MFP Copier Blog

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I copied the title of this blog from a recent Linkedin post from Greg Walters. I haven't figured out how to share it and not sure it can be shared.  If I can I will in the reply section from this blog.

I thought it would be fun to share how I ended up in copier sales and hope to hear from others in the reply section for "How Did You End Up in Copier Sales?"

I'll go first and I will try to shorten it, but I've never been a guy to shorten a great story

1980

The year was 1980, I was 23 years old and out of work during the summer that year.  My job at the glue factory got in the way of trying to have a great summer.  Many of those summer days saw me searching the help wanted ads in my local newspaper. Jobs for someone like me (long story) was few and far between because I had no path to college, the economy was in shambles along with high inflation and high interest rates.

Making the Effort

At least I was making the effort to look for something, right?  Finally I  found something that was interesting (actually anything that paid was interesting), I called and was asked to come in for an interview in the next few days. That ad was for a Copy Machine Repair person, the ad made mention of the interview, and taking a mechanical/electronic aptitude test.  Hey, I thought I'm okay with my hands since I've been able to fix my own cars and my Dad was a communications Sargent during WWII.  My Dad taught me morse code and showed me how to make a morse code machine in my younger days.

The Test

Frak,  the aptitude test was difficult for both the mechanical and electronics (tough for someone who left school during the junior year in HS).  Three weeks passed since the interview/test and there were no calls, at this time I seriously considered entering the Army because there were no other jobs. Yikes!

The Call

Ring, ring went the phone that was next to my bed (I was never far from a phone especially when I was sleeping), that call was from the copier company, they asked if I was still interested in the job?  Hell yes I was still interested.   I was told that I needed to be at there place tomorrow because the class had already started!

Whoa, I got the job!  I was getting paid to go to school to learn how to be a copier technician.  Thank goodness it was summer because my only transportation was my Harley and there was no rain in the immediate forecast.

Training at $3.75 per hour

I think it was three months of hands on training for mechanics and then a crash course of electronics (I still remember zener diode).

At the end of graduation the company that sponsored the class then found everyone a job as a copier repair person.  Yes, I landed a job as a real copier technician in New Jersey.  Back tracking a bit here, the day that they called me I was an alternative option for the job.  Seems the first person was female and she was the only female in the first day of class.  Well, she opted out and I was next on the list.  Funny how things work.

90 Days

After 90 days I had my review with the company that hired me. I was brought into the owners office and he told me that I was doing a great job at taking the copiers apart but not so good at putting them back together (that wasn't the exact conversation, but you get my drift because I wasn't that good).  I was told that I was being laid off, however on the way out the owner reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of cash.  He stated "would you rather finish out the week to make the rest of this money or would you rather talk me out of the cash".  I had no job and trying to talk him out of the cash seemed like the best option.  I thought it was 30 minutes and I tried every thing I knew to get that cash. It was probably more like 5 minutes, and I was never able to secure the cash, however the owner stated "would You like to give it a go selling copiers?"

42 years later..........

What's your story I'd love to hear!

-=Good Selling=-

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Technological advancements have made inter-and-external-office communications faster, more streamlined, and generally paperless. However, despite the decline in faxing, paper memos, and direct mail, printing remains an essential function for any business. When the printers go down or there are service interruptions, it directly affects the office’s productivity.

This importance to both the home office and home office operations is exactly why office printer service providers and printer manufacturers continue to make improvements that will ensure printing continues to integrate well and perform to today’s fluctuating business needs.

Here are three interesting facts that show the importance and evolution of office printing.

1. Highly Sought After

There is something about tangible printed paper that makes people more productive. According to a recent survey from Pharos, more than half of office workers prefer to work with actual paper, while fewer than one quarter leans toward digital documentation. But it’s not just the average worker that turns to the printed word to get things done.

Most IT decision-makers think office print is essential to how businesses run today. Their opinion is supported by over 70% of up-and-coming workers aged 18 to 34. These are the people and generations shaping the future of business. Despite their clear preference for digital interactions, their reliance on print and paper in business is a clear indicator of the future outlook of office printing.

2. There is Room for Efficiency and Savings in Office Printing

One employee or worker prints over 10,000 pages per year. That equates to approximately 27 pages daily and an average total of $725 per employee annually. But not all of those printed pages are necessary. Around 17% end up in the trash bin right off the press, and another 65% don’t make it to see the next day.

Despite the continued print and paper waste, many companies ignore around 40% of their printing costs. These hidden expenses are wrapped up in consumables, cartridges, maintenance, service, employee time, and waste.

Waste from laser printers alone in the United States accounts for around 100 lbs in annual losses. The prints thrown away represent toner, paper, and energy lost due to incorrect printing, accidental printing, or even temporary need. The costs associated with inkjet printers can be even higher as the costs for ink cartridges continue to rise.

There is a lot of room for improvement across the office printing environment. Strategies range from helping employees modify printing behaviors to updating equipment and supplies to be more energy and cost-efficient for the office size and needs. Studies from Gartner Group note the potential savings for businesses that implement office print management solutions can reach up to 30%.

3. Sometimes Savings is Just a Partnership Away

For any business, making sure you cut operating costs determines final profits and overall success. So, what are the best solutions to minimizing printer operating costs? Fortunately, it is not hard for companies to start saving money.

One of the best ways to provide the efficiency of printing while managing costs is to partner with a Managed Print Services (MPS) or other printer service provider. These businesses study printing trends, determine potential green goals, and model solutions to their office partners’ printing budgets. In addition, these solutions can help resize print configurations to fit the needs and criteria of each business.

Millennial IT managers are also rising to the challenge of tackling office printing costs and efficiencies. Rather than defaulting to the status quo, these up-and-coming leaders are looking for less expensive options that are a better fit for today’s office setting—solutions like the A4 printer.

In the past, many businesses defaulted to the larger A3 printer model. The decision made sense because printer manufacturers at the time focused heavily on that model as their flagship for the office setting. In addition, these machines were designed to produce high volumes and service large, multi-departmental offices when filing, office memos, and printed text were the primary forms of communication and storage.

Post-COVID, printer manufacturers have seen the shift to smaller office and hybrid office formats, where the sheer capacity produced by the A3 unit is not necessarily what is required. Today, higher-end A4 printers are being built with increased Wi-Fi and wireless capabilities, faster scan speeds, and more robust features, including increased support and more applications. And Millennial IT managers are here for the transition.

But that doesn’t mean there is no place in the modern office for a more robust A-3 machine. It’s possible for an office looking for lower equipment costs to move to an A4 model, only to spend additional time, energy, and money attempting to force the smaller machine to meet office needs. It’s all about sizing the machine’s performance to the appropriate business requirements.

Office printing isn’t going away anytime soon. Fortunately for today’s businesses, there are multiple ways to improve efficiencies and decrease costs while continuing to meet the needs of employees. Understanding employee needs, creating appropriate printer management rules, and partnering with a reputable office printer services business are a few of the ways any company can regain control of their printing operations.

Need to know more about MPS? Follow here

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Sponsored by

August 8th, 2022

Arcoa Group

Why partnering with ARCOA makes sense
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What partnering with ARCOA looks like
Our role is to make it easy for you to bring more value to your clients. We work with you to help stretch your clients’ IT budget by reducing the total cost of ownership of their electronics. We’re experts at identifying and implementing the solutions your clients need for the end-of-use remarketing, recovery, and recycling of their technology assets. The sooner you involve ARCOA, the sooner you and your clients.

Frost & Sullivan Names Booz Allen Hamilton a Top Innovator in Managed Detection & Response

• Booz Allen Hamilton announced that Frost & Sullivan ranked the firm the most innovative vendor in their Frost Radar: Global Managed Detection and Response Market, 2022 report
• global headquarters in McLean, Virginia, our firm employs nearly 29,300 people globally as of June 30, 2022
• had revenue of $8.4 billion for the 12 months ended March 31, 2022

Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 Helps Customers Better Address Cybersecurity Threats Through ...

• Palo Alto Networks, introduced Unit 42 Managed Detection and Response
• Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW), the global cybersecurity leader, today introduced Unit 42 Managed Detection and Response
• Unit 42 MDR is built on Cortex XDR, it is optimized to not just prioritize alerts but also to massively reduce the number of alerts customers receive
• Cortex XDR^® is the world's first detection and response solution that natively integrates network, endpoint and cloud data to stop sophisticated attacks

Omega Systems launches managed IT compliance service

• recently launched Smart Comply, a managed IT compliance service to help companies with cybersecurity risk management and regulatory compliance

Blogger has identified a glitch in a range of Xerox photocopying and scanning machines st

• German computer scientist and blogger has identified a glitch in a range of Xerox photocopying and scanning machines which causes them to randomly alter numbers in documents
• One Xerox printer had enlarged the square meter of a room from 14.13 m² to 17.42m², while another shrunk it from 21.11 m² to 14.13 m². Mr Kriesel found the copier would often change the number 6 into the number 8, and vice versa

M-Files Wins Best Feature Set and Best Relationship Awards in Document

• announced that TrustRadius has recognized the company with both a 2022 Best Feature Set and a 2022 Best Relationship Award in document management
• The Best Relationship Awards honor companies that provide their customers with accurate implementation expectations, fulfill sales and marketing promises, and deliver ROI

Konica Minolta Launches Managed EDR Services

• announced its new Managed Endpoint Detection and Response (MEDR) service, designed to protect supported endpoints against modern attacks and exploitation
• cloud-based service helps to secure endpoints on organizations’ IT networks by detecting unusual or potentially malicious activity and responding to neutralize any possible threats before they can cause compromise

Radware Inks Reseller Deal with DataBank

• provider of cyber security and application delivery solutions, announced it signed a reseller agreement with DataBank
• DataBank will offer Radware’s Cloud DDoS Protection and Application Security solutions to customers
• Radware’s Cloud DDoS Protection uses behavioral-based detection, automatic signature creation, and sophisticated SSL attack mitigation to protect organizations against today’s most dynamic and damaging DDoS threats

NYI Expands 60 Hudson Street Operations

• expanded its 60 Hudson Street operations through the addition of space formerly occupied by Equinix
• expansion is the result of a joint venture with QTD Systems, who acquired the Equinix space in a transaction that closed on August 1, 2022
• expansion will benefit multiple parties
• Former Equinix customers will enjoy operational continuity and access to NYI’s on-premise expert technical staff, cost-effective interconnection platform and suite of hybrid infrastructure solutions and high-touch managed services.
• Domestic and international customers will gain access to more space and power, and to an expanded carrier ecosystem.
• Telecommunication providers and carriers will benefit from seamless and cost-effective access to NYI’s expanded in-building conduit infrastructure and additional points of entry.

Lock in on Cyber Security with ARCOA

• customer has a staggered refresh cycle, the value of the equipment can be issued in the form of a credit growing over time
• identifying assets that are usually passed over and often have significant value

Datto's Rob Rae: There's Massive Opportunity For The Channel Right Now

• Reported on CRN
• Rae spoke at IT By Design’s Build IT Live conference in Jersey City, N.J., last week about how MSPs can protect their customers through mitigating risks as cybercrimes wreak havoc on the global economy
• “Right now more than ever, this is a massive opportunity for all of us,” said Rae (pictured). “We talk about an impending recession, we talk about the pandemic, and yet we all thrive through it. We’re all making money. Datto, this little crappy company out of Connecticut started by a 25-year-old who just wanted beer money just sold for $6.2 billion. This is insane, the amount of money that is flowing through this industry. Things have changed and grown and we‘re all thriving through this.”

FileTrail creates expanded partner program to advance the development of its records ...

• introducing a new partner program designed to improve client service by expanding resources for sales and implementation of FileTrail platforms
• partnerships expand FileTrail’s marketing reach and increase its software implementation resources
• legal IT consulting firms and other trusted partners are joining the program to bring RM and IG platforms to their suite of offerings.

Chinese Chip Makers to Increase Price

• Due to the supply shortage of chip raw materials such as wafers, capacitors, resistors, PCBs, etc., the price of raw material has been increased significantly as a result
• Senior vice president of research and development of TSMC predict that it will take 2-3 years to solve the problem when more new wafer factories are ready for production

ICS Announces Acquisition of Cards Technology

• announced it has acquired Cards Technology (Cards), also a leading provider of Managed IT Services to small to medium businesses, headquartered in Ocean City, Maryland
• ICS is a provider of IT managed services, cybersecurity, cloud migration and other project-based services, and hardware and software reselling for small to medium-sized organizations.
• ClearLight Partners is a private equity firm in Southern California that invests in established, profitable middle-market companies with significant growth potential

Comcast Business Partners with Fortinet to Secure Enterprise Application Access with New ...

• announced a strategic partnership with Fortinet®
• to deliver enterprises a new set of secure access service edge (SASE), and security service edge (SSE) solutions
• Comcast Business offers a suite of Connectivity, Communications, Networking, Cybersecurity, Wireless, and Managed Solutions
• Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT) makes possible a digital world that we can always trust through its mission to protect people, devices, and data everywhere

Qlik Named a Leader in IDC MarketScape: U.S. Business -

• named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: U.S. Business Intelligence and Analytics Platforms 2022 Vendor Assessment (Doc# US48061021, July 2022)
• IDC MarketScape is the IT industry’s premier vendor assessment tool, providing in-depth quantitative and qualitative technology market assessments
• IDC MarketScape vendor assessment model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of ICT (information and communications technology) suppliers in a given market
• Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems

HP cuts employees from printer division

• Announced it has furloughed dozens of employees from its printer supply factory in Corvallis, Oregon
• Company is responding to a slowdown in demand

Ninestar takes more control of Lexmark

• Ninestar of China announced it will increase its ownership of Lexmark from 54.4% to 63
• Will issue a loan to Lexmark for $180 million
• 5 year term
• Interest rate of 6%
• Deal to be completed by 9/20/22

Microsoft admits to printing issue

• Now offering a Windows 10 workaround to fix printing issues caused by recent OS update issued (KM5015807)
• Affects printers/MFPs connected to computers running MS Windows 10 operating syste
• “claims it is currently working on finding root cause of the glitch” and will soon issue remedy

Omega Systems Unveils Managed IT Compliance Service to Help Businesses Address ...

• unveiled its managed IT compliance service
• ‘Smart Comply' is a comprehensive, proprietary service combining data discovery and classification technology with Omega's multi-framework benchmarking assessment
• managed service provider (MSP) and managed security service provider (MSSP) to mid-market organizations in the financial services, government, manufacturing, healthcare and professional services industries

Tequity's Colorado-Based MSP Client, Altitude Integrations, Acquired by Xceptional

• Tequity, acted as the exclusive financial advisor to US-based managed services provider Altitude Integrations in their acquisition by Xceptional
• This is Tequity's 10^th managed cloud service IT transaction

Cybersecurity Notes

• Leading hacking group is Conti of Russia
  • Started in 2020 and is successor of Ryuk aka Wizard Spider group
  • Most popular target is manufacturing vertical
  • 40% of Conti ransomware victims are businesses in the $10 million to $50 million revenue range
  • Hackers looking for businesses who can afford to pay a substantial ransom but do not yet a mature security practice
  • Need for strong protections against hackers moving laterally
• Repertoire magazine reports on healthcare cybersecurity
  • 83% of healthcare organizations surveyed have implemented some degree of software supply chain risk management processes
  • Top reasons for not implementing:
    • 92% = too difficult to implement
    • 68% = little oversight on cybersecurity
    • 83% = lack of demand from federal government
  • McLaren Port Huron Hospital of Michigan has notified 49,000 patients that their PHI was exposed after cyberattack
  • Dark Reading published research on data breaches
    • Average breach costs soared to $9.4 million in 2022 in the US
    • 60% of breaches have resulted in companies increasing their prices to consumers to recoup their costs:
      • Fed/state fines
      • Cleanup
      • Technological improvements
    • Entrust Security, headquartered in Minneapolis, MN, notified an unknown number of customers that their info was exposed after cyberattack.
    • Clinivate Inc., and EMR provider headquartered in Pasadena, CA, notified 77,652 patients that their PHI was exposed after data breach.
    • Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts notified 4,855 patients that their PHI was exposed after data breach
    • City of Newport, CT notified an unknown number of residents that their info was exposed during recent email phishing attack.
    • Luke’s Health System of Boise, Idaho has notified 31,573 patients that their PHI was exposed after data breach

• Avamere Senior Living, headquartered in Wilsonville, Oregon, notified 197,730 patients in 96 locations that their PHI was exposed after data breach.
• OneTouchPoint, a commercial printer headquartered in Tempe, AZ, notified 38 of its healthcar customers, that patient PHI may have been exposed after hacker accessed mailing address database.
• The US Federal Court System notified an unknown number of people that it was hit with a cyber breach

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This Week in the Copier Industry Fifteen Years Ago

Second Week of August 2007

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There are those in our industry that continue to blast our because he believes our industry is dying and will self destruct.  This coming from a person who is not involved in the day to day business in our industry.  That person is a self proclaimed analyst.

However, when one keeps badgering the industry with cries of wolf, then sooner or later those that listen will turn a deaf ear.

I don't mind someone who can point out the faults, but in turn those pointing the finger need to offer up solutions on how change.

Enjoy The Great Copier Threads from Ten years Ago This Week

This Week in the Copier Industry Ten Years Ago

Second Week of August 2012

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On my previous blog I wrote about the many players offered copiers in 1984 and how many of them are around to this day.  One thing many may forget is that many of the copiers offered in the eighties was a mix of A3 and A4 devices.

Some or one will say that the A4 revolution started 6 years ago, but in reality that revolution started closer to 1980. The manufacturers realized they could capture more clicks and market share with A4 and lower device cost.

One of my favorites was a hybrid A3-A4 from Minolta (350Z) where you could place and 11x17 document on the glass (platen cover) and then reduce that document to letter or legal size.  However there was no ability to copy 11x17.  Yes, we took advantage of the cool feature and sold a ton of these.

Everything changes,,,,what copiers do you remember from the 80s?

Enjoy The Great Copier Threads from Ten years Ago This Week

This Week in the Copier Industry Five Years Ago

Second Week of August 2017

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I think the number of copier brands in the US market in 1984 was 29 brands. Now that is a hell of a lot of brands.  Brands like Sanyo, AB Dick, 3M, IBM, KIP, Monroe, Oce, Olivetti and many more can only be seen or remembered in print.  Only five of those brands 1984 still market copier aka MFPs today.

It was also interesting to see that Konica was not a marketed brand in 1984.  Canon, Ricoh, Sharp, Toshiba and Xerox are those five brands I made mention of.  Minolta and Konica merged almost twenty years ago.

Everything changes,,,,what will the next 40 years look like?

Enjoy These Excellent Copier Threads from Five Years Ago This Week!