The UC Summit Thrills Again

Also on UCStrategies.com about this year's UC Summit:

• UCStrategies Experts Review UC Summit 2011 (podcast)
• UC Summit 2011 - Avaya Keynote (Video)
• UC Summit 2011 - Cisco (podcast)
• UC Summit 2011 - Cisco Keynote (Video)
• UC Summit 2011 - IBM (podcast)
• UC Summit 2011 - IBM Keynote (Video)
• UC Summit 2011 - Key Components for a UC Solution (Video)
• UC Summit 2011 - Microsoft Keynote (Video)
• UC Summit 2011 - NEC (podcast)
• UC Summit 2011 - ScanSource Communications (podcast)
• UC Summit 2011 - Siemens Enterprise Communications (podcast)

The UC Summit wrapped up last week at Estancia La Jolla Resort & Spa in La Jolla, CA, and was universally praised. The UC Summit is a unique, invitation-only event that brings together vendors, thought leaders, systems integrators and consultants in the UC space for a 3-day series on keynotes, presentations, focus sessions and networking events geared toward moving the UC industry forward. This is the third time UCStrategies has run the UC Summit, and it is truly a special event.

Conceived by our own Jim Burton, the UC Summit is planned as a way to help vendors develop a more effective channel strategy to deliver UC solutions. The success of UC is based on solution selling, and transitioning the channel from selling boxes to delivering UC-based solutions has been a challenge for vendors. Similarly, the consultants who guide the buyers need to expand their focus beyond station reviews and trunk counts to help their clients profit from the potential of UC.

All of the big names in UC were represented at this year's Summit, which featured keynotes from Avaya, Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, NEC America, and Siemens Enterprise Communications. NET, AudioCodes, Acme Packet, Empirix and Interactive Intelligence also made presentations and the themes of collaboration, social media, mobility, and the cloud were featured prominently.

Along with the keynotes, there were a number of memorable sessions, most notably Marty Parker's "Where's The Money" program. In his typical fashion, Marty explored the economic underpinnings that justify a UC deployment, identified the scale of the returns an organization might see from different UC applications, and described about a dozen case studies illustrating the impact a well-conceived UC implementation can have.

There were also sessions where the consultants and systems integrators were split into separate groups to discuss challenges they faced and what they needed from the vendors. These were led by Mick Sawka of the Brookside Group for the consultants and our own Dave Michels for the systems integrators. I sat in on the systems integrators' session and witnessed a lively discussion where ideas came from all sides. Dave prompted the discussion with questions of how much lead support the vendors provide and if the integrators saw the vendors as supporters or competitors. As you might imagine, there were strong opinions on that score though we won't mention any names here.

Probably the most interesting topic for systems integrators was managing the business transition from selling boxes to selling cloud-based solutions. A number of the integrators had made that transition. They noted it took several years to fully transform, and cloud sales generally had to be managed as a separate business. The amazing thing about the discussion was the openness and candor with which everyone shared their insights. The major ideas that were discovered in each of the sessions were presented to the group in a general session on the final morning.

The Summit also provides for very valuable small-group sessions. Each of the vendors got to conduct a number of 45-minute Focus sessions with either consultants or systems integrators. Generally they kept the "presentation" portion to a minimum and used the time to engage the participants in a dialog. There were any number of instances when lights went on (e.g. "I didn't know you could do that") and numerous potential projects or business opportunities were discovered. Many of those discussions were followed up during the evening receptions.

The key element in the UC Summit is the opportunity for networking. The consultants get to talk one-on-one with executives from the major vendors and the systems integrators can discover how they can best use the resources that area available. The systems integrators can also compare notes, catch up on what the thought leaders in the UC industry are saying, and of course, investigate either new lines to carry or better ways to prosper with the lines they have. All of this is done in a comfortable setting of the Estancia La Jolla Resort & Spa, which is essentially taken over for the duration of the Summit.

Next year's UC Summit is scheduled for the week of May 6, and will be held at the same venue. With each successive event the format and scheduling is refined and planning for next year is already under way. As before it will be an invitation-only event, and list of potential invitees is already being assembled. We welcome your interest in the 2012 Summit. If you are a UC vendor who would like to consider a sponsorship, a business development manager with a solutions integration (SI or VAR) company, or if you are a consultant focusing on or transitioning to UC, please visit the UC Summit 2012 website or write to us at [email protected].

With the complexity of a UC sale and the challenge of "Integrating communications to optimize business processes," the channel remains a key factor in a vendor's success. As long as that challenge exists, the UC Summit will be a part of the solution.