The organisers of the Managed Services and Hosting Summit have announced a string early sponsor and speaker line-up.
Under the theme of 'The Digital Dividend - The Role of Managed Services in a Digital World', this year's event staged by IT Europa will examine the rapid changes taking place currently in the industry and among IT customers.
The way companies are buying IT is changing, creating threats and opportunities for existing MSPs and new market entrants alike, just as IT models themselves are undergoing fundamental change.
LOGICnow (now part of SolarWinds MSP) and Schneider Electric have been confirmed as Platinum level sponsors; Autotask, Ingram Micro and Kaseya as Gold; ConnectWise, Exponential-E, Infrascale, LogicMonitor, Qolcom, StorageCraft, The Bunker, Volta and WellData as Silver.
The speaker line-up includes Mark Paine of Gartner addressing the question 'Where Next for MSPs?'. VARs and other suppliers who have transitioned their business to Managed Service Provision are only at the start of their journey, he says.
Customers will lead them into the world of enterprise cloud applications, integration and software development as they become participants in the digital business ecosystem.
This session will explore the reasons why customers will demand more from MSPs and give advice on how to transform to the new world.
In another keynote, 'The Age of the Customer', Tiffani Bova, Salesforce's Global Customer Growth and Innovation Evangelist (and former Gartner VP, Distinguished Analyst and Research Fellow) will address how companies of all sizes can create new business practices that leverage technology to strengthen customer relationships and accelerate sales and growth.
Attendees will hear actionable takeaways on how to create a customer-centric business and long-lasting brand loyalty.
Now in its sixth year, the Managed Services and Hosting Summit 2016 will focus on how the market is changing and what it will take for MSPs to succeed in this brave new digital world.
A positive customer experience is critical to a company's brand and, ultimately, its bottom line. With the proliferation of technology and devices, the customer has become smarter and more powerful. Customers now decide when and how they want to interact with brands and this has had a direct impact on the way companies sell to their customers.
While macro trends such as social, mobile, cloud, big data and IoT are forging a new era of engagement, customers are ultimately becoming far more disruptive than the technology itself.
The UK Managed Services & Hosting Summit 2016 will take place at 155 Bishopsgate, London, on 21 September 2016. www.mshsummit.com