What I saw last week in my 36 hours at ITEX could easily suck up a few thousand words and more time than anyone in their right mind would want to spend reading a recap of the ITEX show.
Truth be told, there was a lot to see and a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do it in. I couldn’t walk 20 feet without bumping into someone I knew or someone I’ve interviewed before, or some company I’ve written about. All of that takes time. Still, I was able to make it to a few of the sessions and visit a healthy number of exhibitors.
To recap the show I’m going to attempt a different approach. What I’ve come up with is a down and dirty view from the carpeted concrete floor of the exhibit hall complete with comments culled from various exhibitors who I asked to share with me the message that they wanted attendees, including those of you who weren’t there but wished you were, to take home from this year’s conference.
“We have a lot of opportunities to work solutions and equipment solutions from various manufacturers into our MPS program and we would love to talk to resellers about the products that they sell and how we could help them connect with those programs.” Sarah Custer, MPS Solutions, Team Manager, Supplies Network
“Technology is changing and it’s important for us to all innovate, and [for you] to consider PaperCut in your portfolio around your devices.” Chris Dance, CEI & Co-Founder, PaperCut
“ESP continues to develop intelligent diagnostic solutions to assist the BTA channel. We have a new management system that integrates with our enVision technology to assist dealerships to further service machines out in the field and provide high end intelligence that not only tells them about power issues that are occurring, but also provides them with advice and assistance to help them resolve those issues. We also have remote diagnostic technology that provides IT accessibility and we will be releasing a cloud troubleshooting tool.” Tanya Flores, Director of Marketing, ESP/SurgeX
“We appreciate your business, we love the 3D printer we now have in place and we love our new ColorEdge products—it’s the best color consumable compatible cartridge in the market.” Scott Lewis, National Sales Director, Arlington Industries
“I want people to remember the next evolution in print management is data. Make that data work for you and connect your devices to supplies partners that can automate your business process.” Elise McFarlane, Marketing Manager, Print Fleet
“We are a one-stop shop for scanners and have various products from 25-ppm to 80-ppm. As a manufacturer we can offer high quality products and great customer service from our warehouse in Los Angeles.” Cindy Teng, Account Manager, Plustek
“Laserfiche is scalable for anyone [a dealer or reseller] who has as a customer or for any prospect. Ultimately, we can make the customer happier and this will keep the customer loyal to them. We’re looking at the VARs as a partner and the customer the same [way]. We’re not looking to sell them and then say, ‘see you later.’ It’s a partnership across the board.” James Shearer, Director of Sales, Laserfiche
“We’ve been in this business for a long time and know this business well, and we can add value in many ways. It’s not about the transaction, it’s more about a value proposition and a relationship we build with our clients.” Raj Thadani, COO, Mars International
“Green Project is constantly evolving. Within the last year we’ve seen the industry change quite a bit. We continue to focus on good quality products that meet our customer’s needs. Next, we focus on an affordable price as you can see with our GP3D line of 3D products. Our customers are looking for an affordable low-priced 3D printer. Our GP3D line has MSRPs of $549 and $649 MSRP. They are something people can take home and play with and print things they’d never thought about. Even if they don’t know much about 3D design they can easily go online to any 3D design shared porthole to download any type of design. 3D printing is the future. It’s still in the early stages, but give it some time, once prices come down and content increases, there’s going to be a much higher demand.” Joseph Wu, President, Green Project, Inc.
“There are so many things we wish the attendees could take away after visiting our booth, but the most important thing is knowing that they, the dealers, have an alternative to their current business system and infrastructure that can grow with them and expand their current lines of business. MWA Intelligence, Inc. designed and developed FORZA, built on the SAP Business One platform, and it truly enables the dealers to control their own data and expand within and beyond the imaging channel!” Jenna Stramaglio, VP Marketing, MWAi
“We’ve been in the U.S. market for a couple of years now; we don’t have as many products as [some of our competitors], but we are expanding our product line and want the BTA channel to consider Sindoh as a secondary line.” Minseob Kim, COO, Overseas Operation Division, Sindoh America, Ltd.
“Dealers are looking for diversification and 3D printing is taking off now and it’s a business model they all understand. I’m excited about the conversations we’ve had with some of the dealers; they are showing a lot more interest.” Andy Wager, Business Development Manager, 3D, Scansource
“Trade shows today are all about preparation and we’re able to create productivity and hopefully drive our line because we prepare well in advance. We know who is going to be here, we set meetings, we bring data, and we use the time to have high quality meetings, and also showcase new products and solutions. For us this show was particularly impactful because we had a lot of new things to show and solutions to roll out. We have the MSE platform for Managed Print Services and two new marketing programs bolted around that. We have a lot of new exciting things to talk about. We also had multiple prescheduled meetings. The days of setting up a booth and waiting for people to come are gone. That’s not a knock on the trade show or the trade show organizers, it’s just the nature of the industry. Because of our preparation we’ll ultimately have a productive show along with a lot of new and exciting things to showcase.” Luke Goldberg, Global SVP Sales & Marketing, Clover Technologies Group
“CompTIA has a live and vibrant managed print community and offers a Managed Print trust mark. [Our print community] works directly with the CompTIA research team. They have a White Paper in development and are driving a lot of value back into the Managed Print industry. You should be looking at CompTIA.” Lisa Person, Director, Member Communities, CompTIA
“We’re a 27-year old independent leasing company that got into the office products and copier market five years ago. We now have a full-fledged program and offer all the programs that the big boys offer except we’re totally independent. We have a great story. We’ve entered trucking, IT, we’re a major player in the market now and are the IBPI-endorsed finance source for all the IBPI office product dealers.” Jerry Harne, Business Development, Vendor Services Group, Balboa Capital
“We offer quality in manufacturing, especially with color toner. The aftermarket for color toner is only 7 percent of total market compared to mono; everybody tells me there’s going to see a lot of growth in color in the years to come.” Lucy Ziu, General Manager of North America, Mito Color Imaging Co., Ltd.
“Lexmark has true game changing workflow applications. If they stop by and take a look at AccuRead Automate they know that we’ve got something that is truly a conversation starter and something that will help any customer they talk with and will drive more revenue for them.” Phil Boatman, Business Alliance Manager, Lexmark International
“As channel partners are looking at ways to be more efficient and provide solutions to customers and make it easy on their teams to implement, Ringdale has the right product to make it simple and easy to implement the solution customers want—mobile printing, document output management—and make it simpler for their teams to sell solutions.” Eric Crump, Director of Strategic Alliances, Ringdale
“We’ve been more technology focused than marketing focused and we’re trying to change that. We’re the only enterprise print solution that’s not made by an OEM. The biggest benefit we bring to our channel and OEM partners is providing them with a solution that’s easy to implement.” Michael Frattini, Director, South Central Region, Square9
“OKI was really happy to be at ITEX to demonstrate our full portfolio of products for the BTA channel. We demonstrated our A3 products, our A4 mid workgroup products as well as our five station C941 that has white and clear toner in addition to the normal four-color process. It was an opportunity for people to see products live and if they weren’t here they’ll be able to get more information on our Website.” Mike Garofola, Sr. Marketing Manager Channel Marketing, OKI Data Americas, Inc.
“Hytec provides authorized support for most of the Japanese equipment and we can typically save dealers 60-70 percent off a new board replacement cost with a longer warranty.” Eric Auman, President, CEO, GM, Hytec
“The biggest thing for us was reconnecting with real opportunities, talking to customers and people who aren’t customers that have some serious buying power and can really propel us forward.” Jennifer Boyd, Director of Marketing, Parts Now
