If there was ever a year that tested our strength as humans, it was 2020. The personal and professional struggles were indeed very real as our new normal was anything but. Our lives were uprooted, people dealing with immense hardships and mental stress. I found myself working more and having even less of a work life balance, not like I had much before. The lines of being a mom, boss, teammate, friend, coworker have all been blurred and I now have much greater appreciation for others trying to find balance in a world that seems uncertain and scary.

All year you’ve been hearing about Corey’s obsession with Trader Joe’s. So, we've compiled every one of her favorite Trader Joe's items into a convenient list for you to enjoy. 

As a look back on this craziness of a year, Corey shares a roundup of items she’s glad were purchased during the pandemic (though there were countless misses, too). While most Amazon purchases are shared weekly on Coffee with Corey Wednesdays, she solicited items bought from the rest of the marketing team, as well. You just might get some holiday shopping inspiration from this list. Enjoy!

Technologies advancing remote work

2021 will be a year for the enterprise (large and small) to build out or course correct what they implemented in haste due to COVID-19. We see how much technology helped and continues to help us navigate the pandemic, an example being Zoom as the default “Kleenex” type reference for all video conferencing now. There is a reason why the CCaaS business is booming – many deploying it for analytics and reporting relating to workforce optimization and remote work. And why companies like Twilio have surging stock pricing due to APIs syncing communication platforms with business applications – think remote restaurant ordering, pickup and end-to-end customer/business communications.

This year, this decade, we’re focused on elevating the partner experience and leveraging innovations with automation, intelligence and mobility to help improve both the employee and customer experience. TBI’s 2020 word of the year is EXPERIENCE.

I’m not telling anyone anything they don’t already know when I say we’ll be hearing a lot about SDN, IoT, Edge Compute and Mobility this year.

Cloud is changing the network. According to Frost & Sullivan, almost 70% of IT decision makers in the U.S. report that they will be replacing branch routers with an SD-WAN appliance. Additionally, nearly three-quarters of US respondents report that they plan to include cloud-based security services with their SD-WAN solution.

The 2018 State of Infrastructure Report from Interop ITX and InformationWeek revealed that network security is the mainspring for future network investments.  

Preparing for 2019 Sales in the Channel.

The rise of IoT, emerging technologies and increased demand for edge computing will present new security and data center challenges. Conversations will begin taking a different shape starting 2019.

How channel partners can alleviate cloud adoption and migration pain.

One of the least liked phrases around here is digital transformation. What does it mean? It’s so nebulous and doesn’t attach any particular technology or pain point when using it. We talk about the customer’s digital journey and it means something different for every company and every “owner” of said journey.

TBI recently held its quarterly all company meeting where executives and other department heads recapped our successes from last year and plans for 2018. It’s remarkable how far our organization has come in the last 12 months. 

We’re quickly moving right into 2018, and if you haven’t broached the subject of budgeting and projects slated for next year with your customers, your time to get in as their tech consultant of record is rapidly closing. It’s important to remember the perspective of your contacts. Pending their title CIO, CFOs, CISO, CMOs and/or IT Directors, they all have very different agendas. Schedule time now, find out what their priorities are and how you are equipped to handle them.

Succeeding in an unprecedented time in channel.

TBI’s BIG Event takes place June 14th and 15th and it’s sure to deliver.

We’re excited to host over 200 partners to learn what’s new and what decisions are taking place that impact our businesses.

Your advocate for service delivery.

The value we bring to our partners is the ability to present enterprise technology that furthers their business objectives with a personal and reliable approach, easy and highly responsive communications and unrivaled service delivery, all without bias.

How to talk your many customers' languages.

Long gone are the days of one device for everything- email, social media, work applications, database and server access, conferencing (web and video), etc. In order to operate a mobile workforce and disparate office locations, corporate communications infrastructure has to adapt. Real time access to corporate systems, access to third-party applications, tools and collaboration software is of the utmost importance; navigating how employees will connect is a top priority for most IT departments.

Trends and selling through the channel.

A report by Technavio, Global Contact Center Market for 2015-2019, shares that the American contact center market will exceed $5 Billion by 2019, growing at a CAGR of over 7%.

Microsoft Office 365 is nothing new to the industry. It makes sense to deploy for customers that have different versions of Office floating throughout their 100+ machines. Those that are mindful are annoyed that a new version comes out every three years. Additionally, more costs come into play with yearly licenses for Microsoft Software Assurance, ensuring rollout of updates. Microsoft Office 365 has a small monthly user fee, with the most current version, without a large capital expenditure and without the Software Assurance purchase. The enterprise full Office allows IT to free up, with far less time spent managing, upgrading, account management and licenses especially with turnover, remote office closures and new hires.