Daily Document Management Industry Notes from Around the World! 2/29/2012

Digiscribe International, a New York metro-based document management services provider, more than doubles scanning output in two years. Digiscribe's document scanning facility, located outside of New York City, has more than doubled output in the last ...
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Managing documents has become a complex and never ending task. The time spent creating, reviewing, approving and updating documents is further exasperated by the time required to collaborate, review and approve documents. The endless chasing up of ...
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Reports are submitted in real-time, enabling effective document management, issue resolution and client reporting. Documents such as standard operating procedure manuals and bulletins can be published to field teams' smartphones and tablets, ...
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Flowfinity Wireless Inc., a proven provider of enterprise mobile apps for business process automation, today announced a security guard management software solution for streamlining processes such as dispatch, scheduling, incident and patrol reporting, and document management on smartphones and tablets.
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Heerlen, The Netherlands – February 28, 2012 – Cadac Organice, Microsoft Gold ISV Partner and developer of the Cadac Organice Solution Suite (SharePoint-based Engineering Document Management and Control), has issued an updated case study about CAD ...
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Daily Document Management Industry Notes from Around the World! 2/28/2012

ColumbiaSoft engineered compatibility into its document management system for Microsoft SQL Server 2012 prior to the release of the new database platform. Document Locator, a leading Windows document management software system, is ready for SQL Server ...
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... Alfresco and Jive release a connector for socialized content, Treeno released v4.0 of its enterprise content management system, Varonis joins McAfee partner program, while Cintas and ScanMd get together for medical documents.
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"Designed with the reliability demanded by business users, and a price point attractive to home users, the USB powered MobileOffice S410 scanner and document management solution converts paper documents, rigid embossed cards, expense reports, ...
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Digiscribe New England, a leading provider of document scanning services and document management services in the Boston area, joins Neponset Valley Chamber of Commerce. This is an exciting endeavor for us to share our experiences and expertise with ...
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"Document imaging is one of today's most in-demand solutions, and many organizations identify the managing of information as being critical to their long-term growth and ability to scale," said Wendy Maurer-Linsky, vice president of Peripherals Product ...
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The Board of Maxima Holdings plc (AIM: MXM), the IT business systems and managed services company, today announces that in line with its previous statement to dispose of non-core assets, the disposal of the Document Management Services ("DMS"), ...
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Nuance PaperPort Anywhere can serve as a standalone cloud-based document manager, an extension to PaperPort Professional 14 on the desktop, or both. If you're familiar with desktop document management programs, you're probably acquainted with Nuance ...
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-=Good Selling=-

MFP & Copier Industry Weekend Notes 2/26/2012

March will see the end of the first quarter of 2012 and I hope we're all doing well! I'll be off to Cabo San Lucas in 10 days for our companies Presidents Club Trip. I'm looking forward to relaxing with no web, no phone, no calls!

So, what's big for this week? Well Ricoh launched new C4502/5502 and what's really cool is that we now have the ability to connect to cloud services. I'm looking forward to getting our first one and setting it up with UDOCX, can't wait!!!

I've started a new forum for posting our "best sale of the month", I think it would be educational for all of us to hear you brag about the sale, how you nailed it, how you found the customer, did a solution deal the deal, how much GP of revenue you gained, and or clicks that you captured. There's also a $25 gift card incentive for one P4P'er each from from one of our advertisers. Tell us About Your Best Sale this Month!

You've heard it before, we need your help in clicking on the banner ads, these banner ads support the P4P and keep the basic membership FREE, give them a click to see what's new, you maybe surprised at what you find.

On another note we've posted "Effective emails for obtaining appointments", and they are great! They are not from me, but from your peers, check em out in the P4P Document Library!

Please take advantage of the sales documents, quotes, proposals, rfp's, rfq's, uploads, p4p library, downloads and all of the additional forum features that are enabled with a Premium Membership!

Please support our Advertisers by clicking their links and giving them a call! LCA Leasing Corp, Stethos USA, Jetmobile, Polek & Polek, UDOCX, Print Audit, & Cybercon Dealer Services, sfSCAN, Pahoda Imaging, Dealer Marketing Systems, Industry Analysts, The Week in Imaging

Recent Blogs of Note
SMART MFP's 2the Cloud
 I dare you...
Managed Documents "The Next Big Thing"?
7 Tips When Competing with the Direct Channel
Chip Crunk Talks About RJ Young’s Acquisition of Ricoh Direct Branches

Interesting & Most Viewed P4P Forum Threads

New from Ricoh the C4502/5502
Profit Breakdown Question
New Samsung 11 x 17" Colour MFPs due Oct 01 USA
Can you trust the Cloud?
Oce cutting my throat in every deal!!!
Charging for computer related calls
Integrated cloud environment
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New Ricoh 4410SPF "brainshark" review
Tell us About Your Best Sale this Month!

NEW! Uploaded MFP Docs in P4P Document Library
Customer Expectations 770 Digital Color Press v1-03 For Launch
Oki MPS files
"Unlocked" Winning Proposal Generator for MPS & MFP's
Production Print Study Excel Guide
Effective emails for obtaining appointments
5 Tips 4 Using the Web4Prospecting the “First Contact

Press Releases
Top North American School Districts Choose Print Audit®
Industry analysts from BERTL, Inc. award Canon for "Best Wide Format Product Line of
Research shows decision making swing toward individuals, says Ricoh
Konica Minolta to Exhibit Healthcare Solutions and Managed IT Services at HIMSS 2012
Paper-Intensive Businesses Use New Xerox DocuMate 4760 to Easily Scan Piles of

P4P Poll Questions
January 2012 Sales Quota Poll
New Color Cost Per Page Poll for 60 ppm plus
New Color Cost Per Page Poll for 30-44 ppm COLOR
New Color Cost Per Page Poll for 45 - 59 ppm COLOR

New Leads, RFP's & RFQ's Uploaded!
Illinois
Georgia
Colorado
South Africa
West Virginia
Ohio
Texas

Uploaded Pricing Proposals & Quotes
End User Report for Xerox 700 vs KonicaMinolta
konicaminolta bizhub c360
Copystar (Kyo) CS255C
Ricoh S5200 proposal
Ricoh C751 proposal

The Staff at the Print4Pay Hotel

Daily Document Management Industry Notes from Around the World! 2/23/2012

OSAM Document Solutions, Inc. was again awarded the prestigious Platinum and Diamond honors from Hyland Software for their expertise and client integration of the OnBase enterprise content management (ECM) solution. The Platinum award honors OSAM's ...

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LIBERTY, SC, Feb 23, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- KeyMark Inc., an award-winning document management solution provider, has once again received the Diamond support award from Hyland Software Inc. Hyland Software is the developer of the OnBase(R) enterprise ...
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Mr. Boris' expertise also encompasses discovery tools, including repositories, legal software, virtual deal rooms and complex document management systems. Mr. Boris attended the University of Massachusetts Boston and DePaul University in Chicago (CPE) ...
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Treeno Software, Inc. recently introduced its fourthgeneration Enterprise Document Management (EDM) system. Since 2002, Treeno Software has established its expertise in this $45B business application market with deployments in a variety of industries ...
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By Joe Shepley (@joeshepley) Feb 23, 2012 For those of you keeping score at home, I'm in the middle of a series on how to build and deploy successful SharePoint document management applications, with the goal of migrating end-users off of the most ...
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Essentially this is a web developer's content and document management system with integration to external enterprise document repositories. Advanced customization functions for programmers are offered through the Liferay Developer Studio product and ...
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SMART MFP's 2the Cloud

Mick Jagger wrote "I live in an aparttment on the ninety-ninth floor of my block" in the song titled "Get Off of My Cloud" way back in 1965.  Who would have thunk that the "Cloud" would now play an import part of sharing, colaborating and migrating business documents almost 50 years later!
I'd like to share a recent post on the Print4Pay Hotel forums from our friends at UDOCX.

Last year, we have been talking mostly about UDOCX and its ability to integrate multifunctional devices from companies like Ricoh and Xerox (Canon and Sharp soon to come) with Microsoft services including Office 365 and SharePoint Online.

People often ask if you can still use UDOCX even if you haven’t migrated to a cloud-based infrastructure and are still using a traditional, on-premise installation of SharePoint.

The answer is YES!

You can scan documents directly from your multifunctional scan/copy/print devices to on-premise SharePoint document libraries. We even support hybrid environments where some SharePoint destinations are local and some are cloud based. To read more about configuring UDOCX for hybrid environments, click here.
How?

Your UDOCX-enabled multifunctional devices communicate through the UDOCX cloud service to either SharePoint Online or a local, on-premise installation of SharePoint. Your employees may access your on-premise SharePoint services even when they are traveling or telecommuting. Because UDOCX connects to SharePoint using the credentials of the currently logged in user, all of the same connectivity rights are available to the UDOCX service during that session. The location of the SharePoint server, in the office or in the cloud, is completely transparent to the end user, therefore if you can access your SharePoint services over the Internet, so can UDOCX. This also helps to explain why UDOCX does not require any on-premise hardware or software. UDOCX is a completely cloud-based Internet service.

Is it secure?

UDOCX uses the same domain-level authentication and security that you’re already using on a daily basis in your organization. Setting up UDOCX requires absolutely no security changes to your existing environment and it completely adheres to SharePoint’s (formidable) security protocols.
This ensures that all configurations are 100% compliant with any security policies that your organization may already have in place. UDOCX never grants a user more or less SharePoint access than they would normally have from their workstation.

In a nutshell, UDOCX is a cloud-based service that leverages the latent technology inherent in today’s multifunctional copy/scan/print devices to provide seamless Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange integration, both on-premise and in the cloud.

Any questions? Ask us!

BTW, yes UDOCX is a Proud Partner for the Print4Pay Hotel forums
-=Good Selling=-

Daily Document Management Industry Notes from Around the World! 2/22/2012

PORTSMOUTH, NH, Feb 22, 2012 -- Treeno Software, Inc. today introduced its fourth-generation Enterprise Document Management (EDM) system. Since 2002, Treeno Software has established its expertise in this $45 billion business application ...read more here
Aerospace firm Sonaca began working with the open source Exo collaboration platform because it needed a customizable portal for document management, but now is among the first organizations to also adopt it for social collaboration....read more here

M-Files Inc., the developer of M-Files easy document management software and the cloud-based document management service M-Files Cloud Vault, today announced the company has signed....
read more here

MissionIR would like to highlight GlobalWise Investments, Inc. (OTCBB: GWIV). The company, via its wholly owned subsidiary Intellinetics, Inc., is a Columbus, Ohio, based Enterprise Content Management (ECM) pioneer with industry-leading software that delivers cloud ECM based solutions on-demand. The company’s flagship platform,...read more here

Mimeo Marketplace, already one of the fastest growing print management and distribution e-enablement solutions in the United States, is now available in the United Kingdom. Buyers and distributors of digitally printed documents can use the solution to ...read more here

The new Liferay Portal 6.1 EE features extensive updates to existing web content and document management systems plus new capabilities that are designed to provide more power to end users. Extensive user interface updates will make document management ...read more here

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Daily Managed Print Service Industry Notes from Around the World! 2/22/2012

UniPrint(TM) Launches Infinity Managed Print Solution "Organizations are adopting managed print services with the goal of reducing the cost of printing while improving document processes and efficiency," said Scott Hornbuckle, Senior Market Analyst at leading managed print services research and consulting ...read more here

Konica Minolta To Exhibit Healthcare Solutions And Managed IT Services At ...
Services range from IT management, email security, server and network monitoring and 24×7 client help desk support designed to support healthcare specific IT requirements Managed Print Services for Healthcare – Konica Minolta's Optimized Print Services ...read more here

Managed print services are benefiting a list of segments that include defense contractors to financial services and healthcare providers. Enterprise businesses are starting to realize the bottom line benefit to getting their output under control....read more here

HP IPG shares recent solution offerings by the Company in print and imaging segment, technological advancements in the recently launched products, managed print service adoption and awareness rate and with other vital details....read more here

Managed Print Services is another focus area for growth. On the enterprise front, Print consolidation and Green initiatives are driving corporates to relook at their printer deployment and explore opportunities for savings, this is an area where HP is ...read more here

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Daily Document Management Industry Notes from Around the World! 2/21/2012

OpenText has announced OpenText Capture for Microsoft SharePoint, a software solution that allows organizations to quickly and efficiently capture, digitize and fully index paper documents, forms and faxes and move them into SharePoint, helping to reduce dependence on paper-based processes and introduce business critical electronic content to corporate workflows....read more here

HOUSTON, Feb 20, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- DW Legal, a leading managed document review, e-discovery solutions and legal talent acquisition company, announced that it has expanded its Chicago document review facilities to include an additional 15,000 square feet of space. The move substantially enhances its existing capacity to deploy attorneys and attorney project managers on document review projects on behalf of clients in the Chicago area and beyond...read more here

As a first-time entrant, Trubiquity, Inc – http://www.trubiquity.com - was selected as a finalist within the Document Management Solution category. Stephen Koons, President and CEO, Trubiquity stated, “We are honored that our first European Software Excellence Award entry was chosen as a finalist. The specific customer solution we entered was judged by...read more here

The partnership will allow Evolution1’s customers to benefit from WorldView’s document management solution providing secure image uploading, indexing, storing, retrieval and workflow management capabilities in tandem with Evolution1’s administrative platform and debit card options. By utilizing the WorldView solution, Evolution1’s customers will be able to maximize enterprise-wide efficiencies by eliminating redundant manual tasks and improving day-to-day processes often associated with claim adjudication, enrollment, and...read more here

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Feb 21, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Intergraph(R), the leading global provider of enterprise engineering software, and its partner, Skire, have entered into an agreement with INPEX for the purchase of Skire's Unifier(TM) solution for the Ichthys LNG project. INPEX selected Unifier as the mega-project's cost control system after a formal call for tender based upon its powerful purpose-built capabilities, proven track record in the global oil and gas industry, and ability to integrate with SAP....read more here

Managing files across e-mail and the cloud has never been easier, thanks to a collaboration announced today between Box and Attachments.me. Box users can now save e-mail attachments directly from their Gmail accounts - via Google Chrome or their mobile devices - to their Box accounts using the Attachments.me document management app....read more here

Managed Documents "The Next Big Thing"?

We've all read the hype about Managed Print Services, some of us have embraced it, some of us have tried it and stated it's not for us.  But did we ever think about Managing the Scanned Documents? 

I sell "down the street", hardware has always been my bread and butter.  After 32 years in the business I can see the trend to scan more, and email more and a distinct line in the sand for companies to not print and copy as much.  The documents are still there, they're just being scanned and saved more and more.

So, with more SaaS Cloud Document Management Systems on the horizon, the increasing popularity of Microsoft 365 why can't we (dealers) have a plan for SMB's to manage the scanned documents?

I hear excuses from potential customers like  "We'd like to do this, however we don't have the IT expertise to do this",  "We can't hire another person right now for this", "We're kind of illiterate when it comes to operating new software applications", "We can't afford the training right now". 

Everyone likes idea of being able to find documents when they need them and the idea of being able to access documents when they are out of the office. 

So, why can't we offer a Managed Document approach to the scanned documents?  I'm thinking we can do this easily and offer Block Time Agreements, a monthly billing charge or maybe a document charge.  We could meet with clients and develop their index and naming process. The customer would then scan all of the documents to a folder on the server, once a week we could log in, index and upload those documents to the SaaS program. 

We would only have to train the user in finding the documents, or we could even manage this part of the business.  Just think of it, no IT resources would be needed for the customer, no additional hardware, no learning curve on how to use the software.  We can manage and do it for them similar to a Managed Print Program, only we would control the documents.

We can bill professional services monthly or even bill by the document.  This would alleviate the large investment, along with removing the fear of buying a product and never using it.

I'm sure, someone, somewhere is doing this.  I think it's about time we offered this to our SMB accounts.  Thoughts, Ideas?

-=Good Selling=-

7 Tips When Competing with the Direct Channel

No baseball, no football, hockey (yawn), basketball..........LinSanity! The rookie who came from the obscure, no one believed in him, 2 or three teams cut him, he was only 5'3" as a frosh in high school.  This kid is now leading a resurgence to the NBA because of a no quit attitude, heart and desire to be the best.

So it was interesting that this week we had a post on the Print4Pay Hotel members from one of the  rookies in the business who has a no quit attitude and  was struggling with getting sales against the Direct Channel. Quite a few members chimed in with their thoughts on how to compete and their secrets on how to win. 

We'll post some of threads here (partial) on how our Print4Pay Hotel members responded on the forums.

Here's the thread from our member that kicked it off:

Question: I'm so frustrated. 1st Case: customer calls wants quote on 2 IR6055's. Needs print, copy, scan function staple finisher and 3hole punch. My pricing comes in right under $25K. Oce dealer gets the deal priced at $19K. 2nd Case: same Oce dealer quotes IR2525 at $2,300. My price $3,200. My cost on both of the deals was a couple dollars less than their quote. How are they able to give the equipment away and stay profitable... Has anyone else come up against this issue as an independent Canon dealer? If so, how are you fairing? NE ideas on how to overcome this.

Response: This is a tough battle in the field. Ever since Canon purchased Oce....Oce/Canon has provided extreme price flexibility. Oce/Canon will not lose the margins they have already built into the equipment nor will they lose the service revenue. So at that point it is up to the rep to price the deal where they think they would have the best shot to win within their guidelines. Remember that there may be.......read more here

Response: Things that I've used in the past I've posted here in a document http://p4photel.com/eve/forums...0104541/m/7783923667. Some other tips is to create value with your service.....follow the link or read more here

Response: Just an additional mote on this, I'm going head to head with Ricoh direct on many occasion's and sometimes they don't even know I'm in the deal and visa versa. There will be no differences with the hardware, the difference is...read more here

Response: thanks for sharing. We all learn here...even the people that have been in the industry for years. What you will find out is every deal is different and there are all sorts of angles that you can take like Art was describing. What separates you from others is your knowledge of the industry....that builds respect with the customer and they know what you are talking about...not just trying to sell a...read more here

Response: We compete against Oce & CBS all the time. We tell customers early on that we will not be the "cheapest" vendor that they look at. In fact if they are looking for the cheapest price they shouldn't be looking at us, because we provide the best value, not the cheapest price. When you break down the cost over a 48 or 60 month period how much more did you cost them for your better support? Even if they are buying....read more here

The other two tips are on the forums.

Take a trip to the forums to read the rest of the responses from our members, it's not about speeds and feeds anymore. If you're not registered go here for our FREE membership.

-=Good Selling=-

Daily Document Management Industry Notes from Around the World! 2/16/2012

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. & TORONTO, Feb 16, 2012 -- Solgenia(R) ( http://www.solgenia.com/USA/ ), an innovative global leader in Information and Communication Technologies, announces the results of a new research study indicating that the volume of documents and unstructured data is growing by over 30% per year within Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (SMBs).  The research report entitled....read more here

Pennsylvania-based Diversified Information Technologies (DIT) is expanding to the Midwest, and the company has Eagan square in its cross-hairs. On Wednesday, DIT officials said that the company has entered a 20-year lease with Greenspace Properties, LLC., for a 64,000-square-foot facility in Eagan. Over the next several months, DIT will pump more than $3 million into renovating and equipping the building, which it plans to open for operations later this spring....read more here

DALLAS—Feb. 16, 2012—-FedEx Office has announced advancements to its award-winning FedEx Office Print Online application. The company’s print management solution now provides customers with new cloud storage and advanced file organization capabilities for convenient printing anytime, anywhere. FedEx Office is leveraging cloud...read more here

Document management company, MES Hybrid Document Systems, Inc., announces completion of a successful digitizing project for Ruthven Park National Historic Site, a property of national significance designated by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.  Ruthven Park is located in southern Ontario in Haldimand County. The 1,500 acre property was formerly the country...read more here

SmartVault, a leading provider of SaaS document storage and sharing solutions, announced today a major enhancement to the service—the SmartVault Plug-in for Microsoft Outlook. With the plug-in, users can leverage the ease and convenience of email, integrated with SmartVault’s secure, compliant solution for managing and sharing documents. This offers business users and accounting professionals an integrated solution for sending,...read more here

Pingar, a leading provider of unstructured data management solutions today announced it has entered into an agreement with The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) to collaborate in and commercialise advanced research into Chinese language processing and analysis. This will help the increasing numbers of public and private organisations that need to manage documents in simplified and traditional Chinese and English to capture business intelligence from Chinese text documents, create efficiencies in business process operations and reduce corporate risk....read more here

S4i Systems (http://www.s4isystems.com) is proud to announce that Lipari Foods, Inc. has licensed S4i’s electronic document management (EDM) package, S4i Express, to automate previously manual processes and migrate from current installations....read more here

Companies that use electronic document and content management systems are likely to reduce their spending on paper, printing and variables by at least 50%, which makes it a no-brainer to be going green in the business environment, says Warren Buss, ECM Solution Manager at Nokusa Engineering Informatics. While it's tricky to calculate how many trees we save by reducing our paper consumption, ballpark figures gleaned from a number of sources suggest that one average-sized pine tree can produce 160 to 180 reams of standard copier paper. Indeed, a small business employing less than 10 people could easily save one tree a year....read more here

LEE, MA, Feb 16, 2012 eSignSystems, a division of Wave Systems Corp., today announced the latest release of SmartSAFE, a leading solution for lifecycle management of electronically signed, legally-binding documents and records requiring ESIGN and UETA compliance. This new version of SmartSAFE features a redesigned SigningRoom that simplifies the entire eDelivery and eSigning process for all parties. Expanded cross-browser...read more here

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Daily Managed Print Service Industry Notes from Around the World! 2/15/2012

Lexmark is ditching its three year old ValuePrint channel programme and replacing it with a solutions-focused set-up dubbed Business Solutions Dealer, which it claims will be have a tighter fit with its "high-value approach".The new programme has been designed to include fully managed print services and work-flow enhancing solutions, and will also offer new software and dedicated support designed to help partners take a more solutions-focused approach, Lexmark said.....read more here


TAMPA, Fla., Feb 15, 2012  -- Global Imaging Systems (GIS), A Xerox Company, has acquired Iowa-based company, RK Dixon, a leading provider of IT services, copiers, printers and managed print services with locations in seven Iowa and Illinois cities. The acquisition furthers GIS' coverage of central Illinois and eastern....read more here

Not all that long ago, computer printers were like old style telex machines as seen in the recent movie ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy’. These rather noisy ‘line printers’ cost several thousand euros each while the ink cartridges they used cost just a few euro. Today, the opposite is the case, with high quality, affordable printers available from as little as €49 while a full set of ink cartridges cost more than the printer itself! What does this mean for the consumer? Read more here

MENLO PARK, Calif. — February 14, 2012 — Ricoh Innovations, Inc. (“RII”), a Silicon Valley-based subsidiary of Ricoh Company, Ltd., which develops innovative technologies and new business opportunities for Ricoh, announced today the formation of Ricoh Innovations Private Limited (“RIPL”) in India. RIPL, which will have its headquarters and first R&D facility in Bangalore, extends the operation of RII to address the rapidly growing India market...read more here

-=Good Selling=-

Weekend Copier & MFP Updates for 2/12/2012

Seems Kycoera now has a cost per page billing model based on coverage, similar to Xerox's Cube. Plus, could there really be a move by Direct to start selling off Direct Banches that are Losers? You can read more on this in the forums and the blog.

Look, I've added BLI reports for FREE, get the full report, these are limited to what I found and they are in the Competition Lounge & Street Pricing II forums.

You've heard it before, we need your help in clicking on the banner ads, these banner ads support the P4P and keep the basic membership FREE, give them a click to see what's new, you maybe surprised at what you find.

On another note we've posted "Effective emails for obtaining appointments", and they are great! They are not from me, but from your peers, check em out in the P4P Document Library!

Please take advantage of the sales documents, quotes, proposals, rfp's, rfq's, uploads, p4p library, downloads and all of the additional forum features that are enabled with a Premium Membership!
Please support our Advertisers by clicking their links and giving them a call! LCA Leasing Corp, Stethos USA, Jetmobile, Polek & Polek, UDOCX, Print Audit, & Cybercon Dealer Services, sfSCAN

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Recent Blogs of Note
Death of the Direct Copier Channel? "part two"
Selling Copiers & MFP's "Color Cost Page for 2 Cents"
Selling Copiers & MFP's "From Rags to Riches for 20 cents a Day"
The Death of The Direct Copier Channel?
Selling Copiers & MFP's "P4P Hotel Members Are Quota Busters"

Interesting & Most Viewed P4P Forum Threads
ITEX 2012 OFFERS COMPREHENSIVE DEALER EDUCATION INCLUDING
... and you thought copiers were boring!
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Konica Minolta 10% Price Increase April 01/12
Using email to set appointments
Ricoh 2352 & 2852?
Print4Pay Hotel TV
ELP New Product Video

NEW! Uploaded MFP Docs in P4P Document Library
Effective emails for obtaining appointments
5 Tips 4 Using the Web4Prospecting the “First Contact
FREE Xerox® Phaser® 6280DN vs. Lexmark C544dn
FREE KonicaMinolta bizhub PRESS C8000 BLI Production Print ReviewFREE
FREE Kyocera TASKalfa 7550C BLI Test Reports

Press Releases
Canon U.S.A. Receives Seven Winter "Pick" Awards from Buyers Laboratory LLC
Fuji Xeroes in on rivals with 'revolutionary' new printer
Japan's Ricoh & group companies downgraded to 'A'
Konica Minolta Launches bizhub C754/C654 Color MFP Series Featuring New INFO-Palette
Print Audit® Welcomes INNATO to its New Premier Subscription Program

P4P Poll Questions
January 2012 Sales Quota Poll
New Color Cost Per Page Poll for 60 ppm plus
New Color Cost Per Page Poll for 30-44 ppm COLOR
New Color Cost Per Page Poll for 45 - 59 ppm COLOR

New Leads, RFP's & RFQ's Uploaded!
GENERAL OFFICE EQUIPMENT (MFD’S) FOR THE CITY OF
REQUEST FOR COPIER PROPOSALS The School District of University
12 MFp's in Illinois
MFP & MPS RFP in California
17 MFP's in Michigan

Uploaded Pricing Proposals & Quoteskonicaminolta bizhub c360
Copystar (Kyo) CS255C
Ricoh S5200 proposal
Ricoh C751 proposal
Kyocera 3500 Quote

-=Good Selling=-
The Staff at the Print4Pay Hotel

Death of the Direct Copier Channel? "part two"

Last week I blogged the "Death of the Direct Copier Channel", in less than one week there were over 1,400 views.  I'm guessing we hit a hot spot with many of those in the Direct and Dealer Channel.

The Print4Pay Hotel forums also posted many comments like "Wow - it's like Ricoh coughed up a hairball!", "Since IKON / RBS has not been able to upgrade the Canon / Ricoh IKON MIF that was the intent of the acquisition, they are now selling off the base to mega Dealers. But RJ Young will upgrade these 6,000 units to Canon machines and Muratec devices. Ricoh is having extensive back-order issues at present time.", "I doubt that they will upgrade to all Canon devices that would not have been in the best interest for Ricoh. That acquisition is now approaching four years old (Ricoh of Ikon). I agree with the back order issues however so are other manufacturers as well. It's not only Ricoh!", "In the grander scheme of things 6000 machines in field is nothing to Ricoh. Those branches must have really been sucking wind to only have 6000 machines."

But a few interesting threads were posted yesterday that seemed to stir the pot for manufacturers that may be shedding branches and ceding more business to dealers.  One Print4Pay Hotel member stated that they had heard that OCE Canada had released all of the sales reps except for one,  and more interesting is that the one rep had to report to someone in Florida.  It was listed as the Great White North shakeup.  Additionally, another member has now stated that Canon Direct closed a small office in Nova Scotia and handed over operations to a local dealer.

With most manufacturers declaring that they are reducing profit estimates or even posting losses for fiscal year 2011, the writing may be on the wall for the Direct Channel.  I'm not saying that the Direct Channel will cease to exist.  However what's a manufacturer to do when they are posting losses... with any good business model they would try to eliminate or reduce that part of the business which has become a liability.  With no good news for the economy in the short term, the threat of Europe recession and the strength of the yen, the copier manufacturers will have to make some tough decisions in the near future. 

Selling off those Direct branches that are not turning a profit could be a great model and return the manufacturers to profitability in 2012 along with increasing dealer loyalty.  With RJ Young not only did they get MIF (machines in field), they also got employees (pretty much these employees probably won't have to get worried about getting laid off at the end of every March).

Just maybe, when we look at a time line of the copier industry in 20-25 years, we'll see a blip that designated the wholesale changes to the Direct Channel model and then the decrease back the the Dealer Channel model of business.

What come around goes around and I'm thinking just maybe we're heading back to the model of the early and mid eighties.

After writing this blog,  I read the interview that Scott Cullen (The Week in Imaging) had with Chip Crunk (CEO of RJ Young) titled "Chip Crunk Talks about RJ Young's Acquisition of Ricoh Direct Branches" .  Well, I'm thinking great minds think alike and I found this the most interesting statement, "I think the industry is in a transition where in the future the distribution model is going to be large independents and the direct operations. I think Ricoh and the others are going to want to align themselves with the top independent dealers in the secondary markets because they cannot be successful in those markets".
-=Good Selling=-

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Selling Copiers & MFP's "From Rags to Riches for 20 cents a Day"

Geesh, not sure where I'm going to start this. What can 20 cents a day buy you.  Can't pay a toll, can't get a cup of coffee, can't buy a roll, well not much.  However if you save the 20 cents a day you can accumulate about $6 for the month and $72 for the year.  You might ask WTF are you getting at?
THE Print4Pay Hotel Premium Membership is alive and well, and has a cost of  about 25 cents a day.

Over the years the Print4Pay Hotel has built a vast network of people in the copier business. People that believe in the P4P mantra which is become informed, share and maintain your knowledge... in the office equipment industry. We have dealer and direct reps on board from Ricoh, Kyocera, Toshiba, Xerox, Sharp, Canon, and KonicaMinolta. Along with reps we also have many dealer owners, principals that tune it.  Let us not forget about the Direct side where we have many members from all over the globe.  Moles, that's right we have our fair share of them and they continue to drive information for all Print4Pay Hotel members. 

Basic members can share information on a daily basis on the forums (it's FREE), however Premium Members are given access to download price quotes and proposals that we've found in the field. Along with that they able able to private message others members (this is a great resource), plus Premium Members have access to the RFP forums (lastest RFP's & RFQ's) that we've been alerted to.  Also every once in awhile we'll get a lead and we'll pass it along to that Premium Members.  Then there's out Print4Pay Hotel library, here Print4Pay Hotel members will post documents that they use to help sell equipment or in one case we have an ongoing thread where members are uploading email templates that are designed to capture the readers attention so an appointment or a demonstration can be schedule via email. 

What I can say is that I'm a rep in the business now, even though I run the forums I feel that if it was not for the forums and the sharing of information I may have gotten out of the business many years ago.  I treat the forums as a daily exercise, just like watching the news.  The information that flows between members is astounding and I proud to be a part of an Elite group of Copier sales professionals. Making six figures is not a problem, and the forums will help you become or stay on track as one of the Elites in the business.

If you'd like to become a basic member then go here, and if you'd like to become one of the Elite Premium Print4Pay Hotel Members then go here.

-=Good Selling=-

Selling Copiers & MFP's "Color Cost Page for 2 Cents"

The other day I had an email from Monte Jensen from KBA Docusys and a Print4Pay Hotel member on the west coast here in the U.S.  He was pretty excited because they were releasing a new Color Page model being billed for as low as 2 cents per page!  This is for their Kyocera line of Color MFPs. Of course this peaked my interest and I replied that I'd like to know more about how this is being done. 

What I got from Monte was that their Color Page was 2 cents based on 2% coverage!  I thought how the heck are they going to do that?  Last I knew,  the only manufacturer that was capable of doing that was Xerox and only with their ColorQube MFP series.  Monte was not clear on all of the details about how Kyocera was able to accomplish this and I hadn't heard that Kyocera was capable of this. 

So, I dug and dug and found out that Kyocera may had launched this coverage based CPC plan last year in Europe, and may have had some pilot programs here in the US.  Now, I knew it existed and needed more info.  I sent many emails last night and low and behold a Print4Pay Hotel member from Canada confirmed that Kyocera does indeed have a three tier system coverage based CPC plan.

Here's what I received:

Weekend Copier & MFP Updates for 2/5/2012

There's been a few interesting developments this week such as customized cost per page billing, major delays in getting equipment due to the hard drive shortage, a major recall of printers and MFPs from KonicaMInolta and the resignation on Canon.jp CE0.  You can read more on this in the forums and the blog.

Look, I've added BLI reports for FREE, get the full report, these are limited to what I found and they are in the Competition Lounge & Street Pricing II forums

You've heard it before, we need your help in clicking on the banner ads, these banner ads support the P4P and keep the basic membership FREE, give them a click to see what's new, you maybe suprised at what you find.

Hotel's Production Print Certification Testing!  That's right now posted on P4P U Certifications & Testing are the first five tests in a total of ten tests. There will be a new test posted each month for the next five months!

Please take advantage of the sales documents, quotes, proposals, rfp's, rfq's, uploads, p4p library, downloads and all of the additional forum features that are enabled with a Premium Membership!

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Selling Copiers & MFP's "The Tax Man Cometh"

Interesting & Most Viewed P4P Forum ThreadsITEX 2012 OFFERS COMPREHENSIVE DEALER EDUCATION INCLUDING
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NEW! Uploaded MFP Docs in P4P Document Library 5 Tips 4 Using the Web4Prospecting the “First Contact
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Press ReleasesCanon President Steps Down as Forecast Misses
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P4P Poll QuestionsJanuary 2012 Sales Quota Poll
New Color Cost Per Page Poll for 60 ppm plus
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New Leads, RFP's & RFQ's Uploaded!Request for Proposal For Digital Copiers in Houston
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3-Year Copier Lease

Uploaded Pricing Proposals & Quotes
Ricoh S5200 proposal
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"Pricing on the Street" Canon 3245i
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-=Good Selling=-

The Death of The Direct Copier Channel?

OH, how those of us in the Dealer Channel long for the days when the copier manufacturers sold only through dealers. For those not in the copier business that long, yes..., that was the case!  If you needed a copier except for Xerox you had to go through an Authorized Dealer.   Turning a profit on what you sold kept the doors open, paid yourself, the employees, the taxes,  and if you had a good year there was some left over for expansion, upgrades or your pocket.

To make this short and sweet, cause I've got to get my emails out, a quote (WTF, a quote on a Sunday, yup that's when I do my best thinking), and watch the BIG GIANTS game. 

In recent years dealers have seen the direct channel  sell hardware (copiers) and service at costs that the dealer can't match due to the fact that we're not in business to lose money.  Plus you then read prognostications that most if not all of the Japanese copier manufacturers will NOT turn a profit this year, and most may post losses for 2011 fiscal year. It's bad, and most manufacturers will blame the economy, the Tsunami, the earthquake, the damaged nuclear plants and the floods in Thailand.  Dare they not mention that their Direct Branches are losing money hand over fist because they don't know how to manage their business!

So, this week I heard from a Print4Pay Hotel member just got word that RJ Young announced yesterday that they have acquired the Columbus, Tupelo, & Bilox MS and Huntsville AL locations of Ricoh/Ikon. 6000+ MIF (machines in field). This is awesome and it's about time manufacturers may be thinking about selling off their MIF portfolio to dealers (as long as the manufacturer has a caveat that the dealer will not sell out to a competitive manufacturer).

The other day we had a discussion in the office and one of the reps asked how the direct branch can sell so low.  I explained there are a few reason why;

1. They buy or sell more thus they can get the lowest possible price.
2. It seems there is no pressure from Japan to make a profit (just my thoughts)
3. They have a quota and don't have enough experienced sales people thus have to have the lowest price to capture business
4. The Dealer community profits subsidizes the losses from the Direct Channel losses

I'm big on number 1 & 4. If manufacturers truly wanted to turn around their operations maybe now is the time to start selling their MIF to their brightest and best dealers.  Dealers in turn will need to ramp operations and higher those employees  that are laid off from Direct (and only the strong will survive), within six months they will be driving more profit to the manufacturer and the losses will stop.  Dealers will then be able to sell the value of the brand name, the support, the solutions and their knowledge.

That's it off to watch the game!  Comments would love to hear them.

-=Good Selling=-

Daily Managed Print Service Industry Notes from Around the World! 2/4/2012

Tim Brien, Oki Data America's Director of Managed Print Services talks with Channelline CEO Robert Cohen talks about managed print services and the profitability that surrounds it, which are far higher than selling hardware. He also talks about how MSPs need to broaden their own business to ensure they can become a one-stop shop for the customer, and how managed services fits into that...you can read more here

As I got ready to watch the India – Australia Test Series on my 74 inch flat screen television with a high-definition cable service, I wondered how technology has evolved in the last decade. Earlier, holidays revolved around a 35mm film camera to capture all the wonderful memories and then rushing to a studio to get the film processed. Now, that negative film has been replaced by a DSLR....you can read more here

If there was one clear lesson from the 2012 Lyra MPS Forum, an “add-on” half-day conference held in conjunction with the 2012 Lyra Symposium, it was that the managed print services (MPS) business is getting tougher. The easy part—selling printing and copier savings to corporations—has gotten more competitive, and perhaps even has become a “commodity,” according to Lyra analyst Robert Palmer.
As a result, MPS vendors are searching for new sources of profit such as small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), global accounts, or more service-intensive accounts. But in all cases,....you can read more here

When Xerox eConcierge™ premiered early in 2011, managed print services providers had an inkling that the new program would have an impact on their managed print operations. Fast forward several months: Some print service providers have made Xerox eConcierge a standard component of their managed print offerings, and they are expecting the platform to play a role in their business in 2012. Xerox promotes Xerox eConcierge as the “quickest, easiest way to order printer supplies.” The technology eliminates the need for end users to manually check the supply levels of each of their networked printers, search for model and part numbers or look for vendors that have supplies in stock...you can read more here

-=Good Selling=-http://p4photel.com/eve/premium

Selling Copiers & MFP's "P4P Hotel Members Are Quota Busters"

In a year when the economy stunk, credit was denied more than it was approved.  Add the fact that a Tsunami, Earthquake, Nuclear catastrophe (all in Japan), horrific floods in Thailand that affected MFP supply lines. 

Print4Pay Hotel Members (we sell multifunctional copiers, and solutions) were at the top of their game and blew out their quotas!

I for one can attest that 2011 was tough, mentally tough as well.  I left more than 150K on the table that could not get credit approved. 

2011 saw almost 64% of those polled rolled in with 100% of quota or better!  What was more astounding is that 32% posted 150% or better and 5% broke the bank with 300% of quota for 2012!  But, you know what that's what I would have expected from this group.  Over the years I've found that Print4Pay Hotel Members are a breed apart from the rest.  They have the Desire, Determination and Dedication to be the best, and they are the BEST MFP & SOLUTION Reps in the World. 

Take a gander at some of these numbers.  For the month of December 57% were over 100% of quota, and 26% were 150% or better. A whopping 52% were among the top two reps at their company!

For those of you that are not familiar with the Print4Pay Hotel, the Print4Pay Hotel is a forum based web site that allows members from all over the world to collaborate with others in a secure forum.  In order to be a member you'll need to get registered (no cost) and within minutes  you'll see thousands of threads related to our beloved copier industry.  We cover all topics and leave no stones unturned when it comes to sales, solutions, share files, share prices, share quotes, stories, what works and what doesn't work.  You could be a poster or a lurker (just read), you could be in sales, marketing, direct sales, dealer sales manager, direct sales manager, product manager, dealer owner, COO or CFO.

Here's some other numbers from Print4Pay Hotel members.  These are 4th quarter results for 2011.

	(5%) 300% plus
	(16%) 200-299%
	(5%) 150-199%
	(10%) 125-149%
	(26%) 100 -124%
	(16%) 75-79%
	(21%) 50-74% As you can there's some pretty awesome numbers. You can become a member here Print4Pay Hotel registration BTW, Who said Copiers were dead? Or the death of WHAT? Some forget that it WAS copier reps that first started the Managed Page thingy many many moons ago. Heck, I started replacing laser printers and faxes with MFP's, when Managed Print Services was just a pimple on someones butt!  -=Good Selling=-

Daily Managed Print Service Industry Notes from Around the World!

Like other printing companies, Lexmark has placed a heavier focus on providing so-called managed print services to help offset headwinds in traditional hardware and supplies businesses. Under such services, printing companies are typically contracted ...read more here

One might not think much when clicking on the print button and taking a printout about how much energy was consumed in the process. This leads us to question how aware Indian enterprises are when it comes to the concept of Green Printing? Is it just a buzzword or is it morphing into reality, albeit slowly. ...read more here

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Feb. 1, 2012 -- Building on its reputation as a leading managed print services (MPS) provider, Mosaic Business Solutions was named as one of 'The Best Places to Work' in South Florida by the South Florida Business Journal. The organization, along with the other honorees, will be recognized at a special event on February 23rd...read more here

Nuance is a company with a plethora of products covering voice recognition, document capture and print management. As Nuance has largely grown through acquisition (about 50 in the past 10 years) it is probably better known by its product names, which include established brands such as PaperPort (desktop productivity), OmniPage (OCR), Dragon Dictate (voice recognition), eCopy (document capture and workflow) and Equitrac (print management) – its most recent buy....read more here
In its latest report on the print market, analyst firm IDC says that, after a flat trend in 2010, it now expects home and office print volumes in Western Europe to slow down even further, declining at a CAGR of 0.6 percent from 2011 through to 2015. IDC says the increasing popularity of IEMDs will contribute to this slow decline.

"New Internet-enabled mobile devices change the nature of users' relationship with documents," said Arnaud Gagneux, director, Imaging Hardcopy and Document Solutions, Western Europe for IDC. "This affects both consumers and businesses, and offers hardcopy vendors opportunities for growth in security, document solutions, and managed print services, to name a few."...read more here

-=Good Selling=-