The EMEA Channel’s Best Gather at Channel Partners Europe Conference

The Channel Partners Europe Summit returned to London for its first in-person gathering since the COVID lockdowns. It brought together partners, technology providers, distributors, thought leaders and industry experts, all focused on the EMEA tech economy.

Those gathered expressed exuberance they were finally able to connect face-to-face, especially to come and honor the EMEA winners of the 2022 MSP 501 during an awards gala that also included the EMEA winners of the Next Gen 101.

The day kicked off with optimism from speakers Ian Luckett of IT Experts and David Stokes, the leader of IBM’s EMEA partner ecosystem. Despite a backdrop that includes a stock market selloff, a war in the Ukraine, rising interest rates, soaring energy prices and inflation, a panel of 2022 MSP 501 winners said their business remains healthy and they are not seeing any signs of a slowdown from their customers.

“I am making the case for optimism,” Stokes told the audience citing strength and channel opportunities in cloud, security, AI and data management among other sectors.

His remarks seemed to lift the crowd. “There is a massive opportunity around hybrid cloud in this next stage of digitization,” he said. Before bringing Stokes to the stage, event host Luckett said partners must look to fill the gaps in their portfolios and the only way to do that is by finding the right partners who can drive growth.

Click on the slideshow above for more highlights from day one of Channel Partners Europe Summit.