Recap: The First Ever COE-Sponsored IBM User Group Meeting

Last week was a special one as we sponsored our first ever IBM User Group meeting in Atlanta. The event ended up being a huge success as we had over 30 attendees for the day at Genuine Parts Company (GPC) headquarters.

We wanted to put this user group together to allow people to network, learn from each other, and discuss the latest trends in the B2B and file transfer world while also understanding where those verticals are headed and how to be best equipped for future success.

Speakers discussed a variety of topics including the challenges of moving to the cloud, partner on-boarding, security, and the IBM roadmap. Here are some of the highlights from our day in Atlanta:

• Our own Amanda Blevins kicked the festivities off before handing it off to Billy Durham of GPC (and COE customer) who discussed the advantages of managed file transfer and choosing COE as a partner
• Ryan Wood of IBM presented on the company’s roadmap and what’s in store
• Manish Sarda & Vipin Mittal talked about the value of PEM and discussed several use cases
• Vipin also presented on COE’s HIC (Hybrid Integration Cloud) solutions
• Chris Techter discussed the value of COE and how Syncrofy can help companies get the most out of their data
• We closed things out with an open forum and Q&A session before heading over to happy hour

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to have had the chance to put on this user group event,” said Gary Walsh, our Vice President of Sales. “As a trusted IBM partner we feel a sense of responsibility to help our users in any way we can—whether it be offering best practices, general education, or just hands-on teaching—so they can get the most out of their technologies.”

We want to thank all of the attendees and speakers, as well as GPC for their generous hospitality. With the great turnout we had, we will definitely be looking to have another one soon.

If your company is interested in hosting a user group, please reach out to your COE representative or Ashton DeKeyrel.