More than 80 per cent of business leaders believe that by 2030, emerging technologies such as cloud, mobile, artificial intelligence and IoT will allow humans and machines to work together according to Dell EMC’s Realise 2030 study.

In fact, in a quarter of businesses, they already do. Consequently, the ARN Innovation Awards are the perfect platform to celebrate the achievements of channel communities that have joint-effort with businesses in driving the modern IT transformation.

It’s never been more important for Australian businesses to think about how these technologies can be integrated into their day-to-day operations. As the business advisors to customers, the channel plays a critical role in using technology to overcome customer challenges and realise their strategic goals.

We are very proud that over the last financial year, more than 20,000 global Dell EMC partners earned 100,000 credentials across a multitude of technology disciplines. It’s great knowing that the Dell EMC Partner Program is enabling our channel partners to have complex conversations with their customers and address their needs with our technologies. This is certainly true on the ground here in Australia. We’ve witnessed many great joint customer success stories over the past year and we thank our partners for their great work.

The ARN Innovation Awards are the highlight of the channel calendar. Not only do we get to catch up with our peers, but we recognise all the great work that happens within our industry. From personal achievements to amazing team work, the night is full of examples of how technology is changing business.

This year, Dell EMC sponsored the Emerging Technologies category. By recognising how partners are using cloud, smart technology, digital transformation and IoT to achieve great outcomes for their customers, we will help each other learn and constantly search out new ways to improve. We look forward to seeing what can be achieved over the next year.