When bouncing along the road, attending the multitude of manufacturer-hosted dealer events, you’re bound to bump into a multitude of familiar faces. But for dealers to truly get the full, unabridged diet of manufacturers, suppliers and purveyors of office technology in an agnostic setting, the annual Imaging & Technology Education Expo (ITEX) is arguably the best opportunity to see it all.
This year’s event, held at the cavernous MGM Grand in Las Vegas, was dubbed “Own the Office, Piece by Piece,” and ITEX CEO Marc Spring certainly did an admirable job of lining up a who’s who of exhibitors representing almost every star in the office technology galaxy. This year’s logo entailed a six-piece puzzle, with the show’s logo connected by five main cogs: managed IT, managed print, document management, office solutions and telecom/mailing.
The three-day expo also featured a robust lineup of educational sessions, covering high-interest segments including marketing and lead generation, managed IT and the cloud, MSP strategies, MPS and print, and cybersecurity. But perhaps the true strength of ITEX lies in its ability to act as a homecoming for dealers and their technology partners to touch base and reconnect in person.
“I always like to stay up with what’s going on, to find out what the present and future look like,” remarked Jim Donnellon, CEO of Cincinnati-based Donnellon McCarthy Enterprises, who has attended the show for roughly 15 years. “Also, when you’ve been in the business as long as I have, you see a lot of your friends and the vendors. It’s always great to meet up with them and keep your relationships strong.”
Hot Prospects
That sentiment was also shared by many of the exhibitors on hand. Christian Pepper, president of the channel partner division for LD Products, believes Las Vegas is the perfect hot spot to attract the maximum amount of dealers. While dealer attendance was lighter than he had anticipated—particularly on Thursday—Pepper was heartened by the 20 new prospects LD Products reaped on the first day. The consumables distributor also played host to another half-dozen crop of existing clients for productive, in-person meetings.
“For the cost of a small booth and to bring our team out here, it was a good return on investment,” Pepper said. “This is the second year of Marc’s team doing this, and I think he will get a lot of feedback from exhibitors and dealers. Hopefully, he will be able to make some changes that will build on this show for next year.”
Pepper applauded Spring for enticing several industry organizations to co-locate with ITEX, such as Compass Sales Solutions’ sales strategies event, Visual Edge Technology’s dealer meetings, the Select Dealer Group meetings, MSP Expo and the MPSA awards ceremony. Pepper feels the key to building on this foundation is to continue focusing on innovation and encouraging dealers to attend in an economical fashion.
He was also piqued by the influx of Far East exhibitors who are making inroads into the American market, creating more competition. Pepper has always welcomed competition, and he is curious to see how these providers will fare. “It’s going to change the market, and it will be interesting to see how that plays out,” he said. “Is it something that’s going to be beneficial for dealers? Do dealers have the ability to directly import product from China and do they have the ability to manage supply chain and quality control processes? It remains to be seen. We’re also starting to see more and more companies at ITEX that are not just print related, which is interesting as well.”
Evolving Show
Making his way around the show floor was Craig Spooner, director of sales, North America, for UniNet. A 14-year veteran of the company, Spooner noted that UniNet passed on having a booth this year because its top executives were participating in FESPA. He pulled double duty, promoting not just UniNet’s toner and component products, but also its iColor Printing Solutions division.
“This show has become a big mix,” Spooner noted. “It’s kind of a total office show, where you can get printers, software, logistics, toner. Unfortunately, there’s no true toner show anymore. We just wanted to have a presence here, and I’m sure we’ll exhibit again in the future.”
For some, the allure of ITEX is too much to pass up. Take Barry Woodland, a longtime attendee with various companies who had actually retired before being enticed to join the MPS Division of Ninestar this year. He’d retired following 17 years in the remanufacturing and compatibles industry, only to realize that he missed the sales game.
“I’m a salesman at heart and I get big eyes when an opportunity comes walking up,” Woodland said. “I’d missed that charge, that little pizazz that keeps you enthused. I still enjoy the whole process of meeting people, building the relationship and looking for what fits, what makes sense. If what I can offer works for you and will help you make more money, it’s a wonderful thing.”
