VIENNA, Austria, June 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GTDC SUMMIT EMEA - The Global Technology Distribution Council (GTDC) today convenes the first of its two major conferences this year, GTDC Summit EMEA, in Vienna, Austria, June 13-14. The Summit brings together regional leaders of today’s most successful technology distributors, senior management channel leaders of their vendor partners, and the industry’s most reputable research analysts and database experts. A record number of attendees, 180 total, will engage in a broad range of sessions focused on the issues, opportunities and best practices of utmost importance to all participants.
The event kicks off with individual meetings enabling multiple distributors and their leaders to meet privately with vendor partners’ top executives. From there, GTDC CEO Tim Curran presents to all attendees the strong state of the industry in Europe, with distribution business trending up across numerous product and solution categories as well as in most countries throughout the region. Featured guest speaker Gerd Leonhard takes the stage after Curran, sharing his compelling take on technology and humanity, along with what the future holds for both amidst unprecedented global changes. Wired Magazine recently named Leonhard one of the Top 100 most influential people in Europe.
Leonhard’s commentary leads into a panel comprised of top distribution industry executives from Europe, moderated by Peter Ward, Rootsquared CEO, whose firm is also conducting on-site workshops supporting a new study on distribution’s evolution in today’s disruptive era. Panelists include Eric Nowak (Arrow ECS), Ilona Weiss (ABC Data), Syens Dinsdorfs (ELKO), Anton Herbst (Tarsus), Graeme Watt (Tech Data) and Jeremy Butt (Westcon-Comstor). The panel provides in-deth perspective on emerging opportunities, pain points and challenges, emphasizing key ways to strengthen partnerships and business outcomes. A broad range of breakout sessions round out the day, including:
Financing Options in the IT Industry – Wells Fargo delves into new ways of funding the channel’s success through distribution.
Current and Future State of Cybersecurity – The NPD Group talks about challenges the channel currently faces – and ways for technology vendors to turn the action into profits.
EMEA Reseller Survey Results – CONTEXT’s survey of 6,000 EMEA resellers highlights primary issues in the region’s CIO agenda.
Distribution as a Service – IDC/Eurolan covers the drivers of IT industry transformation and the impact on distribution, including the move from physical to virtual.
The Impact of Tech Trends on Consumer Behavior in 2017 and Beyond – GfK drills into the latest developments and expectations related to consumer spending.
Your Next Business Unit – Channel Media Europe tackles the cutting edge technologies that will create enough momentum for profitable new business units.
AR for Industry 4.0: Turning Knowledge into Skill – By bringing information into context, “augmented reality” enables a new kind of worker that can learn while doing.
EMEA Rising Star Award Winners Announced Among other conference highlights, the distribution industry honors its fastest-growing vendor partners (see related press release “GTDC Recognizes 2017 EMEA ‘Rising Stars’”). The GTDC Rising Star Awards recognize exceptional sales growth through distributors in Europe over the past year, featuring Gold, Silver and Bronze winners across five revenue categories, as tracked by the CONTEXT SalesWatch Distribution Panel.
Networking into the Night The day concludes with a reception featuring libations and live music as well as a dinner in a relaxed atmosphere with distribution leaders, presenters, panelists and industry analysts – adding to the overall value and connections Summit EMEA delivers. An additional closing breakfast takes place on June 14, followed by more private meetings scheduled by attendees and distribution partners.
The second of the GTDC’s Summit conferences, September 6-7 in San Francisco, includes an exclusive education and networking “Channel to the Top” session dedicated to emerging vendors in cloud, mobile, telecom and other hot growth areas. The main conference, themed Thriving in an Era of Disruption, sells out quickly, so early registration is highly recommended to vendor partners.
About the Global Technology Distribution Council The Global Technology Distribution Council is the industry consortium representing the world’s leading tech distributors. GTDC members drive more than $130 billion in annual worldwide sales of products, services and solutions through diverse business channels. GTDC conferences support the development and expansion of strategic supply-chain partnerships that continually address the fast-changing marketplace needs of vendors, end customers and distributors. GTDC members include AB S.A, ABC Data, Almo Corporation, Arrow Electronics, Computer Gross Italia, D&H Distributing, ELKO Group, Exclusive Networks, Ingram Micro, Intcomex, Logicom, Pinnacle, SiS Technologies, ScanSource, SYNNEX, Tarsus, Tech Data, TIM AG and Westcon-Comstor.
