Full house with partners

Reflecting my experiences at SUSECon 2017  in Prague I cannot get away from comparing the event to the ones in the past years. What really meant something to me this year was the number of partners we have welcomed in Prague. When we had our first SUSECon, 6 years ago in Florida, I went out for dinner with the partners to hear what things we could do better for them at that time. No more than 25 sat at the table. That is impossible now, it was full house. About 350 people attended our special partner event this year.

At that particular dinner 6 years ago, I learnt we could do better to explain all technologies and services we have and what role our partners play in getting these to the market, together with us. Since we can play our own role after the takeover by Micro Focus, we have our own partner program and we can be more of a help to them. That pays off, so I noticed in Prague, because we could welcome so many now. During the last six years we have set up programs to help our partners with marketing, sales and also connect them with our contacts from SAP and Cisco. They can take advantage from that. And luckily, they do! Of course, we will intensify our partner programs and contacts. This helps getting more leads for our partners. The feedback I received this year from our partners? They told me one after another that real innovation in information technology comes from open source software companies and communities. It was as heart-warming getting together.

Here you can read my other blogs about open source and SUSECon. Or just mail me if you have any questions or remarks.