Finding Business Agility for Dealers and Tech Providers at the Executive Connection Summit

Hosted by Mike Stramaglio and The Consortium, the Executive Connection Summit (ECS) took place in Scottsdale, AZ, from January 16-18. Driven by the business agility theme at the event, all of the speakers, panelists, and sponsors did not disappoint—the focus areas were comprehensive and diverse.

Each of the following sessions gave an unvarnished view into current-day happenings, longer-term strategies, and an outlook for the future (not all sessions listed):

• “Business Agility: Re-Inventing Tired Methods of Doing Business” (Patrick Dees and Ray Austin from Fan Controlled Football)
• “Driving Opportunities in a Changing World” (Mike Marusic of Sharp)
• “Business Agility Through Business Transformation” (Michael Walton of Microsoft and Tim Linsenmeyer of Clover)
• “Expectations for 2022” (panel consisted of Dave Perrotta of Gridiron Capital, Ron Petrucci of Katun Corporation, Larry White of Toshiba America Business Solutions, and David Drishpon of Tesserae Technologies, with Laura Blackmer of Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. as the moderator)
• “Gridiron MVP to the Boardroom” (Shaun Phillips of Kaiser Tile)
• “Roadmap for Success in 2022” (panel consisted of Doug Albregts of Marco, Doug Pitassi of POA, and Chris Taylor of Fisher’s Technology, with Rick Taylor of RK Taylor Consulting as the moderator)

The industry has had challenges since 2020, what with COVID’s impact and the supply chain disruption. However, there are plenty of spaces—“diversification” was a buzzword a year or two ago, whereas “business agility” adds a sense of operational efficiency to the concept—where the dealer channel and the technology providers have seen tremendous growth. It is apparent that dealers and the vendors supporting them were all able to shift gears quickly to expand and lend support to their customers in:

• Managed IT services
• Remote services (e.g., video and conferencing solutions)
• Security solutions and cameras
• Managed print services for remote/home users

These services align well with ongoing Keypoint Intelligence research, areas in which the channel is having success. For the stronger office equipment dealers surveyed, they are now deriving a larger percentage of their revenue from non-print products and services.

Source: Keypoint Intelligence Channel Survey 2021

During the ECS event, it was announced that GreatAmerica Financial Services had reinforced its commitment to supporting office technology dealers as they evolve beyond print and into services and solutions with its technology financing capabilities. The finance company offers a master document with a supplemental approach to create a way for office technology providers to easily match financing for new solutions with their sales process. From Keypoint’s perspective, this news further backs the changing industry where software offerings, technology, services, and business agility are the ways of the future in the dealer community, one that is primed for further growth.

Another major talking point throughout the Executive Connection Summit was the need to enhance customer engagement and experience as a means to finding new ways to do business. The blending of digital with traditional ways of selling are here to stay. The pandemic has forever changed how salespeople interact with customers in any industry. For the dealer channel, a key to success will be to adapt to the new ways of sales enablement—especially with labor shortages, difficulties finding qualified sales reps, and the fact that over 80% of pre-sales investigation and research is being performed through online channels.

Keypoint Intelligence had the great pleasure of not only attending the ECS event, but President and CEO Anthony Sci addressed the crowd by adding to the conversation around business agility: “Our UVERCE™ platform has countless benefits to the dealer channel, such as creating more sales opportunities, having a better coverage strategy, enabling communications between reps and customers as well as differentiating your solutions from  competitors through UVERCE™ sales enablement.”

While business models are changing, the future is bright for those who embrace and implement business agility. Keypoint Intelligence looks forward to being part of these exciting times for our industry.

To experience UVERCE™ or to schedule a demo, please visit this page. More questions? Just send us an email at uverce@keypointintelligence.com. To learn more about Keypoint Intelligence, please go here or email sales@keypointintelligence.com.