A 6 month ROI for business applications by AP Support
August 28, 2018WEM drives Digital Transformation at Gartner ITxpo 2018
October 18, 2018The WEM Conference 2018 wrap-up
As I’m writing this, it’s exactly a week after the WEM Conference and the first day with a schedule that gives us any time to reflect. From whatever point of view you look at the event, I think we can say that it was a resounding success. Time for a short wrap-up on this year’s WEM Conference:
- Responses: We’ve received many and varied responses from the attendees ranging from “I was expecting ‘Last Christmas’” but instead I learned something that will change my business” to “too much content to take it all in in one day!”
- Business: Several of our partners were able to close some deals, some LARGE, some very small, but significant business for all. The best result was for a customer of a customer of a customer of a customer of WEM. This exhibitor had an outstanding success story and was able to close several deals at or right after the event.
- Sharing: In theory the WEM partners compete for business. However, the size of the market for no-code platforms and custom software is so extensive, this is not something anyone worries about. Distributors, partners, customers; all were sharing ideas and success stories. There are even some partners that have started working together as a result of the conference and a few that are able to start international business because of their exposure to the international distributors.
- Technology: As part of the event, we launched Version 4 of the WEM modeler; a huge milestone. But there are other big steps for the platform including native mobile support (offline apps) on both Android and iOs devices and multi-regional applications (timezones!). Add to that: announcements on training, certifications, version control, module system and master template editor and you’ve got enough content alone to fill a few days. And last but not least, the IoT projects that our customers showcased, from a situational aware umbrella to use-measuring bathroom facilities. More insights on all this in the near future…
- Smiles: Probably the most important aspect of being part of the WEM ecosystem; enjoy yourself. Maybe the people that didn’t enjoy themselves left quickly or I just didn’t notice but there were smiles all around, even the attendees that work at our competitors (they are always welcome!) seemed to enjoy their time with us.
In sum; a great event, where for the first time most of the sessions were provided by end users or implementation partners. With visitors from all over the world, attending the conference and some even joining us at the office, the WEM team has been kept busy for a solid week.
APAC, Americas and EMEA
Next year, we expect our conference schedule to be a little different, we’re already deep into planning an Asia pacific event, the Americas is getting a larger event from 2018 and the 4th global WEM Conference will take place in the early fall like previous years. We’re expecting to make 2019 a break-out year, 4 times as big and driven even more by customer and partner success stories and content.
Overall, the annual WEM conference(s) are great for our team and our larger ecosystem and are here to stay. We’re already looking forward to inviting you for our future event!