What's Happenin' at the Konica Minolta Dealer Conference

By Andy Slawetsky – Konica Minolta became the first printer manufacturer since COVID began to hold a dealer conference when they held their Full Throttle event May 25 – 27.

Over 160 attendees gathered at the scenic Hoboken W Hotel overlooking the Manhattan skyline. It was a perfect welcome back that was years in the making.

The event began with a cocktail reception and short welcome from President Laura Blackmer, CEO Sam Errigo and former NY Giants QB Eli Manning as one of three celebrity guests in attendance.

If you haven’t been paying attention, Konica Minolta is still a major sponsor in racing and Wayne Taylor, owner of Wayne Taylor Racing and his driver (and son) Ricky Taylor played a big part of the Full Throttle theme.

Dealers came in from all over for this event and many hadn’t seen each other in over three years. The party continued for quite a while after dinner!

The next morning began bright and early with a bus ride over to Konica Minolta’s Client Engagement Center in Ramsey NJ.

This building is Konica Minolta’s technology showcase and is home to a massive area housing some of the biggest presses and label printers I’ve seen in a while. It’s an extremely impressive facility.

The walk into this Customer Engagement Center allowed Konica Minolta to flex their muscles a bit, showing off big iron, solutions and, of course, the Wayne Taylor Racing Konica Minolta #10 car.

Laura began the morning with a touching tribute to Konica Minolta dealer Al Scibetta, who passed away earlier this year.

Laura then went on to update attendees, press and analysts on their situation with respect to COVID, shipping issues, inflation, toner and more. These were actual topics and they were all covered head-on.

Next, CEO Sam Errigo spoke, talking numbers and business highlights from 2021.

Managed Services Grew
Service Revenue Improved
Industrial Print Had Significant Growth

Sam also took the opportunity to recognize his newly formed team with Mike Lee as SVP CIO, Vijay Raghavan, SVP Digital Transformation and Emerging Business, a new CFO with EVP Holly DeSantis and a new general council with SVP Steve Herbs.

Next up was a panel led by Laura with Wayne and Ricky Taylor. It was an excellent discussion about adapting to change and team work.

Following the panel, Elisa Esposito announced Konica Minolta’s new rewards program designed to help fuel dealer growth. A new dashboard allows users to better understand where they can maximize their activities based on revenue opportunity.

Kay Fernandez finished up the pre-lunch presentations with a discussion of the KM DX customer journey.

Kay also discussed their data-driven marketing strategy and what’s been going on behind the scenes since their last dealer meeting in Carlsbad in 2019.

After a fun food truck lunch, we headed back inside for our press and media discussion with Sam, Laura and Kay. It’s so refreshing that some OEMs still take the time to sit down with us and explain What’s Happenin’ in their organizations and what their future plans and strategies are.

For some companies in this industry, it’s not just about a stock price. KM has done a commendable job standing in front of their dealers and the press for the last 3 years, both virtually and by attending conferences and meetings from groups like BTA, American Coop, BPCA, etc.

Keeping their resellers and the industry informed isn’t easy, especially when we’ve seen the product shortages and other issues dealers are faced with. Kudos to Konica Minolta for not ducking the difficult issues and questions.

CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL EVENT PHOTOS

After the press Q & A portion of the day, we concluded with breakout sessions covering a variety of topics like DX strategy, vertical market strategies, security cameras, and more. As Laura said it was a 3-day meeting held in one day.

It was interesting that rather than a large product fair showcasing all of their partners as many OEMs have done in the past, Konica Minolta tamed it down for this meeting, limiting sponsor opportunities to ACDI , PaperCut and a couple of others.

After the conference, we were brought back to the Manhattan skyline in Jersey City where we were treated to some off-Broadway fun and of course, a few awards.

Konica Minolta held an informative and fun meeting. While they’re still struggling with inventory issues, a common theme in most industries these days, KM has pushed ahead, launching new and innovative programs that will help their resellers going forward.

We appreciate being included in this event, the candor of the executives and the effort being made by KM to keep us all informed about What’s Happenin’ with Konica Minolta!