Driving revenue through the channel has become a reality for countless PartnerStack customers over the past two years. Ingram Micro's Global Cloud & Innovation Summit in Las Vegas proved the potential to expand our reach further. In three short days, the team met incredible people, gained industry insights, and built connections.
A highly anticipated event for channel professionals, PartnerStack was fortunate to have a team attend the summit and continue to build traction for The Pinnacle Program. This program allows ISVs to list on the PartnerStack marketplace and the Ingram Micro marketplace at an accelerated pace, gaining access to a combined network of over 120,000 partners.
Attending the Global Cloud & Innovation Summit was a no-brainer for PartnerStack. We wanted to understand and collaborate with Ingram Micro on their Xvantage platform launch, establish connections with potential partners, and grow the Pinnacle Program’s visibility within some of the top partnership professionals in attendance.
The event turned out to be a resounding success, offering valuable insights and opportunities for growth. Ingram Micro’s choice to host one massive event stretched far beyond our experience at Cloud Summit 2022.
We were able to collaborate with numerous organizations
One of the highlights of the summit was our collaboration with Ingram Micro and CloudBlue, where together we hosted a happy hour event at TopGolf. This provided an excellent platform for networking and building relationships with industry professionals.
Partners and Pinnacle Program vendors also had the opportunity to stop by and connect with our team at the PartnerStack booth. Looking around and seeing teams we work so closely with — Foxit, Nord Security, Phunware and so many others — really made the impact of our work resonate.
Our last big splash came on the final afternoon of the event, when we planned and hosted a five minute breakout session led by Nicolette Lopes, Manager of Channel Partnerships at PartnerStack. With this session came intimate introductions to new partners and the opportunity to share the growth of the Pinnacle Program with our peers.
You might also like: How to get to know your channel partners in 2023.
There were a few sessions that really stood out
One of the most notable sessions was Microsoft's announcement of the launch of Copilot, an AI-integrated tool. This session showcased the extent of the exciting advancements around integrated AI via Copilot.
We were also so excited to catch up with and watch Devina Baker, Global Head of Solutions Architecture at CloudBlue, present at the summit on XaaS (everything as a service). Our team had the pleasure of presenting alongside her at SaaStr 2022, so it was great to see a familiar face. Devina discussed the increasing pervasiveness of XaaS and its implications for businesses.
The team made connections and educated the market
There were three key findings from the event as a whole:
- Ingram Micro is fully committed to providing easier experiences for their vendors
The emphasis on streamlining processes resonated with PartnerStack’s own objectives and highlighted the importance of simplifying transactions and interactions. Ingram Micro's heightened focus on cloud solutions aligns with the evolving landscape in the industry. It’s crucial to have a program like Pinnacle, where PartnerStack can have the opportunity to help distributors scale their catalog and navigate the cloud landscape. As a team, we gained insights on Ingram Micro's transformation from a transaction marketplace into an experience platform. This transformation aligns with PartnerStack’s goals and opens up new avenues for collaboration in the coming quarters.
- Partners are interested in cloud solutions
Cloud is increasing in dominance and partners are recognizing it. The breakout session allowed us to interact with a diverse range of partners, solidifying the work we have done to build this foundation with Ingram Micro. We met so many top channel partners that we wouldn’t otherwise have had access to and seeing live their immediate attraction to the work we’re doing was empowering. Building these connections will only perpetuate the flywheel of partner-sourced revenue for the ISVs on Pinnacle.
- In person events drive value for everyone involved
Attending the summit also shed light on the value of in-person events. The PartnerStack booth, breakout session, and happy hour allowed us to connect with partners who are well-suited to join ISV programs. Above all, there is no substitute for the face-to-face meetings and personal connections we were able to make. We had meaningful conversations with our existing vendors where we dove deep into workflows, integrations, and processes to grow their programs further. We are already seeing increased usage and understanding of the PartnerStack platform from ISVs we connected with at the event.
Related: Why in-person events matter in 2023, according to a B2B SaaS events expert.
Let’s connect at the next event
We had a great time at this year's Global Cloud & Innovation Summit and can’t wait for Ingram Micro’s next event in the fall.
Thank you so much to our ecosystems partners old and new at Ingram Micro and CloudBlue! We love working with you, our partners, and our customers, all of whom combine to make The Pinnacle Program so successful.
