ISC Solutions Examined

Facing falling attendance and interest, ISC East has been 'transformed' to ISC Solutions. Exhibit attendance dropped to 6,331 in 2009 while paying education attendees was an anemic 41.

In their announcement, the exhibitor justified the move as complementing ISC East where new product introductions are made in the Spring. This way, in the fall, attendees can learn about putting together solutions using those products. 

This year's target solutions will be: Healthcare; Retail; Education/Campus and Government. They note that, "exhibits will be segmented by technology/applications and the introduction of a 'solutions hub' in the middle of the show floor will offer organized information and solutions-sourcing."

Below is their introductory video and follows is our analysis:

ISC East needed a shakeup so it's neither surprising nor confusing that the attempt was made.

On the plus side, we think this will be attractive to manufacturers who may be more compelled to participate because of a target market they focus on. We also believe end users will be better able to justify the trip if they can show that the event is focused more specifically on what they do.

On the negative side, we question how truly 'solutions oriented' the show will be. In other words, is this just sugar coating product pitches or can they truly deliver more useful content/education on the solutions they target. From their list of partners, most are trade magazines and those magazines primarily re-run press releases or contributed articles from manufacturers. It's hard to see how the magazines will help for more than promotion. The more widely respected PSA is also cited but their education also consists of 80-90% manufacturer presentations at their own event [link no longer available].

Furthermore, two of the 4 solutions targeted, government and retail, are already well covered by multiple security focused events. Why should exhibitors or attendees choose this event over those more established ones.

It makes senses that ISC would make a change but it remains to be seen how well they execute the move to a 'true' solution event.

[Update 2012: ISC renamed the event back to 'East' but the same fundamental problems remain.]