see attached zip documents
MFP Copier Blog
Xerox & Lexmark Survey
Hey everyone, hope your News Years went well and we're all back on track for another year of selling office technology!
I posted a new survey last week for Xerox and Lexmark. It's a rather deep survey with 10 questions and an open comment on the end. If you have the time please take the survey, we're trying to get to 100 responses. Once I receive the 100 I will close the poll and write a blog about the findings and our thoughts.
If you log in you'll be able to view the response while it's live.
Here's the link on our site
Happy New Year!
🎉 Happy New Year, Friends, Members, and Sponsors! 🎉
As we step into 2025, I want to take a moment to thank each of you—my incredible Print4Pay Hotel members, sponsors, and LinkedIn community—for making 2024 an unforgettable year. 🙏
🌟 Your contributions, ideas, and support have been the cornerstone of our thriving community. Whether it’s sharing insights, exploring innovations, or just cheering each other on, you’ve been amazing.
Here’s to a year of:
✨ New opportunities
🤝 Stronger connections
📈 Continued success
Let’s make 2025 the best year yet! 🚀
Cheers to you and your families—wishing you all health, happiness, and prosperity in the year ahead. 🍾🎊
#HappyNewYear #Print4PayHotel #Gratitude #Community #2025
Top Ten Copier & Imaging Industry Predictions for 2025
Please keep in mind that predictions are just that. In most cases I'm having fun with coming up with some extreme prognostications that may never come to fruition. However they do offer up some interesting "what ifs".
Dang, just realized I did not post my predictions for 2024! Would it be too late to add that Xerox will acquire Lexmark?
However I did post this for 2023, guess I was a year short.
1. Every year for the past ten years I've predicted consolidation of our copier manufacturers. Every one of those predictions have failed to come to fruition. Even though every manufacturer tries to put on a good face, it's my belief that we'll finally have a major consolidation with either Xerox or KonicaMinolta giving up the ghost.
Change is constant and change is something that we need to embellish, how boring would our lives or industry would be without change.
Top Ten Copier & Imaging Industry Predictions for 2025
1. Xerox will change their A3 Fuji Film based MFPs to the Lexmark A4 MFPs and they will keep their production print devices with Fuji Film.
2. All of the copier manufacturers will add AI to their MFPs. The addition will be cloud based AI apps rather than embedding AI chips in their MFPs.
3. Another major consolidation of the industry this year. I'm leaning towards Ricoh and Toshiba, however I would not rule out Canon buying Konica Minolta.
4. This is more of wish rather than a prognostication, however it would make sense to me for copier manufacturers to partner with TWAIN Working Group for their TWAIN direct software. This will allow developers to create more robust scanning applications within the MFPs.
5. Buzzwords: Gone is digital transformation and to be replaced with IDP (Intelligent Document Processing).
6. Speed & Color Licensing for the last few years I've also predicting that some copier manufacturer will move to speed licensing for their MFPs. Manufacturers will finally see the light and reduce the office style A3 devices to two MFPs. One device will will be capable of speeds from 20-60 pages per minute and the other will offer 65 to 100 pages per minute. The dealer can them configure any speed that the client desires and then offer a subscription service if the client needs color.
7. Mega Dealers: The pace of acquisition continues in our industry and the flow of PE acquisitions in 2024 was incredible. We will see one of these MEGA Dealers purchase another Mega here in the US to offer a real national footprint in the continental US.
8. One OEM Copier manufacturer will only offer color MFPs in 2025 for the SMB market place. This also goes in line with my thoughts of having only one MFP for the SMB marketplace.
9. Declining demand for traditional print due to digitalization will lead companies to pivot towards value-added services and digital workflow solutions.
- Subscription and Pay-per-Use Models
- Sustainability Consulting
- Security Services
10. Office equipment dealers and reps will rely more on using AI services for prospecting, lead targeting, personalized communication, time savings and training,
I enjoy writing these and please keep in mind that these predictions are intended to be more entertaining than factual. But, you never know what tomorrow will bring. Would love to hear comments!
-=Good Selling=-
Here's a link for our past predictions
Please post your predictions as well
Will outside Sales Rep's go away?
Since it's been five years since Monte posted this on the forums, I thought it would be a good time to revisit especially with the emergence of AI. Would love to hear everyone's thoughts since it's five years later.
Hello All,
Interested in your opinion. In 10 years do you think there will be outside Sales Reps doing what we do? I suspect a more educated buyer will source via web and soon an e-commerce platform will replace us. Am I paranoid?
This Week in the Copier Industry 5 Years Ago
This Week in the Copier Industry 5 Years Ago
First Week of January 2020
Real Copier Sales...
Hello All,
Interested in your opinion. In 10 years do you think there will be outside Sales Reps doing what we do? I suspect a more educated buyer will source via web and soon an ecommrce platform will replace us. Am I paranoid?....read more here
Threads from 5 Years Ago This Week
Selling Copiers in the Eighties with Marian Janes
Art Post ·
. I also sold calculators and the first facsimile machines. My favorite copier model was the Ricoh 6080. I like big and fast and it gave my competitive spirit a boost as I could now go up against rivals Xerox and IBM. My favorite sale was facsimile. I volunteered while at MCS Canon to take on this challenge which ended up being a great experience. It was relatively easy to get an appointment since people were intrigued although skeptical. Fax directly opened the door to appointments with the VP of
Topic
Two Vendors Take Home BLI Winter 2020 Pick Awards from Keypoint Intelligence in the Copier MFP Category
Art Post ·
FAIRFIELD, N.J. (PRWEB) January 07, 2020 Keypoint Intelligence – Buyers Lab (BLI), the world’s leading independent provider of testing services and analytical information to the document imaging industry, today announced its Pick award recipients in the Copier MFP category, with the accolades going to devices from Kyocera and Sharp. Awarded twice annually for office equipment, Picks acknowledge the products that gave the best performances in Buyers Lab’s extensive suite of lab tests in the
Topic
Konica Minolta records 51 new installations in East India market
Art Post ·
achieved the milestone on the back of its superlative sales network, machine performance, and after-sales services. The Konica Minolta Accurio Press C6085 and the C3070p are designed to deliver superlative productivity, print quality, versatility, usability, and efficiency. read the rest here
Topic
Ricoh wins production print contract
Art Post ·
- Award from the CRD at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah - Installed new Pro VC60000 production color inkjet system - Will be used to print religious scriptures on very lightweight paper, as well as books - Included Kolbus and Tecnau offline binders - Expected volume of 10M/month - Advertised cost per b/w impression of $0.0003 - Replaced a Xerox Nuvera 288 production b/w system
Comment
Re: Selling Copiers in the Eighties with Marian Janes
MARIAN is upbeat and true to her words. My pleasure to have worked with her as she developed and managed Ricoh University. She is generous in her spirit which seems to repay her beyond Sad to hear about the “ boys club”mentality that treated her poorly. But that proved her toughness under her gentle veneer. chuck parr
Comment
Re: Selling Copiers in the Eighties with Marian Janes
Thank you for your generous comments below Chuck!. Love ya!
Comment
Re: Selling Copiers in the Eighties with Marian Janes
Art Post ·
@Marian Janes this was one of the better reads and my hats off to Marian for kicking butt in the eighties in what was traditionally a guys only club. Quite the resume!
Topic
Keypoint Intelligence - Buyers Lab Reveals Winners of Winter 2020 Printer/MFP Pick Awards
Art Post ·
FAIRFIELD, N.J. , Jan. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Keypoint Intelligence - Buyers Lab (BLI), the world's leading independent provider of testing services and analytical information to the document imaging industry, today announced its Pick award recipients in the Printer/MFP category, with the accolades going to stellar devices from Epson, Fuji Xerox, HP, Ricoh, and Sharp. Awarded twice annually for office equipment, Picks acknowledge the products that gave the best performances in Buyers
Topic
Fuji Xerox rebrands as Fujifilm Business Innovation
Art Post ·
it would not be renewing its technology agreement with Xerox, which expires on 31 March 2021. Under the existing technology agreement -- which provides sales territories, and technology and brand licenses for each company -- Fuji Xerox's sales activities have only been operating in the Asia-Pacific region while Xerox's sales activities operate in other regions. read the rest here
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Canon wins production print contracts
Art Post ·
- Award from the CRD at Middle Tennessee State University of Murfreesboro, TN o Installed imagePRESS C10000VP, imagePRESS C750 production color laser systems - Award from Our Sunday Visitor, a Catholic commercial printer in Huntington, Indiana o Installed an Oce’ VarioPrint i300 production color inkjet system o Used to
Topic
More than eight million pages printed by Coventry council in 2019
Art Post ·
More than eight million pages were printed by Coventry City Council in 2019 costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds. The authority printed 8,307,290 pages and copied 197,023 pages by the end of November, a Freedom of Information request from the Local Democracy Reporting Service found. The council spent £117,235 on colour printing and £169,617 on mono printing in the same period – a total of £286,894. However the overall cost of printer and copier usage is likely to be far higher when
Topic
Ricoh reinforces its commitment to diversity with Advocating for Veterans Award win
Art Post ·
more than 80 years, Ricoh has been driving innovation and is a leading provider of document management solutions, IT services, communications services, commercial and industrial printing, digital cameras, and industrial systems. Headquartered in Tokyo , Ricoh Group operates in approximately 200 countries and regions. In the financial year ended March 2019 , Ricoh Group had worldwide sales of 2,013 billion yen (approx. 18.1 billion USD ). For further information, please visit www.ricoh.com ©
Topic
Canon Earns Prestigious Center of Excellence Recognition from BenchmarkPortal for the 11th ...
Art Post ·
award-winning Customer Solutions Center provides advanced services to its vast network of direct and non-direct sales channels. From cutting-edge technology to industry-leading response time, Canon takes pride in delivering high-quality customer service and support excellence to its channel partners and end customers by offering them the necessary tools, systems and resources to help resolve customer concerns quickly and efficiently. "Our focus is not just on the potential of the products we create
Topic
Fujifilm to terminate Xerox
Art Post ·
- Nikkei Asian News is reporting that Japan's Fujifilm Holdings will terminate its sales partnership with U.S.-based Xerox in office equipment at the end of March 2021 - will not seek to renew a contract setting out trademark rights and regional sales boundaries between two companies - Fujifilm will lose the right to use Xerox brand and will have to sell its products under its own brand o Fujifilm may attempt to start a dealer network in the U.S. - Xerox, meanwhile, will be able to enter
Topic
Canon U.S.A. Awarded Premier Inc. Group Purchasing Agreement
Art Post ·
MELVILLE, N.Y. , Jan. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Highlighting the company's strong service network and serviceability of its products in the healthcare vertical, Canon U.S.A. , a leader in digital imaging solutions, has been awarded a group purchasing agreement with Premier Inc., a leading healthcare improvement company, in the Managed Print Services, devices and accessories categories. Premier members now have access to Canon's full range of award-winning document scanners, multifunction printers
Blog Post
Seven Signs Your Copier Accounting Team is Broken
Art Post ·
travel, especially if you're experiencing one of more of the top seven reasons I listed above. A few weeks ago I had a chat with Wes McArtor (President of NEXERA, a BEI Services Company) about mid size copier dealers and the challenges they are facing with our changing industry. The old school way of growing and expanding our business tells us that we need to hire Bookkeepers, a Controller and a CFO to make that next leap in your revenue goals. However the cost to hire these professionals could also
Blog Post
Ask Me Anything About Copiers, Sales, Blogging, and more (1st Episode)
Art Post ·
blogging, sales, copiers, the industry, how I spend my free time. So, pop this in your calendar and I'm looking forward to speaking with you! Here's the link: Art Post is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: Ask Me Anything Time: Jan 16, 2020 08:00 PM East Coast Time Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/381000870?pw...MG85MFJ2b2dDZ2N2UT09 Meeting ID: 381 000 870 Password: 365498 One tap mobile +16465588656,,381000870# US (New York) +14086380968,,381000870# US (San Jose) Dial by your
Reply
Re: Why would HP and Xerox unite?
fisher ·
The user interface on HP and Xerox both are pretty weak in comparison to Canon, Ricoh, KM and Sharp. Even Kyocera and Toshiba are better in my humble opinion. That being said, HP and Xerox merging would mean that their products would still suck. They'd just suck more equally under a unified brand.
Topic
Xerox lines up $24B financing package in HP bid
Art Post ·
Xerox confirmed Monday it has $24 billion in financing commitments from Citi, Bank of America and another lender, as the Norwalk-based company continues to pursue a merger with HP after an initial rejection in November. In a letter to HP executives, Xerox stated it has “engaged in constructive dialogue” with HP shareholders, after vowing to pursue a hostile takeover absent any meaningful commitment to negotiations by HP’s board of directors. “We have always maintained that our proposal is not
Topic
Canon to Showcase its Citrix Ready Verified imageFORMULA Document and Check Scanners at Citrix Summit 2020
Art Post ·
responsibility. To keep apprised of the latest news from Canon U.S.A. , sign up for the Company's RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/rss and follow us on Twitter @CanonUSA. † Based on weekly patent counts issued by United States Patent and Trademark Office. View original content to download multimedia: http://www.prnewswire.com/news...-2020-300982702.html SOURCE Canon U.S.A. , Inc.
Blog Post
We've All Been Given A Gift... What Is Your Sales Gift?
freely discount their price. In the absence of value or even credibility, many in sales are simply training their customers to whack them over the head with the price hammer. Do you sincerely believe the greatest gift you can give your clients is a price discount? Have you asked your clients what they crave? In Selling From the Heart fashion, I'd like for you to think about giving your clients time, attention, love, caring and compassion. Commit in taking the time to go see them. Look them in the
Reply
Re: Will outside Sales Rep's go away?
Monte ·
Interesting thoughts, Thank you p4p. I have sold Canon for 20+ years. Many years ago they listed the imageClass line (MFP's under 2,500 dollars) and the entire scanning line and Wide Format line. As such I stopped selling those products as I have always been compensated on hardware gross profit and there was none. Todays buyer is much different and has already done homework before I even get to speak with them. The mfr uniqueness has been commoditized and they all provide the #1 buying criteria
Reply
Re: Will outside Sales Rep's go away?
fisher ·
In a way its already gone to the internet and away from the outside sales rep........at least for stand alone printers and A4 devices. If all someone needs is a printer or an A4 to be used for basic printing,scanning and copying.....face it, they really don't need us already. If you've been at this a long time you probably remember the days when you sold a lot of A4 machines to small offices. 20 years ago if you needed an A4 you called a copier dealer. Those days are gone for the most part
Topic
HP wins MPS contract
Art Post ·
- Award from Prisma Health of South Carolina - Included PageWide A3 MFPs - Integrated with Cerner EHR - Nitin Patel, CDO of Prisma Health stated; “Print is not going away anytime soon. But when print can play an active role in the workflow, helping to facilitate patient care, improved patient outcomes, it can play an important role in promoting an organization’s clinical goals and supporting true value-based care”
Reply
Re: Will outside Sales Rep's go away?
Jason H ·
It will be interesting to see what the manufacturers allow and don't allow. As of right now they are still very against e-Commerce and listing things on websites etc. I can only speak for my experience with Canon, Sharp and Brother, but they do not want things done via the web.
Reply
Re: Will outside Sales Rep's go away?
Jason H ·
@fisher I agree almost completely, but to play devils advocate I will say that we are selling more desktop printers now than we ever have before. Mostly brother, as we became a partner a couple years ago. I think people are looking for reps to show them a better way than just buying another HP off amazon, but the rep still has to have a higher level conversation with the client...not just hey buy your printers from us.
Reply
Re: Will outside Sales Rep's go away?
Jason H ·
We definitely are not out chasing them but we are much more versed talking about them and the benefits of buying them from us rather than the big box store. It has led to some very nice MPS accounts for us this past year. I don’t have a final count but I believe we added about 3 million new clicks this year from printer sales. Not breaking any records by any means but adding an extra 50k or so of revenue never hurts. And thanks to brother for having a minimum advertised price online for the
Topic
Epson Introduces Fast, High-Volume Color Duplex Document Scanner Engineered for Business
Art Post ·
intuitive ScanSmart Software, which is designed to simplify and streamline the processes of scanning, reviewing and saving documents. Home, small and medium business users can upgrade to ScanSmart Software Accounting Edition 2 to help organize and export receipts into existing accounting software, such as QuickBooks ® Online, QuickBooks ® Desktop, Quicken ® , and TurboTax. Compatible with both PC and Mac ® , the ES-865 is ideal for any business or home office workspace and allows users to
Reply
Re: Why would HP and Xerox unite?
Just my brain dumpas someone that has worked for two of the companies in question.. HP have been working away in the background to design their own end to end print control so they can get away from the HP Formatters slapped on Samsung engines which has caused issues and made the startup really slow. The next generation of HP A3 coming is end to end HP now that Samsung has been "fully" integrated. This is an attractive proposition now for Xerox as Fujifilm ducks out of the picture; there isn't
Member
Roland Tolan
Reply
Re: Will outside Sales Rep's go away?
Art Post ·
@Jason H it's my understanding that Canon has a rep dedicated to Amazon for the ImagePASS mfp's already
Reply
Re: Will outside Sales Rep's go away?
Jason H ·
Art Post posted: @Jason H it's my understanding that Canon has a rep dedicated to Amazon for the ImagePASS mfp's already ImageClass?? If so that’s throw away junk just like the HP’s etc. I believe that stuff has been sold online for some time now. We don’t sell that series due to the extremely high cpc’s
Reply
Re: Will outside Sales Rep's go away?
Jason H ·
Art Post posted: @Jason H , you're correct ImageCLASS. I understand the junk bit, just wanted to let others know that some of the manufacturers are active with Amazon Yes agree! I’m not sure when they went online with them but I remember seeing them and didn’t have any use in selling them after that and the person over that product set doesn’t call or visit anymore 🤷🏽♂️
Reply
Re: Will outside Sales Rep's go away?
Jason H ·
@Monte I hope/think that even though buyers will research online that they will still want some interaction with a salesperson. If in fact the manufacturers allow the sale of high end MFP's online then the dealers will have to change a lot of how they do business. My hope though is that it does not come down to this. I buy a lot online and my wife grocery shops online and has them delivered to the house, BUT I don't look at most things like groceries. I want to go talk to my insurance agent. I
Reply
Re: Will outside Sales Rep's go away?
"Why should the local dealer expedite service, parts or put you at the top of the list for support when you did not buy from them?" I think more and more companies, our industry and others are separating the service department from the sales dept so much that each will be required to stand alone if necessary. There has always been a gap between sales and service and who wins is usually dictated by whether the person at the top came from sales or sevice. At some point the service dept is going
Topic
LBMC Technology Solutions Merges with Charlotte-based InterDyn Artis
Art Post ·
Partner, they have an experienced team of experts dedicated to the sales, consulting, service, and support of all offered business solutions. About LBMC Technology Solutions LBMC Technology Solutions has served clients nationally, with a concentration in the Southeast for the past 24 years. LBMC Technology Solutions offers a broad portfolio of services and solutions that help our clients improve efficiency, drive productivity, and reduce complexity in their businesses. LBMC Technology Solutions
Topic
Astute Business Solutions Launches Zero Cost PeopleSoft Migration to Oracle Cloud
Art Post ·
PeopleSoft Migration to Cloud with Managed Services Migrate to Oracle Cloud for free No pressure engagement Complementary cloud strategy session Selective Adoption as a Service (SAaaS) Managed Services Key Benefits of Zero Cost PeopleSoft Migration to Cloud with Managed Services You’re in charge You’re saving money You’re in good hands Oracle applications run best on Oracle solutions Never pay for an infrastructure refresh again Additional Resources https://beastute.com/zero-cost-migration-to-cloud
Topic
GlobeX Data Signs New Reseller in Canada - Partners with Darn IT Group to Provide all GlobeX's ...
Art Post ·
that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond GlobeX's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to the future of the Company's business; the success of marketing and sales efforts of the Company; the projections prepared in house and projections delivered by channel partners; the Company's ability to complete the necessary software updates; increases in sales as a result of investments software
Why DIY Asset Disposition is a Bad Idea
In the digital age, the lifecycle management of IT assets is a critical concern for businesses. As companies update their technology, the question of how to dispose of old hard drives and other electronics becomes increasingly important. However, taking a DIY approach to recycling electronics can be fraught with risks and missed opportunities.
Lack of Expertise
When it comes to how to recycle old hard drives and other IT assets, the processes involved are far from straightforward. Disposing of technology often requires a level of expertise that goes beyond knowing what part goes into which bin. It involves understanding data security, environmental regulations, and asset recovery. Companies like ARCOA Group have developed specialized knowledge and certifications to manage e-waste recycling while also ensuring data security.
When your business is faced with the task of figuring out how to dispose of hard drives or other IT assets, the depth of expertise required might be more than you initially anticipated. Attempting to manage asset disposition internally means your team must be well-versed in a multitude of areas such as data security, environmental regulations, and asset value assessment.
Data Security: Proper hard drive recycle practices involve more than just physical destruction. They require adherence to stringent data destruction protocols to ensure all sensitive information is irretrievably destroyed. Specialists in asset disposition, like ARCOA, are equipped with the knowledge and tools to securely wipe or destroy hard drives, reducing the risk of costly data breaches.
Regulatory Compliance: The disposal of electronic waste is heavily regulated. Laws and regulations at federal, state, and local levels govern hard disk recycling and the proper handling of e-waste. Without specialized knowledge, businesses risk violating these regulations, potentially incurring fines and legal penalties. Expert ITAD providers stay abreast of the latest legal requirements, assuring compliance and safeguarding your reputation.
Economic Viability: Misjudging the resale value of old hardware or failing to reclaim valuable components can result in financial losses. Expertise in the asset disposition market is key to identifying and recovering any remaining value from IT assets.
Environmental Stewardship: It’s not just about compliance; it’s about responsibility. A deficiency in expertise might mean inadvertently contributing to environmental damage. Specialized asset disposition firms have a deep understanding of sustainable practices, making certain that technology recycling and e-waste recycling are done in an environmentally friendly manner.
Financial Implications
Choosing to handle asset disposition in-house can have significant financial drawbacks. Without proper expertise, you may be disposing of assets that could still hold substantial residual value—which certified ITAD providers like ARCOA can help you recover. There is also the risk of potential fines from non-compliance with environmental or data protection regulations. By partnering with a professional asset disposition company, you minimize this financial risk.
Takeaway
Do-it-yourself asset disposition might seem like a cost-saving measure at first glance, but when you consider the risks and missed opportunities, it’s clear why professional services are indispensable. For further insights into why you should shun DIY IT asset disposition and work with experts instead, visit ARCOA Group at thinkarcoa.com and ensure you maximize recovered value and minimize risk with your outdated technology assets.
Lead for 3 MFPs
see attached file
Lead for 12 plus MFPs
see attached file
Lead for IT Services
see attached file
Lead for Small Fleet of Printers
see attached file
When Copiers Run The Office
In a world where copiers do more than just copy:
- The "Manager Copier" reviews everyone's print jobs for accuracy (and grammar).
- The "Paper Jam Victim" is always in distress, pleading for maintenance.
- The "Graduate Copier" proudly flaunts its new AI-powered features, ready to outshine the rest.
Sometimes, it feels like the copiers have more personality than the people in the office!
(P.S. Let’s just hope the coffee machine doesn’t start asking for a promotion.)
Lead for Fleet of Copiers (2)
see attached files
Lead for AcurioPRESS
SEE ATTACHED FILE
Lead for Fleet of Copiers
see attached files