Denver Biz Tech Expo Gives Regions Businesses Direct Access to Vendors, Experts

Denver Technology Partners’ third-annual Denver Biz Tech Expo kicks off tomorrow as the organization – which includes Channel Partners advisory board member and two-time 360° award winner Platte River Networks – seeks to educate businesses of all kinds about new technologies.

PRN is a founding member of Denver Technology Partners and the company’s David DeCamillis serves as the association’s president. This year, the Biz Tech Expo is emphasizing integration, mobility and security, aiming to reach small and mid-market businesses, enterprises, government agencies and educational institutions.

“In order for businesses to succeed in today’s competitive environment, they need to see technology that will both integrate easily and improve their bottom line,” DeCamillis said. “The Denver Biz Tech Expo puts business decision makers directly in front of technology providers from across the globe.”

That will be a new experience for many decision makers, as more and more come from divisions not related to IT. For example, Denver Technology Partners is seeing more owners, managers, consultants, production and operations workers, accountants, designers, and sales and marketing professionals coming to the Biz Tech Expo.

“As the dependency of technology grows both at the company level and user level, the decision makers now encompass all departments and roles,” DeCamillis explained. “Many of these decision makers do not have direct access to technology vendors, new hardware, software, service or their engineers/experts. Our goal is to give them that direct access.”

The Denver Biz Tech Expo also gives these end users a forum for discussing their existing technology, and learning how they can improve and maximize those assets, particularly as personal and business lives blend due in large part to mobile devices.

“[Attendees] will learn how to better manage, deliver, and secure their critical data and applications, and how to improve and grow their business using the best, but affordable, technology available today,” DeCamillis said.

Further, there are speakers and panels concentrating on technology, business, social, economic and government concerns. Brent Allshouse, co-founder and CFO of PRN, is participating in the mobility session and this year’s keynote speaker is Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock.

To be sure, the 2014 Expo features more experts than ever, as well as a cybersecurity breakout and the mobility panel, among other additions.

“We also ensured the speaker sessions focused their content on our theme this year – integration-mobility-security,” said DeCamillis. “We are also pushing…the speakers to focus on user concerns, issues, challenges and needs, and offer viable solutions instead of just selling the audience on their own solutions. We also added signage, expanded social media presence, invested more into digital marketing, invested in more quality attendee lists and hired more staff for ‘day of’ support.”

Indeed, the Denver Biz Tech Expo has grown each year since its inception.

“Denver, and even Colorado and the region, was lacking a technology event that provided an effective and vibrant forum for small business to get in front of technology providers and their changing solutions,” said DeCamillis. “We now realize the region needed a true business technology event for every company size and across all industries.”

Plus, he said, Denver’s economy, tech industry, small business environment and startup arena all are thriving.

“I strongly believe the continued growth and success of the DBTE is a direct result of our great city.”

That success also fueled the creation of the Denver Technology Partners’ Young Women’s Technology Scholarship, which motivates seniors in the Denver public high school system to pursue technology degrees.

“The technology industry in the United States is growing rapidly and the disparity of men to women working in the field is getting wider,” DeCamillis said. “There is a great need for more educated and certified professional women in this field.”

The Denver Biz Tech Expo takes place on Thursday, Oct. 9, from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m., at the Wings Over the Rockies Museum. The event is sponsored by Latisys, Axcient, HP, Dell, Samsung, Fortinet and Microsoft. Denver Technology Partners is comprised of companies including PRN, Dedicated Telecom, Host Works, Techno Rescue and more.