February 22 – 26, 2016
The Schneider Electric Software business had the pleasure of welcoming Jose Rivera, CEO of CSIA as one of the keynote speakers at the annual Global Partner Summit held in February at the software headquarters in Lake Forest, California.
Keynote Speakers
Attendees had the opportunity to hear from three industry leading speakers:
On the opening day, Chris Colyer, senior director, worldwide alliances and hannels, Microsoft provided an overview of Microsoft's strategy and vision, and detailed how partners can benefit from cloud services. 
Day two provided the audience with two keynote speakers. Cloud consulting specialist Harald Horgen, CEO, The York Group, provided guidance on the key considerations for developing a cloud strategy, including key areas to incorporate as well as lessons learned by partners moving into this space.
Jose Rivera, CEO of the Control Systems Integrator Association (CSIA) presented CSIA's vision for the future. He also discussed the critical nature of project methodology to delivering quality in project design and execution, and how CSIA provides learning platforms to support achieving the much coveted CSIA Certified status. The majority of the system integrators attending the Summit were CSIA members, with many also having CSIA Certified status. 
On day one, leading into the lunch break, two Wonderware Endorsed SI Partners and CSIA members provided insight into project experience at work. Marya Woods, CEO and Chris Raymes, senior engineer of APEX Manufacturing presented a case study of the challenges and learnings from a recent project. Steve Veldhuis, CEO, E-Technologies provided an overview of one of his latest multi plant roll outs. These presentations demonstrated the complexity of engaging, winning and rolling out projects in the North America region that other delegates could relate to.
Schneider Electric is a Platinum Sponsor of the CSIA Conference and the mobile app.