Partner Exchange – Partnering in the New Market

10 - 12 June, 2007 in Phoenix, Arizona in conjunction with Exchange

This year's Partner Exchange was the largest yet with more than 70 partner attendees, CEOs and Founders at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort in Phoenix, Arizona. The invitation-only event brought together a select group of C-level executives from Progress Elite Partner organizations to discuss industry trends, business practices and new technologies while sharing their experiences and collaborating on key issues.

Attendees joined Progress for expert presentations, case studies and panel discussions and had numerous opportunities for networking and collaboration.

MONDAY, 11 JUNE:

After attending an exclusive Executive Reception and the Progress Exchange breakfast, attendees heard the following:

Opening Remarks
Justin Wright, Vice President, Worldwide Field Operations, Progress Software

Wright welcomed the audience representing 12 countries on every continent to Partner Exchange. The two and a half day conference promised to help Progress partners move their business ahead with valuable content, expert information and the chance to network. Overall, the conference goal was to help Progress Partners look at their business from the outside-in.

Kickoff and Welcome
Dave Ireland, President, OpenEdge, Progress Software

Ireland opened the program by defining new business opportunities and the importance of innovation. He followed by citing several examples of Progress partners who have used business innovation to expand their market, change their business model or transform their application to leverage new technologies. View Presentation .

Keynote: The Future of the Application Market
Bruce Richardson, Chief Research Officer, AMR Research

Richardson asserted that the future of business applications in 2012 will be impacted by:

• Technology initiatives and new market potential in China and India
• The emergence of Web 2.0 technology
• The shift from baby boomers to Generation X and the resulting HR crisis
• Handhelds replacing laptops
• Mergers, acquisitions and industry consolidation.
• The shift in power from large enterprise providers such as SAP and Oracle to new open platforms such as SOA and SOA applications from smaller, best of breed providers. View presentation.

Panel One: "From Inspiration to Innovation - Changing the Market One Application at a Time"
Bruce Richardson, Chief Research Officer, AMR Research (Moderator)

Manuvis' CEO David Scott began his presentation by showing a video clip about the laws of the jungle or business today. The video explained that the gazelle must outrun the fastest lion and that the lion must outrun the slowest gazelle in order to survive. The moral of the story is: Whether you are a gazelle or a lion, when you wake up in the morning, you'd better be running. The panelists concluded that both SOA and SaaS offer customers the most flexibility for innovation and quick response to market shifts. View David Scott's presentation. For more information about our panelists click here.

Panel Two: "The Shrinking Vendor Market - How Mergers & Acquisitions Drive Change"
Nat Burgess, Executive Vice President, Corum Group (Moderator)

Almost 30 acquisitions of Progress partners across all major industries have occurred in recent years, Burgess reported, and he sees this trend continuing. Mergers and acquisitions provide many benefits to the business including an immediate impact on revenue and profits, the ability to stimulate growth in new or existing markets, and gaining talent, brand and domain expertise among other benefits. View presentation.

Each panelist followed Burgess' overview with a review of their individual company's acquisition strategies and processes. Learn more about Consona's M&A strategy and best practices. For a brief panelist summary click here.

TUESDAY, 12 JUNE

Panel Three: "Managing the Business Model: Evolution and Succeeding with SaaS"
Colleen Smith, Director, Software as a Service, Progress (Moderator)

Colleen kicked off the panel discussion with an overview of how SaaS adds new opportunities using partner case studies as examples. View Presentation. The panelists agreed that SaaS provides unique opportunities for service delivery and the ability to reach new markets but that it needs to be viewed as a new business model. The group challenged the audience to look at ways to create new offerings and services including those that target smaller organizations that in the past have not been able to use technology to automate their business. Click here for more information about our panelists.

Concluding Remarks

Justin Wright concluded Partner Exchange 2007 by challenging the audience to look at their businesses from the outside in and put into practice what they learned at the gathering as well as remain in touch with the contacts they made. He repeated Dave Ireland's suggestions to:

• Innovate beyond product
• Understand your customers' customer
• Figure out your ecosystem