From the backdrop of Windsor Castle and The Garter Ceremony taking place on the same day, many Jabra channel partners, such as BT, Dimension Data, Cisco and Nycomm, took their place at The Harte and Garter Hotel opposite the royal festivities on 17th June, to unite or an afternoon for informative presentations, following by an evening of entertainment and networking at Windsor Racecourse, all under the theme of ‘Backing the Winners’.
Leading the afternoon’s business agenda, Andrew Doyle, Managing Director, Jabra Business Solutions UK & Ireland kicked off the packed schedule, post lunch, by welcoming the 80 attendees and outlining the current and future market predictions. Following Andrew was a comprehensive body of presentations from industry experts such as Martin Hill-Wilson talking about the importance of customer satisfaction and Guy Clapperton discussing how to add value in UC deals, to informative talks on Jabra’s heritage and credentials in sound by Dr Matt Murray from sister-company GN Otometrics and a joint customer case study delivered by Glen Foxton from reseller partner Iisas. With the inclusion of UK Marketing Strategy for 2013 from UK Marketing Manager, Lori Haggart and summing up from Andrew Doyle, the business-end of the day was complete and the evening celebrations could begin.
Kicking off the evening’s merriment with a short boat-trip from Windsor town centre to the racecourse, provided partners with the chance to unwind and network with each other and their Jabra contacts, before the serious act of ‘backing a winner’ on each race could begin.
Armed with betting vouchers supplied courtesy of the hosts, everyone made the most of their evening, with some even managing to win a race or two!
The popularity of the event was summed up by various attendees, such as Ioan MacRae, General Manager, Westcon Convergence who stated, “Westcon were fortunate to attend the 2013 Jabra UK Partner Forum, which provided a superb opportunity to network with our mutual partners, develop new relationships and continue on build on the excellent partnership we have with Jabra. An excellent event.”
Andrew Downes, Partner Account Manager, Insight UK, also commented, “Jabra’s annual partner forum is an important event in Insight’s calendar each year. Not only does it keep us up to date with Jabra’s latest developments and strategies, it’s also a great way to reinforce an already strong and thriving business partnership. By aligning ourselves with Jabra’s own market initiatives we continue to achieve market beating growth across the Jabra portfolio.”
Summing up the event, Andrew Doyle said, “It’s fantastic to get so many of our channel partners together for a day of business and pleasure. The presentations are the ideal way to highlight our continued commitment to supporting and growing their audio devices category by providing valuable content and new insights. However, the evening creates the perfect setting for bringing people together to relax, share ideas and just have some fun. It’s been a great success!”