Canalys to Reshape North American Channel Landscape with Launch of 2023 Partner Forum in US

Canalys, the global leader in market analysis and partner events for the channel ecosystem, will launch the most prestigious channel partner event ever seen in North America on 13 November 2023.

The Canalys Forum North America, which builds on 15 years of successful events in APAC, EMEA and LATAM, will be an aspirational event designed with partners at its core and celebrating the opportunities ahead.

Its strategic goal is ultimately simple: it will propel company valuations for all involved in partnering by celebrating the channel’s pivotal role in the tech industry, showcasing the power of the partner ecosystem to investors, communicating the needs of the channel to vendors and sharing best practices throughout the partner community.

The Canalys Forums are known as the most senior and influential gatherings of partner ecosystem leaders anywhere in the world. The North American event will be no different. CEOs from partners, vendors and distributors will be hosted in five-star locations, catered for by Michelin-class chefs and treated to the premium experiences they deserve.

Steve Brazier, Canalys President and CEO, said, “In the ecosystem era, the tech industry needs channel partners like never before. Partners are installing, maintaining, training, supporting, integrating, securing, financing, supplying, configuring and selling solutions from thousands of suppliers. The tables are turning on the vendors that work with partners. In former times, a few vendors appointed lucky partners, but now the partners are increasingly selecting which lucky vendors they will specialize with.”

“Channel partners are successful; some are global operators, and many have billion-dollar valuations. Yet this community has not earned the respect from investors that it deserves. Terms like VAR, reseller or ‘legacy partner’ are used but have been degraded, often used as an insult by those that think they know better.”

“Industry watchers in North America have participated in this sorry state of affairs. Many established partner events are dominated by vendor sales pitches, attended by junior staff and held in second-class locations. These legacy events have done little to promote the value of partnering, or to create peer groups where expertise can be shared, or to educate suppliers about the mistakes they have been making.”

The Canalys Forum North America will reshape the event landscape and is expected to quickly become the must-attend event in the region.

Canalys will partner closely with the distributors, which will be vital for inviting top partners to attend this conference.

Canalys is delighted that TD SYNNEX, the world’s largest distributor, is an inaugural partner on this journey, just as it was when Canalys launched its first European event in 2007.

Michael Urban, President, Americas, TD SYNNEX, said, “The technology business partner ecosystem is alive with connections that inspire innovation, creative solutions and partnerships that enrich the way we live and work. TD SYNNEX brings together people who want to achieve great things with technology and unlock potential for all.”

“With this focus, we are proud to have a longstanding relationship with Canalys, with a focus on delivering value to this ecosystem in innovative ways, such as launching our recent IT Ecosystem Benchmark Report, and partnering for the launch of the Canalys Forum North America.”

The Canalys Forum North America will launch on 13 November 2023 in Southern California. We are proud to be expanding into the region and invite other distributors to sign up to support the event.