There I was, packing my bags for my forthcoming business trip, singing an abundance of songs about San Francisco, dreaming of taking in the fantastic Californian views.
How wrong could I be. Let’s get this bit over and done with, the travel was hard work, but I mustn’t complain – I was in San Francisco! I was keen to take it all in but arriving at night left nothing but an air of of trepidation – mainly around my alarm going off the next morning.
As someone who has been working in IT for… well let’s say lots of years, it was wonderful to be in the heart of innovation and see some incredible businesses. Even the adverts in the airport were of tech companies; it was like being in a microcosm of IT and I loved it.
As I had never visited the city before it seemed only logical to see some of the sights while I had this great opportunity. So I spent the early morning walking around finding the offices of everyone we needed to visit. I’d walked so far and wide learning the streets and buildings my boss renamed me sat nav for the remainder of the trip.
I’d arranged a busy week visiting our key business partners alongside the Opswat Partner Summit.
Our partners, Elastic, were so welcoming and I really felt that our business partners appreciated the time we took to visit and utilise the time we had. We often meet the UK and European teams to learn about their software and how it makes data useable for our customers in real time, so it was fantastic to learn more about the US markets and meet their teams.
PDF specialists Nitro had the most amazing offices I have ever seen, with a beautiful view over the bay and bridge. We were totally blown away to be welcomed by the CEO/Founder and the Head of Global Channel. It’s great to use the opportunities with our partners to throw around ideas, talk about our successes and see what more we can do to support our customers.
At the Opswat Partner Summit the CEO and Senior Vice President welcomed partners from all over the globe. As the UK approved partner for Opswat it’s great to spend a few days gaining a deeper insight into the product, the values and the company’s future. Hearing successes from partners in other countries enables us to expand our knowledge which we can then pass on to our customers. On the Saturday we had the most wonderful boat trip into the bay to watch a display by the Blue Arrows while sharing the day with the wider Opswat team and their families. I really did feel part of the team and it goes a long way to continuing our strong business relationship.
Overall it was very exciting to experience part of a technology driven state with so many business leaders and innovation that it just screams from the buildings and billboards. It was a pleasure to visit San Francisco and be welcomed by our business partners and I look forward to visiting again.
Adele Hope-Urwin
Software Channel Manager – ahope-urwin@asmtech.com
