Our Sales Manager Jason Gass reflects ….

 

It’s December 2018! Can you believe it? We always end up saying that the year has run away on us, but this year seems to have cracked through at an incredible pace. Apparently, this year it was on me to sit down and “take a pause” (as Paul Leslie would so famously say), reflecting on some of the moments of 2018. So, to that accord; here’s some of the great stuff that’s happened in the year that was (as well as my own personal musings…).

 

    • Arsh Singh started wearing his bright orange SolarWinds MSP socks. Jan 1, 18.
    • We attended CES, The London SolarWinds MSP Distributor Conference, CommunicAsia in Singapore, GiTEX in Dubai, CeBIT in Germany, ManageEngine partner conference in Chennai, Gartner and numerous CompTIA channel events in Australia – looking for the ‘what’s next in IT’ for our partners and keeping our channel informed.
    • We sadly bid farewell to David Hendriksen, Jenn Robertson and Tyron Warren as they all journeyed off on their next adventure.
    • We welcomed Hamish Lawson, Merinika Ryder, Laura Jones, Kris Boobala, Gerard Verhaart, Kevin Lim and Dhruv Patel to the team, adopting a myriad of positions across the company.
    • Arsh Singh, Annie Cleave and Megan Twentyman also found themselves promoted through the ranks internally or adopting new positions, growing their career and looking for new challenges in more senior roles.
    • We attended ALGIM, Tertiary, CIO and many other Tradeshows across New Zealand, representing just a few of our world-class brands.
    • We had events in almost every city across New Zealand! Bringing the stories to you, was a key focus of 2018.
    • DJ upgraded to a Nissan X-Trail and took a number of us for a ride, I soon discovered why Seat Belts were invented.
    • We sponsored a distribution spot at the ResellerNews Edge Conference this year. Wow, what an epic event, with resellers and vendors coming in from across Australia and New Zealand sharing a range of channel insights.
    • We grew our brand presence drastically in 2018, finding ways to show partners new forms of revenue and help them be more compelling with challenger solutions in today’s competitive market. MSP billing/revenue became a key focal point for us this year.
    • We focused in on Social Media, being more active with our efforts to share the stories, photos, videos and events of the things that happened.
    • A year of goodies! This year the goodie bags were well stocked, as we gave away notebooks, pens, speakers, BBQ’s, Bluetooth ‘Tiles’, lights, coffee mugs, vouchers, stress balls, T-shirts, shirts, backpacks and so much more to partners who attended an event or were in the draw.
    • We also had fun! Taking our key partners drinking, to the movies, to Hampton Downs (shout-out to the Lamborghini hot laps winners), Clay Bird Shooting, Archery and Quadbiking in High Country.
    • Ron upgraded to a Subaru Outback and took a number of us for a 4WD trail ride, I soon discovered why Seat Belts were invented.
    • Arsh stopped wearing his orange SolarWinds MSP socks. Circa Dec 12th, 18.

 

If I was to summarize 2018 in one word, it would be ‘energetic’ (with “MSP” being a close second). With a focus on being present in as many corners of the country as we could we really did have a busy year. A special thanks to the Channel Managers (Paul and DJ) as well as all those that spent time ensuring our events were both informative and successful.

 

As I look forward to 2019, we’ve really got some amazing things in the pipeline. The ink is still drying for distribution on an exciting new brand (watch this space!) which will give our partners another competitive edge in the channel. We’re also planning to bring our partner communities together, in more collaborative environments, helping each other share feedback but also to grow together. With some interesting new team changes afoot too, we’ll also be knocking on your door, offering you a humble coffee and a chat around products we feel can change the game for you.

 

On a final note, my personal thanks to all of you, for choosing Soft Solutions as your partner to join you on your journey through 2018. I hope the year has been as exciting for you, as it was for us and we look forward to bringing our businesses closer together through the upcoming year. From my team to yours, we wish you all a wonderful holiday season and we will see you next year!

2018