Converge European Partner Leadership Summit 2020

The same question comes up every year as to where we should host our annual Converge European Partner Leadership Summit. For 2020, we decided Riga, Latvia would be a cool (err…. cold) place to go. Every year Siemens Digital Industries Software invites their Solution Partners from Germany and EMEA to this major event. Our main goal is to not only reward our high-performing partners but to provide industry updates on current and future business trends that will help them deliver even better value and outcomes to customers – and of course, have a good time.

Riga, the cool place to be

After hosting our event in warmer locales like Spain and Malta, we invited partners to the beautiful old city of Riga. If you’ve never been there, add it to your bucket list of places to visit. The climate proved to be irrelevant since the real draw is the content we deliver and the networking opportunities provided for partners and Siemens. More than 400 people joined us from 39 different countries and included 265 executives, sales and marketing professionals from more than 200 different partner organizations.

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New format to go further and faster

Not only the location was slightly different, we also changed the structure of the event to provide more quality time with experts to exchange ideas about the most requested topics: business management, social selling and marketing, organizational transformation, the move to the cloud, and how to establish a professional services organization. All these topics were covered in a way to better prepare our partners to successfully lead their customers through their digital transformation.

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Great speakers for a great audience

We were happy to welcome guest speakers including Dr. Markus Schögel from the University of St. Gallen, the B2B marketing experts from ProSpex in the Netherlands and George Mellor, CEO of KloudReadiness in the United States. They provided us with insightful expertise with entertaining presentations that made us all think about the future of our business and how to plan for future success. The breakout sessions allowed for expanded conversations that enhanced knowledge and perspectives by exchanging views and experiences as they relate to digitalization.

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See you in 2021

After all the business-oriented discussions and learning, we all enjoyed a ‘roaring 20’s’ themed gala dinner with plenty of music and dancing. For those who were unable to attend this year – plan for the next one. Mark your diaries for the last week of January 2021 when our next EPLS will take place in… well, that will be the question once again!

Bernd Benzinger is the EMEA Director for Partner Business Development at Siemens Digital Industries Software focused on partner productivity programs. He has a background in Economics and worked in partner management roles for over 10 years.