By Andy Slawetsky – In late March, Huntington Beach, California, was the setting for a gathering of the print and imaging industry’s familiar faces and eager newcomers. TD Synnex’s PrintSolv western dealer conference drew around 100 attendees, spanning resellers, sponsors, and TD Synnex representatives to review TD Synnex’s 2023 performance and to find out What’s Happenin’ in 2024.
The conference kicked off with an evening reception where those who had arrived gathered for the initial meet and greet. The formal agenda began the following morning with Desiree Cruz, VP of Product Management for PrintSolv, and Shelley Christianson, Director of Product Management at HPI, setting the stage. They presented the itinerary and logistics, ensuring all attendees were primed for what was to come.
EVP Gary Palenbaum brought an energy to the room as he addressed the crowd. With an impressive 20% year-over-year growth and a commanding 70% market share in the office equipment reseller channel for printers, the figures spoke volumes about the direction and health of the business. While the overall industry may be slowly shrinking, TD Synnex is still on an upward trajectory in this category, showing there is still plenty of fuel left in that old print machine.
Throughout the conference, leaders from heavyweight industry partners took the stage. Adam Rosenberg of Lexmark delved into the specifics of Lexmark’s AI platform, Optra, while Brandon Emerson of HP discussed the longevity of print and HP’s expansive portfolio, particularly emphasizing the A3 segment. Patrick O’Rourke of Xerox rounded out the presentations, providing insights into Xerox’s product suite and strategies on managed print services, network security, and their foray into robotic process automation.
TD Synnex personnel weren’t just hosts; they led informative panel discussions, shedding light on dealer success stories and untapped opportunities within the organization, such as financing programs that many were perhaps unaware of.
A ‘speed dating’ session broke the traditional conference mold, where dealers rotated between tables, spending a valuable 12 minutes with each of the sponsoring vendors—Brother, HP, Xerox, Lexmark, Epson, Canon, Ricoh, and Sharp Electronics. This format provided an interactive way to digest a vast amount of information and establish direct contacts with the vendors.
Between the formalities, a vendor area offered the lighter side of the conference, with opportunities for attendees to collect SWAG and engage in more relaxed conversations, building upon discussions from earlier sessions.
The event culminated in a social evening held in a local wine cave, where conversations continued to flow.
TD Synnex has been active in this channel for years, but since the merging of Tech Data and Synnex in 2021, the single company has renewed their focus on print, MPS, and office equipment resellers. Their catalog fits perfectly with one of the biggest industry trends of diversification and they spent a great deal of time during the conference discussing how resellers can “go deeper” in their accounts with additional TDS technology.
Although we have seen them at conferences for years, this was our first time covering a TD Synnex event and we were not disappointed. At $56 billion in annual revenue, TDS is one of the key companies in this industry and one worth watching over the next few years as they increase their footprint in this channel.
SOURCE Industry Analysts Inc.
