February 14, 2020

Channel Partner event – be efficient, learn and communicate

I wrote my intentions for 2020 down on the first day back at work. Be efficient, learn and communicate – it was all a bit fluffy, even by my own admittance.

Two days in and I was packing a bag for a working week in Orlando, Florida. “When are you going on your holiday” everyone would ask, and I would bite. Inside I’m thinking… work hard at school kids, get a good job, be good at it and you too could be packing your sun cream with your laptop. After a few weeks’ family time over Christmas, new year is the perfect time to go on a business trip, soak up some Vitamin D between meetings, and escape the cold, dark mornings. Yet I felt the need to play it down. If anything, family and colleagues should feel sorry for me – I had to put my Dry-Veganuary on hold.

One of ASM’s strategic vendors LogMeIn (now rebranded to ‘GoTo’) had invited us to their 3-day global Sales Kick Off event at Universal Studios. The theme was Be the Catalyst”. They were embracing Channel Partners in a big way, letting us into their world and treating us like their own.

It’s not easy for a vendor to navigate a multifaceted $Billion business towards the channel. Not least because THE CHANNEL, is not one thing, it is many channels. Traditional channels and shadow channels want differing things from a vendor partner. The old Telecoms channel that is morphing into the UCC (Unified Communications and Collaboration) channel, behaves differently from the CySec (Cyber Security) specialist channel, which differs again from the new emerging/disruptive tech channels pushing the likes of A.I (Artificial Intelligence) and RPA (Robotic Process Automation). It’s horses for courses as the old British proverb goes.

LogMeIn have solutions that fit into each of these channels and more besides. Could “Be the Catalyst” as a theme, be relevant to their direct sales teams AND their channel partners, or is it as fluffy as my own new year’s resolutions? I was just glad not to hear anything like the launch of a Platinum-Gold-Silver Partner Program. Even A.I can surely come up with something more 2020 than that.

Whilst meeting and socialising with the LogMeIners, there was a great sense of team, yet the talks and awards seemed more focused on individual performance. CEO Bill Wagner summed this up quoting the weekends NFL play-off debutant Deshaun Watson saying, “Somebody had to be great – why not me?” Right on theme with being a catalyst. I love a sporting analogy and with that quote, I was ready to be motivated.

COO Marc Van Zadelhoffs catalyst story kept the motivation high with the type of energy and enthusiasm you get at a Microsoft or Apple product launch, living up to his very credible pedigree.

The US high fiving and whooping culture was perfectly counter balanced by the quintessential charm of SVP Worldwide Sales Chris Manton-Jones. LogMeIn’s very own Mr Darcy.

Enter another outsider, Lisa Bodell. She reset my new year’s resolutions within 10 minutes, and those of probably all 1200 people in the room. 1. Ask Killer Questions. 2. Kill a Stupid Rule. 3. Be Chief Simplifier. Then she told us just to try just 1 of these things. She is my kind of influencer.

Evidence of success and future growth was aplenty. The Channel message was effectively ratified with proof of higher AOV’s (Average Order Values) and greater chance of upsell/cross sell when partnering with the channel. They didn’t use the word “stickiness”, but I think it fits well here.

Next up, the channel partners from across the globe were given a glimpse of things to come. It was a soft launch gently easing us into their more cohesive new focus, rather than a grand “ta-da” moment. An immaculate big bang theory of channels colliding to form a new world would’ve been a tough sell. The refreshing theme of the success stories were people and relationship centric rather than too product or channel program heavy. Some role playing was threatened by thankfully avoided.

And so, to beer and cocktails by the pool. Not on the formal agenda, but a welcome choice of location for a breakout meeting with EMEA Channel Sales Director Gerald Byrne and some of his team.  I say meeting, but when I was proper belly laughing to the point of tears, it was easy to forget to take minutes!

Universal Studios City Boardwalk and Harry Potter World were exclusively ours for that evening. I say “ours” because I was feeling very much a part of the LogMeIn family by that time.

The second full day of proceedings dived deeper into the varying parts of their business, yet the focus remained deliberately, and refreshingly, on case studies and success stories. Prestigious customers were there to champion the products and the process of engagement. The channel message remained strong.

The final evening was an awards ceremony. After celebrating with the winners and some great conversation, I did the classic escape trip on route to the bar. This time I was not the last man standing – how very sensible of me.

In summary this was an excellently organised event. LogMeIn are an established successful company, who are evolving and innovating. The overriding take-away was that this is a “people” driven business where relationships with customers and partners, and colleagues are key to its success. They communicated their message well and are keen to learn about how the channel can make them more efficient. Perfectly on theme with my own and ASM’s intentions for this year. Well done and thanks to the LogMeIn team.

Stephen Dale

Account Director – Systems Integrators – [email protected]

News, Insights & Knowledge

What’s New?

Here’s a selection of the latest news, views and insights from industry leaders and experts from across the globe.

19 August 2023

ASM HQ built with sustainability at the forefront

The ASM Group are committed to ensuring ongoing consideration to the environment in all aspects of our operations and this began in 2005, when we were one of the first companies in the industry to complete the IS014001 accreditation, long before the environmental impact of business operations was widely understood by organisations.

We installed an array of solar panels on the roof of the building which power around half of our daily electricity usage and have generated over 43 MW of energy. We also removed the use of electric kettles and instead opted for Quooker taps which are significantly more energy and water efficient.

We continued our ongoing pledge to sustainability by installing electric car charging points to promote the use of electric and hybrid vehicles, in addition to reducing the amount of printers around the building and adopting a paperless office. Numerous trees were planted around the site to create a greener space for our team to enjoy whilst also considering the environmental benefits. To further improve our energy efficiency, we opted for energy saving, motion detection indoor lighting which dim based on the brightness outside, coupled with energy saving LED lights in the carpark.

We’re proud of the collaborative and sustainable environment we’ve created for our team which supports the ESG goals across the ASM Group for the future.

6 July 2023

ASM Thrive 2023

On Thursday 6 July, we held our annual partner event, ASM Thrive, celebrating success over the past year and looking deeper into growth plans for the future.   

We hosted over 20 vendors at our Cheshire HQ before heading to nearby Jodrell Bank to take a journey through space and learn more about how technology and exploration is teaching us more about our galaxy and the origins of our planet.  

Adele Hope-Urwin, Head of Vendor Alliances at ASM said

What a pleasure to host our annual strategic partner event, ASM Thrive. A huge thank you to all our partners who joined us to hear about our strategy and how we can grow together as well as a fantastic experience and immersive journey at Jodrell Bank, the Mars Rover activity was such good fun too! 

ASM Thrive brings our eco-system of disruptive vendors together to collaborate, network and discuss future growth plans. We were joined by partners from Azul, Bose Professional, Checkmarx, Flashpoint, Getac UK, GoTo, Immuta, Kollective, LastPass, Nitro, Pro2Col, Rocket Software and Vimeo. 

3 July 2023

ASM receives an award at CRN Sales & Marketing Awards 2023

We were thrilled to attend the CRN Sales & Marketing Awards along with some of our strategic partners.

The team received a Highly Commended award for Best Partner Event, recognising ASM Connect 2022.

ASM Connect 2022 was held at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in London and featured keynote speeches from Futurists Matthew Griffin and Amelia Kallman, sharing insights about how emerging technologies such as AI, the Metaverse, VR, MR and XR will impact the future of work and the customer relationship. Guests had the opportunity to do a stadium tour or challenge themselves to The Dare Skywalk, 46.8 meters above the pitch! Our guests also had the chance to learn more about our eco-system of disruptive vendors and understand more about their innovative technologies first-hand.

Jo Wilson, Marketing Manager said

“We’ve received such positive feedback over the last 12 months from customers, with many people asking about the next one already. We’re delighted to have been recognised by the CRN judges for the hard work the team put into making the event such a big success. Watch this space for ASM Connect 2023”.

6 June 2023

LastPass delivers Sales Enablement Sessions to ASM

We’d like to extend a huge thank you to the team at LastPass, who visited our office to deliver Sales Enablement sessions. We enjoyed meeting the partner team at LastPass and learning more about the capabilities of the products and building on our existing strong partnership.

The team enjoyed a lunch provided by LastPass through the Woodfired Pizza Bar.

Adele Hope-Urwin, Head of Vendor Alliances said

“I am very pleased to be working in partnership with LastPass, with their password management tool bringing practical benefits to our customers.  We have a long term business relationship with LastPass spanning several years and I’m really looking forward to continuing the great success we’ve already had.”

James Greenaway, Regional Partner Manager at LastPass said

“It’s been great to run the sales enablement sessions today, meet the wider ASM team and continue to develop our partnership for the future.”

25 May 2023

ASM attends SCC Engage 2023

ASM Technologies were very pleased to attend SCC Engage 2023 which took place at the Silverstone Circuit. The conference welcomes valued partners and is fantastic opportunity to showcase disruptive and innovative technology.

Customer Success Manager for SCC, Paul Ogden attended the event on 11 May and said

“It was a great event to open up new opportunities, expand on existing relationships and drive growth together.”

16 May 2023

ASM wins EMEA partner of the year award from GoTo

ASM have been announced as GoTo’s EMEA partner of the year, yet again showcasing our fantastic partnership.

Adele Hope-Urwin, Head of Vendor Alliances at ASM Technologies said:

“I am thrilled to have collected the EMEA partner of the year award from GoTo at their partner presidents club event. The whole team worked very hard in helping us achieve such a prestigious award. Special thanks go to Liselotte Maidment for all her hard work throughout the year and thank you to Nadya Gaughran and Robinder Koura for all the support. I am looking forward to building on that success this year.”

1 April 2023

Financial year end 2022-23

This year ASM celebrated turning 30 in style with a fourth consecutive year of double-digit organic sales growth.

“We are very pleased with our results for the financial year,”

said Iain Tomkinson, Sales Director.

“Our strong performance is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team, as well as the continued strength of our business. We are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead for us and are well-positioned for more growth in the years to come.”

During the year the business continued to expand the ecosystem of partners and vendors whose innovative technologies are truly disrupting the market, providing unique opportunities for our clients and their customers.

Our growth also resulted in us creating new positions within the business and our teams have enjoyed returning to in-person events including ASM Connect 2022 hosted at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Over the coming year the business will continue with its strategic growth plan and deploy further investment in people and systems.

We’d like to extend our thanks to our team, customers, vendors and partners for their continued support.

8 March 2023

International Women’s Day 2023

Technology has typically been a male dominated sector but at ASM we’re very proud to say 66% of our workforce is female.

Today we’ve been celebrating all of our fantastic team with some sweets treats while raising awareness about discrimination.

The aim of the IWD 2023 #EmbraceEquity campaign theme is to get the world talking about Why equal opportunities aren’t enough. People start from different places, so true inclusion and belonging require equitable action. Read more about this here.

1 February 2023

ASM attend Computacenter Group Kick Off

ASM Technologies were very pleased to attend Computacenter Group Kick Off which was held at Manchester Central.

Over the course of the two-day event we had an extremely busy, central stand with over 800 visitors from around the globe. This kind of event offers our account management team invaluable time with contacts from these countries while continuing to build upon our relationships.

Leanne Ogden, Head of Business Development, said:

“The event is always a great opportunity to meet different people from around the business and understand their challenges for the coming year and seeing how we can best support them.”

We were joined on our stand by our strategic vendors Getac, Kollective, GoTo & LastPass.