This week our first hybrid SmartCom Summit should have been celebrated. An online live talk show with guests from Red Hat, KPN, Simfony, Logitech and oneCentral, combined with a Beach BBQ, info market and networking. Because after 16 months of lockdown we would be Open Again – and everybody is eager to meet people in real life again. Working together with our friends at MSP*Cafe, in a matter of weeks, more than 25 partners joined as sponsors and contributors. We were close to selling out and had everything arranged – when we were forced to postpone the event a few days ago due to sudden stricter Corona measures triggered by the rise of the delta variant in The Netherlands… We did not see that one coming all of a sudden…
Never a dull moment, and a great example of how the next normal requires more agility and flexibility in everything we plan and do. And a huge disappointment for all partners and our team that has worked so hard to organise everything! So, we spent this week communicating the change, rescheduling everything, and looking for a new beach location where we can organise both live shows and have a fun event with an appropriate distance. Of course, taking into account that we don’t know exactly what we have to plan for 6 weeks from now. After a lot of calling and mailing, and hearing from venues that are either fully booked already or don’t take reservations, it looks like we found a great new spot where we can create an even better event!
We’re very grateful that all our partners and registered attendees understand our decision to comply with the new measures and put safety first, and are moving with us to the new date and location. With an extra 6 weeks to organise, we can also accommodate more partners, and may even extend the online program. With more time to prepare we can also look at creating more valuable insights and content over the next weeks, as we also work on our yearly SmartCom Summit Trend Report. In the words of famous Dutch soccer player Johan Cruyff, every disadvantage has its advantages…
So, we continue to look forward to the Beach BBQ on 26 August, and will do our best to make it a great first “Open Again!” event! For now, we wish you a great Summer break. Stay safe and be agile. #peoplefirst
About the author
Over the past 30 years Rob (co-)founded various tech companies, including one of the leading Dutch hosted voice providers (before hosted voice became the new normal). Today, he works with telcos/CSPs and some of the world’s leading technology providers on innovation and growth, especially in the rapidly changing world of cloud communications and CPaaS. Rob has this crazy belief that the strengths of corporates and innovators should be combined in new ecosystems to create optimal customer experience, new business models and solutions for some of today’s big problems.
