Avaya Engage 2021 returned to an in-person format at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin resort in Orlando, after a one-year hiatus due to the pandemic. This event was part Avaya user group (IAUG) and part Avaya Expo event. The theme of this year’s Avaya Engage was “It’s all about experiences”.  We attended the Avaya conference representing Avatel Technologies as a Platinum Avaya Partner, and as an Exhibitor at the Expo representing Desk Phone Designs, an Avaya DevConnect Partner. The last Avaya Engage we attended was in Phoenix, February 2020 just prior to the pandemic. I have to say, it was nice to be back!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the first day of the conference, the Avaya appreciation welcome party was held outside at the Lake Terrace Swan & Dolphin Beach and Cabana Pool. We enjoyed great food and great music including some interesting entertainment. An acrobat was performing for all the party goers, and there were guys with the water jet packs like something straight out of a superhero movie. The water-powered propulsion jet packs lifted them as high as 30 feet above the water, spinning in corkscrews and circles at dizzying speeds. It was a great way to kick off the conference.

 

Click on the link to see a video of the guys on the jet packs at Avaya Engage 2021 Welcome Party

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a long day setting up the Desk Phone Designs booth in the Expo Hall, and the kickoff party, the view from my room at the Dolphin in Orlando was a great end to the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Avaya Engage, hosted by Avaya and the International Avaya Users Group (IAUG), provided a showcase for keynotes, panel discussions, learning labs, partner exhibits (including Desk Phone Designs), a hackathon, and more, providing an opportunity for learning and networking (and some fun entertainment). Government consultants heard from Avaya leaders, as well as outside subject matter experts discussing unified communications (UC) contact center trends, and best practices for moving to the cloud.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Avaya Engage 2021 brought together thought leaders and experience innovators to deliver something for everyone! The Avaya Engage Expo Hall was buzzing with many examples of experience innovation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We loved the Winter Wonderland theme, the ice sculpture bar, and the cool piece of artwork on the Expo floor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Expo Hall and the Winter Wonderland element, brought some very interesting visitors to our Desk Phone Designs Booth. If you were unable to attend or didn’t get to stop by our booth, we not only displayed our snap on custom phone covers, but we also debuted our new Health-grade Transparent phone covers at the show. Learn more about Desk Phone Designs products at https://www.deskphonedesigns.com/

 

 

 

 

Avaya Engage kicked off Monday with Jim Chirico, Avaya’s President and CEO. During the keynote he reported that the company has had six consecutive quarters of accelerating growth, and all their cloud-related metrics are up. Jim Chirico cited some strong growth metrics, like 6,000 new customers in 2021, many of those being $1 million dollar accounts. The biggest measure of its cloud growth is the annual recurring revenue (ARR), which was up 180% from 2020 to 2021.

 

He discusses Avaya’s tremendous progress on its transformation journey, launching new solutions and streamlining operations along with the positive financial results. “We are not standing still,” said Jim Chirico, at Monday morning’s General Session. “We are leveraging the strengths of the cloud giants with Avaya’s unique technologies to deliver on opportunities for our customers,” he said. “We have the best team in the industry, and we are winning every day.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Avaya talked about leveraging AI and data-driven automation to create personalized, in-the-moment experiences. It’s all designed and delivered by Experience Builders, a team that helps developers take the composable building blocks in Avaya OneCloud to add calling, messaging, and dozens of other communications capabilities to virtually any kind of application. Chirico explained that “Avaya technology provides the opportunity to offer our clients the ability to integrate with any artificial intelligence provider, be it Microsoft, Google, AWS or IBM, adding to our strategic alliances the ability to enrich solutions with ease and flexibility, really driving composable use cases”, where companies innovate by combining software from different vendors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Businesses and the world as a whole have transformed dramatically, and Avaya has been at the forefront of empowering our customers and partners to innovate and thrive in this Experience Economy,” said Jim Chirico. Experience Builders is a global community that aligns Avaya services, partners, technology developers, customers, and citizen developers. Avaya Experience Builders makes it easier for businesses to build and deliver customized experiences. They do so by providing co-development support, including existing or tailored experiences, or technology to compose their own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Avaya OneCloud and the innovation Experience Builders are delivering every day and creating stronger brands, changing entire industries, and in many cases improving lives,” said Simon Harrison, Senior Vice President and CMO, Avaya. “Experience as a Service is what we can provide enabling Experience Builders around the world to compose and wrap solutions around their own customers, tailored to every use case and every user. Avaya ENGAGE 2021 is the showcase for these innovators to tell their stories, and we embrace these partners who are changing the game.”

 

 

 

 

Todd Zerbe, Avaya’s Senior Vice President of Engineering, gave participants an inside look into the technical architecture of Avaya OneCloud. It starts with a Hybrid Cloud Architecture that has “composability” at its core and connects existing investments with cloud innovation.  Todd explained that Avaya OneCloud is a single communication and collaboration platform that addresses four markets:  UCaaS, CCaaS, CPaaS, and Workstream Collaboration – enabling customers to differentiate the experiences they offer by combining the capabilities of each of these portfolios.  Todd revealed the Avaya Media Processing Core.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This approach to handling media streams is unique to Avaya OneCloud. Todd explained the significance of this approach in a way that even I could understand – using the example of a three-way conference in which the cloud traditionally just acts as a “switch” to route the associated video streams to the appropriate endpoint – and then leaves it to the end application and/or device to combine the streams.  Conversely, Avaya OneCloud moves the media processing to the cloud, where media streams are combined and then sent to the endpoint.  This reduces bandwidth as much as 80% and can dramatically lower CPU utilization.  It also means that the user experience doesn’t depend on the quality of their specific device. It’s all done in the cloud, which delivers lower cost and improved performance to the user!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And according to Todd, this is just the beginning!  The Avaya Media Processing Core is globally scalable – it is a single global network service which means less configuration than regionally delivered services, as well as unprecedented fault tolerance – as low as 50 msec.  Todd played a tone that lasted 50 msec to demonstrate how short this time is.  He explained that if you are on your conference call and the servers go down, the disruption is almost imperceptible. The Avaya Media Processing Core is another example of thinking differently.  Avaya has completely reimagined the architecture of media orchestration in the cloud – enabling the acceleration of innovation.

 

 

 

 

 

Regarding the Experiences theme, Avaya shared its keynote stage with Dr. Joe Pine, the author of the groundbreaking Experience Economy book. The book is about 25 years old and originally focused on how companies like Disney and Starbucks compete and profit from experiences more than the actual products and services they offer. Not only does he explain things better than just about anyone else, but he put some thought into tying this trend to what Avaya is doing, and what the audience really needs to hear. As goods and services become commodities, being able to offer memorable and meaningful customer experiences is crucial to market success according to Dr. Pine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Pine, pioneering strategist on the Experience Economy, discussed how experience builders are the new architects of the economy. In his keynote talk at the Tuesday morning General Session, Dr. Pine emphasized the importance of building experiences that resonate with individual customers. As he noted in his conference keynote address – “An industry conference is really like a “theme park” for adults – and Avaya’s premier customer conference is certainly supporting this proposition.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Women’s soccer star Carli Lloyd advises IT professionals to set personal goals and do something to keep moving forward every day. “Find a purpose in life, understand your role at work and keep improving,” said Lloyd in a conversation with Jenifer Bond, VP, U.S., state local and education sales, Avaya, at the Tuesday afternoon General Session.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Technology and sports go together, she added. “When used the right way, technology is an incredible tool for athletes.” A back-to-back FIFA world player of the year, Lloyd recently retired from her 17-year career as a professional soccer player. “My goal is to get a cameo on ‘Ted Lasso,” she said with a smile.

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Sian Proctor is life-long explorer who recently piloted the Inspiration4 all-civilian orbital mission to space. She’s also starring in a new Netflix documentary series about the mission and comes with many fresh experiences and adventures to share. Her passion about science education inspired and transformed the Avaya Engage audience, with a compelling message that cuts across cultural boundaries. Her presentation was filled with revelations, personal achievements, and unique twists.

 

Dr. Sian Proctor is an international speaker who, instead of providing a traditional presentation, Engages the audience in a discussion about leadership, making connections, maximizing opportunity, and exploring our world and beyond.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Sian Proctor – the first African American woman to pilot a vehicle into space – absolutely stole the show with a powerful mix of her authenticity, charisma, and overall passion for life.  Dr. Proctor’s inspirational main stage address, her sincere interest in the new technology she observed as she visited the Expo Hall booths (as well as in the people supporting each booth), her amazing story, and her overall vivacious presence was very inspiring.

Here is the Spotify playlist that Dr, Proctor mentioned on the stage. Click on the link – https://tinyurl.com/2p95fphk and turn up the volume!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Avaya Engage 2021 ended with a fun closing party sponsored by the Avaya user group (IAUG). The IAUG speakeasy themed closing event was located within the Atlantic Dance Hall. As the last day of Avaya Engage wrapped up, everyone put on their dancing shoes, and celebrated a great conference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a top Avaya partner for more than two decades, Avatel has seen Avaya evolve from voice communications to a cloud solutions provider. Avaya Engage 2021 conveyed three clear messages:

 

 

• We are all now living in an experience economy.
• Avaya OneCloud uniquely enables businesses to participate in this new economy.
• Creating and delivering experiences requires an ecosystem of experience builders.

After four days of experience innovators in the Expo Hall, workshops, inspirational speakers, and content experts to drive the digital transformation journey, we can’t wait for next year’s Avaya Engage at the Los Angeles Convention Center in July!

AVAYA ENGAGE February 2020

The Avaya ENGAGE 2020 event was held at the Phoenix Convention Center in beautiful Arizona on February 2-5. The unified communications conference drew over 3,000 attendees, making it one of the world’s largest conferences for the field of UC technology. ENGAGE is about clients, partners, and the Avaya team coming together to create Experiences That Matter. There were inspirational speakers and thought leaders, over 150 informative breakout sessions, workshops, demos, and 95 exhibitors at Avaya ENGAGE 2020.

Avaya ENGAGE 2020 Welcome Party

 

Avaya ENGAGE kicked off with a private Super Bowl viewing party at Chase Field-jumbo TVs, lots of food, stadium tours, & fun on the turf, leading us right into the week’s event.

 

 

Avaya ENGAGE 2020 General Session

 

“All In” was the theme of this year’s Avaya ENGAGE, and that was established on day one when Avaya CEO, Jim Chirico, took to the stage during the keynote address. Jim Chirico started off by telling the room of attendees, that Avaya remains on a mission to become a profitable business. He said the company has never been in a better position to empower the enterprise.

 

Like the 2020 Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, Avaya never lost sight of its goals and objectives, and stayed true to its course, he said. In 2019, Avaya gained 6,000 new customers and more than 500 competitive displacements against Cisco, 8×8, Five9 and Genesys, and plans to continue that momentum in 2020, he said. “It’s a great time to be in Avaya,” he said. “I have been here 13 years and this is the best time. I’m really excited about what we’re going to do in the future.”

 

Chirico said Avaya is one of the most profitable companies in business communications. Last year, it achieved a $750 million cash balance, invested more than $300 million in technology and reduced its debt by $250 million. Its debt load now stands at just above $3 billion.  Avaya also is repurchasing $500 million in shares, he said. Avaya “lost its way a little” on innovation and re-emphasized that last year, Chirico said. It increased spending on R&D, intensified its efforts in the cloud, and expanded its product and solutions portfolio, he said.

 

Avaya brings multiexperience to the forefront at its Avaya ENGAGE 2020 user conference this week, empowering organizations with the communications and collaboration solutions they need to work smarter and engage with customers and employees more effectively. Organizations want new solutions that combine customer and employee communication and collaboration apps to address the evolving needs of the experience economy. Avaya has been leveraging the breadth of its portfolio to blend these solutions for a more seamless, converged communications platform to deliver optimal business outcomes.

“Major trends are accelerating rapidly and opening the doors to completely new ways to communicate and collaborate – from the shift to cloud, the growth of video and mobile across the enterprise, to harnessing the power of AI and machine learning,” said Jim Chirico, Avaya President and CEO. “Market leaders are disrupting the status quo, not just by innovating in one of these areas, but by bringing new technologies together across the communications infrastructure to transform customer and employee experiences.”

Avaya’s comprehensive portfolio of solutions and services are enabling enterprises of all sizes to create CX and EX multiexperience that can leverage video collaboration, AI-powered decision making, real-time sentiment feedback and workflow routing across channels to provide seamless, personalized interactions and ensure a consistent experience across the user journey.

 

The key attributes introduced at Avaya ENGAGE 2020 user conference of multiexperience outcomes include:

 

• Enterprise-Grade – delivering scale, migration and tools supporting any size organization
• Easy To Connect – A single provider of a full enterprise and blended stack between the front- and back-office and across multi-devices and multi-modal experience
• Innovative – Helping to deliver new outcomes that are seamlessly adopted with existing environments and also opportunities to innovate at the edge with open APIs
• Ecosystem Supported – An unmatched ecosystem of channel and technology partnerships
• Flexibility To Consume – Offering the most comprehensive and flexible set of consumption and deployment models for any size of enterprise – public, private and hybrid

On March 31, Avaya and RingCentral will launch Avaya Cloud Office by RingCentral, the unified communications (UC) offering based on the strategic partnership between the two companies announced last October. Avaya Cloud Office combines RingCentral’s UCaaS platform with Avaya phones, services and migration capabilities for businesses of all sizes.

 

Vlad Shmunis, RingCentral‘s founder and CEO, joined Chirico on the stage and said there’s “not another combination like this in the world today.” Cisco has nothing even close, he said. He also said the offering is good for both companies as Avaya leverages its brand and resources, and RingCentral gets expanded global reach and access to the “world’s best partner network.” “If you have a conventional customer base and they want to go cloud, this is the only way to get them there in a world-class effort,” he said. “And for the partner community, this is a unique opportunity to add a very sticky revenue stream and very little churn.”

 

Chirico said. “We’re going to grow this company, and since Partners contribute 65% of Avaya’s revenue, there’s no better opportunity for us to grow together,” he said. “There’s huge opportunity, so I’m excited. We need to figure out how to grow overall channel revenue and your companies. One way is Avaya Cloud Office.

 

In addition, Avaya announced a number of other products at ENGAGE that complement its portfolio of private and public cloud UC and CC offerings. Here is a highlight of some of these products:

 

• Avaya Spaces – A simple, cost-effective cloud meeting and team collaboration app that seamlessly integrates voice, video, tasks, and sharing and can be easily accessed from any device. Avaya Spaces easily integrates with any environment and includes a persistent online workspace for collaboration, employee chat, online conferencing with HD video and content sharing, project management and more.
• Avaya IX™ Contact Center enhancements – New AI-powered routing capabilities enabling companies of all sizes to improve customer interactions with their teams by optimally pairing customers with contact center agents. AI-powered speech analytics that automatically transcribes and analyzes voice conversations in real-time to help deliver deeper, more personal and more positive engagements between agents and customers. Advanced, user-friendly agent desktops that combine customer information from multiple sources to provide agents with a consolidated view of the customer journey across all touchpoints. Cloud-based chat, social media, SMS and email channels – all offered with subscription pricing.
• Avaya IX™ Subscription – Now enterprises can more easily adopt the latest communication and collaboration tools enabling employees and customers to interact easily and seamlessly using their channels and devices of choice, with the flexible Avaya IX Subscription program. Avaya software bundles and device as a service (DaaS) rate cards with bundled applications, provide a flexible, preferred financial option compared to traditional perpetual pricing models, and can facilitate a path to cloud communications.

Solutions Expo

 

Desk Phone Designs Expo Booth

 

 

 Pure Magic – Keynote Speaker Earvin “Magic” Johnson

 

As expected, the star of the event was basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson. Having left the basketball court for the boardroom, he has successfully parlayed his skills and tenacity from the court into the business world as Chairman and CEO of Magic Johnson Enterprises (MJE). The two-time Hall of Famer, three-time NBA MVP, and Olympic Gold Medalist joined Avaya Engage on the mainstage as he exemplified being “All In.”

 

 

Attendees were treated to a rousing and entertaining keynote by the NBA legend and massively successful entrepreneur. He had attendees laughing, cheering and applauding as he talked about his biggest challenges and achievements, and his rivalry and friendship with Larry Bird. He also prompted a standing ovation for NBA superstar Kobe Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash last month.

 

The Lansing native is constantly evolving and remaining relevant in a dynamic digital age by broadening his scope into infrastructure and technology. Through a newly formed fund, Johnson is investing millions of dollars on infrastructure improvement in the United States. He is also one of the leading investors in a number of minority-owned technology companies.

 

After his address, Johnson thanked the 3,000 attendees for “being an engaged and amazing audience.”

Avaya ENGAGE 2020 was a success as Avaya is making vast strides toward modernizing its technology to create a viable option for enterprise comms in an ever-competitive cloud-based world. Avaya already has over 120,000 customers, 100 million UC seats, five million contact center users in over 180 countries, and the RingCentral UCaaS deal will help to further diversify these figures for customers who want the reap the benefits of UCaaS.

 

We can’t wait until next years event in Orlando Florida!

Avaya Partner Community Council (PCC) 2019 Spring Conference, June 3-6, 2019 – Chicago, Illinois

 

The Avaya Partner Community Council (PCC) is an independent partner organization supported and sponsored by Avaya.  Avatel’s Lead Engineer Jon Damiani and Avatel’s Senior Sales Director Salena Miller, attended this year’s PCC Spring Conference. The Avaya PCC is a premium opportunity for the Avatel team to network with fellow Avaya Business Partners, listen to Avaya subject matter experts, learn about new Avaya products and solutions, processes, promotions and services.

 

With a strong alliance of members, the PCC has driven changes that have had a positive impact on sales and support tools, solution initiatives, services policies and more. Self-funded, partner-led and manufacturer-sanctioned, the PCC is a rare type of organization which gives Avaya partners like Avatel, the ability to lead the conversation and collaborate on ways to better serve the market.

 

The Avaya Partner Community Council was held June 3-6, at the Oak Brook Hills Resort and Conference Center (an International Association of Conference Centers (IACC) certified meeting center). The resort is located just west of downtown Chicago, nestled into the serene surroundings of Oak Brook, Illinois. The resort is set upon some 150 lush acres, and the award-winning Willow Crest Golf Club compliments one of the best venues of its kind in the mid-west. The hotel has 36 meeting venues and 42,500 sq. ft. of meeting and exhibition space combined. With more than 20 breakout rooms, many overlooking the scenic golf course.

 

 

The purpose of PCC is to closely affiliate Avaya and its partners, and to introduce, enhance and support Avaya products, processes and services. PCC and Avaya works together to develop innovative solutions to our mutual benefit and ultimately, the benefit of our end user customers. By sharing experiences and leading with one voice, Avatel aims to support Avaya products and service improvements for mutual business benefit.

 

The conference is geared towards product managers, design and sales engineers, support engineers, as well as other operations based personnel who wish to collaborate with other Avaya partners to learn and share best practices. The event aims to enable greater collaboration and efficiency with market leading Avaya solutions to deliver outstanding value and benefits to customers.

 

 

It’s amazing how much you learn when you spend a day with a diverse group of people focused on a plan to improve. Never underestimate the benefit of collaborating with a highly competent group of professionals with different perspectives. PCC is the only collective forum recognized by Avaya where technical and operational detail is discussed. Issues, recommendations, and requests coming from the Council receive top priority within Avaya.

 

Being an active member of the Partner Community Council also benefits Avaya’s customers. By having a closer relationship with Avaya, a PCC member partner like Avatel is more knowledgeable, better trained in Avaya solutions and applications, and has stronger Avaya contacts and access to executives, all resulting in greater customer satisfaction and loyalty.

 

 

Avatel’s PCC Membership allows us first-hand access to product and services roadmaps, new releases, new programs and technical support updates. This enables us to have regular strategic meetings to share valuable roadmaps of Avaya products with our staff members and our customers. Both our Avatel team members Salena and Jon enjoyed the event, as there were many informative presentations during the conference.  PCC is always a good opportunity to get direct information from product managers about the latest developments and enhancements.

 

Avaya Devices Roadmap

• New Avaya J series models soon to be announced
• J129 support for 5-volt power adapter – Aug 2019
• J179 can now be order with WIFI card instead of separately
• J169/J179 colors Cobalt Black or White.
• Support for web interface on J169/179.
• New R4 dect base in development to replace D100 dect base
• New wireless dect L series headset in development
• Late Q3 2019 B199 Conference room phone

ACR Roadmap

• Streamlined licenses
• Bring reporting and recording interface to HTML 5 – Late Q3 2019 to Early Q4 2019
• Co-Residency with Server edition and Application Servers – Release 11.0.7 (service pack 7)
• Future plans to add all settings to HTML 5

 

IP Office Roadmap

• New 500v2a chassis
• New Digital 8a card
• Service Pack 5 (SP5) end of July 2019 beginning August 2019
• Service Pack 7 – Q4 2019
• All new features release will not be included in Basic
• Localization of Equinox messaging (separate from Avaya Spaces)

 

Avaya Learning – Towards the end of 2019, Avaya will be moving towards a Badging Program.  The current Credential Program is being enhanced to drive consistency, simplification, market relevance, and value across sales, design, and services.

• Badges recognize a particular experience or mastery of skill
• Recognize a micro-learning- not credential related
• Signal to your contacts a professional life of active learning, engagement and ongoing development.
• Badging also enables secure sharing of Professional credentials earned through social media.

Other Key Takeaways

• Troubleshooting J series IP endpoints using monitor and web interface.
• J series TCP/TLS Resiliency setup and troubleshooting
• R11 feature pack 4- JEM24 button module support, Vantage equinox support, J169/179 Bluetooth support
• Firmware updates for J series and JEM24, web interface for J series IP phones, etc.
• Critical patches available by Avaya support (resolve issues with visual voicemail, issues with JEM24 button module, and language issues.)

 

 

During the Avaya PCC Conference, Salena Miller attended the Executive Roundtable.  This was an invitation only opportunity for executives on both sides to work jointly on best strategies and to address any burning issues with Avaya from both sides.  During this meeting there were multiple discussions from Avaya and Partners addressing product, operational effectiveness, logistical issues, and sales training (specifically, new hire training).

 

After the session, Salena was able to help partners understand how to be self-sufficient with sales training and IP Office demo capabilities, not depending on Avaya.  She shared the “Avatel way” regarding how we deliver our new hire training and on-going sales training. The Avatel Leadership Team appreciates Salena’s willingness to support fellow Avaya Partners and share some of Avatel’s best practices.

 

Conference Event Sponsors:

 

Avatel would like to thank the PCC and the conference Sponsors. It has been an honor for Avatel to be a member of the Avaya Partner Community Council (formerly Avaya TechMaster’s) since 2007. The Partner Community Council is a strong alliance of over 1,500 members representing more than 260 Avaya partner companies and distributors. It’s encouraging to see more new business partners and attendees attending each conference. Every partner has come here with their own strengths, and Avaya is working together with us all to bring out these strengths so that we can win more business and maximize relationships.

 

2019 Scansource Partner Summit May 22-23rd

 

The ScanSource Partner Summit Expo 2019 held in Indianapolis on May 22-23, brought partners and suppliers together in one place to collaborate and deliver a truly excellent channel partner experience. The conference events took place at the Indiana Convention Center and the Marriott hotel. The theme of the event was “Accelerate Your Business”.

 

The Partner Summit was packed with insightful experiences, from the Start Your Engines Welcome Reception and happy hour with VPs, to a Supplier Networking Reception and keynote presentations from ScanSource Chairman and CEO, Mike Baur, and McLaren Technologies CIO, Karen McElhatton.

 

The event started off with a Fan Zone Networking Reception inside the Marriott ballroom with food, drinks, and an opportunity to network with solution expert suppliers and key ScanSource team members. Avatel Technologies and our partner company Desk Phone Designs were excited to attend this year’s event. This high-energy networking opportunity gave Avatel Technologies a hands-on chance to interact and see many of the total solutions ScanSource offers.

 

Desk Phone Designs participated as a sponsor and exhibitor in the event and appreciated the opportunity to meet and speak with Scansource sales partners and other suppliers in an intimate one-on-one setting.

 

 

The key topics under discussion at the conference included the new FastLane program, which stresses opportunities for ScanSource and Intelisys partners to network and, hopefully, collaborate on solution selling. The concept of FastLane was built upon the idea of professional racing – a sport that is all about speed, a spirit of competition, and collaboration as a team. The FastLane Ignite program plays into other hot topics at the summit: transitioning to a monthly recurring revenue model, selling full solutions and heeding the voice of the customer.

 

ScanSource CEO Mike Baur, opened the Wednesday programming with a call to move beyond typical labels — integrator, ISV, consultant, VAR, MSP, telecom agent.

 

 

To meet demand, Baur says ScanSource’s strategy is to acquire rather than build, with several of its recent buys in support of improving the customer experience and moving reseller partners to MRR. The RPM Software buy, for example, is about efficiently processing commissions.

 

Baur says ScanSource is paying out $250 million per month in recurring payments and is seeing 26 percent MRR growth every quarter. “Mailbox money,” he said. “This is the magic of recurring revenue.” Baur says the CX opportunity will represent a $100 billion total addressable market by 2023, broken down into six strategic growth areas: devices, CX, connectivity and cloud, SaaS, services, and operational innovation.

 

 

After the presentation by Mike Baur, a lineup of ScanSource executives filled in partners on the finer points of the FastLane program, which has four pillars: acceleration, connections, development, and of course, rewards. (left to right): Tony Sorrentino, president of sales, North America; Ansley Hoke, SVP, marketing, North America; Brian Cuppett SVP, sales; David Hertwig, SVP, sales; and Scott Agatep, EVP, solutions & services.

 

 

Key points for partners: ScanSource used to have five business units but collapsed these into one earlier this year. The company is pivoting back to a focus on specialization and aligning teams to better serve partners. Its sales crew is larger, with dedicated account executives and 30 percent more bodies on the account management beat. Solutions selling is king.

 

Next in the lineup, ScanSource CTO Greg Dixon updated the audience on 5G and the future of wireless communications.

 

 

“We’re so anxious for 5G that some of the carriers have implemented a sort of 4.5G,” said Dixon. However, a full changeover will not be fast, or inexpensive. The four MNOs have 300 cellular towers, each able to cover about 10,000 feet. But 5G requires a whole new network of millions of small cells that will cover only 1,000 feet each. “Do the math on that,” said Dixon. There’s a huge amount of construction and spending that needs to happen.

 

Meanwhile, Wi-Fi 6 will be here in the nearer term and will deliver four times the speed of current networks. Both technologies offer more bandwidth, better capacity and reliability, more efficient energy usage and expected adoption in 2020 to 2021. So where do we place our bets for IoT? Dixon leans toward 5G for now, but at some point, could there be a singularity of sorts? “Maybe the whole notion of wireless LAN and wireless WAN goes away, and it’s just a network!” he said. Gotta love thinking big. For now, he says there are opportunities for partners in replacing every existing wireless device to take advantage of 5G and Wi-Fi 6 while also providing that connectivity.

 

 

McLaren Group

In February, ScanSource announced a partnership for the 2019 Indianapolis 500, where McLaren and driver Fernando Alonso hoped to compete at the 103rd running of the historic sporting event. Unfortunately, McLaren didn’t qualify. However, the relationship with McLaren Racing lends unique opportunities for ScanSource partners to gain insights from innovative leaders who are focused on delivering excellent customer experiences.

 

 

ScanSource is working directly with McLaren’s leadership team to develop business-focused thought leadership programs and resources for ScanSource partners. “Like ScanSource, McLaren is committed to driving growth for their partners, while also delivering an exceptional customer experience,” said Mike Baur, CEO of ScanSource. “Their reputation for providing leading-edge technology, while keeping a keen eye on the future, makes them an ideal partner for ScanSource.

 

 

McLaren’s Karen McElhatton, CIO, shares her company’s vision for the edge. Karen is passionate about using technology to improve customer experience. She believes it is this focus that ensures IT deliver their best every day, enabling colleagues and partners to succeed.  In her role, Karen oversees the continuing digital transformation of McLaren across its high-tempo, highly distributed businesses, further creating synergies in the delivery of data and digital services, while deepening collaboration with the team’s technology partners.

 

Next on stage was Andrew Pryfogle, senior vice president, cloud transformation, Intelisys, kicking off afternoon sessions “I love hanging out with partners,” said. “They’re risk takers.”

 

 

They have to be: As Pryfogle, an advocate for all things cloud, pointed out, the business landscape is changing rapidly, as is technology. AI, for example, has moved from descriptive to predictive, with prescriptive scripts being used now. Autonomous mode on the horizon. Cloud is mainstream, with Cisco comping its salespeople 3X to move to Flex, its cloud collaboration solution. Avaya, Mitel, Microsoft, Google — all are very clear that the future is cloud. Office 365 might not pay out big revenue for partners, but Microsoft Teams is another matter, says Pryfogle.

 

SD-WAN is “a generational opportunity for the channel,” he said. And CX is “the big why” for decision-makers. “Cloud is powering CX,” says Pryfogle. ”At the end of the day you should be counseling customers that it’s too risky not to move to cloud.” All this change is complicated. He says that’s a good thing. “Where there’s complexity, there’s channel,” he said. “That’s a very good-news story for all of us.”

 

Closing Party

Since we were in Indianapolis, you know ScanSource couldn’t complete the Partner Summit without an amazing closing party experience at Lucas Oil Stadium, where partners and suppliers enjoyed great food and entertainment, racing games, and had the opportunity to step out on an NFL football field to show off their arms and practice their field goal kicks. It was an awesome way to end an action-packed two days at Partner Summit. Partners could go on the field to toss some passes and see if they could put one through the uprights. Many tried, a few succeeded.

 

 

 

 

Enterprise Connect 2019 was held at the Gaylord Palms Hotel & Convention Center in Kissimmee, FL, United States on March 18-21, 2019. Enterprise Connect is the largest independent event devoted to all things enterprise communications and collaboration. Enterprise Connect is a conference and exhibition dedicated to the latest software, systems, applications and services for enterprise.

 

The Leading Enterprise Communication Event was designed with one objective in mind: to help the attendees to maximize their investments in communications and collaboration systems, software and services. The conference program included roughly sixty breakout sessions led by industry experts including many thought leaders such as Brent Kelly, of KelCor; Zeus Kerravala, of ZK Research; Kevin Kieller, of enableUC; Sheila McGee-Smith, of McGee-Smith Analytics; Marty Parker, with Communication Perspectives; and Melissa Swartz, of Swartz Consulting. These sessions allowed the attendees to come away from the event with loads of in-depth, objective insights across nine technology tracks to take back to our offices and put to use in crafting our communications and collaboration strategies.

 

The keynote lineup featured Pasquale DeMaio, GM of Amazon Connect at Amazon Web Services; Amy Chang, SVP of Cisco’s Collaboration Technology Group; and Lori Wright, GM of Microsoft 365 at Microsoft. During these keynotes, attendees learned about the latest technologies and strategic thinking from core vendors.

 

 

Enterprise Connect brought scores — close to 200! —  of communications and collaboration vendors, large and small, to a technology-packed expo hall. There were extended exhibition hours this year, so everyone had plenty of time to visit all of the booths! For more than 28 years, Enterprise Connect has been the leading conference and exhibition for communications.

 

Desk Phone Designs was very excited to join this world-class event to showcase our innovative new product. With that said, we would like to thank everyone who visited the Desk Phone Designs booth. We were overwhelmed by the positive feedback from the visitors to our booth regarding our snap on phone covers.

 

 

Enterprise Connect 2019 is over and was a huge success! The DPD team can’t wait until next year’s event to showcase our custom covers with additional phone models/manufacturers.

Super9 Convergence – March 10 – 13, 2019 – Nashville, TN

 

 

Super9 Convergence was a three day conference where Super9 alum, their teams and Intelisys Sales Partners gathered for education, tech deep dives, peer group meetings, and networking. Intelisys is leading the way as its Sales Partners make the pivot and experience the shift away from traditional telco services into a new era of cloud-based solutions. The biggest Super9 event to date was designed to bring the Intelisys and ScanSource Partner communities together, converging around the central theme of accelerating the growth of Sales Partners’ cloud business.

 

This year’s all new “Voice of the Customer” content focused on new and innovative ways to solve real-world customer challenges, and how to use technology to address every aspect of our customers’ current and evolving needs.

 

Torina Boatright, Avatel’s VP of Operations and a Super9 Alumni, had an incredible time in Nashville at  Super9Convergence! It really was a fantastic opportunity to build rewarding connections and experience world-class educational content, fantastic music, and an authentic Nashville experience.

 

HIGHLIGHTS FROM SUPER9 CONVERGENCE 2019

Andrew Pryfogle, Intelisys SVP Cloud Transformation, opened the event with a look into the evolution of technology, the critical role cloud plays in CX, and how it is driving the convergence of the telecom and IT channels.

 

 

There were incredible keynote presentations from experts in the channel and in sales, including Matthew Dixon, author of The Challenger Customer, who shared a roadmap for engaging hidden influencers in our customers’ organizations, and how to leverage these “Challenger customers” to create buy-in. Matthew discussed how to identify and engage those hidden influencers, tailor sales conversations, navigate cloud sales more effectively, and take our deals to the finish line. Not only did Torina enjoy the presentation, she bought the book to bring back and share with the Avatel staff.

 

 

Michael Sterl, Co-Founder and CEO of Carve Digital and Cloud Optik, examined the endless opportunity in the marketplace as Sales Partners transform into next generation solutions providers. Sales Partner Dave Dyson, Eclipse Telecom’s Chief Communications Strategist, discussed the huge window of transformation and opportunity in the channel, selling against the status quo, challenging our customers, and more with Intelisys’ SVP Cloud Transformation, Andrew Pryfogle.

 

Cloud Evangelist Brandon Knight delivered practical, actionable content to meet the burgeoning demand for cloud education from Intelisys Sales Partners. Brandon adds a unique and important voice to the conversation around cloud. His ability to connect with Sales Partners, and clearly communicate technical ideas that Partners can apply right away helps transform their cloud practices and move the needle.

 

“We’ve seen enormous growth in the cloud industry, and with it has come an insatiable appetite for knowledge from our Sales Partner community,” said Pryfogle. “As Cloud Evangelist, Brandon adds a unique and important voice to the conversation around cloud. His ability to connect with Sales Partners, and clearly communicate technical ideas that Partners can apply right away.

 

Ivan Paynter, Intelisys’ National Security Specialist, shared the top reasons security has moved beyond firewall, provided a list of questions to start conversations with our customers, and dove deeper into security in a short Q&A session with Andrew Pryfogle.

 

 

By attending this world-class event, Avatel had insider access to 40+ industry-leading cloud and carrier service providers. The conference offered twenty-four targeted, deep dive Education Breakout Sessions that delivered new and innovative ways to solve customer challenges and open new opportunities for our business. There was personalized, sales focused, hands-on guidance from our top-performing peers and the smartest minds in the channel in an interactive and highly effective learning environment.

 

 

Everyone enjoyed all that “Music City” had to offer at Super9 Convergence, including Tennessee’s famous world-class ribs from the finest BBQ restaurants in the country, to line dancing to awesome live music.

 

 

Another great time at Super9, the only event solely dedicated to developing the channel’s greatest sales experts and leaders.

 

Avaya Engage 2019 Conference and Solutions Expo

 

Avaya just capped off its biggest ever conference, bringing more than 2,500 attendees, including partners and customers, to Austin, Texas. The theme of the event was “Experiences that Matter.” It included 100 expo partners, sponsors and exhibitors. We were so excited that both of our companies were represented, Avatel as an Avaya Business Partner and Desk Phones Designs as a Vendor at the Engage Solutions Expo.

 

Avaya opened its annual Avaya Engage conference, for the world’s largest community of contact center and unified communications users, and introduced new innovations to simplify and enhance converged business communications. Avaya Engage was hosted by Avaya and the International Avaya Users Group (IAUG). The Engage Conference and the Solutions Expo is the premier event for the future of communications experience and its impact on digital transformation. Avaya Engage 2019 brought four days of general sessions, workshops, and breakouts; inspirational and informative speakers; and content experts to drive and enhance our digital transformation journey. This year’s keynote speakers included Jim Chirico, president and CEO, Avaya, and Payton Manning, two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback and five-time NFL MVP.

 

 

Welcome Appreciation Party

Avaya Engage 2019 kicked off with its Welcome Appreciation Party. The massive event included live music of all genres showcasing Austin’s reputation as the “Live Music Capital of the World.”

 

 

Avaya CEO Jim Chirico on stage at Avaya Engage 2019 in Austin, Texas

Avaya ENGAGE was a premier event for Avaya customers and resellers, with the primary focus being to learn about new Avaya products and to network with peers.  However, Engage is also the place to hear from Avaya’s executives about the state of the company.  President and CEO Jim Chirico said, 2018 was the first chapter of improving the company’s trajectory as a business. He told attendees that Avaya would “provide you ways to further differentiate yourself,” and that Avaya has been a leader of change and technology advancements for more than 100 years.

 

Avaya’s key messages are: being customer-led in everything it does; simplification, including streamlining its solutions portfolio; and converging unified communications (UC) and contact center (CC).

 

“We are committed to a customer-led approach to innovation that enables Avaya users to provide experiences that matter for customer and workforce engagement, and this includes our comprehensive cloud communications portfolio across all business segments,” CEO Jim Chirico told the 2,500 customers, partners and industry influencers in attendance at the conference. “We’ve heard from you the need for flexibility and options for solutions delivered via public, private or hybrid cloud. Our customers have told us they are looking for simple, comprehensive solutions for contact center, unified communications and collaboration from a single, trusted partner.”

 

Chirico said for 2019, Avaya is focused on four key priorities:

• Continuing its investment in its core UC and CC, including leveraging new technologies with partners.
• Delivering new technologies, driving “significant value and differentiation.”
• Providing breadth and depth around its cloud.
• Emphasizing its services capabilities, including helping organizations transition to cloud and accelerating value for technology investments.

“We are committed to a customer-led approach to innovation that enables Avaya users to provide experiences that matter for customer and workforce engagement, and this includes our comprehensive cloud-communications portfolio across all business segments,” Chirico said. “We’ve heard from you the need for flexibility and options for solutions delivered via public, private or hybrid cloud. Our customers have told us they are looking for simple, comprehensive solutions for contact center, unified communications and collaboration from a single, trusted partner.”

 

Chirico says, “We’re going to make history in 2019, not repeat it”

 

 

Avaya Channel Chief Gary Levy (on the right), shares the direction that Avaya is taking with partners in 2019

In a Q&A with Channel Futures, Gary Levy talks about new opportunities for partners and what he’s hearing from them about the company’s continuing transition. He says, what’s important when you look at the partner community is, at Avaya we talk about experiences that matter. For me, it’s the partners that matter and the experiences they bring to us, and the experiences they have brought to us through the years. So I think what’s important for them is they’ve got customers who rely on them as their trusted adviser. That customer has done a tremendous amount of business with them over the years and they have a relationship, and the partners maybe in the past have felt that there was a limited conversation that they could have with the customers.

 

Today and over the last year, through evolving both mobile experience and now the One Cloud offer, they’re changing the conversation with those customers. I think it’s important that the customers continue to see those partners as an extension of Avaya, but also an extension of their ecosystems and provide customer experiences as well.

 

Gary was asked – What’s the overall message for partners here at Engage? He said, I think most importantly is that the partners have seen that we’ve continued to evolve and they’ve seen that year over year, not only in our offers, but mostly in our programs. Our programs have evolved – with the new Edge program – but there’s a huge opportunity for the partners to earn, opportunities around new customers, new contact-center seats as well as cloud. Cloud is so prevalent now for us and our partners. But mostly it’s the message around simplicity for them as we evolve the programs, and that we continue to innovate around their needs, because the partners are who’s driving the feedback from customers to us. That’s why they’re so important to us.

 

 

Solutions Expo – Customer Experiences That Matter at Avaya ENGAGE 2019

The Experience Theater at Avaya Engage Solutions Expo provided content experts to drive and enhance the digital transformation journey. In today’s constantly evolving digital environment, businesses need fast and easy access to holistic customer data to drive customer loyalty, revenue and smarter decision making. The Experience Theater sessions focused on creating a seamless digital customer experience while maximizing existing investments and empowering the workforce with new tools and capabilities leveraging interaction data.

  

Content included shared examples of how attendees can achieve consistency and increased satisfaction across all customer touch points in a digital experience. Focused specifically on customer experience in the digital era, many sessions explored topics like contact centers in the cloud, integrating new capabilities while protecting investment, popular outbound and improvements in self-service methods, and automation designs to help personalize and improve the customer experience and deliver an exceptional and efficient experience across all interactions. The sessions at the Experience Theater at the Solutions Expo covered a range of trends such as artificial intelligence, speech, social, and machine learning sparked ideas on how to reinvent an organization’s business models and customer experience.

 

 

Desk Phone Designs at the Avaya Engage Solutions Expo

      

The Desk Phone Designs team would like to thank everyone for stopping by our booth at Avaya Engage.  We were very excited about the large number of visitors to our booth. It was a great venue to present our snap on phone covers to Avaya, Avaya Business Partners, IAUG members, and the Vendor community.

 

Everyone who visited our booth enjoyed watching the video presentation of our patented, hydro-graphic, custom surface-decoration technology. Our video production showed the latest and most popular patterns and natural designs, which creates a new color and appearance on the telephone enhancing its value.

 

Visitors to our booth were able to see all our current models including the Avaya 1408, 1416, 1608, 1616, 9504, 9508, 9608G, and 9611G phones and button modules. Along with the Avaya J-100 series which will be available through distribution mid-February 2019. The visitors to our booth were amazed at how the phone covers simply snap on and off with no need for tools to install, and the ability to customize with their logos, graphics, and images. Coming soon, customers can quickly and easily customize using the Desk Phone Designs custom design site and our product designer tool.

 

The Desk Phone Designs team looks forward to helping customers express their individuality, style, their message and their purpose.  Phone Expressions by Desk Phone Designs will allow our future customers to personalize their phones to be more reflective of their business brand and personality.

 

 

Keynote Speaker Super Bowl champion Peyton Manning

During the keynote speech, the former quarterback, and two-time Super Bowl champion Peyton Manning mixed self-deprecating humor with important lessons he’s learned through football about how to develop a winning mindset. Manning referenced customer focus, transparency, diligence, optimism, and agility, and how essential those values are “on and off the field.” He said, we must all be fast, flexible, and fluid no matter what business we were in. Manning talked about the transforming world of work, and how fast things are changing – in football, technology, and every other industry – and how we need to be agile to adapt.

 

He said at some point, we all have to come from behind, and playing smart through diligent preparation can give us the edge on the competition. He says to always look for the little things that can make a difference, and the importance of being fluid and able to adapt to different situations. To be resilient and learn to pivot.

 

He also talked about the need to remain nimble and take on whatever life – or the marketplace – throws at us. He gave us the example of his multiple neck injuries that eventually led to him missing a season. He explained that he had to come back from that injury and adapt to playing with a new physical state. “To win, sometimes you have to abandon old routines,” he said. Part of that preparedness is becoming a “master of inquiry” – “ask the right questions, to the right people, at the right time,” he said. We are supposed to ask questions, and if we don’t know how to solve a problem from every angle, we’re not adequately prepared.

 

Before anyone can become a game changer, they have to first learn to thrive on discomfort.  He said, “We have to be ready, and willing to commit to something that may be uncomfortable – because success is really a tale of two opposites – of anxiety and breakthrough. And, last but not least, – Never stop being coached, he said, we should never stop learning the basics. No matter how good we are, it’s how good we’re going to be that matters, so we all should focus on continuous learning. I love his quote, “You’re either getting better, or you’re getting worse, every day. Nothing stays the same.”

 

His last piece of advice was to master the art of teamwork. “Individual talent doesn’t guarantee a victory,” he said, emphasizing the importance of teamwork. He talked about one of his favorite moments when he got to pass the Vince Lombardi Super Bowl Trophy to his teammates, because it symbolized how they worked together to achieve the win. He said, “Teamwork is a WE thing not a ME thing.”

 

 

Awesome closing party at Austin City Limits Live

We closed out Avaya Engage 2019 with a rockin’ party at ACL Live! The closing night party allowed us to network with new and old friends while we enjoyed drinks and appetizers at one of Austin’s best venues, Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theater. ACL Live at The Moody serves as the new home of the KLRU-TV produced PBS program Austin City Limits, the longest running music series in American television history. Set in downtown Austin, ACL Live is the premier destination for live performances.

 Avaya Engage 2019 was amazing!  Now it’s time to start planning for next year, join us all in Phoenix, AZ in 2020.

 

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2018 Avaya PCC Fall Technical Forum

 

 

The 2018 Avaya PCC Fall Technical Forum was held northwest of Chicago in Itasca, Illinois, Eaglewood from October 29 to November 1, 2018. The Avaya Partner Community Council (PCC) forum addresses today’s critical business challenges through discussions, hands-on workshops, and one-on-one meetings with Avaya vertical leaders. Avatel’s Engineers have participated for over 10 years in the original Tech Master’s program and the PCC program. The discussions and workshops are based on:

 

 

Avatel’s Lead Engineer Jon Damiani, had a great time at the forum with his peers and the Avaya solutions experts. Some of the specifics that were discussed were based around what would be available in the IP Office November release, SSL Certificates from the IP Office, adding security keys and loading to all Avaya devices, an in depth setup and troubleshooting of the Avaya SBC, known issues, break fixes, and Q&A. There were also discussions regarding setup, install, and troubleshooting of Equinox.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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2018 ScanSource 1COMM Solution Summit

 

 

 

 

 

The 2018 ScanSource 1COMM Solutions Summit in Hilton Head, South Carolina, focused on enhancing the customer experience, transforming and growing business, incorporating a recurring revenue service model, and the technology solutions that meet the needs of end users.  During the first evening, ScanSource partners were able to network and talk shop around a robust offering of cloud, carrier, and hardware suppliers in the exhibit hall.

The engaging exhibit floor provided complete unified communication and collaboration solution discussions around call centers, huddle spaces, mobile workplaces, and classrooms. 1COMM was truly all about enhancing the ever-changing customer experience. Of course the event also featured great food and informative breakout sessions.

 

 

1COMM attendees were able to meet with ScanSource top industry suppliers, including our very own Desk Phone Designs at the evening expo. Staying with the overriding theme of the event “The Customer Experience”, Desk Phone Designs believes to create a better customer experience you also have to provide choices. For many years, customers have made requests for different desk phones colors, other than what was normally available in the industry like black or grey.

 

Customers say they want the phone to be more reflective of their business brand and personality. Desk Phone Designs listened to the customers’ requests, and is now offering injection-molded, hydro-graphic custom surface decoration technology that allows the customer to express their individuality, style, message and purpose.

 

 

Shedding new light on the impact of the digital transformation, the following day featured ScanSource leadership, executives, and subject matter experts paving the way for what’s to come from ScanSource. Thursday’s educational sessions were designed to build upon each preceding session and offered something unique from other typical breakout formats. Buck Baker, ScanSource co-president, addresses attendees and recognizes vendor partners and event sponsors.

 

 

The 1COMM audience heard multiple times how ScanSource is listening more than ever to the end user in order to help its resellers grow their business. While this might sound reversed from ScanSource’s approach in the past, it was made with careful consideration around learning the needs of the end user and providing the reseller with critical hardware and software offerings that augment their portfolio.

Intelisys SVP of Cloud Transformation, Andrew Pryfogle, gave a deep and engaging dive into the customer experience. Knowing end users want personalized, connected and faster user experiences, he discussed innovative customer service practices that incorporate much of the technology resellers must implement in order to meet growing demands.

 

 

VP Ansley Hoke discussed transforming the Scansource programs to be both specialized and focused with their complete FastPath offering, combining launching, lifecycle, momentum, and accelerating services to move your business forward.

 

 

To wrap up the morning, John Foley, retired Blue Angels navy pilot, delivered an inspiring keynote address. He used rare and exciting video footage and high voltage music in his highly engaging keynote speech. John shared a high performance model of behavior with us that we all could easily adopt. Foley explains that it all starts with the “Glad to Be Here” mind‐set, which underpins his high performance framework. He says it starts with a level of high belief which is necessary for high achievement, and with this comes clarity of vision.

 

 

The “Glad to Be Here” mind-set suggests a strong correlation between gratitude and high performance. An attitude of gratitude isn’t simply a thought, it’s an action and a mindset. Owning an attitude of gratitude while working toward a greater purpose is the “Glad to be Here” mindset shared by all members of the Blue Angels. Foley adapted “Glad to be Here” for business, establishing a Diamond Performance Framework or DPF for short, where any teams – including ours — can support a high-performance culture, sustain excellence and continuously improve. Foley pointed to what he calls the “high-performance zone,” the gap between where you are and where you want to go.

 

 

The Solutions Summit not only included an expo and informational sessions, but also a beautiful location for an afternoon lunch by the sea.

 

 

After an alfresco lunch by the ocean, the afternoon educational sessions focused on how to transform your business and the financial payoff, with Intelisys VP of Finance, Mike Ketchum and Tim Ramsey, ScanSource VP of Financial Operations and Analysis, presenting. As an extension of that conversation, Pryfogle took it one step further by explaining how to transition into a monthly recurring revenue model. Attendees were thrilled to see the wide array of impressive cloud and carriers that comprise the ScanSource Intelisys line card.

 

 

Providing real insight from ScanSource customers and industry peers, John Gaillard offered humorous stories of past 1COMM events as well as an introspective look at how three unique businesses approach their managed services practices. Finally, ScanSource CTO Greg Dixon closed the afternoon talking about the future of IoT, Blockchain and AI technology, highlighting the immense growth opportunities for these areas while entertaining the crowd with his informative forecasting.

 

 

Pictured above, a networking dinner reception featuring live music, Southern cuisine and a relaxing evening of socializing for partners at the Scansource 1COMM Solution Summit Closing Ceremony.

From our opinion, there is no doubt that the Scansource 1COMM Solution Summits is the go-to event for technology-focused resellers to learn valuable insight on how to best grow their business.

 

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The recent ranking in the Gartner Critical Capabilities report is a testament to their strong multivendor product portfolio and their dedication to providing award-winning solutions and customer service. Extreme Networks was also recently acknowledged as a Visionary in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Wired and Wireless LAN Access Infrastructure2, which reiterates their commitment to offering top-quality products and solutions to meet growing connectivity requirements.

Last week’s ScanSource Global Partner Conference has now come to a close, and I can’t help but think about all of the exciting times we had for three full days in beautiful Greenville, S.C., from November 7-9. From incredible evening entertainment, informative keynote sessions, to a newly unveiled plan for ScanSource in 2018, the ScanSource Global Partner Conference was a major success that included more than 1,400 attendees from 26 different countries.

 

Tuesday, November 7th

The networking expo provided the perfect opportunity for partners like Avatel to network with the ScanSource team and other Manufactures.

 

 

The evening expo at the Greenville Hyatt featured 113 different manufacturing suppliers from most of ScanSource’s deep line card. This high-energy networking opportunity gave attendees a hands-on chance to interact and see many of the total solutions ScanSource offers, while mingling with approximately 316 representatives from the ScanSource extended family.

 

 

ScanSource partners socialized during the opening reception in the expo hall, where its key vendors exhibited their offerings. Mike Baur, ScanSource’s CEO, said “ScanSource is embracing new market opportunities on its partners’ behalf, “so what we’re doing hopefully is a model of what you can do.”

 

Wednesday, November 8th

With its 25th anniversary just weeks away, the distributor’s big message was adopting new capabilities and transitioning to keep up with the latest technologies and market demands. Mike Baur, ScanSource CEO spoke to a packed house about the evolution of the company he founded with five others in 1992.

 

He welcomed everyone and wasted no time getting down to “new” business at the company’s Global Partner Conference Wednesday morning. In the opening presentation, we learned that ScanSource continues to transform to help its partners keep up with the latest technologies and market demands.

 

 

We also learned that ScanSource has sunk significant investments into market research and end-user surveys over the past two years, CEO Mike Baur told solution providers gathered at the ScanSource Global Partner Conference, “We want to help partners expand the range of products and services they sell into their existing customer base. We are ready to help them in their transformations to cloud and connectivity, managed services, SaaS and other capabilities increasingly in demand, and that customer experience is a top priority for everyone”.

 

Knowing that end users are moving toward recurring revenue models and everything-as-a-service, Baur said, “We’re embracing new market opportunities that reflect what your customers want most.” He then invited executive leaders from recent acquisitions — Intelisys, POS Portal, Network1, and CDC Brazil — to share how they became part of the ScanSource family.

 

 

Baur leads a panel discussion with executives of four companies that ScanSource has acquired: CDC Brasil, Intelisys, Network1 and POS Portal.

“Today we need to find out not only how we can sell solutions, but what to charge for solutions (and) what we can add to those solutions,” said Alex Conde, CDC Brasil’s founder. “We have a bigger opportunity today because the market is changing fast and we just need to be ready to change our business much faster than before.”

 

“However you position yourself, we can help you get there. We’ve got to rebuild what we do, we’ve got to rebuild what we’re known for together, and we want to help you do that,” said Mike Baur, ScanSource’s CEO.

 

To conclude, Baur asked the audience, “Are you ready to grow?” Without hesitation, it was apparent this new paradigm shift is welcome among ScanSource partners, including Avatel.

 

The ScanSource acquisition of master agent Intelisys, provides a way for Avatel to add new telecom cloud services to our current portfolio. Making this transition and adding a recurring revenue stream is something we’ve wanted to do for many years. This allows Avatel to sell services alongside the products we provide. The bridge between both channels significantly broadens the capabilities and opportunities for Avatel.

 

ScanSource is working to help hardware-focused partners like Avatel build a recurring revenue stream by getting us plugged in with various training programs, like Super9. We really appreciate Susan Wilson and the ScanSource/ Intelisys team allowing Avatel to receive the best of the best in cloud training. The Super9 Cloud Training consisted of three-days of intensive cloud compute technical and sales methodology training that incorporated live sessions with ongoing peer group support.

 

We can’t thank you enough Susan for introducing Avatel to the Intelisys Solutions Team.

 

The Avatel Team had a great time at the event. Pictured below, Jamie Wood – Avatel EVP, our fabulous ScanSource/Catalyst Telecom Business Development Manager – Susan Wilson, Torina Boatright – Avatel Operations VP, and Ernie Darias – Avatel’s President.

 

 

To finish out the morning, keynote speaker Phil Hansen showcased his incredible artistic talent by way of learning to overcome a shaky hand that almost destroyed his will to create. Translating perfectly to a corporate setting, Hansen’s “embrace the shake,” message reminded us all that limitations are only obstacles. Asking, “What happens when resources become scarce,” he challenged the crowd to think and do more with less in an often resource-strapped, office environment.

 

 

Wednesday Evening Event
Although the weather was unseasonably cold and gloomy, the evening party at the Old Cigar Warehouse later that night offered a Tour of the World, that highlighted the various “flavors and vibes” of ScanSource’s different offices around the world, such as a mariachi band performing in an area representing Mexico.

 

 

Feeling like a miniature Epcot, it was easy to travel the world in just a few steps. Guests could walk to “Mexico” and enjoy a mariachi band, churros, and salsa dancing; and with a quick turn, venture to “California,” with stone-fired pizzas, s’mores, and comfortable seating in a warm ambience.

 

 

Thursday, November 9th
GPC attendees began Thursday morning at the TD center, ready for a day of mind sharing. A packed agenda offered a full day of information and expertise from ScanSource leadership across the traditional business units. The morning agenda featured executives speaking as well as mini-educational sessions from their best-of-breed suppliers.

 

David Hertwig, President of ScanSource Catalyst talking to Gary Levy, Channel VP from Avaya on the digital transformation trends helping partners make money today.

 

Thursday Evening Closing Event

To close out the GPC, the final party of the night was another taste of the South and featured live performances by Southern rock greats, The Marshall Tucker Band and Three Dog Night. While enjoying the concert, guests were again treated to food from around the globe and décor that encompassed everything from the Greenville Liberty Bridge to a Ferris wheel reminiscent of the London Eye.

 

This was truly an unforgettable educational and inspirational experience for us. 2018 is going to be an amazing year for Avatel and ScanSource. To see more, go to the ScanSource Global Partner Conference 2017 – YouTube Video

 

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Avaya ENGAGE Las Vegas – February 12 – 15, 2017