This week in Dallas Toshiba set a new standard for OEM conferences with its LEAD 2014 End User Conference. I say “a new standard” because of all the OEM events this is the first that exclusively targeted end users as opposed to past LEAD conferences that split the event between a dealer and an end user conference.
“It’s been a great show,” noted Larry White, vice president, sales, in his opening remarks at the press breakfast the final day of the show. “We’re happy with the number of end users, dealers, and TBS subsidiaries that are at LEAD.”
The ultimate goal of bringing end users to LEAD is to write business. That model seems to be paying off with White reporting that last year’s LEAD Conference resulted in $10 million in business from the Toshiba customers and prospects at that conference. This year he anticipates to do even better, somewhere in the $12 million range.
This year’s LEAD had 575 attendees, approximately 215 of those end users. To attend, a dealer must bring customers or prospects.
For press, analysts, and dealers who usually get a detailed roadmap of the future, new product introductions and previews at these conferences, the 2014 LEAD End User Conference offered a completely different model. There were no major revelations because this event is designed to introduce end users to Toshiba as a technology company and highlight the broad array of products, solutions, and services as well as the trends that are driving Toshiba’s business and businesses in general in this digital world. The breakout sessions also had a distinct end user focus too.
One message that came through loud and clear throughout the event was Toshiba’s commitment to digital signage and content management. It’s not a new message by any stretch, but it’s a message that was emphasized in the General Session, the breakouts, and the product fair for Toshiba’s channel partners, press, analysts, and of course the all-important end users and prospects attending LEAD. Clearly, Toshiba is not the only company delving into digital signage, but they are doing it differently. The difference between Toshiba’s approach and some of the other vendors in the space is that Toshiba isn’t just focusing on the digital signage, but everything in the process, including content.
“Not many companies can do that,” said Bill Melo, chief marketing executive, referring to the hardware, the software, and the content management pieces of Toshiba’s digital signage business model. “We always saw this as a services offering, not a product offering.”
It may be an overstatement to say that Toshiba is staking its future on digital signage, but it’s not an understatement to say that it is expected to be a big part of its future. When it comes to the future, it’s always risky trying to predict it, but when Scott Maccabe, president and CEO, was asked what percentage of Toshiba’s overall revenues would come from digital signage within the next five years, he responded, “Probably 25 percent.”
That’s not to say Toshiba is drifting away from its legacy business. “Our owners want us to grow the MFP business, so there’s no retreat from output,” added Melo.
The model for this event remains unique in the industry although next year the format will return to the split between a dealer conference and an end user conference. As long as dealers and Toshiba continue to see growth in the amount of business they’re writing as the result of this event along with the added value of customer retention, why mess with a winning formula?
