Covering the Copier & MFP Industry One Click at a Time

I thought this would be a great interview for everyone.  Scott Cullen has followed the copier industry since 1986 and has interviewed the who's who of industry professionals through out the years. He's a stand up guy and I've always enjoyed reading his articles. I thought it was time that someone would turn the tables an interview Scott. With out further ado, my interview with Scott Cullen.

When was your first Office Equipment Industry article and what was it about?

In 1986, an article on BIS CAP (Now Info Trends) conference I covered in Boston on small business for Office Systems magazine.

How the heck did a rock n roller like yourself get connected with the Office Equipment Industry?

I had just lost my dream job the previous November where I was writing for a cable TV magazine in Connecticut. The magazine was sold to a competitor and they shut us down. I spent most of November and early December helping a friend in his landscaping business and in January worked as a freelance proofreader for a book publisher. Around that time I saw an ad in the paper from Office Systems magazine looking for an associate editor. I applied, got called for an interview and within in a week was offered the job. Turns out that was the only job I ever had in my life that I didn't get through some sort of networking. I did get a great reference from Peter Funt (Son of Candid Camera's Allen Funt) who was the publisher of the cable TV magazine.

You've been to a lot of dealers events over the years, what two events stands out more than the others?

First is a Canon dealer meeting in Scottdale, Arizona in the eighties. It was my second dealer meeting and even though I was still learning my way around the industry, it was a great time. That's the only dealer meeting where I go to go horseback riding.

The second had to be a NOMDA dealer meeting Las Vegas in the mid nineties. What made that great was the camaraderie I had with my colleagues in the press when there were many more publications covering the industry as well as many PR people for the various manufacturers who to this day remain my friends. What made this one memorable was we all went to dinner at Hugo's Cellar in the Four Queens and then to a show with 60s pop star Johnny Tillotson ("Poetry in Motion"). It was an amazing evening, and yes, a fair amount of alcohol was involved.

What was the worst dealer event you ever covered?

Nobody Ever Got Fired for Buying a Xerox

Harry Hecht is our Guest Blogger for April, and according to Harry he's been in the office equipment business since Chester Carlson invented Xerography, and a little known secret is that Harry was actually Chester's assistant! Really???  Harry's been around for as long as I remember, and he always brings inspiration, vision and a can do attitude!

I asked for a couple of sentences in reference old copier companies for a blog I'll be posting in a couple of days, true to form, Harry gave me just a tad bit more, so without further adieu, enjoys Harry's ditty about the good ole days in the copier business!

Do you remember the days when a complete copier line included one or maybe two models? Selling at full retail was not only a possibility but a regular occurrence? When Xerox owned 90% of the market and the saying that "nobody ever got fired for buying a Xerox" was an unfortunate reality for the independent dealer? I may be dating myself, but I remember those days well and had to still have a lot of respect for the competition, camaraderie and "wild west' aggressiveness of many of the entrepreneurial manufacturers that competed against each other during the 70s and 80s.

Here are some copier manufacturer names that may serve as a blast from the past for many of you. Names like IBM, Kodak, 3M, Saxon, Royal, Apeco, Savin, Van Dyke, Escofot, Olivetti, and Mita just to name a few. These companies hit the streets with Direct and Dealer Sales forces with the hope and confidence of stealing business away from THE BIG X. The products sold during that time were crude, barely passed a copy, and in some even came with tongs and fire extinguishers -just in case there was a jam and a fire broke out. Oh those were the days. No need to worry about supply pirates and 2 hour response time. Profit margins were Huge and and the Yen was valued over 500 Y to the dollar. Getting in front of customers and demonstrating your product using the sales order ( already filled out ) was sales training of the day. Your manager would say" don't leave the office without an order"!.Talking about pressure. If a customer accepted your demonstration, your competitor would be in the lobby waiting their turn to try and hammer out a deal on the spot and or leave the machine in the customers office until they fell in love with it or just used it and stroked you along- yikes!

Well, time to wake up to a new  and renewed set of technology companies now entering the copier and printer space. Samsung, Dell, Lexmark, Brother, Epson plus all of the Big Players- Konica Minolta, Canon, Xerox, Ricoh, Sharp, Kyocera. Where does it end?. We now deal with information overload, the world wide web, 1,000s of SKU product numbers, accessories, tight margins and 40% discounts. What the heck happened? Opportunity is still there for all of us, however success and prosperity is a game of inches verses miles. Without knowledge and a well thought out plan and execution, who knows who the next fallen Angels list will look like.

Need to contact Harry?  Here's his LINKEDIN page.

-=Good Selling=-

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

The DOCUWISE 5-Star cloud- based MPS Partner Program was created for Managed Services Professionals and it allows MSPs, VARs and IT Service Providers to become Managed Print Solutions professionals within days of registering.
See all stories on this topic »

The US government uses BPAs for the procurement of services and products that are required on an ongoing basis. Per the contract terms, Lexmark will provide its Managed Printing Services (MPS) for managing the printing needs of each department of the ...
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"Public and commercial tenders for managed print service (MPS) solutions contributed most to the growth. The laser multi function printer (MFP) experienced a robust growth of 52.2 percent in 2011 as compared to just 4.1 percent for laser single ...
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IDC further outlines that by using managed print services (MPS) alone, a savings of a fourth of the costs can be achieved by reducing ink/toner and paper consumption, lowering hardware costs, using less IT support, streamlining document workflows, ...
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Daily Managed Print Service Industry Notes from Around the World! 3/21/2012

Xerox's efforts in managed print services are paying off, as its maintaining a strong leadership position in the emerging segment according to a new IDC report. The IDC Worldwide and US Managed Print Services and Basic Print Services (BPS) 2012-2015 ...See all stories on this topic »

The catch here -- and whether or not it is a big one remains to be seen -- is that the core message of IPG's broader integration into other aspects of HP's business is now managed print services. For instance, at GPC Scott Dunsire, Vice President, ...
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With newly added intellectual properties, Lexmark is optimistic about taking a larger share of the Managed Printing Services (MPS) arena of the printing industry. As a new development in the printing business, MPS is attracting major industry players.
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Additional features include managed print services, cloud monitoring and power management. “Managed Workplace 2012 further extends Level Platforms partners' lead in delivering innovative IT services to meet the rapidly evolving needs of their customers ...
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Daily Document Management Industry Notes from Around the World! 3/15/2012

A CMIS-based connector enables a Nuxeo content repository to interface seamlessly with the Liferay Document Repository, so that content, such as documents and images, from a Nuxeo Document Management or Digital Asset Management application, ...
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This website is connected to the document management system. When each drawing is scanned, a clear statement is sent back to the phone in either green or red. Green text confirms that it is the most up-to-date version of a drawing, while one with red ...
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The company will  join the Perceptive Software division as part of Lexmark's content and document management products. Brainware's main product is the Brainware Distiller, which extracts information from digital and paper documents, validates the ...
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PaperVision Capture SP makes scanning paper records into SharePoint easy and puts the benefits of effective document management within reach for smaller firms. “PaperVision Capture SP for SharePoint allows SharePoint users to begin integrating paper ...
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Congressional testimony and court documents regarding those processes, FHA claims documents, and foreclosure affidavits. They also interviewed servicer management and staff and those of vendors involved in foreclosures and claim processes.
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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

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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

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Weekend Copier & MFP Updates for 1/29/2012

Superbowl week is upon us GO GIANTS!!
For those who delve deep into the forums, there is so much awesome content from the p4p members.Please make sure you read all of the new links and then pick and choose what interests you! For those readers that are not members please use this one time lifetime FREE registration link!

Print4Pay 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, leads, p4p library, downloads and all of the additional forum features that are enabled with a Premium Membership!

Recent Blogs of NoteRicoh A4 MFP vs Canon A4 MFP "Who Wins with Scanning"?
Selling Copiers & MFP's "First Contact"
Selling Copiers & MFP's "The Tax Man Cometh"
Selling Copiers & MFP's "Where's the Hard Drives?"
I Want My....I Want My..... SMART MFP

Interesting & Most Viewed P4P Forum ThreadsITEX 2012 OFFERS COMPREHENSIVE DEALER EDUCATION INCLUDING
Winning Proposal Generator for MPF's or MPS
Ricoh SP 5200 Series A4imageRUNNER 1700 Series
New Units from Ricoh 1st quarter 2012
Keyboard for Ricoh MFP's
End of 2011 Sales Quota Poll
Global Imaging Systems Names...
Lexmark and Anheuser-Busch ink MPS deal

NEW! Uploaded MFP Docs in P4P Document Library5 Tips 4 Using the Web4Prospecting the “First Contact
Reduce_Costs_through_Printer_Consolidation
Multifunction-Printer-
Ricoh Staple cost analysis
Ricoh Black Laser Cost Per Page Yield Analysis

Press ReleasesKyocera Mita America Multifunctional Products and Printers Named ...
Océ Outlines Five Key Attributes to Consider When Purchasing a Wide Format ScannerXerox Reports 14% increase in EPS on Flat Revenue
Ricoh is one of the world’s most sustainable companies for the eighth year
Konica Minolta to Exhibit Award-Winning Solutions and IT Services at LegalTech

P4P Poll QuestionsNew 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!Need a Lease of 62 Copiers in......
Copiers Need for Fort ______ School District
Health Support Services Needs Color COpier
200K copier Bid in Meid West USA
3-Year Copier Lease

Uploaded Pricing Proposals & QuotesKyocera 3500 Quote
"Pricing on the Street" Canon 3245i
"Pricing on the Street" KonicaMinolta bizhub423
"Pricing on the Street" Xerox WorkCentre 5150PTQ.pdf
Ricoh Production Print Cost Per Page "Consumables" Analysis

-=Good Selling=-

Daily Managed Print Service Industry Notes from Around the World!

Mission Viejo's AUXILIO Inc., a managed print services (MPS) provider for the healthcare industry, is holding an informal webinar on Friday, Dec. 8 at 8 am hosted by Modern Healthcare. ...read more here

NEWSBYTE, Dec. 6, 2011 - Lexmark International, Inc. (NYSE: LXK) has enhanced its offerings for the public sector by combining the power of Lexmark multifunction product (MFP) technology with ImageNow from Perceptive Software. To save valuable time when submitting documentation for services, the Lexmark MFP and ....read more here

Despite CEO Meg Whitman saying that 2012 would be a year of balance sheet rebuilding, HP(HPQ) announced another acquisition Monday, purchasing German software company, Hiflex Software GmbH. HP spent more than $11 billion in 2011 making ....read more here

The lawsuit was filed in US District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of all HP LaserJet owners by David Goldblatt of New York, who recently purchased two of the printers. The lawsuit accuses HP of violating California's consumer ....read more here

Brother strengthens senior sales team with print industry veterans

Printer manufacturer Brother has expanded its sales team with the appointments of two senior managers.  Cathy Ellis (pictured) joins from Dell, where she was the UK head of its printer business for three years. She will take up the newly created position of head of sales, online partners, developing Brother’s online partner network, and ....read more here

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Daily Managed Print Service Industry Notes from Around the World!

University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) has announced a seven-year deal with Xerox managed print services through which it aims to save £1.2m. The deal, part of a wider project by Logica to create an intelligent back-office infrastructure for the Trust, means that UCLH will now have only one print supplier to manage. Before....read more here

Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc. (TABS), a leader in managed print services (MPS) that help organizations reduce cost by printing smarter, working safer and maximizing their green savings, continues leaving its mark in multifunction printer (MFP) innovations with the introduction of the....read more here

In 2012 what we’re focusing on is enabling our partners to sell more than just the box. While our core hardware business is very important to us, Lexmark, through a number of acquisitions over the last couple of months and through our own research and development, has come up with a number of tools to enable us help our channel partners go outside that normal channel sell. It’s very important for us as a print vendor to provide a compelling reason to partner with Lexmark, and we....read more here

Reading, UK, 22nd November 2011: Kyocera Mita UK Ltd is delighted to announce that it has successfully retained its Carbon Trust Standard certification following an audit by the Carbon Trust. The retention of the certification indicates that Kyocera Mita UK has continued to improve its carbon efficiency since the Standard was initially awarded in 2008. During a period of significant growth for Kyocera Mita UK, the company has achieved a....read more here

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Daily Copier & MFP Industry Notes from around the World

Contex Group has signed an agreement to sell its subsidiaries Z Corporation and Vidar Systems to the American company 3D Systems Corporation. The enterprise value amounts to USD 137m. In connection with completion of the deal, a large part of the bank debt in Contex Group will be....read more here

LEXINGTON, Ky., Nov. 21, 2011 -- Lexmark International, Inc. (NYSE: LXK) has announced the opening of a new regional office in Moscow to help meet increased demand in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Since 1994, Lexmark was represented in the region through a distribution....read more here

The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University’s (NMMU) Bulk Printing Facility has a print output of just over 2 million A4 images a month. Being a strategic business unit that receives no subsidy from the University and with stringent SLAs in place with its internal customers, the Bulk Printing Facility has a tight business case to fulfil. During a recent open tender process, the University appointed Xerox to replace its ageing fleet with new high speed digital 4127 Copier/Printers and a Xerox 700 Digital Colour Press....read more here

Nov 21, 2011 London – Ricoh Europe, a specialist in office solutions, managed document services and production printing will be working with the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London this week to make document processes at the high profile tennis tournament more sustainable. The activity forms part of Ricoh’s commitment to providing carbon neutral document management to all its sponsorships through its award-winning....read more here
Nov 18, 2011 Ricoh employees, members of Sunnyfield’s Day Options Program and their carers gathered together at Ricoh’s Head Office in French's Forest to launch the Sunnyfield Buddy Program on Friday 4 November, 2011. Ricoh’s Sunnyfield Buddy Program is designed to provide an opportunity for staff to share their interests and develop....read more here

-=Good Selling=-

Daily Managed Print Industry Notes from Around the World!

Since Asia Pacific MPS Conference was help in Australia. In traditional Greg Walters style, I thought Greg would appreciate this awesome Aussie lass.

Photizo Asia Pacific MPS Conference, Sydney, AUSTRALIA, 31 October 2011:Fuji Xerox Printer Channel today announced the launch of Streamline, the Asia Pacific region’s first training program designed to help channel partners capitalise on the growing interest in Managed Print Services (MPS) by the SMB sector. According to Photizo, the Asia Pacific MPS market will....read more here

LAKE SUCCESS, NY, Oct 31, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Canon USA, a leader in digital imaging, today announced that the Company has been placed in the Leaders Quadrant of the 2011 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Managed Print Services Worldwide(1) report. ...read more here

Lexmark was recently named a leader in several fields by acclaimed research firm Gartner Inc. Gartner positioned Lexmark as a leader in its "Magic Quadrant" analysis of printers, multi-function printers and worldwide managed print services. ...read more here

Last autumn,lection of interesting MpS players who brought something good to the Ecosystem. I chose individuals or companies who in my opinion, contributed to the MpS cause in a positive manner. For instance, last year, Constellation 1 included, MT Business Technologies, Ken Stewart, Robert Newry, and Photizo. So how did these stars fare over the past 12 months? read more here
-=Good Selling=-

Daily Managed Print Industry Notes from Around the World!

The company went to tender and the incumbents won against Ricoh and Fuji Xerox with HP's Managed Print Service provided by Laser Plus. “We were trying to get most of our gear on multi-functional devices,” Watson says. “That took away some of the ...read more here

"Our revenue growth for the quarter was once again stronger than expected, highlighted by core growth of 10 percent year on year driven by a double digit increase in high end hardware, supplies and managed print services," said Paul Rooke, ...read more here

In total 1200 dealer partners from across Europe, including a significant number of UK dealer partners, attended the event where they were able to learn about the Konica Minolta managed print service offerings, a range of new products and green ...read more here

Equipment sales are up sequentially as well, reflecting progress we've made in reducing backlog, creating demand for new products and the effectiveness of our growing Managed Print Services. There is no doubt that we have industry leadership in MPS, ...read more here

Cedar Rapids, IA) – GreatAmerica Leasing Corporation released a new website today Collabrance LLC, a GreatAmerica subsidiary that will help independent telecommunication, office equipment, and information technology (IT) dealers provide IT services to their small and medium size business customers. Collabrance LLC will assist dealers in providing a comprehensive managed services solution to their customers under ...read more here

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Daily Managed Print Industry Notes from Around the World!

It World Series time and what you're not a Rangers fan? 

Irvine, Calif. – June 15, 2011 - Netaphor, a provider of managed print services (MPS) software, today announced the release of SiteAudit On-Site v4.4. The release provides fleet managers with enhanced MPS Services capabilties by tracking, alerting and reporting departmental and location printer moves, new supplies metrics and alert thresholds and expanded metering. SiteAudit On-Site aligns it capabilities with specific MPS services partners offer users. Enhancements to MPS services include...read more

LEXINGTON, Ky., Oct. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Lexmark International, Inc. (NYSE: LXK) today announced the acquisition of Netherlands-based Pallas Athena in a cash transaction, valued at approximately $50.2 million. Upon completion of the transaction, the Dutch company will become a part of Perceptive Software, a stand-alone business unit within Lexmark. Pallas Athena's chairman and chief executive officer, John Hoogland, will report directly to Scott Coons, Perceptive Software's president and chief executive officer and Lexmark vice president...read more

The Managed Print Services Association (MPSA) has committed to be the first association sponsor of the new Lyra MPS Forum. The half-day event will take place on Wednesday, January 25, 2012, from 12:30-5:00 p.m. at the Rancho Las Palmas Resort and Spa in Rancho Mirage, California. The event follows the 15th annual Lyra Imaging Symposium, which is scheduled for January 23-25, 2012, and complements the Symposium’s...read more

COLUMBUS, OH – October 18, 2011 – One of the newest Corporate Members of the Managed Print Services Association (MPSA) approaches the MPS industry from a service-oriented perspective. This requires an approach that uses collaboration and coordination with other partners to provide a complete package for each customer. Here’s a look at MPS from the service-centric perspective of Prism Pointe Technologies..read more

The Ultimate Managed print Services in a Box - "Ink Subscriptions" from HP. This is why we cannot define MpS as simply toner and service, Stage 1 & 2. ...read more

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Daily Copier & MFP Industry Notes from around the World

SOME of the biggest brands in the printing sector are being tipped as suitors in a high-stake bidding war for Darwin-based managed IT services specialist CSG.

Sources are reporting that majority Japanese-owned Fuji Xerox and Canon's office division are the two main players behind bids that value the company at about $420 million.CSG provides managed print services and operates a managed IT services division. It already has partnerships with...read more

PLEASANTON, Calif., Oct 11, 2011 -- Visioneer, Inc., a leader in intelligent document imaging solutions announced today the launch of a new philanthropic program that will help worthy organizations across the globe that provide assistance to people and places in need. For every customer who registers a Visioneer or Xerox(R) DocuMate(R) scanner,...read more

NEWSBYTE,  Oct. 11, 2011 - Lexmark International, Inc., today announced the new Lexmark Patient Admissions and Registration Solution, which simplifies paper-intensive admissions and registration processes. The Lexmark solution enables healthcare providers to electronically capture, organize, route and access patient documentation quickly, accurately and securely, so they can spend more time focusing on patient care instead of processing paperwork...read more


TOKYO—As Japan's major exporters struggle to absorb the impact of the strong yen on their earnings, Canon Inc.'s finance chief said Tuesday that any substantial rebound in the euro against the yen is unlikely, as the euro zone's "structural problem" may take several years to solve. "Unfortunately, we can't hope for any quick recovery in the euro," Chief Financial Officer Toshizo Tanaka said in an interview. His comments came as the euro was showing a modest gain against the yen...read more

Oct 11, 2011 LONG BEACH, Calif. – Epson America, Inc., today announced a new line of superior performing printers for small and home-based businesses - the WorkForce® 435, 545, 645 and 845.  The new all-in-ones deliver the world’s fastest print speeds(1) and mobile printing capabilities through Epson Connect(2) to ensure easy, hassle-free printing. Each model in the series offers a range of functionality and intuitive operation at an affordable price...read more

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Daily Managed Print Industry Notes from Around the World!

Lloyd Bryant still leads the imaging and printing group (IPG) at HP Canada (NYSE: HPQ) as vice-president and general manager, but a number of the executives under him now hold new positions following a series of staffing changes announced last week that come into effect on Nov. 1. “We're excited to announce several changes in our IPG business management structure that will create multiple synergies for...read more

 
Cummins has 40,000 employees and global operations throughout 200 countries and territories. With such a vast distribution of locations comes the challenge of selecting, deploying, managing and maintaining technology – even output devices. Its existing fleet of printers, copiers, fax machines and...read more
 
Channelline CEO Robert Cohen talks with Gary Gillam, VP North American Channel Operations at Xerox, talks about where the printing industry is headed today, and where the opportunities are for partners, especially managed print services. Gillam also discusses how VARs can deal with an issue managed services raises, the loss of the constant contact with customers that comes from selling print supplies, that has been so important to printing VARs in the past...read more and video 
 
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Top Five Short Notes for MFP & Copier Industry

Sometimes you'll have the ability to rattle off 500 to 600 words with a blog and sometimes you're just left with a  little bit of this and a little bit of that.  Thus this brings to me my Top Five Short Notes for the week or the last two weeks.  If it's popular I'll try and continue for everyone. 

1.  Seems traffic at Graph Expo in Chicago was excellent for Monday and Tuesday of this week, however Sunday was no where near as good with 9/11, and the Bears game.

2.  Ricoh seems to have a definite hit on their hands with the new Ricoh C651 series print production color system!  Traffic was awesome and reviews were just as good.  I for one am chomping at the bit waiting for us to get our first system in the door.  More to come on this unit very soon!

3. Even though I run the Print4Pay Hotel forums, and I'm still out on the street selling, I still find the time to make the forums work for my customers.  I had an issue with postscript printing of booklets, and internally I had no one to turn to that could help me.  With the recent downturn of support and this goes for all manufacturers, I turned to the P4P forums and found a workaround that a fellow P4P'er had posted a few months ago.  I turned the customer onto the workaround, it worked and all was good for the account.  As one P4P'er stated a few years ago, "The service you have and are providing is INVALUABLE. Any RFG consultant/rep worth their salt should be utilizing your site. I would highly recommend you charge a reasonable fee for these services, as the information you provide from around the world cannot be packaged adequately by the manufacturers. Other associations from other industries charge for memberships; this is a very small investment that provides tremendous "edown-in-the-trenches" resources to the members."  BTW, the Print4Pay Hotel has a FREE basic membership.

4. I just read an article about Kodak and about how they are reinventing themselves as a digital player for print production and printers.  I'm thinking this was a recycled article and I'm thinking they've been trying to do this for years.  About a year ago Kodak was high on my list to sell their print production business, however with Ricoh still struggling with IKON, Canon still trying to join two different cultures with themselves and OCE, Xerox, ACS and Global still buying dealerships, KonicaMinolta???  Anyway you slice it, seems like no one may have the cash to pull off something big.

5. When will it start,  meaning it's not a matter of if it's going to happen, however when and by whom.  I see Auxilio as a prime target to be bought by like the likes of Ricoh, Canon, Xerox, or KonicaMinolta, hey maybe even Lexmark or Okidata.  To me the writing is on the wall. With the BIG 4 focusing on health care, government and law, Auxilio is fruit that's ripening on the vine and ready to be picked!

Well that's for those thoughts that have been pounding around in my head for the last few days, enjoy, comment if you wish but above all good selling to everyone!!

-=Good Selling=-

Daily MFP News from around the world!

NORWALK, Conn., Aug 18, 2011  -- Xerox Corporation's  board of directors today announced that Sara Martinez Tucker has been elected to the board effective Sept. 1, 2011.  "Sara brings to our board impressive credentials and experience as an accomplished leader. Her success in both the public and private sectors will greatly benefit Xerox and our shareholders," said Xerox Chairman and CEO Ursula Burns. read more

Fake $100 bills, and all the tools needed to make more. A College Station police officer found that and more during a traffic stop. The officer was patrolling in the 2100 block of Texas Avenue when he saw a woman leave a store, and get into a 2011 Dodge Charger. read more


Lexmark International South Africa has announced a three-year global services agreement with Woolworths. The contract, as part of a Managed Print Services initiative, will enable Woolworths to achieve both savings and efficiencies through its print output management. Following a rigorous competitive review, Lexmark was selected because of its thorough approach to total cost of ownership, its worldwide service and support capabilities and its comprehensive set of product features. read more

Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging, recently introduced the latest addition to its award-winning lineup, the imageFORMULA DR-C125 document scanner. The innovative space-saving design and ease-of-use of Canon's DR-C125 scanner improves information accessibility, management, and collaboration, making it a viable option for a variety of office environments. The DR-C125 scanner features intuitive face-up feeding with top feeding....read more

LONG BEACH, Calif., Aug. 17, 2011 – iDatix, an emerging leader in the development of document management software, is simplifying the workplace and increasing profitability using Epson WorkForce Pro document scanners. Epson WorkForce Pro GT-S50 and GT-S80 scanners are certified for use with iDatix iSynergy® and ScanDox read more

Calgary, Alberta - August 18, 2011 – With an aging printer fleet and users relying on their expensive desktop devices, the City of Avon Lake was facing increases in its printing costs and resource consumption. To gain control of the city’s finances, a new budgeting structure was implemented so all costs were allocated by department. However, the current printing environment did not have a print management system to track costs so the city sought the help of its office equipment dealer, Ace Business Solutions. read more

Nashville, TN (August 18, 2011) – Océ Business Services, a leader in document process management and electronic discovery, will demonstrate eDiscovery, records management and document imaging solutions at the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) conference. Océ will also address topics covered at the show including: emerging eDiscovery technologies, document management strategies to deliver better client value and streamline operational efficiency, and the importance of applying records retention policies across all electronic records repositories. read more

-=Good Selling=-

Daily MFP Industry Notes from around the World 8/17/2011

·    Indiana Business Equipment recently completed a studyofthe county's use of printers, copiers, fax machines and multi-purposes devices, with an eye toward serving the county's needs as a single, central vendor. On Monday, Copyco Office Solutions came before the commissioners with  a  similar proposal.

·   FOSTER CITY, Calif., Aug. 17, 2011  -- EFI (Nasdaq:EFII) today announced it has teamed with Xerox Corporation to provide customers worldwide with the EFI Digital StoreFront™ (DSF) Web-to-Print solution, giving print providers a new front door to their business. Available first in the United States, Xerox Corporation's direct sales team and channel partners are now offering the award-winning solution. Read more here

·   ROCHESTER, N.Y., Aug 17, 2011  -- Xerox Corporation will manage global print operations across more than 460 Cisco offices, making printing services easily accessible to employees working from different locations, using a variety of desktop and mobile devices.

As part of a new managed print services (MPS) strategy, Xerox will provide the Cisco workforce with more cost-effective ways to produce and manage documents, improving the efficiency of the print environment by 20 percent. Using the Xerox Enterprise Print Services (EPS) platform to support a new cloud-based mobile print solution, Cisco will allow employees to securely print from any device, anytime, anywhere without downloading software, mapping to a printer or booting up their laptops. Read more here

·   Dunlap, Ill. — The Dunlap school board approved a centralized printing program on Aug. 10 that will save $350,000 over the next five years.

Currently, the district has 337 printers, along with 11 copiers, eight fax machines and seven multi-functional devices. Read more here

·    BBT Group, a supplier of office copier and print products, purchased the Preston-based company for an undisclosed sum. The Coventry company, which opened an office at Salford Quays earlier this year, said the deal would boost its presence in the North West.

"Oakham Business Systems has a great reputation with very loyal customers and is an excellent fit for our business," said Philip Runciman, director of BBT Group. "The acquisition offers Oakham clients an expanded portfolio of products and services including document management and managed print services." BBT Group has a turnover of about £6m and employs 50 staff. Runciman added: "This is an exciting time for the business as we grow our nationwide offering and extend our presence in the North West."

·   Toshiba and Lexmark are partnering to nudge the managed print services market forward. Specifically, Toshiba Encompass managed print services now leverage Lexmark Fleet Manager 2.o software. As we’ve said before: A growing number of technology vendors are promoting managed print solutions… but only about 20 percent of MSPmentor 100 companies have embraced managed print services so far. Here’s the update.  Read more here

-=Good Selling=-

MFP Weekend Industry Notes 3/13/2011

Everyone this will be my last blog until 3/24/2011, off to Aruba with the wife for President's Club!!! Yippe!

- Hewlett Packard officials are refuting a story being published in Asian newspapers that claims that the company is going to sell its hardware business to Samsung or Lenovo. HP executive, Bill Wohl said; “irresponsible reporting and should be dismissed as market rumor and speculation”

- A California judge ruled that HP may keep shielded from the public documents related to its summary judgement motion in a long-running class action suit over an alleged display screen defect in its Pavillion notebook computers.

- IDC reports that the worldwide printer and copier market grew by 7% in last quarter of 2010.

- ProSource, a Konica Minolta dealer in Cincinnati, Ohio, announced it acquired docuVision, a local document management systems dealer.

- ECi, which makes software used by copier dealers to run their business (OMD, LaCrosse, NexGen, etc.) announced it has acquired FM Audit, which makes managed print services software. Purchase price not announced.

- Thomas Reprographics, NRI and CallPrint have formed LINK Document Services Group, which will be a joint venture to provide managed print services to customers in the U.S. LINK’s first action was to acquire Sepialine, Inc. and its Argos software platform.

- Toshiba announced it will invest to expand its plant in Houston, Texas which makes electric motors for hybrid automobiles.

- Lexmark is preparing itself to be sold, according to Frank Voisin, of iStockAnalysis. The company has taken following recent actions that are common when a company wants to sell:

o amended its employment agreements

o ensuring continued employment and benefits for senior executives in case of change in control

o providing bonus if terminated without good cause following change in control

- Police in Gainesville, FL arrested Douglas Brian Osborne after he attempted to use fake $20 bills at a local Stubby’s restaurant that he made using a color copier.

- Police in Texas are searching the Alamo area for people who are using fake $20 bills made on a color copier to buy products from local Kmart, Walgreens and Lowes stores.

- Nuance announced the availability of a Macintosh version of its PDF Converter software.
- Kodak announced it has borrowed $250 million via a private placement of senior secured notes due in 2019. $50 million of these funds will be used to refinance a previous loan that was due in 2013.

-=Good Selling=-