Magazine Article | February 16, 2007

RSPA Continues Evolution At Hawaii Conference

OpEd, February 2007

Written by: Dan Schell

Of the many things that I learned while at the recent RSPA (Retail Solutions Providers Association) Inspire2007 conference in Hawaii, one was glaringly evident — I cannot do the hula. For those poor souls who had to witness my inability to gyrate at the RSPA Luau, I apologize. What can I say, the girl who dragged me up on stage wore a grass skirt and a bra made of coconuts. It was hard to concentrate!

When I wasn't making a fool of myself in front of the nearly 190 people in attendance for this event, I was networking with some key POS (point of sale) VARs and vendors. Most of my discussions with both audiences revolved around the current state of the RSPA. After all, 2006 was a transition year for the association. At last year's RSPA winter conference, I sat on a panel with some key industry vendors who fielded questions about the association opening up its membership to include more than just VARs and dealers. That proposition was passed at the summer conference and a new executive director, Joe Finizio, was hired. The board of directors worked hard and fast creating new bylaws, and the first vendor members were voted in. And if that wasn't enough change for a 50-year-old organization, a revised logo and a new layout/title for the association's magazine (Connect) also were implemented. Needless to say, there was a lot to talk about in Hawaii.

Vendors/Distributors ID What They Can Offer

The consensus from all of the members I spoke with was that these changes have been positive. As I expected, there were a few who remained highly skeptical of the intentions of any non-VAR/dealer members. And, some of the members I spoke with said they expected it would be years until the real impact of this change would be felt.

The vendors and distributors seemed intent on making sure they lived up to their promise of helping to drive membership and the POS industry in general. Two impromptu 6:30 a.m. meetings were scheduled and attended by presidents and VPs from companies such as APG, BlueStar, CRS, Datacap, Epson, Heartland Payment, Ingram Micro, Mercury Payment, MMF, PSC, ScanSource, Star Micronics, and Transact. Members of the board, including President Steve Kramer, Howie Akin, and Bryon Stiller also attended these meetings. In general, there were discussions as to how the vendors could specifically help the RSPA's education and marketing committees. Some of the questions included:

Could existing vendor members encourage other large vendors to join?
Could vendors offer their training facilities for RSPA-sponsored education sessions?
Could distributors allow the RSPA to recruit members at their partner conferences?

Considering these were impromptu, non-mandatory meetings, no firm decisions were made. However, Finizio suggested an action group be formed that would follow up on some of the key issues.

What About PC4?

One issue that won't be resolved by this vendor group, though, is the future of PC4. During the past year, Bob Nethery took over the reigns at the distributor, streamlining its operations and recently adding some new vendors. However, ever since the concept of an industry association started, there have been questions about why distributors, in particular, would want to support an association with a distributor arm. At the early-morning vendor meetings in Hawaii, the PC4 topic was brought up once; one attendee suggested transforming the distributor into a training/services arm for RSPA. Although the topic wasn't discussed again, I'm sure it was on many attendees' minds.

I also attended the "What's Your VQ [value quotient]?" education presentations each day along with many other VARs/dealers and vendors. Honestly, I wish more RSPA members had attended these sessions, because I think they could have benefited from the information. As one attendee told me, "Some of this information is common sense, but it's the kind of information we never have the time to review since we're so busy running our businesses. Also, it has been interesting comparing some of my business strategies to the speaker's and other dealers in these sessions. I already have some ideas I plan to implement when I get back."

Overall, I felt this conference symbolized another step in RSPA's continual evolution into an industry association. The event was well attended, and it gave the vendors and VARs/dealers numerous opportunities to network face-to-face and discuss business strategies, new products, and industry trends.

And it gave them the opportunity to laugh at my embarrassing hula exhibition.

See some more photos from the event below.

Bruce Mann (CRS) chats with some RSPA VARs.