How the Australian CIO Summit Influenced a Major Technology Investment

A Marcus Evans Success Story

“We invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into our printer fleet after attending the Australian CIO Summit where we were able to confirm our view of the products, and receiving satisfactory comments regarding concerns that had been raised in relation to them, with the vendor who was present there. The one-to-one meetings put us in touch with the appropriate people who could address our concerns about the technology. If it had not been for those conversations there, we would have probably selected another product,” Ken Renz, Chief Information Officer, Environment Canterbury, a delegate at the Marcus Evans Australian CIO Summit.

Are you working with any of the companies you met at the Australian CIO Summit?

Yes. We had a meeting with a printer vendor and subsequently refreshed our fleet with inkjet printers. We had worked with a company in New Zealand that supplies their products, and they had proposed inkjet printing as an alternative when we had gone to RFP for print services. However, we had some concerns and question marks, and had not seriously considered inkjet until the manufacturing company’s executive addressed our concerns at the Summit. That was very useful.

Would we have selected their inkjet printers anyway? I probably would not have been as relaxed about the decision we made at the end of the day. It was a very close call between this and another company’s toner cartridge solution, to the point where if we had not had that meeting there, we probably would have been swayed away from their products to the other vendor. That conversation put their products back on the table.

We also worked with a cyber security firm we met at the Summit. It had undertaken some pre-work on our parameters, and we had a very insightful conversation at the event and are now planning to implement some of their services.

Would you have met these vendors anyway?

Some of the companies we met are based in Australia, so I would not have thought of seeing them and would not have bumped into them, especially if I already had a vendor for a similar product. The Summit exposed us to different products and ways of thinking that we would not have necessarily considered or found on our own.

What did you think of the one-to-one meeting format?

It is a smart format. Vendors do not need to spend a great deal of time and money chasing people like me all over the planet to have a conversation that may or may not lead anywhere. At the Summit we have already agreed to have these meetings.

Attending a Marcus Evans Summit is more valuable than having a stand at a conference where people might just walk past if they do not like the colour of your stand. At the one-to-one meetings delegates are open to listening to new ideas and business opportunities. I was certainly interested in other people presenting their technologies and challenging my thinking.

How would you compare the Summit with other industry events?

I do not attend many conferences, but I was pleasantly surprised with how well the Australian CIO Summit was run. It was highly efficient and well-tuned. The format with networking opportunities, keynote presentations and focused one-to-one meetings is a really good way of holding an event. I have even recommended the Australian CIO Summit to a few of my peers at another industry event!