eimagine was pleased to attend XChange 2015 this year! Congratulations to Ben Klopfer, Vice President of Sales, for representing eimagine at the event, and for serving on numerous Interactive Boardroom panels. Ben spoke and participated in as many as two panels a day about the trends solutions providers are experiencing in today’s world. This fantastic event always has big-name sponsors, and this year was certainly no exception: Microsoft, Dell, HP, Intel, Samsung, Sophos, Oracle, VMWare and many, many others. So: What did we learn?
The event kicked off with a keynote on the globalization of cybercrime, by Jason B Brown of the US Secret Service’s Electronic Crimes Task Force. It was a thrilling talk, but photos and recording devices were not allowed–no joke! A second great presentation covered how cloud solutions are disrupting business ecosystems. Maybe you’ve experienced this at your place of work, or your customers… I certainly know I have. And you know it had some insightful statistics, as it was presented by Tim Harmon of Forrester. Eric Martorano of Microsoft spoke of exciting things coming with Windows 10, and how we can look forward to achieving more things together with Microsoft–for both partners and clients. Samsung presented some great new products and features that will be exclusive to their brand, including “Cortana on Steroids” (my words, not theirs!) as well as a lineup of exciting new devices. Our favorite session of the conference was with Jim Dixon of CompuCom, where he talked about making bold shifts and embracing continuous change in companies to ensure survival and profitability.
Oh, and you know we brought back plenty of swag! Aside from the usual pens and trinkets, Ben came out of the event with some fantastic stuff including a Sophos Tile, a Samsung tablet, a WattBox, HD AV streaming device and various other electronics. Thanks to all the vendors who had a booth in the Solutions Pavilion and/or a demo room set up. We really enjoyed Samsung’s Jurassic World theme (complete with a prehistoric-themed hotel room). Runner up award goes to Sophos for their 1980’s themed room. Ben reports it was “awesome to the max.” And, as every year, the Sophos party was off the hook!
The event capped off with a craft beer festival, complete with beer sampling and food trucks. And as if that’s not enough, the final event of the week was a comedy show, headlined by Rob Steen, Tom Hayes and Christine Hurley. Hey, with 14+ hour days of sessions, workshops and vendor interaction, we’re sure Ben is glad they left a little time to relax, too!
All that fun stuff sound like your bag? Keep your eyes open for next year’s XChange 2016! Will you be there?