The ASCII Success Summit †gathered attendees in the New York metro area August 17 to 18, in East Brunswick, N.J., the latest stop of nine solution provider-focused conferences ASCII will host in North America in 2016.
The pre-day events on Wednesday, August 17, started with an address by ASCII Group President Jerry Koutavas on “Opportunity Hacking: Finding New Business Online Through Set Processes.” That talk was followed by a half-day of vendor sessions on topics including scaling your MSP practice, leveraging network assessements, identity and password security, quoting and ecommerce solutions, and the next evolution of RMM.
In the evening there was an ASCII member meeting in Piscataway followed by a networking reception in Brunswick.
On Thursday, August 18, after a networking breakfast, Success Summit kickoff, and business card exchange, attendees heard presentations from ASCII members on “MSP Security Growth, from Start to Smart,” by Jay Ferron, principal of Interactive Security Training LLC and “Breaking into the Financial Vertical, Keys to Unlock the Vault,” by Harry Srolovitz of Praxis Data.
ASCII’s Koutavas spoke on “How ASCII Makes Business Happen—Why Our Network Matters.” Attendees also heard Executive MSP Market Summaries. And Tim Conkle (aka “Texas Tim”), president and CEO of MSP Roland Technology Group, presented a talk sponsored by Cytracom on “Three Pitfalls of Partnering with the Wrong VoIP Provider.”
Ken Feinberg presented the keynote, “When Business Decisions Are Life Changing—What Is a Life Worth?” Feinberg was tasked with determining restitution for the 9/11 victims. The law required more money to the stockbroker, the bond trader, and the banker than to the waiter, the policeman, the fireman, and the soldier at the Pentagon. His growing belief in the equality of all life was in direct conflict with how our system operates. He shared his story with attendees.
Vendor presentations were given by BlackStratus, Carbonite, Data Deposit Box, Datto, Lenovo, Mailprotector, StorageCraft Technology Corp., and Technology Marketing Toolkit. Attendees also had the opportunity to browse the solutions pavilion, meet ASCII staff, and vote on vendor awards.
The award winners are as follows:
Pre-Day
- Best Education – ConnectWise
- Best Technical Demo – CNET
- Best IT Workshop – ConnectWise
Main Day
- Best Rapid Pitch – ConnectWise
- Best Keynote Presentation – Cytracom
- Best Creativity & Innovation – Pax8
- Best IT Management Tool – StorageCraft
- Best Partner Incentives – Lenovo
- Best Market Opportunity – Datto
- Top Security Solution – CYBERShark
- Top Productivity Solution – IT Glue
- Top Storage Solution – Datto
- Top Cloud Solution – Datto
- Top Revenue Generator – StorageCraft
- Top Channel Programs – Cytracom
- Top Distributor – Pax8
- Best Partner Involvement – Datto, QuoteWerks & StorageCraft
- Best of Show – Datto
The ASCII Group IT community is made up of a supporting network of 2,000+ MSP/VARs worldwide. ASCII provides a portfolio of IT business-building services that range from turnkey marketing campaigns to a highly utilized peer-to-peer business referral and lead network.
Next up: The Success Summit heads to Toronto on September 22.
