Getting all the necessary ingredients and putting them in the pot doesn’t make them stew just yet – you have to crank up the heat and stir everything up to bring out all the different flavors. We followed the exact same recipe with this year’s regional meeting of the Northern & Eastern Europe Team in Budapest!
Extreme Networks Team in the Northern & Eastern Europe region, much like Hungarian cuisine, is brimming with distinct flavors. From Oslo to Tel Aviv, from Brussels to Helsinki, a mix of different countries, cultures, business roles, and even generations – it all boils down to a highly energetic environment that encourages the exchange of ideas and learning from each other’s experiences.
And that’s what our annual regional meetings are mainly about!
Our short stay in Budapest gave us ample time to discuss the many layers and dimensions of our business. We discussed the past, the present, and the future of the networking industry in Europe and Extreme’s place in it, looking at it from the perspective of technology, partners, sales, distribution, and – last but not least – customers representing individual verticals.
What kind of vision will be driving our business towards 2030 and beyond? How does the Extreme technology address the needs of digital transformation across industries? What kind of practices and strategies for interacting with our Partners, Distributors and Customers work best in different markets? And how can we leverage our enormous, shared wisdom to make the cooperation between functions even more efficient? This year’s meeting sparked a lot of interesting discussions, and even more importantly, some very valuable insights and observations.
Strengthening bonds and giving back to local communities
Under normal circumstances, the meeting of our Northern & Eastern Europe Team takes place once a year. Alas, due to the pandemic we haven’t had the chance to see each other in full capacity for three long years. It didn’t come as a surprise that everyone got into the spirit of the event instantly. Especially given the fact that for some of our newer teammates this year’s summit was the first chance to finally meet and connect with everyone in-person!
As a matter of principle, we always try to learn as much as we can about the culture of the country that’s hosting our regional meetings. The beautiful scenery of Budapest was more than enough encouragement to discover the many flavors of Hungary, from the marvels of its architecture to the rich local cuisine. Speaking of which – what better way to strengthen the bonds and forge new friendships than over some team-building activities, such as baking a traditional Hungarian apple strudel? 🙂
But just like in our professional life, we always strive toward win-win situations and creating positive value for the world around us. This is why all the food that we made during our team-building activities has been donated to one of the home shelters in Budapest, operated by the Hungarian Red Cross. By mobilizing the power of humanity, the organization helps to achieve an environment that is free from poverty, violence, and prejudice, promoting a country with more secure living and health conditions.
All good things…
All good things come to an end, and eventually so did the regional meeting of the Extreme Networks Northern & Eastern Europe Team.
How are we going to remember Budapest? We learned a lot, laughed a ton, and made some great memories along the way. The sense of community in our team has never been stronger and we can’t wait till we all meet again, this time with our Partners and Customers, at the Extreme Connect 2023 conference in Berlin this May. See you there!
