ADD User Group (AUG) President Justin Bolus and Vice President Alec Hulbert join ADDcast to discuss how the AUG helps users connect, learn, and get more value from ADD Systems. They share highlights from this year’s Business Tech Conference, discuss the group’s growth, and explain why active participation can benefit both individuals and their companies.
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Brian Cohen: Welcome to ADDcast. I’m Brian Cohen, Multimedia Specialist at ADD Systems. Joining me today are Justin Bolus, Wholesale Fuel Director at Bumgarner Oil, and Alec Hulbert, Finance and Accounting Director at Tiger Fuel. Justin serves as the President of the ADD User Group, and Alec serves as Vice President. Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining me today.
Alec Hulbert: Thanks for having me.
Justin Bolus: Very welcome. Glad to be here.
Brian: Justin, let’s start with you. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, as well as your position with Bumgarner?
Justin: Yes, sir. So, as you said, my name is Justin Bolus. I work at Bumgarner Oil Company, out of Hickory, North Carolina. We’re in multiple different sectors: propane, home heat, dealers, and c-stores. And I am the Wholesale Fuel Director. So what does that mean? I am over the sales staff, and then I’m pretty heavily involved in the operational, the delivery of the fuel itself.
Brian: Excellent. Alec, the same question to you. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your position at Tiger Fuel?
Alec: Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, Brian. So, as you said, I’m the Finance and Accounting Director here at Tiger Fuel Company, headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia. Like Justin with Bumgarner, Tiger Fuel is a wide range of home heat, wholesale, transport, c-stores. We also have some washes and a solar division as well. So we use the suite of ADD’s platform services, and accounting and finance really touch all components of each of the different business segments. So really, really involved with the software, and looking forward to discussing that more today.
Brian: Fantastic. Well, as I mentioned at the top of the episode, you two are the President and Vice President of the ADD User Group, otherwise known as the AUG. Justin, for those who may be new to the AUG, can you tell us a little bit about the intent of the group?
Justin: Yeah, so the intent of the group is relatively simple. It’s all composed of users, and these users are coming together because they’re all interested in learning and then ultimately helping others. So when you create this group, and we’re always preaching about, hey, let’s get more and more users, it’s because we know the benefit can be: hey, I can learn, and I can teach. And then, when you have the great cooperation from ADD having employees that are also invested in the group, that listen to the group, you kind of create this machine where you get all this feedback from the users, you get to vote on enhancements you like, you get to suggest things to ADD the company, and then they might make those changes based on the voting process and other criteria. You also have these standalone meetings where it might be me and Alec working offline for a project that Tiger can help Bumgarner with, or me and a host of other users, and these are the benefits that naturally come up. And I think as you prepared and planned and created the group, you knew these are the benefits, but you kind of get the twofold approach of help from ADD in the development and then learning how to best utilize the software from other users that are just as engaged in the ADD User Group as I am, or anyone else.
Brian: Alec, hearing everything that Justin has to say about the benefits of joining the AUG, is there anything in particular that stands out to you as a key benefit?
Alec: Yeah, definitely. As Justin said, I think the network of people, both inside and outside of ADD Systems, is really the key benefit for me. I get a tremendous amount of value from participating with the user group, just in terms of networking with other users, networking with the ADD staff, and really just building that platform of different users and different people and understanding as the system continues to be developed and where we may not be using it that we should or maybe different ways to use it based on best practices shared.
Brian: Justin, can you tell us a little bit about your role as the AUG president and what that entails?
Justin: I sure can. As the President, I hold absolutely zero power over anyone or anything, and I am proud to say that. In my role, the way I view it, I have a sales background, so I try to be an integrator with the ADD User Group. I try to encourage new members to join. I try to encourage current members to help lead. An example, leading a committee, a chairperson, or a co-chair. And then I try to integrate all the different committees to make sure it’s streamlined, it’s flowing well, we’re communicating to the users efficiently in a non-confusing manner. So try to bring the group together, try to grow it, and then streamline all the processes is how I view my role.
Brian: Great. Alec, can you share a little bit about your AUG leadership role and what your responsibilities are?
Alec: Yeah, absolutely. So recently, Justin kind of appointed me as the Vice President of the group as of this year, and I think historically when he served in that role, it was a heavy membership focus, and working with Regina to keep track of new members that are coming in, making sure that they’re aligned under the committees that make the most sense for them, and helping shepherd that process. In addition, it’s a benefit of mine to serve as the Chair of the Finance Committee, which is a new committee that was just created last year or so. Between, you know, leading that committee and being the VP, really just kind of stepping in wherever Justin needs some support, and helping new members find their way to the committees, and making sure that they feel supported is really what I try to do.
Brian: Justin, what made you initially want to join the AUG? For someone who’s listening and maybe on the fence about this, and what do you think are the most important things you’ve gained from the group, maybe from a personal or company perspective?
Justin: Yeah, so I’ve been in a position, like many users are, where we went live for Bumgarner Oil in 2022. And you go live, you do all this training, and then the training is done. It’s like, yeah, we just spent all this money on the software, it has all these capabilities, but how do I implement it? What do I implement? I mean, there’s so many things you don’t even know exist, and it’s a bit overwhelming. It’s like you hear people preach the AUG, the AUG, and that’s what I try to do as well. So, here, I’m going to give the AUG a try. I’m going to join a committee that was focused on my role at the time, which was the Wholesale Committee. And you just plug in and you listen, and then you get the courage to ask a few questions, and then maybe you get the courage to lead a meeting or co-chair, and all this while you’re learning, one, what an ADD employee might be saying about the development of the project or process, but then to hear other feedback: oh, we do this for inventory, or we’ve tried that, and it was as effective as doing this. And each meeting, you know, you’re coming away, you’re hoping to come away with a little, a little nugget. And that’s what drew me to it, and it bore fruit. That’s what I’ve learned the value is. If every meeting could take away one thing to research, or one nugget to try to implement, or maybe even, hey, this person was in the same spot I was two years ago, I’m going to reach out to them. It creates that flywheel, if you will, and everyone’s helping everyone; you’re learning, other people are learning. It’s just, it’s so beneficial. You almost can’t describe it until you are living it out, and you’re like, “Man, I just learned so much by talking to Alec that I wouldn’t have if I never joined.”
Brian: Now, Alec, I want to ask the same question to you, but maybe even expand on that a little more. So, what made you want to join initially? What are the important things you’ve gained from the group for yourself, as well as Tiger Fuel? And then, what made you agree to this expanded role as the Vice President?
Alec: Yeah, that’s a great question. So, I’ve been with Tiger for about six years, and we’ve been on ADD for that entire time, and I worked with folks that had been a part of some of the other committees, whether it was the Wholesale Committee, Raven/Delivery, or Best Practices. And you know, in my role in accounting and finance, we really didn’t have a committee that fits squarely into what I do every day, and there were some committee meetings that were really relevant for me, and some that weren’t as relevant. So I had flirted with the idea of joining the AUG for a number of years, and then two years ago, I actually attended the Annual AUG Meeting in person up in New Jersey, and I got to talk to the ADD team, and the former President Megan, and you know, I said, “Why isn’t there a Finance Committee?” I think that there’s ample justification. There’s a lot of users who are in those types of roles, and just the flexibility of both the ADD team and the AUG to say, “You know, that’s a good point. We have a large number of accounting and finance professionals who participate primarily in the Best Practices Group, but let’s break it out and let’s start this brand-new committee.” And that really got me excited about it, and really grew the network of those finance and accounting professionals, you know, have our own separate forum where we could have the meetings that were targeted and made the most sense for us, you know, every month. And from there it just really got more involved, and you know, leading up to that, working closely with Justin, and I think it just made sense to continue to grow and integrate, and really seeing the AUG as an evolving group. You know, it’s not stagnant, it’s not something that was set up 10 years ago, is left to forget. There have been several changes to other committees as well, so I think that’s exciting, and I’m looking forward to being a part of that as we go.
Brian: Excellent. Now, I got a chance to catch up with both of you at the AUG Annual Meeting, which was held this year at ADD’s Business Tech Conference, which took place in Disney this past May. I’d like to dive into some of the key messages and takeaways that came from the conference. Justin, can we start with you on that?
Justin: Yeah, we sure can. Obviously, the biggest thing that I thought was broadcast throughout BTC was E360, both what it can offer right now, and what they’re continuing to develop within that software. We are actually in the process: in about one hour, we are migrating to Version 25. We have a big software upgrade today, upgrading the server, and our goal is to start dabbling with E360. You saw E360 all over the place. It definitely looks like it’s going to be an improvement, and I think even on a more general level, what they were pushing was, hey, when we are developing something, it is in the user’s best interest to upgrade as we release it. You know, there have been a few different versions since even we’ve gone live in 2022, and if you stayed on the original version nine years past, you’re missing a lot of the enhancements, a lot of the streamlined processes, efficiencies. So not only E360, but hey, redevelop the software – I’m speaking as ADD right now. We develop software to help it become a better system for you guys, the users, so it’s in our best interest to keep up with the times. Upgrade the servers, try out E360, learn it, and that can be hard because you get comfortable doing what you’re doing, you get comfortable doing the exact process that you learned, and it could be a challenge, and you’ve got to challenge yourself as a company to push past that level of discomfort.
Brian: And Alec, piggybacking on what Justin said there, what key takeaways did you gain from the BTC, and was there anything in particular that you heard or felt from some of the other users in attendance during your conversations you’ve had throughout the whole conference?
Alec: Yeah, that’s a good question. And you know, this was the second BTC that I was able to attend, and I feel like each time we have one of these, it’s just tremendously valuable, and I leave with books and books of notes of things for me and my team to look at, and to do. And, as Justin said, we’ve got our V25 upgrade scheduled for next week, actually. So all of that was a result of the BTC and the product releases, and the different sessions that ADD had to cover – the benefits and the new features that have been worked on really diligently over the last couple of years. I think the biggest takeaway for me was just the ability to get, you know, everybody at the same table, whether it’s from ADD Systems or even some of the partners and integrators that are also there at the conference. In the accounting and finance world, we work pretty closely with Blue Moon for our financial system integration, and there was one day where I wanted to get, you know, Donna and a couple others from ADD, and then Janice and Steve from Blue Moon, and we just ate lunch at the same table, and we had a little working lunch meeting. And it was great because, you know, we didn’t have to worry about trying to get everybody on the same Teams or Zoom call; we were just able to hash out some things that really pay a lot of dividends when you’re able to do that there on site.
Brian: Excellent. Now focusing more specifically on the AUG here, Justin, what has happened since the conference, and can you maybe give us a preview of what to expect from the user group over the next 12 months?
Justin: Sure. And I’ll have a two-part answer here, because I think this first part is important. What’s happened for Bumgarner Oil, which happens for a lot of companies, you get back, and you’re excited about two or three things that you learned. For us, it might be customer logs, call scheduler, E360 that’s just to name a few. So you get back, you’re excited, and you’re like, all right, now, how do I learn about this? So, as a company, you’re trying to get plugged in with different committees; you’re trying to assign users that may not have been involved. They’re like, hey, y’all need to go learn about this because I know what they’re about to talk about. So that’s my micro answer to what I expect from the AUG, which we’re seeing so far is you’re having a lot of people want to join committees. That’s normal after the BTC, a lot of people come down there, but we’ve probably brought on over 100 different users who want to be part of a committee. And my hypothesis is that it’s very similar to us. They get back, they are excited, they’re spreading the word to their coworkers, or they were down there, they’re not part of a committee, and they’re like, wow, if I joined this committee, I can learn about this each month. So you get an influx of committees, now the AUG’s responsibility here is, hey, let’s make the most of the time and the people’s, or the people’s time, I should say. Let’s bring out the best topics, make sure we’re locked in because you’ve got this increased participation, right? So you bring them on, you try to come up with good topics. I think what you can expect this year is you’ve got eight or nine committees with a chair and a co-chair. Everyone’s fired up after the BTC. Everyone’s highly motivated to bring out the best topics, so you’re going to get the best from the leadership team, and hopefully the users are providing topics that they think are applicable to them that they want to learn about. And the leadership team is going to be challenged by me and Alec and each other to use those topics and to make each meeting as well-rounded and as focused on big-picture applications as possible.
Brian: Alec, what advice do you have for the new ADD clients who are thinking about joining, or users who are new to the group that just joined after the BTC?
Alec: Yeah, that’s a good one, right? So, if you’re on the fence about joining the AUG, I’d say do it. Reach out to me or Justin, and we can point you in the right direction. We can get you plugged into a committee. I think if you are part of the AUG and not part of a committee, then you’re not really getting the full value out of it. So, whether you go through the AUG portal and you sign up for, you know, one that way, or you reach out to us, or Regina or Brian, we’ll get you plugged in to what makes the most sense. I’d say optimally, one to two committees are probably right. You might say you want to participate in all of them, which might be exciting, but they typically meet once a month, so with that, your calendar can fill up pretty quickly. But generally, the committees are pretty targeted to what makes the most sense by function, and as Justin said, the purpose is really big picture. What can you get the biggest takeaways for the hour a month that we’re coming together? And get involved. If you’re just listening to the meetings and doing something on the side while the meeting is happening, then we’re not getting the collective value out of it that we all could. So, if you’re listening to the meetings, if you’re a part of a committee, that’s great. Get involved, raise questions and topics that you want to talk about, that you want to hear more about. We’re always looking for collective needs of the group. So reach out, get involved, stay connected, and it’s really, really important for everybody to have a good loud voice, so that we can all get more out of the system together.
Brian: Agreed. And I’d like to ask this final question to each of you. So, Justin, we’ll start with you. If someone’s interested in joining or getting more information, how would they go about doing so?
Justin: I’m gonna piggyback off of what Alec said. The best way to either learn about information or getting involved is to reach out to someone that you know is already involved. Yes, we’ve got the meeting saved on the client portal. There’s access to the meetings themselves, but the value comes in talking to somebody about it. I would make the guess that most people who are interested in joining know at least one user. That’s probably why they heard about it. That’s probably why they’re wondering. So, whether it’s somebody at your company or somebody at a company that you know that has joined, reach out to that person. Ask them what they think about the specific committee, and ask them how to join. There are so many ways to join by the way. You can email Alec, you can email Justin, you can go on the portal, you can ask someone at your office. Like, we’re going to make it as easy as possible to join. I promise you, we’re in recruiting mode. If you just talk to somebody, it will get to us eventually. But you can join in a multitude of ways, but if you’re looking for more information, talk to somebody that’s involved. That’s going to give you a real-life answer; that’s going to tell you the benefits that maybe the portal can’t, right? The portal will show the meetings as I discussed, but the benefit is more than that. It’s the networking. To be able to have the offline questions, the chat during the portal, whatever it might be. So if you’re interested, just reach out to somebody that you know to have a small conversation, send an email to me, myself, Regina, whoever, and we’re going to get back to you. We want you on the team, and we value your input.
Alec: Yeah, I’d say that the simplest way to do it, if you don’t know anybody, or if Justin’s options there don’t seem easy enough, just go to the AUG portal, and there’s a little short form. You fill out your name and information, and what your interests are, and that goes to Regina and her team, and usually within, I’d say, a couple of hours, that makes its way to everybody that needs to know, and we’ll get you plugged in and integrated just as quickly as we can. So that’s probably the best way to go about doing it, and we’re really looking forward to any new members that want to participate, and really those that especially want to be active and ask questions and learn and grow together, because that’s really the name of the game.
Brian: Fantastic. Well, gentlemen, I thank you both for taking the time to speak with me today.
Alec: Thanks, Brian.
Justin: Thanks, Brian. Happy to be part of it.
Brian: And to those listening, to keep up with the latest happenings at ADD Systems, visit addsys.com/blog, or connect with us on social media by following ADD Systems on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, or X. If you have any questions about ADDcast, feel free to reach out to us at addcast@addsys.com. Thanks for listening, and have a great day.
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