This year was a first for Channel Partners going online, just as many other events did before the expo was forced to go digital because of the novel Coronavirus. Held September 8-10, the conference was originally scheduled for March and featured several agents, system integrators, and so much more. Partners across the globe typically flock to the event in person, so the virtual iteration was no exception. As such, many keynote speakers have graced the stage in the past, including Tiffani Bova, Global Growth Evangelist at Salesforce, who spoke on preparing for and responding to the new demands facing channel partners and the technology developers who build many of the communications and collaboration tools enterprises rely on to connect digitally.
Bova is a global customer growth and innovation specialist at Salesforce and has over two decades of experience leading everything from startups to Fortune 500 companies. She also previously spent a decade working at Gartner, which is arguably the world’s leading authority on IT research.
8×8’s John DeLozier, also graced the virtual stage, talking to channel partners who perform a spectrum of roles within a number of enterprises. He touched on how to upsell and outsell using the popular networking tool LinkedIn, a session that provided a lot of value judging from the chatter on Twitter I heard about his session.
From virtual booths and more, the expo hall was filled with dozens of like-minded partners from across the globe, hoping to communicate the value of their offerings in their respective spaces. All in all, close to 3,400 individuals signed up for and attended Channel Partners Virtual, which I’m told, exceeded the number of signups associated with events normally held in-person.
Breaking down who attended, more than 43 percent of attendees said they were managed service providers, 27 percent identified as agents, with another 11 percent stating they were value-added resellers. Consultants, systems integrators, MSSPs, cloud brokers, and digital service providers were also in attendance.
I hope the success of such events showcases the strength of the very tools these partners sell to host conferences that are both conscious of people’s time, in addition to keeping people safe. I, for one, can see the value in attending such an event from the comfort of your home and getting on with your day – no need to travel, and the planet doesn’t have to suffer from unnecessary travel. It is a win-win situation for those who attended this year’s virtual version of Channel Partners.
If you’re afraid you missed out on a gem of an event, not worry, there’s more coming soon from the folks who bring you Channel Partners. This December 1-2, 2020, they’re hosting another virtual event, the second annual ‘Channel Evolution Europe.’ The event is said to provide a glimpse into the challenges, opportunities, and offers a way for the channel to connect with suppliers along with partners who have the very technologies enterprise count on more and more as we progress further into a sort of forced digital transformation.
