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Synnex Alliance Event: Looking Closely at the Changing Face of the Australian Channel

The Synnex Alliance event has become a major part of the calendar for channel businesses operating in both the enterprise and commercial space. Its strength as an event is the way it allows partners to gauge dominant trends and derive insights on how to tackle opportunities in the market.

The Synnex Alliance event has become a major part of the calendar for channel businesses operating in both the enterprise and commercial space. Its strength as an event is the way it allows partners to gauge dominant trends and derive insights on how to tackle opportunities in the market.

This year is no different. The event theme is the “triple value play”, which Synnex defines as customer value, channel value, and partner value. With new focus areas, discussions and insight opportunities, partners will come away from the event with a deeper understanding of how the channel landscape is changing, how businesses operate in Australia, and what this means for partners.

In association with ARN, one of the key new value-adds for partners attending the Sydney and Melbourne events will be the ARN Panel Discussions (which start at 4:30pm). They will hone in on the three key narrative threads:

Customer Value This opening panel will define value in the context of the customer, assessing end-user priorities alongside how partners can remain relevant through leveraging innovative technologies and solutions.   

Channel Value Central to the supply chain is distribution, operating as the beating heart of the channel. This fireside chat will examine how Synnex is adding value to partners through increased investment and resources.

Partner Value This closing panel will examine the role of vendors in helping partners deliver on the promise of technology, summarising key opportunities during the next 12 months.

“The health and profitability of our partners is our principle concern,” Synnex product management and marketing director, Darren Tan, said. “We have  always seen the Synnex Alliance as an opportunity for both informing our partners, and providing networking opportunities, and we felt these panel discussions in collaboration with ARN, and the way they cover all aspects of modern channel business, would be an ideal value-add to the event.”

Also new to this year’s Synnex Alliance is the Cloud Solutions Hub, highlighting Synnex’s CSP program, and providing resellers with the opportunity to get “hands on” with new cloud technologies. In addition, attendees can hear keynote presentations and by several subject matter experts (starts at 7:00pm and runs every 20 minutes until 8:20pm).

The Cloud Solutions Hub kicks off with a presentation by the Microsoft 365 Business product team on the benefits of migrating clients to the cloud-based Microsoft 365 platform. A look into cloud-based security and backup from Barracuda follows. Then, a specialist in managed services finance will help clients understand how the cloud necessitates a changing approach to contracts. Avast Business will discuss how traditional channel partners can take their business further by using its RMM solution and adding managed security services as part of their offering, Acronis will deliver a sneak peak into its new Data Cloud Platform, and the Hub  concludes with a presentation and demo of Microsoft Azure.*

The Eduspace focus area is the final new feature at this year’s event. With the shift in focus among Australian educators to developing STEAM skills in students, organisations with a play in education (or those looking to develop competencies in the vertical) are finding lucrative opportunities in helping educators deliver an engaging STEAM curriculum using child-centric software, block coding, robotics and the hardware required for these advanced applications. *

Resellers will have the chance to experience how to facilitate activities such as piloting and coding drones, or building and controlling robots, and will take away actionable insight into building education solutions that can be applied directly in a classroom environment. *

“The IT industry is a dynamic and exciting place to work, and there are always new opportunities and challenges that are emerging,” Tan said. “A big part of this roadshow is showing resellers where some of the most compelling stories are in technology at the moment. That is why we have invested in these new focus areas and technology demonstrations.”

In addition to the new focus areas, Synnex Alliance will, as usual, highlight developments in Synnex’s traditional strengths. Gaming, for example, is seeing a new wave of innovation come to market as virtual reality (VR), grows in popularity and prominence. But VR is also demanding technology. Being able to demonstrate what the technology brings to the gaming experience and then articulate complete solutions around VR, will be the important next step for resellers working in consumer technology spaces. With that in mind, Synnex has brought together its VR partners – Corsair, ASUS, Razer, Vive, Acer, Logitech, Inno3D and Intel – to demonstrate what properly tuned VR is capable of through Intel’s Augmented Reality Race Car.*

And what’s a roadshow without some fun? Synnex is offering partners who attend the panel discussions the chance to win an all-expenses paid trip to Russia! *

For more information, the dates for the events in each state, and a full program with all the speakers, sessions, and registration, please visit the Synnex Alliance website.

*Showcase in Melbourne and Sydney only