By Andy Slawetsky – The Business Technology Association (BTA) has concluded their Gateway to Success event in San Antonio, the third in a series of four conferences for office equipment resellers.
Dealers and vendors attend these meetings for networking, to learn about potential partners, to meet with current vendors and to learn from their peers and special guest speakers. It’s always a fantastic day and a half.
Mark Spears from Amplified Solutions got things going the first morning, moderating a dealer panel on AI. Anthony Delgrosso of Milner, Bob Doucette of Smart Technologies, and Kevin Ellison of AIS each shared with us how they are using AI right now in very different ways. Want to see how dealers like you are putting AI to work? Attend a BTA conference.
Next came the first exhibit of the event followed by smaller breakout sessions; one for sales, service and another on AI.
After lunch, a financial expert spoke to attendees about recent interest rate news; where are they going long term, are we ultimately heading for another recession, why should you be buying long term bonds? John Beriau of Morgan Stanley returned to tell us that and much more. Useful financial information like this is just another reason to attend these meetings.
Another dealer panel on dealer acquisitions had Thomas Fimian of Levify, Bill Patsouras of Function 4, and Rich Simons of Edge Business Systems sharing their unique approaches to acquiring other companies. Between their three three companies, they have collectively acquired nearly two dozen dealers, MSPs and even a mailing company in the last few years. What size is the sweet spot for them? What hiccups have they experienced? What advice do they have to other dealers? They covered all of this before entertaining questions from attendees in this interactive session.
There was more exhibit time throughout the day and additional breakout sessions on sales management, service management and more “practical AI” presentations before we made it to the end of day reception.
The evening left attendees free to enjoy the San Antonio Riverwalk. Bob Goldberg, myself and Raj Thadani of Mars International spent some time at the Top Golf Simulator in the hotel at a mini event hosted by ACDI and partners PaperCut and EtherFax (love the new branding).
The next morning started with another panel, this one hosted by Deborah Hawkins of Keypoint Intelligence. Deborah is from their European offices and was one of a few guests that traveled across the Atlantic for this conference. The panel was called Selling Strategies for Cybersecurity Services and it featured Pamela Feld of Triumph Technology Group, Keith Johnson of Obviam (subsidiary of Modern Office Methods) and Davis Tran of C3 Tech. What are other dealers doing in Cybersecurity? Come to a BTA conference and find out.
Following a bit more time with exhibitors, the day closed with an expert overview of What’s Happenin’ in the industry , discussing FUJIFILM, Konica Minolta, Xerox and everyone in between (will brent post the video? Stay tuned!), followed by prize drawings.
BTA events are always an excellent couple of days and whether you’re in sales or service, if you’re in a management position at an office equipment reseller, it’s well worth your time to attend. Where else can you learn from your peers, meet new and current partners and sit through presentations and educational sessions about your business? If you’re reading this, you should go to one or two a year at the bare minimum.
The upcoming conference features Konica Minolta President Laura Blackmer (fresh off her Patriot Pack fundraising trip down the east coast) as the Key Note Speaker, “Dealers & the Profit Dilemma — How to Get Help From Your Manufacturers”.
Click here for information about how to attend or sponsor the Fall Colors Retreat conference in Asheville NC and you can watch Laura’s presentation live and maybe even ask a question at the end or afterwards.
Like all BTA events, this one was sponsored. Here’s the list of vendors at the show that also sponsor this publication:
Xerox
Sharp
ACDI Etherfax PaperCut
ARCOA
Brother
ECI
ecoprintQ PaperCut
FP Mailing Solutions
GreatAmerica
IBPI
Keypoint Intelligence
Ricoh
SalesChain
Toshiba
Click here to see the full list of event sponsors.
Insert Robo Gallery Here: 2024 BTA San Antonio Photo
SOURCE Industry Analysts Inc.
