UC Today attended this year’s Business Breakthrough Event (#BBEvent2017) hosted and organised by telecoms and audio visual distributor ScanSource Imago. The 2017 venue was was a tasteful affair at The Brewery on Chiswell Street, London and on arrival at this impressive venue just around the corner from the Barbican, we were pleased to see that ScanSource had put on an impressive event for their channel partners.
The BBE expo was awash with the big name vendors – there to introduce and demonstrate their latest products and innovations. Interestingly, it wasn’t your typical telecoms distributor event where PBXs are king, there was a broad range of products including UCaaS, Cloud PBX, Team Collaboration Apps, Video Conferencing as a Service, Room Systems, Digital Signage, Touch Displays and much more.
The event was laid on to show ScanSource Imago’s channel partners the breadth of solutions available to them now that ScanSource and Imago have joined forces – everything a partner could need – importantly even the ancillaries required to provide a complete product such as wall brackets that can hold an entire video conferencing solution weighing as much as 110kg on just four (albeit, large) screws!
Whilst the telecoms channel and vendors talk cloud on the frontline, it’s reassuring to see what was once a hardware-centric PBX distributor like ScanSource Communications, take the stage and lead with what really is driving the industry right now, CLOUD and UC apps.
Speaking to Paul Emery, Vice President of ScanSource Imago UK & Ireland he was quick to bring to my attention that today’s event was not only the best they’ve ever seen attracting more than 400 attendees, but it was in fact the largest and most successful event that ScanSource Europe has ever organised. Today’s capacity crowd was testament to ScanSource Imago’s continued growth and success in the UK.
I asked Paul for the best advice he could give channel partners for 2017, he responded:
“The UC and AV markets are changing rapidly and Unified Communications is now more real than ever before, I’d encourage channel partners to have a clearly defined cloud and UC strategy that accommodates all the latest collaborative applications and technologies the industry has to offer.”
UC Panel Debate
After a working lunch, from a choice of three different foods from around the globe (Turkish, Tex Mex and Louisiana-style for those that like their food) and a range of desserts, the first event in the briefing room was a panel debate chaired by AV Magazine’s Clive Couldwell. On the panel were Christian Bozeat of Macom UK, Jonathon English of Deutsche Bank, Glynn Jones of Polycom and Nicole Dinnadge of BlueJeans – their topic to debate? ‘What is Unified Communications?’
It was a very insightful discussion, and perhaps unsurprisingly, many opinions were voiced but to summarise we would say that:
“Unified Comms is the seamless merging of all the tools that an individual user needs, available to them as they work, to increase productivity.”
These tools could number as few as two or three for a basic user and many more for someone in a complex environment – but the important thing is that they work together, seamlessly. This is the challenge for all providers of UC – knowing the tools, the users’ needs and how to sew them together. Millennials entering the workplace are seen as critical in driving some of the changes in the applications used.
ScanSource Imago were holding this event to demonstrate to their partners that they could help with this – from supplying the guidance, the equipment, and even the onsite expertise in the form of Professional Services, if required.
Back out into the Expo for some more networking and learning about the offerings of the many vendors attending, all keen to discuss the latest innovations they were bringing to market.
Microsoft take to the stage
The next event in the briefing room was a talk from Richard Bowes of Microsoft,
a member of the Partner Development Unit. He delivered an insightful update on the extra revenue that Skype for Business could bring by adding this useful (some would say, essential) tool to the Office 365 licence. Richard shared some interesting figures, not least of which was that Microsoft have more than 100 million commercial monthly subscriptions globally. Another was that 43% of Enterprises are considering implementing Cloud PBX – there’s lots of opportunity out there!
Out again for a walk around the impressive Expo for some more talks with the more than 20 vendors on site – many of these vendors also work together to deliver their solutions to partners. More on that later….
Scansource Imago Integration
Just before 5pm, James Vickerage, President of ScanSource Imago Europe formally announced the merging of ScanSource Communications & Imago ScanSource. While the merger happened a while ago, James was explaining how the changes to the structure of the business were now almost complete – that the new management team was now in place – we saw the Org Chart – and how this meant that the entire portfolio was now available to all partners and that two accounts were not required to do business with the new ScanSource Imago. Increased support, both pre-sales, technical and sales were available immediately as well.
New Programme Announcement
James then went on to share topline details of their “revolutionary new programme” – My World. This is a free-to-join club for partners looking to add or increase revenue from Skype for Business deployments.
As part of this new initiative, he also announced the very recent signing of EngHouse Interactive as a brand new vendor; specifically to add the Contact Centre piece to My World.
Bringing together the skills of ScanSource Imago and five crucial vendors (with more to follow) to deliver a total Skype for Business deployment service:
- BlueJeans
- Virtual1
- AudioCodes
- EngHouse Interactive
- Polycom
The ‘My World’ club offers the following to members:
- Free sales training
- Implementation
- Design Consultancy
- Dedicated support to each partner
With further support planned to be included, the My World programme is an “ecosystem of vendors and services that support Skype for Business” that enables partners to go to market with a full offering – the only part not provided via ScanSource, at this stage, is the Microsoft licensing.
Vickerage then thanked all for attending this hugely successful event, as stated before, their most successful in Europe to date and announced a free bar for all – cheers!
Here’s to BBE 2018!
