Approximately 450 people gathered early this month in Kansas City, Missouri, to officially commemorate the Business Technology Association’s 100th anniversary. CEO CJ Cannata and I were among the attendees at BTA IGNITE and its 100th anniversary bash. We present our top eight takeaways:
8. Rich traditions indeed should be celebrated.
From early typewriters and PCs to the origins of NOMDA (BTA’s precursor until 1993, when the National Office Machine Dealers Association merged with LANDA: the Local Area Network Dealers Association), we’ve heard a lot about workplace technological changes over the past century. In his introductory remarks, event emcee Richard Van Dyke, president and CEO of AdvancedOffice (Irvine, California), noted that adding machines once were considered high tech and went on to point out that kitchen refrigerators did not exist in 1926—and automobiles were a relatively new phenomenon when the founding members of what is now the BTA planted the association’s roots in KC. The opening evening reception at the nearby National WWI (1914-18) Museum & Memorial was apropos, Van Dyke added, because its origins date back 100 years as well.
As part of the following evening’s “Roaring Twenties” soirée theme, some women donned “flapper” attire, while men dressed the part, too, looking like characters straight out of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby. Not many industry associations have existed for 100 years, which is why we extend sincere congratulations to the BTA and its members on this significant milestone.
VIDEO: “Fridays with Frank” extends congratulations to BTA on its momentous milestone.
Celebrating the BTA with some of the industry’s best!
Clockwise from upper left:
Our President and CEO CJ Cannata (left) with Attorney Bob Goldberg (aka “the Judge”), former general counsel for the BTA; Ricoh USA’s Jenn Healy, Toshiba America’s Larry White, and Brother USA’s Kimberlie Sutterfield; Gary Russ and Mark Emmerson of Ascension Group, LLC, a new member of The Consortium and Crixkets Continuum. (Russ, left, is president/CEO, while Emmerson is senior VP of sales and marketing at the sales training and consulting firm; GreatAmerica’s Mitch Leahy, Hannah O’Donnell, and Jana Bennett; and Todd Lee from leasing partner DLL.
7. AI definitely is top of real minds.
I had an interesting chat about AI usage with Ben Johnson, president of Woodburn Company, an innovative dealer in the Pacific Northwest, which uses the technology to enhance client workflows and data access. Joining our conversation was Gary Lavin, founding partner of CEO Juice, and Jordyn Naugle, who brings the “AI juice” for this channel partner. It was enlightening to hear what’s already being done internally with artificial intelligence as well as these companies’ near-term aspirations.
As part of BTA IGNITE’s program, West McDonald of GoWest.ai led breakout sessions covering what’s working and what’s missing regarding AI in the channel. Building AI agents isn’t the crux of the matter, according to McDonald. The more important questions revolve around the workflow conversation:
- choosing the right workflows
- understanding the business case and ROI
- deciding what the agent is allowed to do
- determining where humans stay in the loop
- setting permissions, policies and guardrails
Also, IDC’s Robert Palmer talked about the future of office printing hardware and the role of the “AI MFP.”
6. Software integrations can ease dealer pain.
Integrations continue to grab news headlines in the dealer channel. For example, earlier this year CEO Juice and GreatAmerica enhanced their integration for office equipment dealerships. In the BTA IGNITE exhibit hall, which featured 57 participating companies, we spoke with SalesChain’s Chief Marketing Officer Matt Szczygiel about his company’s partnership with ECI Software Solutions. SalesChain is now a preferred partner for ECI’s e-automate quoting and CRM (customer relationship management).
In July, when the integration was first announced, Laryssa Alexander, industry president of field service at ECI, commented: “Today’s buyer is expecting a seamless ordering experience with real-time professional quotes, and they expect it fast. At the same time, manual quote-to-order processes are no longer sustainable. Speed is a competitive advantage, and through this partnership with SalesChain, we’re giving dealers the ability to quote faster and win more business, while also future-proofing their operations.”
Editor-in-Chief Mark Vruno (left) with 2026 Young Influencer Matt Szczygiel, who’s excited about SalesChain LLC’s still-new integration with ECI Software Solutions e-automate. The CMO also spoke with BTA office technology member dealers about his company’s increasingly international scope.
CMO Szczygiel is excited about SalesChain’s new ability to deliver a streamlined sales process by improving the quote-to-order process through ECI, he explained. (Szczygiel is one of The Cannata Report’s Young Influencers for 2026.)
5. Treat technology as the tool that it is.
Speaking of future-proofing dealerships, GreatAmerica CTO Arvind Rao gave a main-stage presentation stressing that sophisticated software platforms, AI, and other advanced technologies are tools and should be treated as such: no more and no less. “Invest in technologies that pay off,” Rao urged dealer owners in the room, while keeping in mind the end goal of providing a better customer experience. Complexity makes for a negative UX (user experience), he concluded, while simplicity is positive, so focus on faster answers and fewer handoffs.
Keynote speaker and author Jim Kwik shared some brain-power optimization secrets amid tech advances and warned against what he calls mental atrophy. For example, he asked the audience, somewhat rhetorically: How many phone numbers and passwords have you committed to memory? “Digital dementia” can occur when memory is offloaded to a device. Kwik, whose new book, Limitless Daily, recently became available, offered mind-boosting advice to improve cognitive fluidity.
Then, in a deep take on technology, former hacker-turned-inventor and tech futurist Pablos Holman emphasized the remarkable possibilities for the energy sector. The world has progressed so positively since the BTA’s inception in 1926, but over the past quarter-century or so we’ve hit a software-centric slowdown, he believes, and asks: What if the biggest threat to your business isn’t your competition, but what’s coming next?
In addition, sales coach/trainer Troy Harrison presented on the “Information Imbalance” and offered strategies for selling to today’s younger, better-informed buyers, while fellow trainer Kate Kingston of Kingston Training suggested how to increase net-new appointments without burning out salespeople. Keypoint Intelligence’s Deborah Hawkins moderated a print-management panel discussion on what’s next now that there are the Windows Managed Print Platform, Microsoft Universal Print, and Windows Protected Print developments.
4. People power the BTA.
Office technology aside, it’s clear that human beings are the engine behind the Business Technology Association’s success and longevity. Sixteen of BTA’s volunteer past presidents were assembled at Kansas City’s historic Union Station on September 2nd, after a KC jazz trio entertained guests during the cocktail hour and before comedian and former “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno took the stage to make us laugh. The elder statesman of that prestigious group of BTA presidents is John Kuchta, the former president of SolutionOne (Lincoln, Nebraska), whose one-year term dates back to 1983-84.
It was a Roaring Twenties theme at Kansas City’s Union Station! “Flapper” Faith Ellenberger is pictured with Bob Haffelfinger of Advanced Office Systems, Inc. (AOS), an East Coast dealer with two locations in Connecticut.
Behind the scenes at BTA are the association’s dedicated, full-time staffers, including Associate Editor Elizabeth Marvel, Marketing Director Valerie Briseno (who has been with BTA for 20 years), and, of course, longtime Executive Director Brent Hoskins. In recognition of his 40-year BTA career, Hoskins was presented with a pair of tickets for a European river cruise.
CJ caught up with Executive Director Brent Hoskins to congratulate him on his 40-year career milestone with the Business Technology Association.
Meet new BTA President Mike Boyle of BASE Technologies, Inc. in Connecticut.
3. Partnerships are deeply valued.
The vendor/manufacturer connections run thick among BTA members. Frank Cannata, our company founder, likes to remind relative newcomers about the interdependent, almost symbiotic nature of the association’s roots: “The OEMs need dealers, and vice versa.”
The 100th anniversary event was like a who’s who of the office technology channel. Who was there? Who wasn’t!? From Brother, Epson, Fujifilm, HP, Konica Minolta, and Kyocera to Ricoh, RISO, Sharp, Toshiba, and Xerox, all the major OEMs were sponsors. Howard Bonus, head of commercial strategy at De Lage Landen (DLL), talked leasing and finance partnerships. In addition to DLL, leasing partners GreatAmerica, Leaf Commercial Capital, PEAC Solutions, and Wells Fargo also had a prominent presence.
At the WWI Museum, I had the pleasure of meeting the Babins of Quality Office Products & Service in Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Gerren Babin is the CEO, and Heidi, his wife, is COO. Besides being hardcore LSU football fans (geaux, Tigers!), the couple shared an interesting story about how their dealership is working successfully with OEM Epson America.
Distributors like Distribution Management, Impression Solutions Inc., and TD SYNNEX were present as well, along with software companies ConnectWise, ECI,, SalesChain, and Square 9 Softworks (now part of Valsoft/TAG). Dan Middleton, TD SYNNEX’s VP of sales for print solutions, presented on both print and non-print-related opportunities for the dealer community.
Other sponsoring vendor companies included (in alphabetical order): ACDI, Agent Dealer, ARCOA, Ascension Group LLC, Avaniko, Avision, CET Group, Crexendo VIP, Culligan Quench, DealerSiteBuilder, EBU, ecoprintQ, ELATEC, EvolvedOffice, FlexPoint, FP Mailing, GoldFax, HID Global, Hytec Solutions, IBPI, Image Star, Intermedia, Katun, Keypoint Intelligence, Lumana, Mars International, MPS Monitor, MyQ, NA Trading & Technologies, Noetics, Polek & Polek, Source Technologies, Static Control, Technology Assurance Group, Y Soft, and Zultys.
2. Education is the key.
The BTA has stayed the course over its 100 years. The association has reinvented itself several times, and its latest focus is on industry education, including an ongoing series of 13 webinars as well as bootcamps, workshops, and certification programs. Two examples:
- BTA’s FIX online workshop allows dealers to compare numbers to ProFinance benchmarks. They can see how their service departments stack up and uncover where there may be room to improve profitability.
- On November 3rd, the AI Workflow Assessment Workshop returns. Presented in four sessions, it is designed to help office technology dealers move beyond simply learning about AI and develop a practical, repeatable methodology for identifying where AI can create measurable business value. (Member tuition is $2,500 per dealership for up to two attendees.)
Note: BTA members receive $400 in discount promo codes with a one-year membership or $950 in discount promo codes with a two-year membership to use toward BTA’s educational workshops and events.
And now, The Cannata Report’s number one takeaway from BTA at 100: A Celebration:
1. Fellowship Is at the forefront.
“Dealers Helping Dealers” was the theme of BTA IGNITE 2026 in Kansas City, and the spirit of peer cooperation literally could be felt among dealerships of all sizes. In case you didn’t make it, here’s a quick size sampling:
- Chip Miceli, president and CEO of Pulse Technology (Schaumburg, Illinois), shared some thoughts, as did MPS expert Sarah Henderson, who this past February began a new role as director of managed service intelligence with mega dealer Pacific Office Automation (POA). We caught up with Miceli in the hotel lobby and asked him about the dealership’s partnership with Pudu Robotics as well as Pulse’s recent sales hiring frenzy. He is excited about both developments and stressed a big diversification push into the electronic display and audiovisual services sectors.
- One morning, I ate breakfast next to David Casey, owner of Digital Document Solutions, and Dean Botelho, VP and CFO. Their small, Massachusetts dealership, which is big on Kyocera’s product line, has been around for 25 years, with a Rhode Island location, too. Casey told me that he was at BTA’s 90th ten years ago and was absolutely thrilled to be in attendance again in 2026.
Catching up with old friends, business partners and the office tech industry’s best at BTA IGNITE KC and BTA at 100 event.
Clockwise from upper left:
CJ Cannata (at left); Jayne Tuma Xerox’s head of partner and field enablement; and Brian Charlton, president of Upstate New York dealer BXI Consultants (Tonawanda, NY); GreatAmerica’s Key Kain; Square 9 Softworks’
Jeff McWilliams and Stephen Young; ConnectWise’s Jenna Miner and John Nguyen; and Mike Maccabe, Toshiba’s Western Region director of sales, who was a 2025 Young Influencer in The Cannata Report.
During the Union Station ceremonies, representatives from several longtime BTA members were recognized, including Wagner Office Machines (Burr Ridge, Illinois, near Chicago), with membership dating back to 1941!
Longtime members were called to the #BTAIGNITEKC stage, including representatives from suburban Chicago office technology dealer Wagner Office Machines of Burr Ridge, Illinois: a BTA member since 1941.
Earl Philpot, president of Kentucky-based dealer Precision Duplicating Solutions, perhaps summed up the BTA festivities best in a LinkedIn post he wrote from Kansas City: “What a wonderful event with some great friends.” Yes, it was. Well put, Earl.
IBPI Connect, the International Business Products, Inc.’s annual meeting of office equipment buyers, was co-located this year in Kansas City with BTA IGNITE and BTA at 100: A Celebration.
Gerren and Heidi Babin of Quality Office Products and Service (Baton Rouge, LA); Michael Hannon of FP Mailing Solutions; Brice Renegar of Kelly Office Solutions; Killian Lee and Davis Tran of C3 Tech; and Hannah O’Donnell of GreatAmerica.
WATCH THE VIDEO:
BTA Celebrates 100 Years of Dealers Helping Dealers!
Alex Cribby, Mitch Leahy, Chris Beals, Valerie Briseno, Brent Hoskins, Mark Vruno, Lisa Schultz, Ed McLaughlin, Shawn Cashmark, Brady Goodell, and Matthew Szczygiel.
