MFP Copier Blog

"Those who Continue To Fool themselves will Remain Foolishly Confident In their Continued Relevance." 

I have and continue to vocalize that human capital adjustments must be part of the Document Imaging Channel's prescription to keep in relevance. I am defining these human capital adjustments as the need for new blood, over merely changing the titles of those currently in charge. This article will highlight those thoughts.

Here's my thinking; if the current leaders were going where the customers were going, they would have already changed their titles on the way there. Leaders don't wait for directions; they create the directions others will follow. Changing the title to include the word digital won't cause digital disruption. Which frankly is already long over-due inside the Document Imaging Channel.  

When this pandemic started, I said that the SMB print equipment customer would increase their digitalization speed by five years. This thinking was not of a crystal ball; most realistic businesspeople have also come to that conclusion. Over the last six months, we are all watching the world's businesses scurry towards digitalization.

For the first time, the Channel's end-users are asking tougher and new questions of themselves and their providers concerning the need for printed documents. The industry's fate resides in these new questions and those who provide relevant answers.

"As an industry's relevance faces challenges, its leaders have no choice other than to create the new relevance." 

Clarification for my friends selling and servicing print equipment is this. Digitalization won't eliminate print; it will merely rapidly decrease the need for many of the A3 MFP equipment's applications. Some say, and I agree volumes will also reduce by at least 10-12 percent per year. 

Those decreasing volume percentages and diminishing needs of equipment's applications will cause opportunities for outsiders to change the industry's business model; The how print equipment is delivered, supplied and serviced is extremely ripe for disruption to a massive percentage of the Document Imaging Channel's end-users. As the pandemic exposed, many businesses could function without going down the hallway and retrieving the sets of stapled documents for the weekly management meeting. Or printed reports to handoff from one person to another.

Today, most agree that the need to modify the decades-old deliverable of print equipment and its services is past due. However, some are not entirely in-line with the realities of what's needed to make those transitions successfully.

The Document Imaging Channel has been behind on many fronts. The Channel's obsession in saving its nostalgia and this pandemic was not the beginning of the industry's challenges. It does seem as many out-dated deliverables are now blaming the pandemic for their rapidly fading relevance. In the case of the Document Imaging Channel, its end-users have been leaving the Channel's preverbal stores for over a decade.

The obsessions for the manufacturers and the dealers who represent them to insist on every transaction being a contractual agreement forced many of their customers to seek alternatives—these alternatives aligned with the market's realities.

I predict that history will reveal that the Document Imaging Channel's obsession with controlling every printer, its services, and supplies in a managed print agreement within the SMB sector cost the Channel's dealers and those manufacturers with direct operations billions in revenues. As those end-users who wanted to buy without restraints went to alternative sources. The industry's dealers and many manufacturers made and continue making the means of getting print equipment way too complicated.

In that complication, the SMB end-users flocked to Amazon, IT Service Vars, and the Office Product Reseller's Channel. These organizations welcomed the Document Imaging Channel's customers to their customer roles with more straightforward programs such as e-commerce platforms where one can click buy now. These alternative options provide a business model that is void the complications of the Document Imaging Channel's contractual leases and MPS models. 

Even as data showed from all DCAs that there are 5-7 devices not under contract for every device under an agreement, the Channel refused to modify. Those non-contracted devices are A4, and the Imaging Channel's end-users are buying them, servicing them, and supplying them from outside the Channel's borders. These end-users will soon look for more advanced A4 MFPs as they will determine A3 and its complicated contracts are out of alignment with the new relevance the pandemic exposed.

Six Months in a Pandemic, What's changed? Hopefully, more than titles.

Today the Channel's leaders will not be able to pivot just because they got a new title. Unless these re-tilted leaders were already outspoken, determined, and already presenting arguments for changes before the pandemic. If not, the question to ask - is, why or how will they now?

The Channel needs to bring in the human capital, which understands the realities of today's buyers. The dysfunctions of the Document Imaging Channel's deliverable are clearly being exposed. A decade of some denials, and believing the comfort of current circumstances got in the way of bold action.

Still their are significant dysfunctions much of the industry continues ignoring. Even after six months as a global pandemic, brought a new awareness to both the Channel's end-users and all the actors who service and support them. 

The Channel still struggles in selling with modern billing arrangements such as iDaaS meter-less billing or subscription-based billing. Subscription-Based billing is how nearly every other component of technology and its services is transacted. 

The Channel is still ignoring data, data that has and continues to emphasize deep-rooted issues pertaining to the services model and its cost misalignments. 

The Channel is still without digital engagement (E-Commerce) The in-ability for the Channel's end-users to purchase online is extremely contrary to the buyer's desires and marketplace realities. 

The Channel is still discussing Managed Print Services for the SMB end-users like its 2000. This out-dated MPS talk track has misled the Channel's actors. After nearly two decades, does anyone believe the SMB customers want contracts to manage print?

What customers want is printed or copied pages when they need them. It is safe to say that most print end-users know that tomorrow they will print less than today. These end-users have long ago stopped in the policing of print. 

The Channel's Dealers and Manufacturer's Direct operations are still over-spec'ing A3. Regardless of what data is telling them. The reason, many in the Channel saw no threat from outside competitors regarding the delivery of A3 equipment. What the Channel's Actors miscalculated was the outsiders had no intention of selling A3. After-all the end-users were moving towards A4, these outsiders knew that in time the A3 customers would increase in their movement to A4, and as they do they will welcome them through a much better delivery means. 

The Channel has still not diversified Into Managed IT Services past 30% of its core print revenues. They continue focusing on products first and services as a function of the product. This product's first mindset is contrary to the Managed IT Services business model. Thereby explaining the lack of diversity. 

The Channel is still attempting to close new and upgrade existing businesses by lowering out-put service costs as the out-put itself is declining. The reason they do this is to inflate the lease dollars dedicated to hardware. The business model of compensating sales on hardware revenue and profits has nearly destroyed the service profitability of the entire Document Imaging Channel Industry.  

The Channel has still not ended the lunacy of prematurely renewing leases in desperation to increase declining revenues. As deliverable increases in its commoditization along with marketplace's competitiveness. The ability to sell, supply and service in the Channel's outdated model is playing havoc on its revenues and its profits. I fear post-pandemic. We will see some very questionable deals that were written in desperation to increase Dealer or Manufacturer's cash flows over any value to the actual end-users or real profitable value to either the dealer or manufacturer. 

The Channel is still promoting the glories of production-print. However, they do not address how a 2% marketplace of production-print, which is extremely out of alignment with excessive supply versus demand, can honestly be a worthwhile endeavor. Many Dealers and Manufacturers are currently hiding the profitability of production-print. Either through unawareness or ignoring the awareness, however, as their massive customer bases of non-production print customers move from A3 to A4, Along with declining print volumes, all the misunderstanding or mismanagement of production print's losses will painfully surface. 

Unfortunately, some of the Document Imaging Channel's actors are not in-line with the skills needed to respond to their quickly changing end-users as these end-users align their print equipment needs with today's reality. It's those competitive alternative platforms residing on the Channel's border, which will continue gaining momentum as the end-users' needs and the advancements of A4 move closer and closer together.

The time for providing the needed talent for transformation is now. That transformation won't come from business card promotions. Attempting to replace one's out-dated skills with new titles such as Digital Transformationist or other buzz words without executing the needed skills the titled describes will lead to defeat.

"During evolutionary events - on the job training will not align favorably with the speed of disruption the event is causing." 

If those charged with leading digital transformation are ill-equipped, they must surround themselves with those equipped. Sadly, during times of unprecedented disruptions, egos can highjack good intentions. The Document Imaging Channel has been going through disruption for at least a decade. Many of its leaders remained silent or ill-equipped to navigate diversification and align to market realities. Pandemics don't create one's skills. However, they do expose the skills missing and the skills needed.

The Document Imaging Channel has an excellent opportunity for those willing to align with market realities regardless of its pain. Of course, those believing everything will continue as it was or are being fooled as temporally still does - have already lost. 

The Document Imaging Channel's future will result from their actions so, as the digitalization continues to challenge yesterday's deliverables. The Channel's leaders must look to their borders and welcome those who already live where their past customers went, and more and more current customers will continue heading.

The arguments are not about print going away; the arguments are about the evolutionary improvements of A4 print equipment and the evolution of end-users' awareness. As those two things continue evolving, they will align and create a massive disruption to the circumstances of The Document Imaging Channel's out-dated Business Model. 

"Status quo is the killer of all that will be invented." 

If not already Let's connect here on Linkedin and I welcome everyone to subscribe to my YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channe...A?view_as=subscriber

CEO/Founder TEASRA, The Innovation Channel, and Host of The End of The Day With Ray! https://www.endofthedaywithray.com/

Ray Stasieczko  

Only 5 more days for four full months of selling days that I've been working remote.

You may have noticed that I've been skipping a couple of days here and there with blogging on this series.  I had no idea that Covid19 would last in to the summer and usually my summers mean less posting of blogs and more time spent enjoying the great weather.

Just a short recap for Friday. I was able to secure two orders for two net new companies.  However the revenue fell short of what I was hoping for. With less than two weeks left in my month I'm starting to feel the pressure of hitting my monthly goal.

Today was spent  traveling to two accounts which were at opposite ends of the state.  One in lower Monmouth and the other in North Jersey.  I'm thinking I logged close to 200 miles of driving today.  By the time I got back to my office office it was 2:30PM and I needed a short break for lunch. 

By 3PM I was able to start making some dents into the early morning emails and within an hour I had those cleared up.  The last part of the day was spent with my third appointment of the day for a tele chat.

That last appointment was interesting to say the least.  The company is a consulting group in the healthcare industry.  For years they've been using an hi-speed color A3 Ricoh and now that device is approaching seven years of age.  Seven years is a long time and since it was a purchase there is no trigger for the upgrade.  Print volumes during COVID for them are down big time! In fact over the last five months the print volume is next to nothing.  But as we've learned to adapt during COVID this client has also redefined their process with printing.  More virtual meetings mean less print, less print will mean a smaller color device in the future.  This is our new world for many accounts.

One of my other net new prospects is suppose to be making a decision tomorrow on which vendor they will choose.  Four years ago I was second and second sucks. I found out on our last meeting then that I was the first choice four years ago. However one of the VP's did not want training outside of their office.  This lead to the client staying with their current vendor for another 4 years.  With this account this is the third time that I've been in the mix and just praying that the third time is the charm with this account.

So far July is sucking wind, I need one of my big hits to come through or it's going to **** show of smaller deals.  Look for another blog on Wednesday of this week.

-=Good Selling=-

The Week in Copiers 15 Years Ago This Week 2005

I remember when digital duplicators were an import part of my prospecting efforts.  Fifteen years later I'm lucky if I sell two per year.  There was a time when I would sell one or two each month.  Those duplicator sales usually went to print shops, and fifteen years later there aren't as many of those either.  Change, be prepared, see the future and change.

Enjoy these threads from 15 years ago this week!

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”

Warren Buffett

Often times, we hear and intermix the word 'customer' and 'client', but what does it mean?

When it comes to the experience they receive the same can be said.

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, a customer is someone who buys goods or services from a store or business. The word client can also mean customer, but it has a separate definition as someone who receives professional services.

In the context of business, the two terms are often applied differently based on the types of relationships built. Customers are typically people who buy products or services you supply. Conversely, clients buy and seek out your personalized advice to their particular needs.

When it comes to the experience they receive this can be based on quite a few elements, but I believe it boils down to perception. It's the perception your clients have of your salespeople, your company and the services they receive that determines sales fate.

"Is your sales team building a customer experience or are they building an outstanding client experience?"

Think about this one for a moment... Do you and your team view your customers as customers or are they viewed as clients? How many on your team view them as clients but treat them as customers?

Would you even know?

Right now, would you know when a customer becomes a client, or the other way around?

When a client becomes a customer, this becomes a problem.

The key is when a customer walks away, thinking ‘Wow, I love doing business with them, and I want to tell others about the experience.

Shep Hyken

FIRST CLASS EXPERIENCE

Are your salespeople going the extra mile to create a first class experience for your clients?

How many on your team are providing the white glove and bottle of wine experience with their clients?

To grow and prosper, your team must pursue new business which often means taking advantage of competitors’ complacency or mistakes in providing an enhanced experience to their customers.

In an ever-changing competitive landscape, sales leaders must look for smart answers to an extremely urgent question: 

How can your team protect your client base from erosion as competition intensifies? 

Simply stated... true loyalty breeds true loyalty. If you want your clients to give their hard earned corporate dollars to your company, your team must give of themselves first.

If you want your clients to be forever committed to your company, then ensure your sales team is endlessly devoted to them. It’s straightforward and that simple.

Here's a secret... all of your salespeople have a first class seat and so does the competition.

The question becomes...

What are your salespeople going to bring to the seat?

IS YOUR TEAM PROVIDING THE WHITE GLOVE EXPERIENCE?

Stop imitating and start innovating!

When it comes to delivering an outstanding client experience, far too many in sales are content and complacent.

According to the Forrester analysis published in the Harvard Business Review years ago:

“13% of companies said that they’ll settle for nothing less than having the best customer experience across every industry — in other words, these companies want to be the next Apple, Disney, or Zappos.”

This leaves a whopping 87 percent of companies who will settle for less than the best when it comes to their customer experience!

How many of your sales reps talk about the outstanding level of service they will provide but ride off into the sunset once they get their commission check?

You must be committed to coach your team to build sustainable relationships with your clients who value their professional advice, rather than finding customers who make a one-time purchase.

YOUR SALESPEOPLE ARE THE EXPERIENCE

It doesn't take a lot for your salespeople to go the extra mile. They just have to show they care! This is the core foundation of what it means to sell from the heart (check out Selling From The Heart). It's all about bringing the human approach to sales, making it about your clients and what’s important to them!

Your clients are willing to pay for the experience. Go no further than Starbucks! What's the difference between a cup of coffee from Starbucks and that of a competitor? Simple, the experience.

What are your sales reps bringing to the business table to differentiate them from the competition?

Your sales reps are the experience!

If you want your sales team to maximize profit, then they must be prepared to provide the white glove experience.

In providing a first class experience, I guarantee the following will happen:

• An increase in profit margins
• An increase in loyalty
• An increase in more referrals

"Believe it or not, a customer or client frustration can become an opportunity to create new loyalty. What is loyalty? Simply a feeling of trust."

Horst Schulze, Excellence Wins

THE ONE THING

What is the one special and unique thing that each one on your team can provide to their clients? I urge you to uncover what it is because this is what will differentiate them from all the empty suits.

Start getting your clients talking about the experiences they have with your salespeople.

Encourage your salespeople to bring something amazing to the business table. It's them that makes the difference. It's not your products, your service or your company; it's your salespeople!

"Providing an outstanding client experience should be a pleasure not a headache"

I understand, I get where you all are coming from. Every day, I walk in your shoes. I am fully committed to helping your sales team integrate social aspects and heartfelt strategies into your current sales process to grow new business. I want you to get results. This is why I am passionate about doing this the right way, the genuine way, the authentic way! It's about understanding value before visibility.

Selling From the Heart is making a difference! I poured my heart into every page of this book and I think you're going to love it. You can find it on Amazon in paperback, kindle and in audio. You can click on the book image below and this will take you to Amazon.

You can find more material inside Selling From The Heart.

In a world full of empty suits, I'm passionate about helping sales reps succeed by getting valuable before they get visible. I help sales teams understand the true value they bring to the market. 

I appreciate getting the opportunity to share my stories. Integrating the use of social and sharing my story on LinkedIn was my “game-changer” in the highly competitive office technology world. With great pride I transform, challenge, coach and inspire sales teams to grow new business by helping them share their story and how they communicate it out by integrating the use of social inside the sales process. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and on my podcast by clicking on Selling from the Heart.

MSP & MSSP Industry Notes

Sponsored by

Arcoa Group

ARCOA Group is here to help you successfully manage your IT Asset Disposition process. We help you recover value from retired electronic equipment through responsible methods of reuse and recycling.  We ensure proper handling of assets which may contain data, while being environment stewards for assets that have no reuse value and are headed for recycling. We’ve built a robust de-manufacturing process to offer additional options for asset value recovery by disassembling equipment for commodity grade materials, which can be diverted from landfills and be used to create new base materials.

Respond Software revamps SOC staffing and addresses critical analyst shortage Managed security services provider uses a virtual analyst product from Respond So

• The MSSP has incorporated Respond Software's technology into its managed detection and response (MDR) service (reported on ITweb.co.za)
• Respond Analyst monitored 138M events, escalating just nine incidents in a one-month period. That is the equivalent of 2 000 human analysts working 24×7 to cover 138M events in one month
• Respond Software's offering acts as a virtual analyst, emulating a seasoned analyst's judgement and analysing more data without adding personnel, according to the company

 HP CEO interviewed in CRN magazine

• Plan for “as-a-service” acceleration according to CEO Enrique Lores
• Hopes to combine managed print with Instant Ink program
• The COVID-19 crisis has brought the opportunity to the forefront for the company and its channel partners
• Countless businesses continuing to work from home and customers looking to reduce costs
• "What we have seen as a consequence of the pandemic is significant growth in anything that has to do with as-a-service--whether it's Device-as-a-Service, managed print services or subscriptions"
• "Clearly, customers are shifting in this direction very fast."
• Many clients are now asking us to enable their employees to be able to print from home
• They want to make sure that the cost of printing is paid by the company
• That the printing happens in a secure way

New York Managed IT Service Provider Reviews What Is Structured Cabling

• SeaGlass Technology, recently released a new informational article that discusses what is structured cabling and how properly setting it up can be a difference-maker for your company's organization
• Hope it will be used as an informational resource for managers at tech companies who are looking for a more in-depth understanding of the process
• They explain how important it is to maximize the organization of your cabling in order to maintain efficiency and minimize the chance of cable errors that result in network crashes

MNP acquires managed IT solutions firm Next Digital

• Accounting and consulting firm MNP has acquired Next Digital, an Alberta-based managed IT solutions company
• Next Digital’s leadership team – Andrew Jackson, Shawn Kubiski, and John McLaughlin – will join MNP as partners
• MNP in May acquired T4G, a Toronto-based applied data firm, adding 100 professionals
• MNP has grown to more than 85 locations and 5,500 employees coast-to-coast.

COVID-19 Affected Businesses Rescued by Managed IT Services Companies Like iTecs Promus

• iTecs Promus, a subsidiary of iTecs IT Outsourcing and Support, is a white-glove control-panel-less cloud hosting provider
• iTecs employee monitoring services allow managers a 360 real-time view of how the staff is performing when they are connected
• Many have resorted to having employees use their home computer to dial into the corporate office and access resources; however, this opens them up to a sleuth of security vulnerabilities

$12 Billion Intelligence IT Contract Out for Bid

• Defense Intelligence Agency bid out its $12.6 billion Solutions for the Information Technology Enterprise III, or SITE III, information technology services contract this week

• The multiple-award contract—a third iteration of the DIA’s SITE and E-SITE contract vehicles that date back to 2010
• According to the solicitation, the contract will provide “managed services directed towards improving integration, information sharing, and information safeguarding through the use of a streamlined information technology approach.”

NITOROM Launches NiTO, a Powerful, Next-Generation Monitoring Platform for Virtual, Cloud and ...

• NITOROM Inc., a global provider of next-generation IT infrastructure monitoring software, announces the launch of NiTO
• NiTO is a SaaS-based and affordable integrated infrastructure monitoring solution
• NiTO is being used across a broad range of global public and private sector industries, including municipal governments, legal, manufacturing, entertainment and telecom

NiTO Features Include:

• Real time, high-resolution monitoring for Windows and Linux
• Ping, and TCP uptime
• SNMP network monitoring
• VMware & Hyper-V host and guest monitoring
• AWS & Azure cloud monitoring
• Website monitoring & SSL certificate checks
• Log file monitoring
• Parenting & flapping detection
• Event escalation
• Custom metrics
• Detailed historical data
• Performance reports

Managed Office Experts Novatech Announces New Atlanta Call Center, Expanding Support and Maximizing Business Continuity

• Novatec announced the debut of a new Atlanta Call Center that will provide support for Managed IT and Managed Print customers
• The center will both expand Novatech's support capabilities and serve as a redundant call center for the firm's primary call center in Nashville, Tenn
• The platform will be delivered by RingCentral, the Unified Communications

'Keeper' hacking group behind hacks at 570 online stores

• Hacking group known as "Keeper" is responsible for security breaches at more than 570 online e-commerce portals over the last three years (reported on ZDnet.com)
• These types of attacks are what the cyber-security community calls web skimming, e-skimming, or "Magecart" intrusions
• In a report published today by threat intelligence firm Gemini Advisory, the company says that Keeper has been operating since at least April 2017, and continues to operate even today

GRM Document Management Launches Zappix Back To Work Solution To Help With COVID-19 ...

• Zappix launched a mobile-based visual solution to help GRM Document Management adapt their workforce management to COVID-19
• Zappix “Back To Work” Solution delivers proactive daily symptom assessments pushed to employees via dynamic SMS or email links to keep employees, visitors, and customers in multiple GRM locations across the US, Brazil, Peru, and Colombia safe
• The Back to Work Solution leverages end-to-end automation to keep the employee assessment process fast and simple for all involved

ERMProtect Cybersecurity Solutions Chosen to Sell Powerful Breach Assessment Tool by Lumu

• EMRProtect announced today that it is partnering with Lumu to offer customers an AI-powered Continuous Compromise Assessment tool
• Lumu product systematically collects and analyzes a wide range of network metadata sources for confirmed indications of compromise in real-time
• ERMProtect will re-sell Lumu products as well as use the Lumu Insight product for specific engagements
• To kick off the partnership, Lumu and ERMProtect are sponsoring the Illumination Virtual Summit at 11 a.m. on July 16 th featuring Lane Bess, former CEO of Palo Alto Networks

MSP Xchanging attacked in ransomware incident

• Xchanging, a managed services provider (MSP) specialising in the insurance and financial services industry
• Owned by US-based services provider DXC, alerted authorities to the incident on the evening of Sunday 5 July 2020

Syncro's Next-Gen MSP Platform Sees Massive Growth in 2020

• According to recent studies, the growth of the Remote Monitoring & Management (RMM) and Professional Services Automation (PSA) software space is experiencing vast changes in 2020
• MSPs finding segregated RMMs and PSAs too difficult to manage
• Combines a full-featured PSA and embedded RMM

Channel Partner Insight Honors StorageCraft with Top MSP Innovation Award

• StorageCraft ShadowXafe wins in “Best Backup/Continuity Offering” category
• The annual awards are independently judged and honor vendors, distributors, and managed service providers (MSPs) across the United States

Konica Minolta announces new Channel partnership with Manchester-based specialist managed ...

• Konica Minolta Business Solutions (UK) Limited announces its new Channel partner, Manchester-based specialist managed print and IT services provider ITECH Managed Services
• partnership is a key part of Konica Minolta’s continued expansion of the Channel market

Cybersecurity Update

• Legacy Community Health Services, headquartered in Houston, TX, is notifying 19,000 patients that their PHI was exposed after email phishing attack
• UnityPoint Health, headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa, announced it agreed to pay $2.8 million to settle a class action lawsuit regarding a recent breach that exposed PHI of 1.4 million patients
• Bleeping Computer magazine is reporting that a hacker group has posted the databases from 14 different companies and posted them for sales on the Dark Web
• The State of Texas Court System and the Texas Department of Transportation both notified an unknown number of citizens that their info may have been exposed after being hit by Ransom X ransomware
• Iowa Total Care notified 11,581 patients that their PHI was exposed after an email emailed the info without authorization.
• UF Health (University of Florida Health of Gainesville and Jacksonville) notified 54,002 patients that their PHI was exposed after email phishing attack
• UCSF Health (University of California – San Francisco) announced that it paid $1.14 million to a hacker to reclaim control of network after being hit by ransomware. Unknown how many patients had their PHI at risk
• Urban Choice Charter School of Rochester, NY notified an unknown number of students that their info was exposed after being illegally accessed by a former employee
• OneClass, a national eLearning platform, notified over 1 million students that their info may have been exposed after accidentally made available on Internet to public
• The Maine State Police notified an unknown number of citizens that their info may have been exposed after data breach of its Maine Information and Analysis Center website
• North Shore Pain Management, headquartered in Beverly, Massachusetts, notified 12,472 patients that their PHI was stolen after ransomware attack
• US Cyber Command is warning that foreign state-sponsored hacking groups will try to exploit new security bug found in PAN-OS, the operating system running on firewalls and enterprise VPN appliances from Palo Alto Networks
• Federal Trade Commission is warning users of TikTok app that its use of HTTP to move sensitive data across the Internet is allowing videos and other content to be tracked and altered
• IOActive Security is warning that hackers are now trying to inject code into bar code scanners, in attempt to gain access to networks
• Lucy Security is reporting that SQL databases from 945 websites have been stolen and are now for sale on the Dark Web
• Sergey Medvedev (aka Stells, Segmed, Serjbear), originally from Russia, pleaded guilty in a U.S. court for his role in an international cyber theft ring (aka Infraud, Obnon, Rector, Helkern), causing loss of $568 million from various organizations
• Symantec Corp. is reporting that 31 large organizations (including those on Fortune 500 list) have been hit by WastedLocker ransomware
• ZDNet magazine published results of research that shows that one out of every 142 passwords is the classic "123456" string
• Bleeping Computer magazine published article that researchers have discovered a new Mac malware that encrypts files on compromised systems like a piece of ransomware, but also allows its operators to steal data and take full control of an infected device
• Initially named EvilQuest, the malware was later renamed ThiefQuest to avoid confusion as EvilQuest is the name of a video game
• ZDNet is reporting that a hacker uploaded ransom notes on 22,900 MongoDB databases left exposed online, which is 47% of all MongoDB databases online

The Week in Copiers 10 Years Ago This Week 2010

There was an interesting topic on the forums 10 years ago

haha "You Wanted the Multifunctional Copier When?"

In this time of COVID I've found that prospecting by email and Linkedin is far better than making calls.  Try and think of it this way, when you're at work you don't want to be interrupted with taking a call. Thus you'll let everything go to voice mail unless that phone number is one that you know.  Emails are are opened all day long and most will read them at a later time.  One of the reasons the subject line is so important.

Enjoy these threads from 10 years ago this week!

The Week in Copiers 5 Years Ago This Week 2015

There was an interesting topic on the forums 5 years ago When is Net New Business not Net New Business?

Dog days of summer are here and over the years I've always made the case that above average prospecting at this time of year will secure business for the last quarter of the year.   Now is not the time to take a break because it's summer.

Enjoy these threads from 5 years ago this week!

Note from Art:

FYI Panasonic is a Print4Pay Hotel Sponsor,  please click their banner ad and have a talk with them about desktop scanners. My son went to Staples and Best Buy the other day to get a new printer. Since his wife is working from home as a para-legal she still needs to print.  They had an older inkjet but even I couldn't get the heads unclogged. I recommended that he get a small black laser print.  After visiting both Staples and Bet Buy neither of them had any laser printers under $500 in stock.  That tells me that there is probably a need for desktop scanners also. Let your clients know!

Just a little heads up on a recent chat I had with my son a few days ago.

My son went to Staples and Best Buy the other day to get a new printer. Since his wife is working from home as a para-legal she still needs to print.  They had an older inkjet but even I couldn't get the heads unclogged. I recommended that he get a small black laser print.  After visiting both Staples and Bet Buy neither of them had any laser printers under $500 in stock!  Yes, standalone printers sales are up.

That tells me that there is probably a need for desktop scanners also. Panasonic Scanners is a Print4Pay Hotel sponsor please click their banner ad and find you how good the pricing and their scanners are. If you don't ask you don't get and some us maybe missing the boat for multiple placements of desktop scanners.

Let me start with tomorrow, I have two appointments one on site and another scheduled phone chat.  The on-site appointment is going to have to be rescheduled because we'll be under a tropical storm warning here on the coast.  Three to five inches of rain along with a potential for winds in excess of 60mph.  Nice way to finish the week, and hoping we don't lose power because the humidity for the last week has been terrible.

I just received an email (when I started writing this blog) with order docs for a net new client and it's for an A3 color MFP for a total of about $7K.  Around 5PM I had to revise yet another set of order docs for the other net new client that I've had on tap for some time. I should see those documents tomorrow, but it's only for one MFP out of the three I had hoped for.  That's 4K tops.  Nothing else will be closing tomorrow unless a long shot comes to fruition.  I'll be sitting at a crappy $14K for the month.  Monday I'm on site for a 40K appointment which means I'll be putting in time late tomorrow to prep for that appointment.

Another day with 4 appointments which brings me to 12 for the week ( I was off on Monday ) and so far one for tomorrow with the other one to be rescheduled.

It's not easy working alone. For more than 40 years I've always had people around me, whether it was in the office or out on sales calls.  At times I miss being able to stop at someones desk and have a chat about the industry or a chat about our personal lives.  

Today Jason Habbal posting something on Linkedin about he wasn't sure if he was liking this "first bumping" intros instead of hand shakes. I replied with "I wish I had someone to fist bump with".  So far summer in New Jersey has not been summer with not going to places or doing things that you do every summer.  Jason replied back with "I hear you" to my thread and then I posted that my summer is now "The Summer of Isolation" .

Here's another factoid about my summer, my home office does not have air conditioning. Since it's an older home central air is only in half of the house where we spend most of our time.  Who knew that I would be spending 8 hours a day in my home office. Yes I do have an AC unit that I could put in, however I'm kinda of liking working through the heat, it's the humidity that gets you. Maybe I'll get the AC unit in as soon as my back clears up.

Tomorrow will be an excellent day to play catch up and prep for the last two weeks of the month.

-=Good Selling-=

DocuWare’s preconfigured cloud solutions receive massive updates in just-released version 7.3

New Windsor NY, July 9, 2020 – DocuWare provider of document management and workflow automation solutions, has added significant updates to their preconfigured cloud solutions in the latest version of their flagship product.

DocuWare recently polled more than 500 US based business owners and managers to determine how prepared they were to accommodate a remote workforce. Results showed that only 40 percent had digitized their employee management and only 36 percent had automated finance and accounting processes. The lack of readiness in these departments has led to a growing demand for user-friendly, cloud-based solutions that are quick to implement.

With many businesses accelerating plans to digitize finance and HR departments, DocuWare’s preconfigured cloud solutions for invoice processing and employee management can be implemented and running in two to three days and customers are taking advantage of this! Since the beginning of the year, DocuWare has added almost 500 new cloud customers worldwide who are seeking to automate their core business processes and enable a distributed workforce. Of these, about a third have opted for preconfigured solutions. The company applied its legendary focus on customer experience and process flexibility with the newly enhanced preconfigured cloud solutions.

The most notable new capabilities include:

• The invoice processing solution is now activated with richer predefined default settings and approval workflows are immediately published, making it easier to test features with their business processes from the start.

• The new GL coding table simplifies entering and viewing accounts payable data while the “maximum” button offers a larger view of the table, further improving customer experience.

• Reconciling monthly statements is fast and seamless with new lists for invoices paid by credit card.

• For free 30-day trial accounts, users can opt to test with sample data including vendor records and chart of accounts.

• The employee management solution now offers a corporate assets allocation feature allowing HR to securely track equipment provided to new employees during onboarding.

For more information, please visit https://start.docuware.com/pre...ured-cloud-solutions.

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About DocuWare
Headquartered in Germany & the US, DocuWare provides document management and workflow automation solutions in the cloud. DocuWare has helped 14,000 customers across 90 countries simplify their work through digitizing, automating and transforming key processes.

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