Kate Bluhm of Lancaster has been named the national demo champion for Konica Minolta, Inc.
Konica Minolta is a multinational technology company providing business solutions, workflow software and office hardware products. Bluhm is employed by Copier Fax Business Technologies, located in downtown Buffalo, which is one of the largest Konica Minolta dealers in Western New York.
The challenge began at the regional level, where she competed against dozens of Western New Yorkers on demonstrating Konica Minolta products. Bluhm was selected from this preliminary round to travel to New York City for the Eastern Territory finals in January of this year.
In this round, Bluhm was tasked with completing a demo about hardware and software, showcasing both the product and a practical business approach. She was then named the Eastern Territory finalist, where she won an all expense paid trip to Newport Beach, California, for the Konica Minolta Dealer Conference.
On Tuesday, March 5, it was announced at the Konica Minolta Dealer Conference that Bluhm had won the National Demo Championship.
Bluhm has only been with Copier Fax and the office technology industry for a little more than two years, yet she was competing against hundreds of industry professionals from across the country, including sales managers and major account managers, many of whom had 10 to 20 years of experience in the industry.
Bluhm joined Copier Fax Business Technologies as a client support representative in February 2017. Her primary responsibilities include working with the sales and service departments to coordinate client training of Copier Fax’s award-winning Documentelligence, their exclusive product that provides clients with hardware and software solutions to convert their offices into smart offices in order to improve workflow and cost savings.
Bluhm is trained specifically in the hardware systems, document management and IT solutions from the Documentelligence program.
Prior to Copier Fax, Bluhm worked as the director of marketing for The Financial Guys, LLC and as a human resource recruiter for Skyline Ohio, located in Cincinnati, Ohio.
She graduated from Clarence High School in 2007 and graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2012.
As part of her national prize, Bluhm also won a cash bonus and a trip voucher worth $2,500.
In celebration of her success, Copier Fax Business Technologies promoted her to client success manager, where she will be taking on more responsibilities in client training and service, as well as evolving a team of service representatives to work under her leadership.