As the year comes to a close, it’s nice to look back and reflect on the major moments and accomplishments that made our hard work worthwhile. 2019 was a big year for Sherweb, after all!
Over the last 12 months we launched new products and services, won some awards, hosted great events and unveiled an exciting new brand, just to name a few things. While it might seem like bragging (which we can’t completely deny), we do have wholesome reasons for reviewing our milestones from 2019. Our partner network has a lot to do with our success, and it’s important to share what it helped us achieve. It’s also important to start setting the tone for 2020, which we anticipate being even more eventful than the current year.
So, without further delay, join us as we recap our highlights of 2019 from top to bottom.
New products and services
Providing value for partners is one of Sherweb’s top priorities. One way we do this is by continually adding to our portfolio of cloud products and services. In 2019, several new solutions were made available to the Sherweb partner network, in addition to enhancements to the partner program itself.
- Nimble: The use of customer relationship management (CRM) software is growing amongst small businesses, but many solutions are out of their price range. Nimble lets Sherweb partners fill the gap by offering an affordable, user-friendly CRM that’s suited to SMBs.
- Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS): Integrating our Cloud PBX solution with the Microsoft Teams app, we introduced an avenue for Sherweb partners to break into the growing unified communications market. Combining calling capabilities with tools businesses use to communicate, collaborate and be productive, UCaaS enables partners to offer clients additional business-critical services from a single provider.
- Integrations: Not only did Sherweb add products and services to its distribution portfolio in 2019, but it also debuted solutions specifically designed to help partners save time, save money, and run their operations more effectively. Enter our available integrations: ConnectWise and Autotask. With seamless connection to Sherweb’s partner portal, integrations give partners the ability to automate billing, helpdesk and other business IT functions.
- Bitdefender: Adding to Sherweb’s line of security products, Bitdefender helps partners supplement their offerings with a leading cyber security and antivirus solution. With capabilities for detecting and preventing threats in addition to advanced monitoring and reporting, Bitdefender allows Sherweb partners to answer growing demand for managed security services.
- Partner program revamp: Sherweb’s partner program is at the core of its products and services, and now it’s better than ever. Maintaining the same partnership models, Sherweb partners are now eligible for added benefits, more services, and can also unlock various additional perks based on performance.
Want the scoop on all four Sherweb value added services? Take a look at the Sherweb Playbook
Events
Sherweb went a lot of places in 2019, sometimes to the same event in multiple cities! We relished every opportunity to connect with partners and channel colleagues across North America. Here’s a list of conferences and trade shows and conferences we attended:
- IT Expo
- ASCII Success Summit Series
- The Channel Co Xchange 2019
- Robin Robbins Boot Camp
- ChannelPro SMB Forum
- TAG Annual Convention
- ChannelNEXT
- Channel Partners Conference & Expo
- SMCorp
- MicroAge Industrial Technology Summit
- Directions North America
- Qbits 2019
- allCare IT Open House & Mixer
- DattoCon
- EO Canada Conference
- Robin Robins Roadshow
- Tournée SMCorp
- Taylor Business Group Big BIG Conference
- ProContact Innovation Show
- Acronis Global Summit
- IT Nation Connect
- GMM Convention
We also hosted events of our own! Our Accelerate On Tour roadshow went to four American cities: Charlotte, St. Louis and Denver. These special one-day workshops provided sales and marketing training to participating partners, with a focus on positioning and reselling Microsoft Azure and cyber security solutions. Supported by Microsoft, Acronis and Nerdio, attendees also took part in a lunch-and-learn session on how to grow their business with Sherweb.
In May, our annual Partner Advisory Council (PAC) came together in Montreal to discuss channel issues and brainstorm ways to strengthen Sherweb’s partner network. The PAC also gave feedback on various products and services, keeping with our commitment to continually improving our portfolio of solutions.
Concluding Sherweb’s flagship events for the year, our 2019 Accelerate Cloud Summit featured trending topics, engaging speakers and interactive networking opportunities for partners and attending channel representatives. Hosted in Montreal, Accelerate 2019 also included Sherweb’s inaugural partner awards, where we recognized high performing, highly engaged partners for their excellence and success. A supportive group and sponsors and vendors helped make this Accelerate our best yet—thanks again to Microsoft, Acronis, Veeam, LinkedIn, Bitdefender, Nerdo, MicroAge, TechnoPlanet, Redmond Channel Partner, Proofpoint and SMB Nation for participating!
Learn all the advantages of being a Sherweb partner with our infokit
2019 awards
Some of our travels also took us to a few award shows in 2019. It was a good year for bringing home trophies! In a broad sense, Sherweb was recognized by industry leaders and peers for its valuable services, expert support and stellar marketing efforts. Here’s a recap of the hardware we collected this year:
- SMC Scale Indirect Partner of the Year: As part of the Microsoft Canada IMPACT Awards, Sherweb was recognized for demonstrating innovation and excellence within the Microsoft CSP community. More specifically, Sherweb was acknowledged for its simplified distribution of Office 365, Dynamics 365 and Azure through the CSP program.
- Digital Marketing Excellence 2019/20 Top 10 Microsoft Partners: Authored by Fify Five and Five, the Digital Marketing Excellence Report highlights Microsoft Partners from around the world who exhibit strong marketing performances via websites, blogs and social media. It was the first year Sherweb had been mentioned in the report, and we’re very proud to have cracked the top 10!
- Best Product Support: Given out as part of the TechnoPlanet Reseller Choice Awards, where channel partners vote for their favourite vendors and distributors, Sherweb was celebrated by its peers for its strong technical support capabilities. We should also mention that we were nominated in 10 other categories, and were runners up for Best Cloud Distribution, Best Customer Service and Best Infrastructure and a Service.
- Cloud Services Vendor of the Year: Presented by ChannelPartnerInsight’s Innovation Awards, Sherweb was congratulated for its value-driven partner program, extensive product portfolio and continuous learning initiatives for channel partners. Complete with case study testimonials and an overview of everything we offered to partners in the course of 2018, Sherweb’s nomination focussed on its ongoing commitment to partner success.
New look, same commitment to our partners
Last but certainly not least in our highlights of 2019 is the unveiling of Sherweb’s exciting new brand. While our overall mission, vision and guiding principles have stayed the same, we felt it was time to realign our look and feel with how our partners see and talk about us. This closely coincided with the anniversary of our 20th year in business—so what better way to celebrate than with an updated voice, website and logo!
Feedback on our rebrand has been overwhelmingly positive since its launch in November. To learn more about its process and Sherweb’s growth over the past two decades, check out this blog post on our evolution. You can also read up on our commitments to partners, illustrated by our four main pillars: cloud products and services, business strategy, operational effectiveness and expertise.
Onward to 2020
That’s a wrap on 2019! Of course, there are still a couple weeks left in the year to rake in more highlights, but we feel good about everything we’ve accomplished thus far. Nevertheless, we don’t intend to rest on our laurels by any means. We’re ready to take on 2020, and we’re determined to make it even more successful, not only for ourselves but for our extended partner network as well. Let’s find out what we can achieve.
