The AASA Technology Council (ATC) announced that it will host the industry’s first Customer Technology Town Hall during its annual AASA Technology Conference, Sunday, Sept. 29, through Tuesday, Oct. 1, in Boca Raton, Florida. AutoZone and Genuine Parts Co. (GPC) will meet with suppliers at different times during the event.

The Customer Technology Town Hall will be held during the ATC Fall Meeting on Sept. 30, the first morning of the conference. Only suppliers (manufacturers) will be allowed to participate in this unique meeting.

“The ATC has enjoyed excellent relationships with all major aftermarket distributors and retailers, so the Customer Technology Town Hall is an obvious way to bring them together with our members – the leading suppliers of parts, chemicals, tools and diagnostics,” said Chris Gardner, senior vice president of AASA and the executive director of the ATC. “A clearer understanding of customer business technology needs by our members will result in a much smoother runway for utilizing technology to advance the business interests of both parties.”

The Town Hall format will include comments by John Schaeffer, senior product manager for AutoZone, and Ken Ingram, senior director digital content services for Genuine Parts Co. This will be followed by interactions with suppliers in a town hall format.

“The ATC Board of Governors has worked hard to create an open dialog with our major resellers regarding enabling technologies,” said Kevin Pentecost, information security manager for Standard Motor Products and the chairman of the ATC Board of Governors. “We anticipate tremendous conversations with GPC and AutoZone as we jointly engage in ways to increase business through healthy supplier-customer relationships.”

Additional information about the AASA Technology Conference can be accessed by clicking here. This year’s theme is “Digitizing the Aftermarket.”