Auto-Star was excited to exhibit at the Annual BlueStar VARTECH 2022 Conference in Orlando, Florida this September 12th and 13th. BlueStar bills their annual event as the #1 Channel event for VAR’s (Value Added Resellers) and after a couple year hiatus for us, it did not disappoint. Boasting 1,400 attendees from 45 countries, VARTECH brought together a diverse set of technology companies and service providers from all over the world to collaborate and find solutions for businesses across many different industries.
As a bronze sponsor of VARTECH and an Independent Software Vendor (ISV, BlueStar calls us TSC’s) we were given an opportunity to present our point of sale and retail management solutions to hundreds of Value-Added Resellers from across the world while having an opportunity to learn from many leaders in our industry. If you missed VARTECH 2022, here is just a sampling of what you missed.
Innovative Self Service
We collaborated with Elo Touch Solutions to certify our Self-Checkout Solution with their Wallaby Self-Service Stand. The Wallaby line of self-service stands can streamline the installation of interactive experiences in high-traffic public environments. We find it a great fit for our retail self-checkout solution. Using best of breed Elo Touch computers, the Wallaby Self-Service stands offer a sleek, easy to install option for our retail value added resellers to implement our proven, affordable & flexible Self-Checkout Solution.
There was a ton of excitement around our upcoming Self-Checkout release which will offer flexible U.S. payment solutions including Debit, Credit, EBT and Contactless as well as scanner-scale support with our innovative Quick Flip solution.
Relationship Building
Yes, we all know that networking is important but, in a world, where connectivity is ubiquitous, sometimes real connection is hard to find. BlueStar VARTECH 2022 was as much about a celebration of the channel as it was about the business of the channel. After being unable to travel for the last few VARTECH events, it was great to be able to meet our industry partners in person.
I had more than one attendee and vendor partner comment how important personal connections are, especially these days. Aside from the fact that it’s just fun to connect with good people that share similar values of innovation and providing high levels of customer service and support, there are a few macro head winds that continue to challenge the channel. One is the continued supply chain issues that have plagued the technology hardware industry (and many others) for the last few years. Having a partner that you can trust is integral when sourcing hardware and ensuring that you’re communicating effectively and setting reasonable expectations with your customers. Second, is a looming recession. While cost increases continue to cut into margins and make planning and projections more difficult, having real partners with good relationships help our company manage these head winds.
Latest Technology Solutions
We partnered with Touch Dynamic to demonstrate our grocery store point of sale and retail management solution on the all new Razor All-In-One Touch Screen POS Terminal. The Razor offers a “razor-thin” display with a modern, sophisticated look and feel while offering a fast, powerful next-generation processor. We were excited to show our grocery store point of sale solutions with signature capture, leveraging the convenient swivel base. Just swivel the screen to the customer and allow them to sign for their accounts receivable purchases. We are confident in offering our grocery store point of sale solutions paired with Touch Dynamic point of sale hardware solutions, especially as they have recently won their 8th consecutive Retail Service Providers Association 2022 Vendor Award of Excellence award.
Inspiration
The BlueStar VARTECH General Session keynote speaker was Mick Ebeling of not impossible. Working as a movie producer Mick was touched by the challenges faced by an artist and his family struggling with the effects of ALS. He was struck by the lack of access to technology solutions that would help manage the disease so that the artist could not only communicate but create again. Mick talked about seeing something as “absurd” and challenging himself and others to find creative solutions to problems to make a real difference in the world.
With multiple standing ovations, Mick described how he and his team created a solution for this artist and have since worked together to develop solutions to address some of the world’s biggest problems from accessible healthcare to food insecurity. Mick challenged the crowd to find to find their “one” person. Someone who they can help by either using their own expertise or finding collaborators to address a problem they see as absurd. It was a great way to kick off the show and left many attendees feeling inspired to use the privileges we all have to make a difference in the world.
It was great to be back at BlueStar VARTECH 2022 and have an opportunity to collaborate with our industry partners, Value Added Resellers & thought leaders. If you were at VARTECH let us know at info@auto-star.com ? If you missed VARTECH, you missed a lot.
