The virtual summit – Business as unusual in the COVID-19 times

Every year, the Verizon Partner Solutions team hosts a summit for its global customers. It’s the key moment in time when the VPS team is able to welcome customers from all around the world to learn, discuss and share best practices together.

This year’s summit was planned for late March 2020 in West Palm Beach, Florida. Obviously, the COVID-19 pandemic put a stop to the event, as with so many others around the globe. But the VPS team wanted to keep the opportunity to meet with its partners – partnering for success has long been the VPS mantra. To VPS this means working alongside customers to understand their business objectives, challenges and opportunities in detail so the team can offer effective support, and really meet their business needs. The annual summit offers a key opportunity for VPS and its partners to collaborate and build even stronger business relationships.

With a face-to-face summit no longer an option, the VPS team decided to take the event virtual. This was obviously a big task, but one that the team met with aplomb! The broader Verizon team had a crucial role to play. Verizon’s own web conferencing service underpinned the whole event, with a dedicated meeting manager to facilitate speaker and presentation logistics, and Tami Erwin, Verizon Business Group’s CEO, welcomed customers with a video shot by the VZTV team. In just a few short weeks, a ‘virtual’ event for nearly 300 customers from around the globe took flight on April 14, hosted by Jeff Hulse, Partner Sales leader for North America.

The theme of the summit was 'Partnering for Success - Enabling the Digital Future', with VPS's top three priorities of 2020 - network investment, portfolio expansion and digital transformation - front and center throughout. Eric Cevis, VPS President, and his sales, marketing and client services leaders discussed best practice for how VPS and its global partner ecosystem could help keep people, businesses and communities connected in this time of crisis. Key topics for discussion included enabling the digital future through connectivity, platforms and applications; and doing business easily, with simplified processes and an enhanced customer experience.

And customers have already expressed their gratitude for the opportunity to participate in the summit. VPS now plans to launch an eight part online workshop series where customers can find more information on Verizon products, current marketing programs, processes, digital portals and future investment and more. Planned sessions are:

• Global Networks
• Network Security
• Customer Experience Journey
• VPS Ordering & Service Delivery
• Positioning our Voice
• Enabling the Future of Digital Operations Excellence
• Enabling our Partners Who Leverage the Indirect Sales Model
• The Connected Future. 

The workshop series will be launched shortly, enabling VPS to continue the customer dialogue.

COVID-19 has thrown many business activities into disarray. But the VPS team was up for the challenge of approaching business as unusual. 

You can find out more about VPS’ current business activities on its website and LinkedIn page.

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