The ASCII Success Summit †gathered attendees in Columbus, Ohio, September 28 to 29, the latest stop of nine solution provider-focused conferences ASCII will host in North America in 2016.
The pre-day events on Wednesday, September 28, 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, financial insights, effective marketing, identity and password security, and leveraging network assessments.
In the evening there was an ASCII member meeting followed by a networking reception.
On Thursday, September 29, 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 “Getting Vertical in the Architectural/CAD/Engineering (ACE) Space,” by Joshua Liberman.
ASCII’s Koutavas spoke on “How ASCII Makes Business Happen—Why Our Network Matters.”
The keynote was presented by Steely Dan co-founder and former Doobie Brothers musician Jeff Baxter, who now advises top military and civilian groups on counter-terrorism, next-generation and future technologies. He told attendees about his unconventional journey “From Doobie Brother to NSA Security Expert.”
Vendor presentations were given by Black Stratus, Carbonite, Cytracom LLC, Data Deposit Box Inc., Datto Inc., Mailprotector, Lenovo, My Digital Shield, and StorageCraft Technology Corp. 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 – RapidFire Tools Inc.
- Best IT Workshop – Vertical Axion
Main Day
- Best Rapid Pitch – Pax8 Inc.
- Best Keynote Presentation – Datto
- Best Creativity & Innovation – Data Deposit Box
- Best IT Management Tool – Mailprotector
- Best Partner Incentives – Cytracom
- Best Market Opportunity – StorageCraft
- Best Security Solution – CYBERShark
- Best Productivity Solution – IT Glue
- Best Storage Solution – Datto Inc.
- Best Cloud Solution – CloudJumper
- Best Revenue Generator – Star2Star Communications
- Best Channel Program – Cytracom
- Top Distributor – Pax8
- Best Partner Involvement – Datto, StorageCraft, and QuoteWerks
- 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 Newport, R.I. October 13 to 14.
