Unify, the Atos brand for collaboration solutions, held its annual Unify Partner Conference recently in Berlin, bringing together more than 200 of its top channel partners from around the world to discuss new solutions, improvements to the partner program, and strategies for maximising success. Under the theme “Together as One”, the event was structured to emphasise the importance of the trust and close teamwork between partners, customers and Unify, which leads to successful outcomes for all.
Unify has continued to make significant progress in its mission to be the partner of choice in the communications and collaboration industry. Today more than 63 percent of Unify’s product revenue is through the channel – 85 percent in the UK – and its top 25% of partners more than doubled their business through Unify in the last year.
“Unify’s strategy continues to be ‘partner-first’, so it is of critical importance that we collaborate closely with our key partners to ensure maximum growth and success,” said Simon Skellon, Chief Sales Officer at Unify
“The Unify Partner Conference is a valuable time with our partners to share what is coming next from a solution perspective, discuss improvements to our partner program, and collaborate on how we can continue to deliver superior results with our partners.”
This year’s conference featured speakers from Unify and Atos in both a main plenary session and regional breakouts for more intimate and personal messaging and conversations. Additionally, at the heart of the event was the Community Hub, which offered an opportunity for hands on demonstrations and information from technology partners.
At the event, Unify presented ‘Our Digital Journey’ with key portfolio updates including:
- OpenScape Contact Center available as a private, managed cloud offering with expanded capacity, regional availability and self-services enhancements coming soon
- Circuit Meeting Room to be made available as a stand alone video-conferencing service without the need for Circuit users so it’s ideal for customers who have not yet deployed Circuit
- New Phones including CP100, a simple low-cost product and CP600E, a midrange phone with self-labeling keys
- Expanded co-innovation capabitilies with APIs to amplify collaboration within Circuit or embed into the applications customers use most
- Circuit integration with OpenScape Business, delivering full call control as a cloud hybrid alternative to the on-premise UC solution
Additionally, Unify shared significant commercial and channel enhancements including:
- Simplified pricing model
- Simplified service bundles
- Streamlining of CPQ tools to increase speed and throughput of quotes
- Enhanced partner technical, sales and commercial support via Partner Connect
In addition to demonstrations of Unify’s solutions, attendees also had the opportunity to interact with key technology partners including ASC, Gigaset, Jabra, Konftel, Logitech, Media5, Plantronics, Ptm Akademie and Sennheiser. These partners also generously sponsored awards for Unify’s top performing channels and prizes for onsite competitions.
At the event, Unify presented its annual awards to top partners. This year’s award winners included:
- Partner of the Year, sponsored by Media 5 – Spie Comnet
- Distributor of the Year, sponsored by Konftel – Tarsus Distribution
- Above & Beyond, sponsored by Sennheiser – Nextel
- Cloud Partner of the Year, sponsored by Logitech – Swisscom
- Contact Centre Excellence, sponsored by Jabra – Black Box
- Innovation, sponsored by ASC – Sotel Systems
- Rising Star, sponsored by PTM Akademie – Daisy Group
“I’m pleased to say I saw a step change at this year’s UPC, said Richard Carter, Executive Director at Nycomm.
“It was clear at the UK & I breakout session that the new team have a deep understanding of Channel. I firmly believe that the proven strategy they are putting in place will enable our enterprise sales to soar. It was also pleasing to hear such positive comments about Openscape Cloud from distributors in other regions.”
“I have been to several UPC’s, and this is one of the best yet,” said Allan Williams, Technical Director at Datasharp UK.
“The presentations on the OpenScape portfolio updates, roadmaps and successes were great, and I was happy to hear about the new SSP pricing, easier order points and better license bundles to come. I look forward to the next UPC.”
“We are very grateful to Unify for their continued dedication, commitment and support to their partners over the past years,” said Sanjay Kondalkar, General Manager, Waleed Communications Co. (WACOM) Ltd.
“The UPC conference at Berlin was a great event with the theme “Together as One” and showcased the journey for Unify focused on growth and winning, and extended support to partners for their continuous enhancement. The focus of the conference was to showcase best of breed technology and Unify’s innovative solutions, ideas and commitment towards their partner community to discover the ways to win more business and maximise relationships.”
“UPC Berlin 2018 was an experience; it has provided a good platform for Tarsus to engage with Unify and Atos executives directly and get better understanding towards Unify’s vision to engage better,” said Alan Hawkins, of Tarsus. “The Community Hub provided us with the opportunity to feel the power of Unify solutions and gain in-depth understanding of positioning the same to our partners. The regional breakout sessions addressed our specific needs and opportunities for the South Africa market and helped us define our go to market strategy for next half of the year. We are very delighted to be part of the conference.”
