yeah it's a positive step for the community of my eyes

[00:26:46] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah and you obviously have helped us invariably tonight with the live feeds

[00:26:51] [SPEAKER_04]: with making sure that you're hot like everything that we said on stage

[00:26:55] [SPEAKER_04]: all of us had all heartedly agreed you are absolutely infectious in all the right ways

[00:27:01] [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you

[00:27:01] [SPEAKER_02]: Look this event just sums it all up right like this is why you want to be involved in things like this

[00:27:06] [SPEAKER_02]: as soon as I got the opportunity to be I said yes straight away there was no denying

[00:27:11] [SPEAKER_02]: like seeing you free up there bringing this community together

[00:27:15] [SPEAKER_02]: I just wanted to be involved in some way and like everyone needs to see it

[00:27:18] [SPEAKER_02]: and hopefully the people out there the people who are watching on the stream

[00:27:22] [SPEAKER_02]: they should be here next year because this is an event to be

[00:27:24] [SPEAKER_04]: Do you think that it's quite difficult for a large app to be able to make the awards categories

[00:27:32] [SPEAKER_04]: and the fact that to win one I mean Engager obviously won the release of the year

[00:27:38] [SPEAKER_04]: because it is a smaller app

[00:27:39] [SPEAKER_04]: What's your perspective on whether it's like how does that stick within our community

[00:27:43] [SPEAKER_04]: and recognition of larger apps

[00:27:45] [SPEAKER_02]: I think Dexter the right thing they released a solution that is now starting to put them in that

[00:27:50] [SPEAKER_02]: premium category because they have to be in that premium category

[00:27:53] [SPEAKER_02]: that's why they belong that's where we as the consumer needs them to be

[00:27:57] [SPEAKER_02]: and I think their release deserves that recognition for that

[00:28:01] [SPEAKER_02]: but you know QuickBooks have made some quality releases this year

[00:28:06] [SPEAKER_02]: Zeros made some good releases like they've all made good releases

[00:28:10] [SPEAKER_02]: but I think it's just the amount of releases that people like Engager can do

[00:28:14] [SPEAKER_02]: and it impacts right like one of the things I will definitely play on my sword

[00:28:19] [SPEAKER_02]: for people like Engager is they listen to that feedback

[00:28:22] [SPEAKER_02]: they're in that size when they can listen and they can pivot

[00:28:25] [SPEAKER_02]: and they can make your life easier and they can improve your workflow

[00:28:29] [SPEAKER_02]: we beg the likes QuickBooks to improve our workflow

[00:28:32] [SPEAKER_02]: we beg the likes of Zeros to improve our workflow

[00:28:34] [SPEAKER_02]: Dexter trying their best to get in the good box and start improving

[00:28:37] [SPEAKER_02]: but it's so much more difficult for them right

[00:28:39] [SPEAKER_02]: they've got such a bigger ship to turn and so much more moving parts

[00:28:44] [SPEAKER_02]: so I think and I think it's good for the industry

[00:28:46] [SPEAKER_02]: like let's have these smaller apps going out there

[00:28:49] [SPEAKER_02]: showing what can be done

[00:28:51] [SPEAKER_02]: showing what can be done for us as a consumer

[00:28:54] [SPEAKER_02]: and then I think everyone wins because innovation breathes innovation right

[00:28:58] [SPEAKER_02]: and we keep seeing that and yeah I think we're in a really good position

[00:29:01] [SPEAKER_02]: and tonight's just showing that

[00:29:03] [SPEAKER_04]: Thank you for joining us and well done winning this award

[00:29:08] [SPEAKER_04]: it is waterproof it's not the most snuggliest award

[00:29:12] [SPEAKER_04]: so maybe wrap it in a little towel or something

[00:29:15] [SPEAKER_04]: because you know I'm worried about your bedtime

[00:29:16] [SPEAKER_04]: it's quite the point at the top

[00:29:19] [SPEAKER_04]: that we really had to think about the health and safety of it

[00:29:21] [SPEAKER_04]: and well done thank you so much Harry

[00:29:24] [SPEAKER_02]: No thank you, thank you, you've been amazing

[00:29:26] [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you

[00:29:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Well there you have it there wraps up another podcast

[00:29:30] [SPEAKER_00]: for the Digital and the cruel world crew

[00:29:32] [SPEAKER_00]: and of course digital disruptors

[00:29:36] [SPEAKER_00]: as ever we're always interested in your feedback

[00:29:38] [SPEAKER_00]: your comments if you want to take the time to rate us etc

[00:29:42] [SPEAKER_00]: that would be really really great and really appreciated

[00:29:44] [SPEAKER_00]: and hopefully you enjoyed the show

[00:29:46] [SPEAKER_00]: hopefully enjoyed the interviews

[00:29:48] [SPEAKER_00]: and the follow-up on our awards event

[00:29:51] [SPEAKER_00]: because we thought it was a cracking opportunity

[00:29:53] [SPEAKER_00]: to do something a little bit different in the market

[00:29:56] [SPEAKER_00]: and we hope that you found the same as well