Retail IT VARs, ISVs Draft Battle Plan vs. “800-Number Guys” at RSPA Inspire 2025

By: Jim Roddy, President & CEO at the RSPA

I’m a sucker for any kind of thought-provoking leadership content, but sometimes amid the principles, practices, and occasional poppycock, we miss the ultimate aspect of leadership:

Where are we going?

That question was answered for the collective retail IT channel and individually for 100+ VARs and ISVs at Inspire 2025, the RSPA’s annual leadership conference, Jan. 26-29 at the Marriott Beach Resort in Willemstad, Curacao.

Three days of panels and workshops focused on helping retail IT solution providers better compete against the margin-obliterating, VC-backed, 800-number, one-size-fits-all POS providers who don’t have a channel.

An all-time Inspire record 241 attendees collaborated to develop new ideas and share best practices around three competitive advantages our industry holds over the big guys:

  • Our people and company culture
  • Our ability to provide fast, personal customer service
  • Our ability to tailor value

The group concluded retail IT channel solution providers should go where the 800-number guys can’t. We’re not going to compete on their turf – a race to the bottom through generic technology and impersonal service. Instead we’re going to love our merchants like family and enhance their lives through innovative one-of-a-kind solutions.

Who’s going to get us there?

Us.

Said more eloquently by a former U.S. President, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” SMB VARs and ISVs might not have massive budgets like the big guys, but our people-centric north star will win in the long run.

I loved how Sebastien Braxton, CXO for RSPA VAR member Business Payment Systems, described our channel’s shared mindset about merchants during an Inspire workshop: “You’re not a customer. You’re not a MID (merchant ID). You’re the head of a family. You want a better life for your family, and you want to build wealth for them. We’re going to help you do that.”

Let’s delve into more of my favorite Inspire quotes and insights, organized by the aforementioned competitive advantages.

People & Culture
The panel “Leading with Purpose: Best Practices for Employee Retention & Engagement” featured Gord Doerksen of VAR Ideal POS, Steve Casteel of ISO/VAR Payteva, and moderator Madeline Stockwell of Heartland.

  • “We don’t look to hire sales reps,” Casteel said. “We don’t want employees. We want invested owners.” To help accomplish that, Payteva offers a vested interest program where employees can buy equity in the company. They also have a survivorship clause for residual payments.
  • “We learned from our exit interviews that we didn’t provide enough training,” Doerksen said. “Now we do far more side-by-side training where new team members work with current team members. We also host weekly ‘rookie calls’ where the team listens to service calls and shares best practices.”

Ideas from the employee retention workshop included:

  • Expand beyond exit interviews to conduct “stay interviews” with employees every two years to understand why they remain loyal to your company.
  • Share thoughts and examples in an AI tool like ChatGPT to help you document best practices and create accessible training materials.
  • Include in job descriptions and job posts a section titled, “This job is not for you if:”

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The panel “How Leadership Styles Shape Organizational Success” featured Brett Bennett of VAR/ISV POSitive Technology/OpSuite, Tyler Young of ISV Tonic POS and BOLD Integrated Payments, and moderator Jeff Riley of ISV Retail Management Hero.

  • “What shaped me as a leader is knowing that my business partner, no matter what fire we go through, will not leave me. That’s allowed me to take risks I wouldn’t have otherwise.” Young
  • To balance innovation and stability, Bennett said he meets with his company’s top innovators quarterly over a meal or remotely. “For 90 minutes we talk about them and their interests and goals,” he said. “That builds the relationship, and we trust each other. We are one mind.”

Ideas from the leadership styles workshop included:

  • When an employee presents you with a problem, don’t solve it for them. Instead ask them for their top proposed solution. Ask “What have you done so far?” and “What do you think should be done here?”
  • Communication extends beyond your words. By not talking with someone or by avoiding a subject, you’re communicating that person or that topic is not important.

Customer Loyalty
The panel “Your Customer Health Checkup is Overdue” featured Kirsten Ingersoll of VAR Electronic Office, Jeff Sanders of VAR Southwest POS, and Josh Wintoniak of ISV Auto-Star. I facilitated this discussion so I don’t have exact quotes to share, but I can highlight the overarching theme: make sure customers can get in touch with you quickly and easily.

  • Strive for a human to answer every call.
  • If all your people are tied up, utilize a service that converts voicemails to texts that are sent to the appropriate staff members.
  • Respond immediately to customer outreaches to let them know you’re working on what they reported.

The panel “Mastering Customer Loyalty: Proven Strategies to Create Customers for Life” featured Dan Brattland of VAR/vendor CoCard, Brian Edwards of ISV/VAR onePOS, Ken Schember of PAX Technology, and moderator Brianna Buccellato of Epson.

  • “Don’t have the vanity that customers are loyal to you for life,” Brattland said. “They are loyal to one thing and one thing only – their P&L. Focus on helping the P&L of your customers. We’ve got to add more value and contribute to their bottom line.”
  • “You don’t see anybody hugging their processor rep – but they hug their POS provider. Those are the people helping merchants overcome barriers.” Schember
  • “Figure out what you can do, then double and triple down on what makes you special to your customers.” Edwards

Ideas from the customer loyalty workshop included:

  • Schedule “Doctor’s Calls” with your customers – 15-minute checkups to ensure you are meeting their needs and delighting them.
  • Leverage your collective knowledge of the market to guide your customers. For example, you can host a small customers-only event with a guest speaker.
  • Big companies are talking about CDP (Customer Data Platform) replacing CRM (Customer Relationship Management). VARs can take advantage by focusing on the customer while the big guys obsess over just the data.

Unique, Personalized Value
The panel “Future-Proofing Your Business: Strategies for Building Long-Term Value & Recurring Revenue” featured Thomas Barrineau of ISV OrderCounter, Mike Maudlin of MSP/VAR C&M Business Machines, Pratik Patel of VAR/ISV Modus Tech, and moderator Mike Monocello of DevPro Journal and Managed Services Journal.

  • “AI is unpredictable. We don’t know what’s coming next. This is happening rapidly – that’s the scary part. Where all of us need to focus is where do I add value and how do I use AI to adapt faster?” Barrineau
  • “What do you do if 1,000 of your customer units are breached and shut down on you? Always be prepared for a data breach and ransomware. Have a backup plan so your customers have confidence in you. Cover yourself, your employees, and your customers.” Maudlin
  • “The people in this room aren’t your competition. They are your allies.” Patel

Ideas from the future-proofing workshop included:

  • You need to love your customer’s business as much as you love your own.
  • Knowing your customers is how you future-proof your business.
  • Create more stickiness by developing your own IP. This can be accomplished faster today through AI tools.
  • Tanya Doubko of HANASIS said future-proofing your company is analogous to wind surfing. “You can’t stand still on the board,” she said. “You have to make small, simple changes or you’ll fall. Commit to your course but make small adjustments along the way.”

Inspire’s final panel was titled “Innovative Value-Add Messaging & Partnerships for Success” and featured Blake Gillum of VAR/ISV DCR, Jim Stewart of VAR POS.com, Tim Shein of VAR King Business Services, and retail strategist Carl Boutet, an RSPA Board Advisor.

  • “Sometimes we can overwhelm customers with our information. Lead with questions and hone your discussion on that. A one-size-fits-all message doesn’t cut it anymore.” Gillum
  • “I may unsell something because a product doesn’t work or makes things too complex for the customer. We want our customers to press the ‘easy button’ and then we do the back end work.”
  • “We service liquor stores, so we live in our regional liquor association. We service hospitality and grocery, and so we attend their events and live in their groups as well. We live it and breathe it with them, and then we help them with it.” Shein

News & Notes from Inspire 2025

  • As mentioned earlier, this year’s event set an all-time Inspire record with 241 registrants. Attendees represented 100+ unique companies, 90+ VAR executives, and 40+ ISV executives.
  • Led by volunteer Christine Leduc of VAR Globe POS, attendees raised an Inspire-record $12,410 for the RSPA Scholarship Program.
  • Thanks to incredible support from the retail IT channel community in 2024, RSPA announced at Inspire that the Steve Cuntz Memorial Scholarship is officially fully funded. During the Jan. 28 General Session, Steve’s wife Vicki Cuntz and daughter Emily Wright were presented with a plaque in Steve’s honor.
  • Inspire 2026 will be held Feb. 1-4 at the Royal Sonesta in Kauai, Hawaii.

Be sure to attend RetailNOW 2025, July 27-29 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. It’s Where The Industry Meets!


Jim Roddy is the President and CEO of the Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA). He has been active in the retail IT channel since 1998, including 11 years as the President of Business Solutions Magazine, six years as an RSPA board member, one term as RSPA Chairman of the Board, and several years as a business coach for VARs, ISVs, and MSPs. Jim has been recognized as one of the world’sTop Retail Experts by RETHINK Retail and is regularly requested to speak at industry conferences on SMB best practices. He is author of two books – The Walk-On Method To Career & Business Success and Hire Like You Just Beat Cancer – and is host of the award-winning RSPA Trusted Advisor podcast. For more information, contact JRoddy@GoRSPA.org.