One Dealer’s Opinion: Al Scibetta’s Take on the 2012 Konica Minolta Dealer Meeting

A couple of weeks ago I shared my impressions of the Konica Minolta Dealer meeting. I thought it would be interesting to get another perspective, that of Al Scibetta, president of Copier Fax Business Technologies in Buffalo, New York, and the winner of the 2011 Konica Minolta Dealer Award of Excellence.

“All Covered was huge,” states Scibetta. “I loved the 20/20 Webinar and discussing the millennials and the generation breaks. When you really start to analyze it, it’s very intriguing to see how the workforce is changing.”

Al Scibetta

Scibetta was also impressed by what Konica Minolta is doing with production print, particularly the bizhub PRO 951, which will be compatible with more software and interface with Page Scope Enterprise Suite.

 “Up until now production print kind of cut off all of those software features,” he says. “That’s going to mean a lot because in school systems we won’t have to go in with the 751 anymore and put multiples of them in. We’ll be able to go in with the bizhub Pro 951 and have it interface with everything else. That was a nice piece to see.”

He also liked the C7800 high production color print system from KIP.

“We’re very impressed by it and have four solid opportunities for it right now,” stated Scibetta. “It does 9 prints a minute in full color. The target audience are people who maybe have six HPs sitting against the wall, but they run all night and make one copy every five minutes at a cost that will choke you. The lease payment on these things might be able to be made on the savings in page print costs alone.”

He’s equally impressed by Konica Minolta’s EnvisionIT vertical market approach for education, medical and legal as well as their Campaign Builder, a turnkey direct marketing program that provides dealers with a template to create marketing campaigns in their local markets.

“They’ve got some great packages to support their products,” states Scibetta. “The ability for us to create our own custom pieces is like a plug and play for us. They’re really giving dealers great tools to stand out in the marketplace.”

But for Scibetta, the networking opportunities remain one of the primary reasons for attending.

“The biggest part of these shows is being able to meet with your peers and to talk with your peers and Konica Minolta executives.”