In Episode 140 of “The Trusted Advisor,” RSPA CEO Jim Roddy sits down with retail strategist Carl Boutet and channel expert Mike Monocello about their top takeaways from RetailNOW 2025, held July 27-29 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Among the topics discussed are AI, data monetization, the ever-changing channel, technology diversity, managed services, and the next generation of retail IT channel leadership.
“The Trusted Advisor,” powered by the Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA), is an award-winning content series designed specifically for retail IT VARs and software providers. Our goal is to educate you on the topics of leadership, management, hiring, sales, and other small business best practices. For more insights, visit the RSPA blog at www.GoRSPA.org.
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Full episode transcript via Apple Podcasts:
00:00:07.453 –> 00:00:15.113
Roddy: Welcome to another episode of The Trusted Advisor Podcast and Video Series, powered by the Retail Solutions Providers Association.
00:00:15.113 –> 00:00:20.713
Roddy: Our goal on the pod is to accelerate the success of today’s and tomorrow’s leaders in the retail IT industry.
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Roddy: I’m Jim Roddy back with you again.
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Roddy: Thank you so much for joining us.
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Roddy: As always, we talk with leaders in the Retail IT channel about their leadership journeys and what they’ve learned along the way.
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Roddy: Today, we’re gonna focus on what two leaders learned just a couple of weeks ago at RSPA’s Retail Now 2025 Trade Show and Education Conference, held July 27th through 29th at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
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Roddy: So we have two special guests.
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Roddy: The first is Mike Monocello.
00:00:47.233 –> 00:00:56.713
Roddy: He’s an RSPA board member and the co-founder of DevPro Journal and Managed Services Journal, an industry-focused media properties that are launched in 2018.
00:00:56.713 –> 00:01:02.353
Roddy: Before launching that business for 10 years, Mike wrote for Business Solutions Magazine, where he became chief editor.
00:01:02.873 –> 00:01:06.273
Roddy: Before that, for five years, he was a VAR in Erie, Pennsylvania.
00:01:06.273 –> 00:01:08.133
Roddy: If you’re saying, where have I heard Erie before?
00:01:08.133 –> 00:01:12.893
Roddy: If you’re watching our YouTube channel, you might be able to see the Erie jersey over my shoulder.
00:01:12.893 –> 00:01:17.313
Roddy: That is not Mike’s jersey, but we do share the same hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania.
00:01:17.313 –> 00:01:19.793
Roddy: Mike, welcome back to the podcast.
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Monocello: Thanks for having me back, Jim.
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Roddy: Always a pleasure.
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Roddy: Our second special guest is Carl Boutet.
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Roddy: He’s an RSPA board advisor, business strategist, executive advisor, and the founder of StudioRx.
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Roddy: Carl has over 20 years of retail leadership experience, including 10 years with Costco Wholesale, as well as leading the development of commercial applications for a global B2B security company.
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Roddy: Carl is also a Rethink retail top retail expert, the principal advisor for the McGill University Retail Innovation Lab in Montreal, a course instructor at McGill Masters in Retail Innovation, and an adjunct digital marketing faculty at the Asian Institute of Technology, MBA School of Management.
00:02:01.133 –> 00:02:04.373
Roddy: Carl, it is great to have you on The Trusted Advisor.
00:02:04.373 –> 00:02:05.433
Boutet: A real pleasure, Jim.
00:02:05.433 –> 00:02:07.193
Roddy: Looking forward to this.
00:02:07.193 –> 00:02:12.753
Roddy: I’m looking forward to it as well, because I really am curious to get both of your takes on RetailNow.
00:02:12.753 –> 00:02:18.873
Roddy: But before we get to the specific takeaways from it, what are your general reactions to the event?
00:02:18.873 –> 00:02:22.493
Roddy: Mike, you’ve attended RetailNow for most of the past 20 years.
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Roddy: I’m curious to your first thoughts on this year’s show compared to past years and what you’ve seen.
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Monocello: Yeah.
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Monocello: I carry around a notebook.
00:02:32.233 –> 00:02:34.913
Monocello: I’m always jotting down little one-word things.
00:02:34.913 –> 00:02:39.833
Monocello: In the end, I have almost a word cloud that I create for the event.
00:02:39.833 –> 00:02:48.213
Monocello: I was scanning through it before this call, trying to identify themes or recurring words that popped up in my notebook.
00:02:48.693 –> 00:02:49.813
Monocello: I’ve got it off to the left here.
00:02:49.893 –> 00:02:51.933
Monocello: If you see me looking over here, that’s what it is.
00:02:51.933 –> 00:03:02.253
Monocello: Number one, from a new perspective, things that I’ve noticed, how it compared to previous years, would be fresh young faces.
00:03:02.253 –> 00:03:11.993
Monocello: I know going back 20 years, that RetailNow was known as, well, the association was like a good old boy network.
00:03:11.993 –> 00:03:18.753
Monocello: There were a lot of people that had been in part of the association for a long, long time.
00:03:18.753 –> 00:03:19.553
Monocello: That’s still the case.
00:03:19.553 –> 00:03:22.833
Monocello: There are still those people there, and that’s part of the amazing DNA.
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Monocello: But boy, there are a lot of young people that are now actively involved in the RSPA, and that’s really exciting.
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Monocello: Even just talking about the board meeting that we had before the event started, got a lot of really young, talented people who are on the board, and people who are running for the board as well.
00:03:45.953 –> 00:03:52.053
Monocello: I mean, really young people that are bringing in a lot of energy, new ideas, etc.
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Monocello: So that’s exciting to me as a different.
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Monocello: I don’t know if you want to talk about each one of these separately, or I may keep talking, but I can keep going.
00:04:01.313 –> 00:04:01.493
Roddy: Yeah.
00:04:01.493 –> 00:04:02.773
Roddy: Well, I wanted to get your overall take.
00:04:02.773 –> 00:04:05.213
Roddy: We’re going to dive into specific takes when we get to it.
00:04:05.213 –> 00:04:12.753
Roddy: But I will say just to follow up on that, you remember former RSPA presidency of Joe Finisio, would talk about the short tie guys.
00:04:12.753 –> 00:04:13.313
Roddy: Do you remember that?
00:04:13.313 –> 00:04:19.393
Roddy: Like the guys whose ties only came down to here, and they had been in the business, in the industry for many, many years.
00:04:19.393 –> 00:04:23.813
Roddy: But I guess the big thing was, they weren’t looking to grow their business, right?
00:04:23.813 –> 00:04:29.573
Roddy: They were a dealer for whether it was micros or NCR or somebody else.
00:04:29.573 –> 00:04:32.793
Roddy: But they were just saying, hey, I’m back here to get together with my friends.
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Roddy: It sounds like what you were seeing is a young, but also a hungry group of individuals.
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Monocello: Absolutely.
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Monocello: Then related to under the new category, would be the show floor technology-wise and solution-wise has really evolved.
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Monocello: I think that that’s just the nature of technology.
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Monocello: But going back 20 years, we’ve seen the evolution in the retail space where I used to walk around and it was cash drawers and receipt printers and basic point of view.
00:05:07.673 –> 00:05:09.033
Monocello: Yeah.
00:05:09.553 –> 00:05:11.353
Monocello: Those were the solutions back then.
00:05:11.353 –> 00:05:13.953
Monocello: Then we saw the payments companies coming in.
00:05:13.953 –> 00:05:20.513
Monocello: But now, boy, the show floor is just very, the categories of technologies are very broad.
00:05:20.513 –> 00:05:28.173
Monocello: You’ve got security solutions, networking solutions, you’ve got people that are providing marketing assistance.
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Monocello: There’s just a variety of different types of exhibitors, which I think really enriches the overall show in terms of, I know as a former VAR and I spoke to many of the attendees, what are you looking for?
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Monocello: A lot of times people go to the show, they don’t necessarily even know what they’re looking for.
00:05:49.093 –> 00:05:50.973
Monocello: They’re looking for the next thing.
00:05:51.093 –> 00:06:04.933
Monocello: The fact that I believe the fact that RetailNow has such a variety of exhibitors now really just increases the likelihood that someone’s going to run across something that they didn’t even know they needed.
00:06:04.933 –> 00:06:12.573
Monocello: Wow, I didn’t even know that I could work with AT&T for wireless connectivity and all that stuff.
00:06:12.573 –> 00:06:16.293
Monocello: Just seeing all these different companies, it’s pretty exciting.
00:06:16.293 –> 00:06:17.013
Roddy: Excellent.
00:06:17.013 –> 00:06:31.473
Roddy: Before I get to Carl, this will be a perfect segue to that is the RSPA actually changed our mission statement, where it used to say point of sale industry in it, but we serve now the retail technology ecosystem, because it’s really broad now, like you talked about, Mike.
00:06:31.473 –> 00:06:34.833
Roddy: This is way beyond the POS, and that’s a good segue to you, Carl.
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Roddy: So Carl, you don’t come from the channel, right?
00:06:37.833 –> 00:06:39.873
Roddy: This is your first Retail Now.
00:06:39.873 –> 00:06:45.793
Roddy: You’ve attended a lot of Retail Shows and a lot of IT shows around the world.
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Roddy: I’m curious your top of mind reaction to your time in Vegas for the first time at our RSPA Retail Now event.
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Boutet: Yeah.
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Boutet: Well, first of all, I want to thank Mike for calling me young, fresh, and energizing.
00:06:57.153 –> 00:06:58.013
Boutet: I think that’s exciting.
00:06:58.013 –> 00:06:59.313
Boutet: I haven’t heard that a long time.
00:06:59.313 –> 00:07:00.653
Boutet: Was it me you’re talking about, Mike?
00:07:00.653 –> 00:07:03.013
Monocello: I was referring to the other people in the meeting.
00:07:03.013 –> 00:07:03.413
Boutet: Okay.
00:07:04.793 –> 00:07:06.093
Boutet: Well, yeah.
00:07:06.233 –> 00:07:10.313
Boutet: I guess my first reaction is what took me so long to get to this show.
00:07:10.313 –> 00:07:22.113
Boutet: Because as you mentioned, I’ve traveled the world to do these different retail, broader retail, and more specific technology shows from London to Bangkok to Cairo.
00:07:22.113 –> 00:07:26.293
Boutet: I’ve been to Vegas quite a few times for some of those shows as well too, just not the RSPA.
00:07:26.293 –> 00:07:31.813
Boutet: So I think the first thing that sort of struck me was the size of it, quite honestly.
00:07:31.813 –> 00:07:34.453
Boutet: I didn’t realize that it was, I know you’ve talked a lot about it.
00:07:35.233 –> 00:07:42.853
Boutet: I’ve heard, but I mean, I guess you have to live it to understand the impact it can have.
00:07:42.913 –> 00:07:49.053
Boutet: Also build on Mike, because I was encouraged, it was one of my concerns is I felt that there was sort of a transition happening.
00:07:49.053 –> 00:07:54.173
Boutet: And I was concerned, is there enough fresh energy in the, you know, to keep these industries?
00:07:54.173 –> 00:07:56.753
Boutet: And I’ve seen other shows where that’s not the case.
00:07:56.753 –> 00:08:05.813
Boutet: And this one was really reassuring because even in retail, I often will say, you want to know if a retailer is going to be around five, 10 years from now, look who’s in the room.
00:08:05.813 –> 00:08:15.613
Boutet: If it’s all 60 plus year old people, chances are, if there’s no support, no next generation coming in, it’s not looking good for that retailer.
00:08:15.613 –> 00:08:17.173
Boutet: And I’ll say the same thing for the channel.
00:08:17.173 –> 00:08:19.773
Boutet: So that was really, really encouraging.
00:08:19.773 –> 00:08:31.873
Boutet: Some great ideas and engage, not just there to sort of be flies on the wall, but to actually participate and share quite proactively their ideas, which is we need that.
00:08:31.873 –> 00:08:35.933
Boutet: And that’s critical to the success of any group.
00:08:36.373 –> 00:08:43.313
Boutet: I’ll say probably the thing that really is, for me, one of the most interesting elements is to be at a retail show with no retailers or almost none.
00:08:43.573 –> 00:08:44.673
Boutet: That’s different for me.
00:08:44.673 –> 00:08:45.733
Boutet: That’s usually the thing.
00:08:45.733 –> 00:09:03.553
Boutet: Most of these shows are looking for retailers and the fact that this ecosystem, and I’ll mention community later and build on that, but that it’s really focused on this sort of self-supporting group that kind of works together and collaborates, I think is really interesting because that’s not the dynamic you get in the other show.
00:09:03.553 –> 00:09:04.993
Boutet: Everybody’s out to get their own, right?
00:09:05.133 –> 00:09:18.173
Boutet: So I’m sure there’s a bit of that going on as well, too, which is healthy, competition is necessary, but there’s a lot more like, come and see this person, or you should see like this booth next to me, like, okay, I’ll talk to you about what I got, but you should see what they’re doing is really cool.
00:09:18.173 –> 00:09:20.893
Boutet: Like that’s you don’t see that very often anywhere else.
00:09:20.893 –> 00:09:22.633
Boutet: It’s usually each for their own.
00:09:22.633 –> 00:09:27.193
Boutet: So it talks about the word association in the RSPA and what that builds on.
00:09:27.193 –> 00:09:30.393
Boutet: But I’m looking forward to seeing more diversity.
00:09:30.393 –> 00:09:46.333
Boutet: I was really also impressed by the international presence, I think in the current instability we have around the world right now to see companies from Japan, not just companies, people flying in from Japan, Korea, Germany.
00:09:46.333 –> 00:09:47.953
Boutet: I had conversations with all those people.
00:09:47.953 –> 00:09:49.533
Boutet: I thought it was fascinating as well.
00:09:49.533 –> 00:09:51.253
Boutet: So kudos to the team.
00:09:51.253 –> 00:09:53.393
Boutet: It was really a first for me.
00:09:53.893 –> 00:10:01.633
Boutet: I was really happy to spend a lot of time on the floor and speaking with all people, plus the content too, which we can get to a bit later.
00:10:01.633 –> 00:10:02.093
Roddy: Got it.
00:10:02.153 –> 00:10:06.553
Roddy: Thank you, Carl, and to clarify the size of the event, we had nearly 1,600 registrants.
00:10:06.553 –> 00:10:13.473
Roddy: It was the largest attendance since prior to COVID, so the largest we’ve had in six or seven years.
00:10:13.473 –> 00:10:19.893
Roddy: And the show floor has sold out 174 exhibitors on the sold out show floor.
00:10:19.893 –> 00:10:31.613
Roddy: And Carl, it’s interesting you say about the international presence, because compared to prior years, it was actually down because of, like you said, all the uncertainty, let’s say, that’s going on in terms of there were fewer Canadians that were there.
00:10:31.893 –> 00:10:40.393
Roddy: There were fewer folks from around the world, but there still were folks who were going through some of those extra hurdles and some of those concerns that others have had for the event.
00:10:40.393 –> 00:10:44.813
Roddy: So hopefully next year will be even bigger from an international standpoint.
00:10:44.813 –> 00:10:49.513
Roddy: So okay, so thank you both for your observations, Mike and Carl.
00:10:49.513 –> 00:10:50.093
Roddy: Oh yeah, go ahead.
00:10:50.093 –> 00:11:16.553
Monocello: I just say, I’m sorry to interrupt you, but I just want to add something to what Carl said, because I was talking about all the new things that I was seeing and fresh new faces and new technologies, but I just want to underscore something that Carl said, because the DNA of the RSPA and RetailNow, to me, that is similar over the 20 years, is that community aspect, and I don’t want to just sell that short, because it’s amazing.
00:11:16.553 –> 00:11:18.173
Monocello: It really is.
00:11:18.173 –> 00:11:26.773
Monocello: To see this community come together and continually collaborate their best practices.
00:11:26.773 –> 00:11:32.793
Monocello: I mean, I know you want to move on to where, like let’s get to the takeaways.
00:11:32.793 –> 00:11:36.433
Monocello: A lot of the education is given from members to members.
00:11:36.433 –> 00:11:37.693
Monocello: They’re helping one another out.
00:11:37.953 –> 00:11:40.033
Monocello: It’s amazing.
00:11:40.273 –> 00:11:46.733
Monocello: I go to a lot of trade shows because our publications cover a broad variety of industries and technologies.
00:11:46.733 –> 00:11:51.353
Monocello: I don’t leave other shows feeling warm and fuzzy like I do RetailNow.
00:11:54.993 –> 00:11:56.773
Monocello: So we give out industry awards.
00:11:56.773 –> 00:11:58.713
Monocello: We celebrate ourselves, right?
00:11:58.713 –> 00:12:04.433
Monocello: Linda Sutterth from Epson retired one or two years ago.
00:12:04.433 –> 00:12:05.653
Roddy: A year ago.
00:12:06.893 –> 00:12:14.653
Monocello: See, we brought her back, gave her a very nice award for all of her time spent.
00:12:14.653 –> 00:12:16.353
Monocello: She was obviously so touched.
00:12:16.353 –> 00:12:17.773
Monocello: Everyone in that room was touched.
00:12:18.493 –> 00:12:21.753
Monocello: It’s amazing to be able to do that.
00:12:21.753 –> 00:12:27.453
Monocello: And like you really do form really good relationships in this association.
00:12:27.673 –> 00:12:30.113
Monocello: You get out of it what you put into it.
00:12:30.113 –> 00:12:35.433
Monocello: And a lot of people are putting a lot into it and building a really strong community.
00:12:35.433 –> 00:12:45.033
Roddy: So anyway, I appreciate you saying that because we got a lot of positive feedback from folks who’ve been going to the event for years that they say, man, I just love this community like you said.
00:12:45.593 –> 00:12:48.993
Roddy: But then I’m always concerned about people who are showing up for the first time.
00:12:48.993 –> 00:12:52.533
Roddy: Do they feel like, well, good for them that they’ve got a bunch of buddies and feel it.
00:12:52.533 –> 00:12:56.173
Roddy: But boy, there were so many new people there who were sharing with us.
00:12:56.173 –> 00:12:57.493
Roddy: I feel so welcome here.
00:12:57.493 –> 00:12:59.033
Roddy: I’ve never felt so welcome.
00:12:59.033 –> 00:13:02.873
Roddy: And so Mike, I’m happy to pull on this community string a little longer if you want.
00:13:02.873 –> 00:13:05.933
Roddy: And Carl, I want to get your take since this was, it was your second event.
00:13:05.933 –> 00:13:10.193
Roddy: You went to the Inspire Leadership Conference in January of this year.
00:13:10.193 –> 00:13:13.933
Roddy: But I guess, can you talk about your sense of community?
00:13:14.753 –> 00:13:16.513
Roddy: Based on being a first timer.
00:13:16.513 –> 00:13:18.333
Boutet: Well, I even posted about that.
00:13:18.333 –> 00:13:21.933
Boutet: I think that’s sort of, it made that come to life for me.
00:13:22.093 –> 00:13:23.913
Boutet: First of all, Inspire was that first touch.
00:13:23.913 –> 00:13:25.853
Boutet: I was like, Mike, this is like, yeah, this is a tight knit.
00:13:25.853 –> 00:13:26.953
Boutet: But it was a smaller event.
00:13:26.953 –> 00:13:31.193
Boutet: These were like, you could tell that the meshing would happen easier.
00:13:31.193 –> 00:13:38.993
Boutet: Although the sharing was really incredible because I think it was one of the key takeaways that inspired everybody getting up and speaking at the mic after each session and sort of sharing.
00:13:38.993 –> 00:13:41.413
Boutet: And that was that set the stage.
00:13:42.113 –> 00:13:48.933
Boutet: But in the post, I mentioned how the difference between ecosystem and community is sort of that personal investment.
00:13:48.933 –> 00:13:52.973
Boutet: It’s the fact that you are going, there’s an emotional element to it.
00:13:52.973 –> 00:13:56.513
Boutet: Ecosystems are technical and I’m a big fan of ecosystems.
00:13:56.513 –> 00:14:01.693
Boutet: The idea that our retail world is becoming more and more ecosystem driven, which is great.
00:14:01.693 –> 00:14:03.613
Boutet: That means the technology sort of plays nice together.
00:14:03.613 –> 00:14:09.993
Boutet: But there’s a difference between playing nice and emotionally involving yourself in this common success of that ecosystem.
00:14:10.253 –> 00:14:11.493
Boutet: For me, that’s the word community.
00:14:11.493 –> 00:14:19.353
Boutet: That’s the definition of it is that there’s this bond that goes deeper than just does my API work with your tech stack.
00:14:20.213 –> 00:14:28.313
Boutet: That’s what I felt from that and again, something that’s really unique and maybe it comes from the fact that there’s no retailers there and it’s just channel partners that are there.
00:14:28.793 –> 00:14:31.613
Boutet: That’s the nature of that which is new to me.
00:14:31.613 –> 00:14:33.453
Boutet: That was really nice.
00:14:33.453 –> 00:14:39.633
Boutet: The only other place you see communities like that are things that are super regional usually where everybody knows each other and their kids go to school together.
00:14:40.953 –> 00:14:46.433
Boutet: You almost need that level to get to that kind of bond that I saw in Vegas a couple weeks ago.
00:14:46.433 –> 00:14:47.033
Roddy: Interesting.
00:14:47.033 –> 00:14:53.373
Roddy: I’d say thank you guys both for building on that point because our listeners know I’ve talked about the flywheel a lot.
00:14:53.373 –> 00:14:55.133
Roddy: We did an episode on the flywheel.
00:14:55.133 –> 00:14:59.053
Roddy: If you search RSPA flywheel, you’re going to see some blog posts on it.
00:14:59.053 –> 00:15:11.793
Roddy: With both of you guys being on the board, one of my takeaways from retail now, from an internal standpoint, we have on our flywheel number four is about helping people find success like in profits and sales and all that stuff.
00:15:11.793 –> 00:15:21.513
Roddy: We’re thinking about adding to it and not only getting the ROI and everything, but and a sense of belonging and a sense of community that came out of this event.
00:15:21.513 –> 00:15:26.873
Roddy: That seems to be part of the special sauce of what the show and what the association has to offer.
00:15:26.873 –> 00:15:28.393
Roddy: It’s not just a math equation.
00:15:28.393 –> 00:15:36.673
Roddy: I spend this much time and whatever and I get this much out of it, but it’s also what you guys are talking about, feeling better about the industry, feeling more confident like you said, Mike.
00:15:37.693 –> 00:15:43.293
Roddy: Warm and fuzzy enough for people who haven’t experienced it, they’re probably like, I’m not sure what these guys are talking about.
00:15:43.293 –> 00:15:52.453
Roddy: By all means, come to one of these events and you’ll see the sense of genuine community which is not very common in the B2B space, that’s for sure.
00:15:53.593 –> 00:15:53.873
Roddy: All right.
00:15:53.873 –> 00:15:57.413
Roddy: You guys ready to move into the hard and fast takeaways from the event?
00:15:57.413 –> 00:15:58.453
Boutet: Go for it.
00:15:58.453 –> 00:15:58.733
Roddy: All right.
00:15:58.733 –> 00:15:59.953
Roddy: Here we go.
00:15:59.953 –> 00:16:06.453
Roddy: I’m hoping each of us can share our top takeaways from the event and then we can talk about them a little bit.
00:16:07.193 –> 00:16:20.673
Roddy: Mike, if you can talk about your number one takeaway from RetailNow 2025, and I know you did some writing on this, so I got a little bit of cheat sheet in that advance for what you published in DevPro Journal right after.
00:16:20.673 –> 00:16:24.573
Roddy: But talk to our audience about your number one takeaway from the show.
00:16:27.233 –> 00:16:30.873
Monocello: I called an audible here on myself right before this call.
00:16:30.873 –> 00:16:38.093
Monocello: I thought I was going to be talking about AI, but then I thought, you know, I’m sure we’ll talk about AI on this call.
00:16:39.453 –> 00:16:44.853
Monocello: I try to, when I’m at these events, it’s challenging for me because I’m wearing multiple hats, right?
00:16:45.033 –> 00:16:49.133
Monocello: I still think, I try to think like a VAR, I try to think like an ISV.
00:16:49.133 –> 00:16:53.753
Monocello: Our publications cover both of those audiences, so I’m trying to understand what makes sense for them.
00:16:53.753 –> 00:16:57.413
Monocello: I’m also a business owner, so what makes sense for me?
00:16:57.413 –> 00:17:02.253
Monocello: I obviously paid a lot of attention to AI, and we could talk about that later.
00:17:02.393 –> 00:17:15.733
Monocello: But to me, there’s something that I just got picked up this theme a couple of times, and I think it’s just something that I want to keep an eye on, and I think everyone in the industry should keep an eye on, and that’s the data monetization thing.
00:17:15.733 –> 00:17:19.353
Monocello: It might be a surprise for me to bring it up here.
00:17:21.333 –> 00:17:34.393
Monocello: But we saw this thing happen in the point of sale space where payment processing got involved, and all of a sudden POS became free because they just wanted access to the credit card processing.
00:17:34.393 –> 00:17:46.773
Monocello: And I see something similar happening here where POS is already kind of free thanks to the payment processing, but now this data is really valuable, and companies want access to that data.
00:17:47.833 –> 00:17:50.373
Monocello: Specifically, we’re talking merchant data, right?
00:17:50.373 –> 00:18:00.653
Monocello: If you’re a VAR or ISV listening, you’re merchants, you’re restaurants, you’re retailers, they’ve got all this data that they’re collecting on their customers, and everyone wants it now.
00:18:00.653 –> 00:18:19.233
Monocello: It’s extremely valuable, and what I’m curious in, I mean, there’s obviously legalities of accessing that data and using it responsibly, but from a channel perspective, who’s getting paid for that data, and are our members getting paid?
00:18:19.233 –> 00:18:29.493
Monocello: I know we’ve spoken, heard from software developers who are members of the RSPA, who are actively trying to navigate this and figure it out right now.
00:18:29.493 –> 00:18:33.393
Monocello: I’m worried about resellers who don’t have as strong of a voice.
00:18:33.393 –> 00:18:42.413
Monocello: Are they going to earn a piece of it, or are people just going to assume, well, you’re getting a free POS that you can sell, you can mark up, you can add your services.
00:18:42.413 –> 00:18:55.553
Monocello: But I would really like to see, I think it would be fair since the reseller is bringing those relationships, that they have access to tap into any kind of monetization that takes place with that data.
00:18:55.553 –> 00:19:03.933
Monocello: I don’t have any takeaways right now other than if you’re a VARA or an ISV, I’d be paying close attention to what’s happening with this.
00:19:03.933 –> 00:19:13.053
Monocello: Speaking to your partners and understanding how they might be monetizing data and how you might be able to participate in that, if at all.
00:19:13.053 –> 00:19:20.053
Roddy: Yeah, Mike, this reminds me, and I think you and I were both in the room for a vendor working group meeting that happened prior to Inspire.
00:19:20.533 –> 00:19:22.713
Roddy: This is the whole recurring revenue trend.
00:19:22.713 –> 00:19:27.413
Roddy: For those who don’t know, Mike and I both worked together at Business Solutions Magazine and we were very much pushing.
00:19:27.413 –> 00:19:35.413
Roddy: What we saw over in the managed services space about recurring revenue, we were essentially ambassadors for that business model in the POS space.
00:19:35.413 –> 00:19:37.833
Roddy: But everybody remember, who holds the paper?
00:19:37.833 –> 00:19:41.153
Roddy: I remember that, and you’re talking about like, who’s going to get paid on this, right?
00:19:41.153 –> 00:19:43.353
Roddy: There are big giant questions that we need to ask.
00:19:43.353 –> 00:19:48.273
Roddy: We don’t have all the answers right now, but we have to ask those questions related to data monetization.
00:19:48.593 –> 00:19:51.453
Roddy: Carl, what’s your take on data monetization?
00:19:51.453 –> 00:19:59.933
Roddy: This might be something that is up your alley, and I’m curious what you’re hearing about it and how you feel that works with the audience you just met at RetailNow.
00:19:59.933 –> 00:20:00.333
Boutet: Yeah.
00:20:00.333 –> 00:20:04.213
Boutet: Well, I think it’s a really interesting point, especially in this category.
00:20:04.453 –> 00:20:14.393
Boutet: My read is we’re serving a mid-market that’s not, I won’t say blind to this, but not as exposed to the opportunity as the larger groups that you mentioned.
00:20:14.393 –> 00:20:26.153
Boutet: I spent a decade inside of Costco, it was actually my own business, so I was capturing my own data within Costco, but it was my business with my staff inside doing selling technology inside of Costco across Canada.
00:20:27.893 –> 00:20:33.173
Boutet: I saw a pivotal moment for me as I saw from the inside, actually helped them launch their e-comm as well.
00:20:33.673 –> 00:20:53.853
Boutet: I saw the beast from the inside and the resources at their disposal, which was really a challenge for the smaller mid-market, where I spent the next six, seven years supporting that group, independent retailers trying to understand their digital transformation and I kept on talking about sort of leveling the playing field.
00:20:53.853 –> 00:20:59.553
Boutet: The interesting thing that’s happened over the last decade is the technology has commoditized some of that access.
00:20:59.553 –> 00:21:07.353
Boutet: It’s made it more anyways, you don’t need a team of data scientists in your company anymore to be able to leverage some of those opportunities.
00:21:07.653 –> 00:21:12.913
Boutet: I went back to school a little over a decade ago just for that, because I wanted to learn about this thing called big data.
00:21:12.913 –> 00:21:17.353
Boutet: I was curious, I was always very analytical, so I wanted to see where that was going.
00:21:17.353 –> 00:21:38.013
Boutet: We were just talking at that time about using unstructured data, which is a fancy word for saying, picking up data bit everywhere, which retail is notorious for, because we have data spread across our organization, and all sorts of different touch points, POS being the richest piece of that, because that’s the transactional data, that’s the data that generates the most interest and the most value.
00:21:38.193 –> 00:21:45.333
Boutet: So to see now that the small mid-market is starting to be able to look at that and say, okay, I need to diversify my revenue model.
00:21:45.333 –> 00:21:52.013
Boutet: I cannot survive as a retailer only as a margin plus business, which is tradition.
00:21:52.013 –> 00:22:05.033
Boutet: I say I can’t, I’m maybe exaggerating it, but it’s getting harder and harder because the big players are coming in and finding new sources of revenue all around them, from media to data monetization, to every sort of touch point.
00:22:05.033 –> 00:22:10.353
Boutet: They’re finding ways to make money on top of whatever margin they can get by with of selling that product.
00:22:10.893 –> 00:22:15.573
Boutet: As a solution provider, what is our role to come in and support that monetization?
00:22:15.573 –> 00:22:18.393
Boutet: How can we help those retailers?
00:22:18.393 –> 00:22:25.153
Boutet: I say retail in the broadest sense, obviously, including hospitality, including anybody who’s dealing with customer or consumer data.
00:22:26.033 –> 00:22:38.173
Boutet: I’m really excited about that and just to know that the RSPA is leading the charge on that and having people think about those things for me is super important because I’m always more concerned now about, the big players are fine.
00:22:38.173 –> 00:22:41.033
Boutet: Okay, there’s a couple out there that are struggling their issue.
00:22:41.033 –> 00:22:51.773
Boutet: The smaller players, which are really the fabric of our communities, not broader community, not just the technology one, but the cities we live in, they need that support and they need to have access to solutions.
00:22:51.773 –> 00:23:04.933
Boutet: They’re going to help them stay competitive and that monetization is, it sounds sophisticated and maybe we even need to think about the terminology because it could be intimidating to some, say, well, that sounds like something only really the fancy people can do.
00:23:06.433 –> 00:23:08.213
Boutet: I sell a solution, I sell a technology.
00:23:08.213 –> 00:23:09.213
Boutet: Well, guess what?
00:23:09.213 –> 00:23:16.493
Boutet: Your solution, your technology is an important piece in that puzzle that you’re going to have to help the retailers capture that value.
00:23:16.493 –> 00:23:19.433
Boutet: It’s going to be more than just being able to do payment processing.
00:23:19.433 –> 00:23:37.493
Boutet: There’s going to be a lot more information that’s going to tie into that, especially as the technology evolves and yes, the infamous AI two letters come into play and how they tie into all this and hopefully democratize it even further so that we can become a leveler of playing fields which I think is really important.
00:23:37.493 –> 00:23:38.353
Roddy: Interesting you say that.
00:23:38.433 –> 00:23:43.693
Roddy: So Mike and Carl are aware of what I’m going to tell our audience right now because they were in the board meeting.
00:23:43.693 –> 00:24:00.293
Roddy: One of the big takeaways from our board meeting that we held right before the beginning of retail now was, the RSPA is going to form an AI advisory group that’s going to be a spin-off of our emerging technologies advisory group, bringing together folks in our industry who know AI and who are able to see around the corner.
00:24:00.733 –> 00:24:06.933
Roddy: Then we’re also talking about bringing in some folks from the outside, potentially, like you said, Carl, those data scientists.
00:24:06.933 –> 00:24:09.173
Roddy: But I think you might have been the one who brought up in the board meeting.
00:24:09.173 –> 00:24:14.093
Roddy: Those folks are really in demand right now, so it might be hard to bring some of those folks in.
00:24:14.093 –> 00:24:16.173
Roddy: But we’re very much in the early stages of that.
00:24:16.173 –> 00:24:26.893
Roddy: But the RSPA is going to be a resource for our members, so they can, as we said at the beginning of this podcast, lean on each other and work with each other and pick each other’s brains to see what the best practices are.
00:24:26.893 –> 00:24:27.693
Roddy: All right.
00:24:27.693 –> 00:24:30.813
Roddy: Data monetization, that was Mike’s number one takeaway from the event.
00:24:30.813 –> 00:24:33.453
Roddy: Carl, let’s talk about yours and they get Mike’s reaction.
00:24:33.453 –> 00:24:38.233
Roddy: Carl, what was your number one takeaway from your first Retail Now?
00:24:39.613 –> 00:24:52.073
Boutet: It’s hard just to put one, but I’ll step it back a bit because usually these shows, I’ll point to the obvious one, like the NRF show in January, every booth had AI and big letters on it, and it was almost refreshing not to see that.
00:24:52.493 –> 00:24:55.613
Boutet: Some people say, well, does that make it that they’re behind?
00:24:55.773 –> 00:24:57.393
Boutet: I think it makes it more realistic.
00:24:57.993 –> 00:25:07.593
Boutet: I till recently and still will in some cases recommend retailers run the other way when a vendor starts screaming AI at them, because I would say they probably have no idea what they’re talking about.
00:25:07.593 –> 00:25:14.313
Boutet: So the discipline of the vendor community and the channel partners coming in and saying, yes, we have AI in there.
00:25:14.393 –> 00:25:16.013
Boutet: It’s not the thing we’re flashing the first.
00:25:16.013 –> 00:25:25.033
Boutet: We’re talking to you what it is we actually do, how we can accomplish, how we can support your, I’ll call it the tech stack, but whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish.
00:25:25.033 –> 00:25:59.073
Boutet: Obviously, centered around the point of sale, but I saw some HR, I saw some other interesting technologies, which I hope we’ll see more of that diversity, because I think we need that, not just the geographic diversity, but the technological diversity as the lines I keep talking about are blurring between digital and physical, and the whole technology realm is blurring as well too, and who does what, but I’ll call it the discipline or the maturity of saying, yeah, we have AI as part of that, and a couple of booths were promoting that more, was more like, let’s forget about AI for a second, what is it you actually need to do?
00:25:59.073 –> 00:26:05.213
Boutet: Because back to NRF, I brought my son for his first show, and he was walking, he’s like, Carl, all these booths look the same.
00:26:05.213 –> 00:26:07.813
Boutet: They’re like, daddy, what’s going on?
00:26:07.893 –> 00:26:08.953
Boutet: Do they all do AI?
00:26:09.213 –> 00:26:10.833
Boutet: Is that all they do?
00:26:10.833 –> 00:26:36.033
Boutet: No, they each have their planet, but they’re using it as marketing speak, and the fact that we’re not just using it as marketing speak, that it’s part of the equation, there’s a lot of questions about it, that there’s no doubt that everybody’s looking at it and has a million questions, and you mentioned as the board, we have to reflect on that and make sure that we’re shining a bright enough light down that alley, because the analogy I’ve been using is saying, you’re 1905 and you’re ignoring electricity.
00:26:36.033 –> 00:26:40.893
Boutet: You’re like, ah, this electricity thing, sure, my competitor is using it, but I’m doing fine with steam.
00:26:40.893 –> 00:26:42.053
Boutet: I don’t know.
00:26:42.053 –> 00:26:45.533
Boutet: So how do we help the vendors make it down that road?
00:26:45.533 –> 00:26:49.953
Boutet: But there’s a discipline to it, and there’s hype and there’s reality.
00:26:49.953 –> 00:27:03.053
Boutet: So I guess my number one takeaway was pleased with the maturity I saw around that and the reality of the conversations, which is typical for this channel as well too, because they can’t be running in all sorts of directions.
00:27:03.053 –> 00:27:06.873
Boutet: They need to stay focused for their customers and that’s key.
00:27:06.873 –> 00:27:07.813
Roddy: Interesting.
00:27:07.813 –> 00:27:12.673
Roddy: So your number one takeaway is about the discipline and maturity for practical applications.
00:27:12.673 –> 00:27:15.573
Roddy: Mike, what’s your reaction to Carl’s observation there?
00:27:16.973 –> 00:27:20.053
Monocello: I was going to say, back to what Carl just said at the end there.
00:27:20.053 –> 00:27:26.233
Monocello: You look at NRF and that’s historically a show that people are wheeling out the latest and greatest.
00:27:26.233 –> 00:27:28.593
Monocello: They’re trying to impress investors.
00:27:28.593 –> 00:27:36.853
Monocello: They’re using all these, whatever the latest buzzword is, it’s all glitz and glamour and the latest and greatest.
00:27:37.973 –> 00:27:57.193
Monocello: Our show services the small to mid-size markets where you need to have proven technologies, our members are trying to solve real business problems and they can’t afford to chase vaporware or all these really expensive latest and greatest things.
00:27:57.193 –> 00:28:10.013
Monocello: They need solutions that are addressing the needs of the market and so I’m sure that every single exhibitor is leveraging AI in some way.
00:28:10.013 –> 00:28:12.273
Monocello: They’re baking it in their products.
00:28:12.273 –> 00:28:13.913
Monocello: That’s not what they’re leading with though.
00:28:13.973 –> 00:28:20.953
Monocello: They’re leading with solutions that are going to solve business problems and help members address those problems.
00:28:21.853 –> 00:28:26.273
Monocello: That’s my quick reaction on what Carl said there.
00:28:26.273 –> 00:28:31.093
Roddy: It’s almost like a channel is the filter between the aspirations and the reality of it.
00:28:31.093 –> 00:28:39.893
Roddy: I remember going to a distributor event, this is several years ago, and they had a closing panel and they had a VAR MSP up on stage.
00:28:39.893 –> 00:28:44.213
Roddy: He said, because they were wrapping up, he said, hey, did anybody see on?
00:28:44.213 –> 00:28:49.073
Roddy: Well, first is the vendor here who had the 3D digital signage.
00:28:49.073 –> 00:28:50.053
Roddy: Are they in the room?
00:28:50.053 –> 00:28:50.593
Roddy: Good.
00:28:50.593 –> 00:28:52.333
Roddy: Who the hell is going to use that?
00:28:52.333 –> 00:28:53.973
Roddy: What is the application of that thing?
00:28:53.973 –> 00:28:57.573
Roddy: Like, it’s neat and cool, whatever, but no store is ever going to put that in.
00:28:57.573 –> 00:28:58.933
Roddy: That’s insane.
00:28:59.733 –> 00:29:03.593
Roddy: I guess Mike, if I can get your reaction to it, that’s what this industry is all about.
00:29:03.593 –> 00:29:12.893
Roddy: It’s like if you try to go in there and lead with a bunch of BS or highfalutin marketing speak, people are going to be like, that’s not how the world really works.
00:29:12.893 –> 00:29:14.693
Roddy: Let me explain it to you, son.
00:29:14.693 –> 00:29:17.593
Roddy: I guess is that what you have seen over the years?
00:29:17.593 –> 00:29:18.773
Monocello: Yeah, absolutely.
00:29:20.873 –> 00:29:30.333
Monocello: There are people with new shiny things that show up, and it’s good to know what’s coming down the road, and what’s going to be available.
00:29:30.333 –> 00:29:38.213
Monocello: But again, I think RSPA members need, like we said, proven technologies that are going to solve solutions.
00:29:41.273 –> 00:29:52.213
Monocello: It’s more like here’s how we’re leveraging AI to make improvements to our software in really subtle ways that are going to improve your customers.
00:29:52.213 –> 00:30:05.713
Monocello: We don’t need to lead with that or make it seem like we’re handing over the keys to AI to just run our entire operation or something like that, but just small changes that are effective.
00:30:05.713 –> 00:30:06.113
Roddy: Got it.
00:30:06.113 –> 00:30:09.553
Roddy: Carl, before we take a commercial break, I want to get your final take on this topic.
00:30:09.773 –> 00:30:12.953
Boutet: Well, I do teach emerging technologies and new business models.
00:30:13.793 –> 00:30:16.413
Boutet: As much as I said, the maturity and the discipline is really important.
00:30:16.413 –> 00:30:26.073
Boutet: I think we still need to be cautious not to throw everything out because I’ve seen these waves happen before where I’ll give the famous example of the metaverse which everybody was very excited about.
00:30:26.573 –> 00:30:34.573
Boutet: Was AI just the next metaverse or is it the next Web 3 or crypto or things that have come and gone, especially the metaverse analogy?
00:30:35.173 –> 00:30:48.313
Boutet: I always be cautious because some of these technologies are signals and they’re maybe not the entire signal, but they are pieces of it and I don’t think nobody can afford to completely push them aside either, especially not in the case of AI, so I don’t think anybody really is.
00:30:48.313 –> 00:30:53.733
Boutet: But I’m just saying there’s maturity, but there’s also curiosity and finding that right balance.
00:30:54.093 –> 00:30:55.053
Boutet: I’m staying ahead of it.
00:30:55.053 –> 00:31:09.793
Boutet: Maybe the 3D sign isn’t for me now, but chances are I know I’m going to have to maybe up my signage game at some point because I’m looking at my competitors and my store is feeling pretty static right now, and I need to give something for my little creative more energy in my space.
00:31:09.793 –> 00:31:16.613
Boutet: So maybe not 3D doesn’t necessarily need to be 3D, 3D might be fine, but still, again, there’s pieces in there.
00:31:16.613 –> 00:31:22.453
Boutet: So I think as an association as well, we need to be careful not to just push any technology to the side.
00:31:22.453 –> 00:31:28.653
Boutet: Because even though if 80 percent of it’s not going to work, maybe there’s a 20 in there that’s still going to be important and create a lot of value.
00:31:28.653 –> 00:31:30.013
Boutet: So anyways, that’s my caveat.
00:31:30.573 –> 00:31:44.973
Roddy: Yeah, as an RSPA member told me after what they saw at retail now, or I’m not at retail now at NRF, they said, what I hear about AI, 80 percent of it is a bunch of hot air, but the other 20 percent is absolutely amazing.
00:31:44.973 –> 00:31:52.313
Roddy: As another RSPA member said, I’ve always got to be on one hand solving problems, but part of me always has to be exploring as well.
00:31:52.313 –> 00:31:57.033
Roddy: It’s not an either or, you’ve got to be able to balance those two things.
00:31:57.033 –> 00:32:06.713
Roddy: Before we get more takeaways from Carl and Mike, let’s pause here to let our listeners and viewers know about the aforementioned RSPA, the Retail Solutions Providers Association.
00:32:06.713 –> 00:32:12.433
Roddy: It’s North America’s largest community of retail technology VARs, software providers, vendors, and distributors.
00:32:12.433 –> 00:32:20.513
Roddy: To accelerate your success through an RSPA membership, which is more affordable than you might think, email membership at gorspa.org.
00:32:20.513 –> 00:32:26.053
Roddy: Also, thanks to these companies who support the RSPA community and make this podcast and video series possible.
00:32:26.453 –> 00:32:34.513
Roddy: Our Platinum sponsor for 2025 is Bluestar, and our gold sponsors are Cochard, Epson, Heartland, and ScanSource.
00:32:34.593 –> 00:32:41.273
Roddy: Then finally, save the date for Inspire 2026, the Retail IT Channel’s premier leadership conference.
00:32:41.293 –> 00:32:46.893
Roddy: RSPA Inspire is set for February 1st through 4th on the beautiful island of Kauai, Hawaii.
00:32:46.893 –> 00:32:54.733
Roddy: For more information, visit gorspa.org, forward slash inspire, so you can experience networking nirvana.
00:32:54.733 –> 00:33:01.653
Roddy: And I need to commit to memory how to spell Kauai going forward because we’ve been promoting that for the next few months.
00:33:01.653 –> 00:33:02.713
Roddy: So, all right.
00:33:02.713 –> 00:33:05.553
Roddy: Let’s each talk about one more takeaway.
00:33:05.553 –> 00:33:07.413
Roddy: And Carl, why don’t you go first this time?
00:33:07.413 –> 00:33:09.033
Roddy: What’s something else that stood out to you?
00:33:09.053 –> 00:33:16.573
Roddy: Do you think our listeners should think about or should do based on what you saw at Retail Now?
00:33:16.573 –> 00:33:21.613
Boutet: I’m trying to find the right kind of building on the last point, but I think it’s an important sort of clarification.
00:33:21.613 –> 00:33:38.753
Boutet: Is this balance as well as the solutions and the blurring and the idea that maybe we are focused on payment processing, but what is it with the relationship and the trust that I have with my customer that I can bring even more value to that relationship?
00:33:38.953 –> 00:33:44.473
Boutet: And I think we’re going to have to get to a place where we feel a little more comfortable outside of the payment processing realm.
00:33:44.473 –> 00:33:46.933
Boutet: So how do we diversify our product offering?
00:33:46.993 –> 00:33:50.773
Boutet: Like our retailers, as I said earlier, are trying to diversify the revenue models.
00:33:50.773 –> 00:33:53.693
Boutet: I think probably the associate, and I’m seeing a bit of that.
00:33:53.693 –> 00:33:58.793
Boutet: I mean, you mentioned our platinum sponsor, Blue Star, having robotics, for instance.
00:33:58.793 –> 00:34:12.033
Boutet: And I’m not going to say that everybody’s got to go out and become a reseller of robotics, but it is something like if the payment processing is, we talked about this before, becoming rapidly commoditized, where’s the margin, where’s the opportunity?
00:34:12.033 –> 00:34:23.653
Boutet: How do I leverage these great relationships where the retailer will look at me as a trusted advisor, as the series is called, and say, you know, Carl, what do you know about robotics?
00:34:23.653 –> 00:34:25.033
Boutet: Like, okay, I don’t know much about it.
00:34:25.033 –> 00:34:27.113
Boutet: I have one supplier that’s starting to touch on that.
00:34:27.113 –> 00:34:30.453
Boutet: Maybe I can find out more for you, and I’ll educate myself.
00:34:30.453 –> 00:34:31.093
Boutet: And hey, guess what?
00:34:31.093 –> 00:34:33.613
Boutet: There’s maybe an opportunity for us to explore together.
00:34:33.613 –> 00:34:40.113
Boutet: Or no, this is a little too far out of my field, and I’m more comfortable talking about signage, or I’m more comfortable talking about…
00:34:40.393 –> 00:34:47.613
Boutet: I don’t think everybody’s going to become the solution for everything, but I think there’s that blurring and sort of building on that trust, saying, listen, I understand your business.
00:34:47.613 –> 00:34:50.393
Boutet: I’ve been selling into this business for the last 20 years.
00:34:50.393 –> 00:34:54.713
Boutet: I’ve grown, I’ve matured with your business, and you’re evolving.
00:34:54.713 –> 00:34:56.593
Boutet: I need to evolve as well, too.
00:34:56.593 –> 00:34:59.713
Boutet: Let’s take a look together and see where is that value going to be created?
00:34:59.753 –> 00:35:07.033
Boutet: And Mike, I think we were referencing it earlier, and well, in the NRIF, when they say that 20% of what works, it’s often around optimization.
00:35:07.553 –> 00:35:10.273
Boutet: It’s all about, how do I get better with what I already have?
00:35:10.273 –> 00:35:12.473
Boutet: How do I get more value out of my business?
00:35:12.473 –> 00:35:15.953
Boutet: How do I create more meaningful engagement with my customers?
00:35:15.953 –> 00:35:19.633
Boutet: So I’m always looking at it from the retailer perspective, but obviously, we’re supporting that.
00:35:19.633 –> 00:35:20.313
Boutet: And what is it?
00:35:21.173 –> 00:35:22.373
Boutet: What are those solutions?
00:35:22.373 –> 00:35:24.393
Boutet: Because we are the Solution Providers Association.
00:35:24.393 –> 00:35:29.953
Boutet: What are those solutions that are going to help complement and make sure that we’re still doing payment processing at the end of the day?
00:35:29.953 –> 00:35:37.893
Boutet: Because that’s the big question is if we’re not as relevant, we’re going to be just doing less payment processing and the whole thing falls apart anyway.
00:35:37.893 –> 00:35:42.253
Boutet: So how do we make sure that our clients have payment to process?
00:35:42.253 –> 00:35:42.813
Roddy: Interesting.
00:35:42.813 –> 00:35:44.033
Roddy: Mike, what is your take on that?
00:35:44.033 –> 00:35:48.033
Roddy: Like Carl said, he’s got the retailer’s perspective, you’ve got the VAR’s perspective.
00:35:48.033 –> 00:35:50.533
Roddy: What’s your reaction to Carl’s observation there?
00:35:53.233 –> 00:36:03.773
Monocello: Well, we started by talking about how I’ve been coming to the show for 20 years or whatever and seeing this evolution of the membership.
00:36:03.773 –> 00:36:16.573
Monocello: Jim, you also mentioned how we were proponents of recurring revenue and essentially what that boils down to is these members over the past 20 years have had to adjust their model in many different ways.
00:36:16.853 –> 00:36:20.233
Monocello: It has been slow, but it is happening.
00:36:21.773 –> 00:36:29.073
Monocello: I agree 100 percent with what Carl is saying in terms of these members, our members need to be trusted advisors.
00:36:29.073 –> 00:36:34.193
Monocello: In order to be a trusted advisor, you can’t just be selling one piece of a solution.
00:36:34.193 –> 00:36:40.793
Monocello: You can’t just say, I sell some hardware in the software and that’s it, and I get the payment processing residuals.
00:36:40.793 –> 00:36:48.453
Monocello: You really in today’s day and age need to be looking at, you need to understand your customer’s business better than they do.
00:36:48.453 –> 00:36:52.233
Monocello: You need to know where they can be gaining efficiencies.
00:36:52.233 –> 00:37:03.533
Monocello: You need to be asking them questions that they haven’t even thought to ask themselves, and then apply solutions that, again, they wouldn’t even be on their radar.
00:37:03.533 –> 00:37:13.873
Monocello: Going back to what I said earlier about seeing all these different exhibitors that retail now, it’s nice that I said people are walking around, and I’m not saying, like, wow, I didn’t even know I could be offering this.
00:37:13.873 –> 00:37:24.673
Monocello: And it’s important for, if you’re going to be a trusted advisor, a total solution provider to truly be offering total and complete solutions.
00:37:26.253 –> 00:37:28.853
Monocello: You never know what’s going to happen.
00:37:28.853 –> 00:37:34.413
Monocello: Payment processing residuals have kind of shrunk a little bit over the years, like a race to the bottom.
00:37:34.413 –> 00:37:36.493
Monocello: It’s still a very good revenue stream.
00:37:36.493 –> 00:37:39.733
Monocello: I know many people just have their entire businesses based on that.
00:37:40.513 –> 00:37:43.473
Monocello: But, you know, who knows what’s going to happen?
00:37:43.473 –> 00:37:47.893
Monocello: And so you should also be looking at where the next revenue streams could be.
00:37:47.893 –> 00:37:50.513
Monocello: Getting into additional managed services, right?
00:37:50.513 –> 00:37:52.793
Monocello: We talk about this all the time, Jim.
00:37:52.953 –> 00:38:03.453
Monocello: And that will be, you know, we could segue into my second takeaway would be offering something like security services, et cetera, you know, business continuity.
00:38:03.453 –> 00:38:09.013
Monocello: There’s video surveillance, robotics in the future, digital signage.
00:38:09.213 –> 00:38:21.013
Monocello: I mean, there are so many different technologies that retailers, you know, generically can use and meet and could benefit from that our members could be offering.
00:38:21.013 –> 00:38:21.873
Roddy: Yeah, so thank you for that.
00:38:21.873 –> 00:38:24.773
Roddy: So keep building upon that, Mike, if that’s your next takeaway.
00:38:24.773 –> 00:38:38.113
Roddy: And it seems like, you know, if Carl’s talking about delivering the solutions and it ties right in with what you just said, that you can’t just be, remember we did that cover that had the POS VAR is dead because it’s not just a POS VAR anymore.
00:38:38.253 –> 00:38:41.153
Roddy: You have to, you know, expand.
00:38:41.153 –> 00:38:46.633
Roddy: I guess, can you expand upon that expansion and putting yourself in the shoes of a VAR?
00:38:46.633 –> 00:38:50.413
Roddy: I know they say, hey, when I add a new product, then I have to train my techs.
00:38:50.413 –> 00:38:51.873
Roddy: I have to train my sales team.
00:38:51.873 –> 00:38:52.993
Roddy: We got to figure all these things out.
00:38:52.993 –> 00:38:56.673
Roddy: Like it is not like snapping your fingers and just bolting something on it.
00:38:56.673 –> 00:39:00.713
Roddy: So I guess talk about that from a, we talked about running it through the reality filter.
00:39:00.713 –> 00:39:06.733
Roddy: Talk about that, Mike, in terms of how much you think of VAR should be biting off in order to offer more.
00:39:07.493 –> 00:39:14.453
Roddy: So they’ve got to keep up pace with change and they got to stay away from the people who are clawing at their heels, but they don’t want to die from indigestion.
00:39:14.453 –> 00:39:16.713
Roddy: I guess what’s your take on that if you could expand upon it?
00:39:16.713 –> 00:39:17.433
Monocello: Yeah, good point.
00:39:17.433 –> 00:39:18.593
Monocello: Good point.
00:39:18.753 –> 00:39:26.853
Monocello: I would say that depending on a VAR’s appetite and capability, there are ways of getting involved to whatever level they want.
00:39:26.853 –> 00:39:30.733
Monocello: So number one, I mean, there are partnership opportunities available.
00:39:30.733 –> 00:39:42.073
Monocello: We have members who specialize in something that they could potentially partner with and start offering some of these services that someone else might be helping them with.
00:39:42.073 –> 00:39:50.873
Monocello: Managed services space, I guess, my quick response, now that I’m talking this out, would be the managed services people figured it out.
00:39:50.873 –> 00:39:52.493
Monocello: Jim, why can’t our people figure it out?
00:39:54.413 –> 00:39:59.313
Monocello: I mean, how many recurring revenue services are on your list right now?
00:39:59.313 –> 00:40:00.873
Monocello: Close to 50?
00:40:00.873 –> 00:40:01.693
Roddy: I’m going to have to look it up.
00:40:02.293 –> 00:40:03.213
Roddy: It might be more than that.
00:40:03.213 –> 00:40:04.793
Roddy: I’ll look it up while you’re talking.
00:40:04.793 –> 00:40:06.313
Monocello: Yeah.
00:40:06.313 –> 00:40:08.633
Monocello: Managed services providers offer all these things.
00:40:08.633 –> 00:40:09.973
Monocello: They figured out how to do it.
00:40:09.973 –> 00:40:10.853
Monocello: So how do they do it?
00:40:10.853 –> 00:40:20.653
Monocello: In some cases, like security services, there are vendors that offer SOC as a service, so like a security operation center as a service.
00:40:21.673 –> 00:40:25.313
Monocello: You’re losing a little bit of the money to them, but they’re handling it all for you.
00:40:25.313 –> 00:40:36.733
Monocello: They’ve got specialists who sit there, and that’s all they do is like stare at incidents and identify what threats are and then solve problems.
00:40:36.733 –> 00:40:47.933
Monocello: So you could partner with vendors who have figured this out and have programs and services that make it easy for you to adopt them would be number one.
00:40:49.973 –> 00:40:54.133
Monocello: So partnership, and then also don’t overlook your distributor partners.
00:40:54.413 –> 00:40:57.493
Monocello: They offer a lot of value added services.
00:40:57.493 –> 00:41:00.453
Monocello: They’re not just shipping products.
00:41:00.453 –> 00:41:12.153
Monocello: They offer a lot of things, site surveys, staging, other things that you could leverage that would add value to what you’re providing your customers.
00:41:12.153 –> 00:41:14.253
Monocello: So that’s my quick response to that one.
00:41:15.193 –> 00:41:21.413
Roddy: Great, and to add to that, so what you were referring to, what Mike was referring to, the RSPA is produced over the years, a list.
00:41:21.413 –> 00:41:28.713
Roddy: It’s called the Ultimate List of Recurring Revenue Products and Services for Retail Technology VARs.
00:41:28.713 –> 00:41:30.453
Roddy: That is up to 57 now.
00:41:30.453 –> 00:41:37.833
Roddy: So Mike, we’ve matched Western Pennsylvania Proud, Heinz Ketchup, and there are 57 varieties of recurring revenue services.
00:41:37.833 –> 00:41:40.713
Roddy: So that’s how I got to remember that a little bit better.
00:41:40.713 –> 00:41:47.913
Roddy: Before I turn it over to Carl, it’s one guidance that I received at a RetailNow breakout session.
00:41:47.913 –> 00:41:59.933
Roddy: Anthony Presley from Timeforge and CBS Northstar, he had very interesting, be a reseller of your core services and be a referral partner for things that are non-core.
00:41:59.933 –> 00:42:10.653
Roddy: So you are representing and selling those, but instead of you necessarily becoming the expert, a lot of times the vendor, or like you said, Mike, the distributor, whoever is who can handle a lot of the heavy lifting with that.
00:42:10.733 –> 00:42:17.493
Roddy: So I thought that was a really interesting way in terms of, from a partnership standpoint, you don’t have to be a reseller of everything, there are things you can refer.
00:42:17.493 –> 00:42:20.893
Roddy: So I guess Mike, you want to build on that before I turn it over to Carl.
00:42:21.093 –> 00:42:27.093
Monocello: Just one more thing on the security aspect and tying it back to the Trusted Advisor thing.
00:42:27.633 –> 00:42:35.393
Monocello: I think all the reseller members would say, they aspire to be a trusted advisor, they want to be or they claim to be.
00:42:35.393 –> 00:42:38.033
Monocello: But ultimately, it comes down to proving that.
00:42:39.133 –> 00:42:44.653
Monocello: And oftentimes, you have to prove it in bad times, not just the good ones.
00:42:44.653 –> 00:42:54.393
Monocello: So in the case of security, it’s not a matter of if it’s when a breach occurs or some kind of security incident is going to happen.
00:42:54.393 –> 00:43:03.733
Monocello: And I think oftentimes members think that, well, PCI, like the car data, that’s out of scope, so I don’t need to worry about that.
00:43:04.033 –> 00:43:04.793
Monocello: That’s not on me.
00:43:05.493 –> 00:43:13.573
Monocello: And other security things, the data is in the cloud with my ISV, the software company, I don’t really need to worry about that too.
00:43:13.573 –> 00:43:17.793
Monocello: So maybe they’ve got a firewall or something like that.
00:43:17.793 –> 00:43:28.093
Monocello: But the fact is, whenever an incident occurs, if they truly are The Trusted Advisor, pretend to be, they’re going to get that call and they’re going to have to deal with it.
00:43:28.093 –> 00:43:32.753
Monocello: And the correct response is not to point the finger at someone else.
00:43:33.193 –> 00:43:37.393
Monocello: The correct response is not to say like, I don’t really have a solution.
00:43:37.393 –> 00:43:38.953
Monocello: You need to be prepared.
00:43:38.953 –> 00:43:43.173
Monocello: Whether you want to be involved in security or not, I think you have to be.
00:43:43.173 –> 00:43:47.393
Monocello: And so I sat in on one of the education sessions.
00:43:47.393 –> 00:43:50.193
Monocello: I think it was TD Cinex gave it.
00:43:50.193 –> 00:43:51.553
Monocello: It was really good.
00:43:51.553 –> 00:43:57.673
Monocello: And they talked about, you know, there’s internal and external security as well.
00:43:57.673 –> 00:44:04.513
Monocello: These reseller members and our ISV members, they need to be protected as well.
00:44:04.513 –> 00:44:09.013
Monocello: So they’re not, they don’t become a vector for an incident to their customers.
00:44:09.013 –> 00:44:17.313
Monocello: You know, a lot of people now, as they’ve evolved into managed services, are using PSA platforms like ConnectWise.
00:44:17.313 –> 00:44:24.733
Monocello: And they just had a big incident where people were going through ConnectWise and gaining access to merchant systems.
00:44:25.033 –> 00:44:30.733
Monocello: So, you know, you need to be protecting yourself as well as your customers.
00:44:30.733 –> 00:44:35.333
Monocello: And then finally, on the security front, you know, there are three different aspects of it.
00:44:35.333 –> 00:44:38.313
Monocello: There’s the technology, there’s the process and the people.
00:44:38.313 –> 00:44:42.653
Monocello: And I think oftentimes, the channel thinks just of the technology thing.
00:44:42.653 –> 00:44:47.073
Monocello: But then there’s the people and the process that are equally important, if not more.
00:44:47.073 –> 00:44:58.893
Monocello: The people could come down to, you know, just education, phishing simulation type tools that help educate your staff and your customers on these latest threats.
00:44:58.893 –> 00:45:13.633
Monocello: AI is getting really, really good at coming up with scary, accurate phishing things where you’ll get a phone call and it sounds like it’s your boss telling you, you know, hey, I need this or, you know, do this.
00:45:13.633 –> 00:45:24.233
Monocello: And, you know, if you’re not skilled to identify those things or have some kind of education, it’s going to be easier and easier for people to be duped.
00:45:24.233 –> 00:45:27.193
Monocello: And then the last thing would be process.
00:45:27.193 –> 00:45:28.913
Monocello: What happens when an incident occurs?
00:45:28.913 –> 00:45:32.513
Monocello: That’s oftentimes where companies can really fumble.
00:45:32.513 –> 00:45:39.753
Monocello: So getting someone, getting yourself or your customers back up and running, you know, business continuity type things.
00:45:39.753 –> 00:45:45.473
Monocello: These are services that you could offer that, you know, frankly, you need to be doing these things anyway.
00:45:45.753 –> 00:45:49.473
Monocello: So be prepared, you know, you could have e-mails written.
00:45:49.613 –> 00:45:51.693
Monocello: What happens when the customer calls?
00:45:51.693 –> 00:45:52.873
Monocello: What are we going to say to them?
00:45:52.873 –> 00:45:54.613
Monocello: Are we going to accept fault?
00:45:54.613 –> 00:46:03.713
Monocello: Or do we have a letter that our lawyer has pre-approved and, you know, that we can e-mail out that, you know, kind of gives us some good legal footing?
00:46:03.713 –> 00:46:04.333
Monocello: You know, I don’t know.
00:46:04.333 –> 00:46:11.673
Monocello: There’s a lot that goes into this, but it’s clear to me, clearly, the answer is not to say it’s not, it’s something we don’t do.
00:46:12.673 –> 00:46:17.653
Roddy: Yes, yes, you got to be a, you said to be the Trusted Advisor, you’ve got to wrap your arms around it.
00:46:17.653 –> 00:46:20.733
Roddy: Carl, that was a lot that Mike and I were going back and forth about.
00:46:20.733 –> 00:46:24.393
Roddy: What’s your take on that from a retailer perspective?
00:46:24.393 –> 00:46:25.433
Roddy: What’s your reaction?
00:46:25.433 –> 00:46:29.173
Boutet: Actually, I’ll give you my take as a strategist, you know, because that’s my key thing.
00:46:29.553 –> 00:46:35.093
Boutet: And just my own business model is very much predicated on being the trusted advisor on the strategy side.
00:46:35.093 –> 00:46:42.193
Boutet: And what that usually means is I need to assemble a team whenever, you know, I’m being, somebody’s coming to me and saying, here’s, you know, a particular challenge I have.
00:46:42.993 –> 00:46:48.013
Boutet: And I sort of become the coordinator and I bring in the other experts.
00:46:48.013 –> 00:46:51.293
Boutet: I’m pretty good in data science, but I’m by no means a postdoc in data science.
00:46:51.293 –> 00:46:55.353
Boutet: So if I need to go that deep, then I’ll have those people around me, but I am still the front.
00:46:55.353 –> 00:46:58.973
Boutet: I’m still ultimately accountable for, and the trust comes from me.
00:46:58.973 –> 00:47:08.073
Boutet: And if something happens, and I love that Mike’s bringing up the whole security piece, something I’ve spent a bit of time and kind of really exposed me to the depth of the channel.
00:47:09.793 –> 00:47:13.873
Boutet: I could see the importance of that, and it’s just growing day after day.
00:47:13.873 –> 00:47:23.033
Boutet: As soon as we talk about any sort of technology that’s being implemented more and more, the counterbalance of that is more and more risk tied to that security.
00:47:23.033 –> 00:47:26.473
Boutet: So how do we manage that?
00:47:26.473 –> 00:47:29.873
Boutet: I think we have no choice, and maybe just sort of an extra insight around that.
00:47:30.033 –> 00:47:36.033
Boutet: I’ve been thinking, especially since the show, and having seen on the floor what I saw, I think there’s an opportunity here.
00:47:36.313 –> 00:47:37.773
Boutet: I don’t necessarily think we should go wide.
00:47:37.853 –> 00:47:39.013
Boutet: I think there’s an opportunity to go deep.
00:47:39.013 –> 00:47:40.253
Boutet: And I think that’s the idea.
00:47:40.253 –> 00:47:47.233
Boutet: The difference is, you cannot be, the old saying I think my grandmother would say is, if you’re all things to everybody, you’re nothing to no one.
00:47:47.233 –> 00:47:53.653
Boutet: So you want to kind of focus on a specific piece of the market that you’re going to go really deep.
00:47:53.653 –> 00:48:00.093
Boutet: And I saw some vendors say, we deal just one ethnic hospitality or restaurant.
00:48:00.093 –> 00:48:04.633
Boutet: Like we focus just on that, but we can do everything for that group.
00:48:04.633 –> 00:48:28.553
Boutet: So I think that’s kind of an interesting angle right now is some vendors are larger and they can go wider, but I think the majority of our members are probably focused on a segment and they can become even more focused, hyper-focused on a segment, but be able to go really deep with that relationship instead of spray and pray, which we know is the strategy is working less and less because technology is allowing us to target better and better.
00:48:28.553 –> 00:48:39.493
Boutet: So let’s use that technology to make that targeting more effective and go deeper and build on those relationships by maybe bringing together and partnering with others to have that depth.
00:48:39.493 –> 00:48:44.873
Boutet: That’s going to be more and more required because that’s just every business, every industry is going through the same challenge right now.
00:48:44.873 –> 00:48:47.913
Boutet: And that is, you know, how do we how do we disrupt ourselves?
00:48:47.913 –> 00:48:58.753
Boutet: You know, the innovator’s dilemma, how do we become sort of we make sure we’re still relevant a couple of years from now and having to sort of rethink how it is that we create value for our customers in the first place.
00:48:58.793 –> 00:49:00.653
Roddy: It’s interesting you bring up disrupt ourselves.
00:49:00.653 –> 00:49:04.313
Roddy: And I’ll give you the last word on that, because that’s what like Mike had talked about.
00:49:04.313 –> 00:49:05.413
Roddy: That’s what the RSPA has done.
00:49:05.413 –> 00:49:15.053
Roddy: It used to be more of a hardware show and hardware is still an important component, but if it’s expanded well beyond that, I remember somebody who worked for a hardware company, then they were retired.
00:49:15.053 –> 00:49:19.473
Roddy: They came back last year as an advisor for somebody and they were just laughing on the show floor.
00:49:19.473 –> 00:49:22.173
Roddy: Like this has become a high tech event.
00:49:22.173 –> 00:49:28.833
Roddy: So I guess Carl, can you take the final word before we wrap up today’s episode on that topic?
00:49:28.833 –> 00:49:32.173
Boutet: Well, maybe not the most comfortable words, but I think important ones are on disk.
00:49:32.413 –> 00:49:35.353
Boutet: I personally think the point of sale is going away.
00:49:35.353 –> 00:49:42.633
Boutet: So how do we prepare for that future where there is no longer a single point of sale, but it is points of sale that are spread through the customer journey?
00:49:42.633 –> 00:49:44.053
Boutet: What’s the tech stack look like that?
00:49:44.053 –> 00:49:45.213
Boutet: How do we meet the customer?
00:49:45.213 –> 00:49:52.553
Boutet: How do we support the retailer to meet the customer along that where there’s no longer the piggly wiggly cash register waiting at the end of the checkout line?
00:49:53.573 –> 00:49:56.533
Boutet: So let’s think about that future and prepare for it.
00:49:56.533 –> 00:50:10.193
Boutet: While we still have runway to do that and they’re still going to be piggly wiggly checkout lines that are already over a century long, for probably at least another decade or two and some models are going to remain focused on that, but I think less and less of them are.
00:50:10.193 –> 00:50:16.553
Boutet: So the tech stack is going to sort of blend into more and more software that the hardware is going to be carried by the customer more and more.
00:50:16.553 –> 00:50:18.973
Boutet: So it’ll be interesting to see how we adapt to that.
00:50:19.853 –> 00:50:29.813
Roddy: Mike, can you imagine 10 years ago, somebody on an RSPA podcast, well, first the RSPA having a podcast 10 years ago, but can you imagine 10 years ago, someone saying the point of sale is going away, right?
00:50:29.813 –> 00:50:33.493
Roddy: That would be torches and pitchforks going after that guy.
00:50:33.493 –> 00:50:34.973
Boutet: Those are fighting words, yeah.
00:50:34.973 –> 00:50:35.433
Roddy: Yes.
00:50:36.073 –> 00:50:45.513
Roddy: So Mike, I guess I’ll let you close out on that point in terms of, to your point, you’ve got to take on all those other services because you can’t just rely on the point of sale because it’s changing.
00:50:45.513 –> 00:50:47.113
Monocello: Yeah, I mean, absolutely.
00:50:47.113 –> 00:50:48.233
Monocello: I don’t know what more to say.
00:50:48.373 –> 00:50:54.253
Monocello: I mean, it’s, to some people, I’m sure it is a scary proposition.
00:50:54.253 –> 00:50:57.413
Monocello: But this is our current world that we’re living in.
00:50:57.413 –> 00:51:10.753
Monocello: I mean, things are changing so, so rapidly and this is, I think we’ve weeded out the industry and there’s probably some people that will still leave who don’t want to change.
00:51:11.813 –> 00:51:23.053
Monocello: But those remaining, those entering this market, I think have an understanding now that things are changing rapidly and they need to keep up with it.
00:51:23.393 –> 00:51:25.013
Monocello: It’s super exciting though.
00:51:25.013 –> 00:51:28.153
Monocello: I mean, yeah, maybe the traditional revenue streams aren’t there.
00:51:28.153 –> 00:51:40.333
Monocello: But gosh, if you get involved in this, because you love technology and or you love helping your customers solve their business challenges, there’s never been a better time.
00:51:40.333 –> 00:51:47.553
Monocello: I mean, there’s so many cool things coming up to play that it’s definitely not boring.
00:51:47.553 –> 00:51:48.873
Roddy: Definitely not boring.
00:51:48.873 –> 00:51:53.593
Roddy: Well, that does it for this episode of The Trusted Advisor, which we hope you found definitely not boring.
00:51:53.593 –> 00:52:01.573
Roddy: If you enjoyed our discussion, be sure to subscribe to the RSPA YouTube channel and The Trusted Advisor podcast so you never miss an episode.
00:52:01.573 –> 00:52:06.833
Roddy: Before we go, big thanks again to Mike Monocello and Carl Boutet for sharing their wisdom with us today.
00:52:06.833 –> 00:52:14.973
Roddy: Thanks also to RSPA Marketing Director Chris Arnold for his production work, Joseph McDade for our music, and last but not least, thanks so much to you for listening.
00:52:14.973 –> 00:52:22.133
Roddy: Our goal at the RSPA is to accelerate the success of our members in the retail technology ecosystem by providing knowledge and connections.
00:52:22.133 –> 00:52:26.053
Roddy: For more information, please visit our website at gorspa.org.
00:52:26.053 –> 00:52:29.693
Roddy: Thanks for listening and goodbye everybody.
