R.J. Stasieczko

“If you are forced to change you waited too long and should have Modified along the way.”

Well, everything must end or at least it gets depleted. We have all found ourselves saying. “What do you mean that doesn't exist anymore.”

 “Customers buy outcomes; the means to their achievement always modifies.”

Today we must Constantly Modify. If you're forced to change you waited too long. The marketplace customers either of business to business or business to the consumer are modifying quickly and those waiting for the right time to change will prove they can't tell time. The most overused and meaninglessly three words in business “We Love Change.” And most who say it can’t even park in a different spot at the office parking lot without a meltdown. More organizations and industries are refusing to evolve through modification and find themselves being forced to change missing out on the opportunities to align with their evolving customers. Many of today’s customers’ are modifying much quicker than those who used to service them.

 “Looking where the customers are going always proves to be much more valuable than looking to maintain where customers currently are.”

The world of commerce has no patience for accepting tired or outdated ways. Your customers never thought it was up to them to accept your outdated ways for your survival. The options available today as replacements to-old static deliverables are more and more plentiful from the disrupter.

Today many products remain as they were, however, their market disruption comes from a different competitor who innovates the products delivery. Disrupters who change the game. Uber, Netflix, Amazon, Airbnb to name a few. The question is who is coming for you or your industry? I suggest it should be you.

“Sometimes thinking that people will always use your product could be correct, however, temporary. The real threat is someone new delivering your product completely different than you, and creating a better customer experience.”  

The new competitor today is comprised of teams who don’t even understand what needing buy-in means. The new competitors or the old competitors who are constantly modifying both have teams that understand nothing is sacred unless the customer says it's sacred and they are not afraid to ask.

Innovative organizations understand that relevancy is a constant journey, not a destination and they will always welcome the customer of the old way on their journey.

Most who follow business news have heard the talk of Dunkin Donuts taking Donuts from their name. I believe that is genius. Dunkin Brands gets it. They do not intend to be held hostage by a stubbornness to modify like so, many we see fading away.

Obviously, Dunkin' leadership has the courage to Modify their deliverable including their name. I don’t think Dunkin' management teams are meeting in the conference room talking about how they must save yesterday’s value. Instead, they are focused on delivering the value that today’s customers defined. At the same time, Dunkin' is focusing on what they see in the future and bringing it to their present.

Constant Modification takes the willpower of strong teams. Teams who can look in new places with open minds will always surprise those who remain in yesterdays landscape.

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

R.J. Stasieczko 

It’s 2018 two hundred forty-two years since the American Revolution ended and began the greatest government experiment in history. Our political landscape is no calmer today than it was in the beginning or, through the decades since its beginning. Our nation’s political partisanship seems to be the one consistent thing to maintaining our government. One should fear too much agreement over the peaceful diplomatic disagreements.

It seems that many have blended protest with disrespect then claim that freedom gives them the right to do both. If one has the freedom, they, in fact, have the freedom to protest. However, if one has self- respect, they understand the difference between protest and disrespect. The cost of freedom is always the blood and lives of dedicated soldiers who can’t imagine the cost to society of Freedoms alternative.

We are getting distracted from the argument of disrespect when we attempt to align a disrespectful act with a right of freedom. Yes, one is free to be disrespectful. However, when one elects to be disrespectful, it’s not about freedom it is about them being disrespectful. Our soldiers fought, and still fight and die for the freedom of the repressed, but none of our soldiers fought and died yesterday or, today for others to hijack freedoms purpose in-order to be disrespectful.

"Freedom is a Pass to Protest it’s not a Pass to be Disrespectful in the name of Protest." 

R.J. Stasieczko  

Today, I declare like the patriots in Boston back in April of 1775, The Revolution has begun. So, let the A4 battle for market dominance begin.

I had the pleasure to share the BEI Services data at the Lexmark Roadshow in Boston. As the Copy/Print Industry continues to modify, BEI’s data highlights some of the reasons A4 equipment is driving much of the many disruptions coming to the print services deliverable.

The battles of this A4 Revolution will be fought in the conference rooms of the complacent, there will be skirmishes between salespeople trying to push yesterday’s technology as the end-user customers try pulling what their predefined needs. There will be sacrifice demanded from service providers as yesterday’s extensive services are replaced by new technologies which are more and more void of service.  

“In the future customers won’t evaluate how good your service is, they will buy products that don’t need service.”

The revolution has been long coming, and many have been hiding way too long behind those “Big Paper Drawers.” This A4 Revolution will cause A3’s mortality to finally see its end. Print Equipment Manufacturers will be struggling as their dealer’s orders for A3, are replaced by the end-user customers’ demands for A4.

Soon dealers will be throwing over the preverbal ship into the preverbal harbor the boxes of old sales manuals filled with old billing models, the parts and supplies from old A3 models, and the boxes of the undeveloped aspirations of production print. Yes, the A4 Revolution has started and those who believe that the oversized systems stand of the A3’S Army will prevail against the speed, agility, and price points of the A4’s Militia, are not listing to the sounds of the cannons as they practice for the celebration when 80-85% of all A3’s are defeated by the merits of A4 Melita.

As many manufacturers continue with their stubbornness in making more of things they want. Instead of making things the end-users want them to make. Organizations like Lexmark can and will seize the moment. Lexmark is not getting sidetrack into assimilating A4 into an A3 world like so many other manufacturers.

The Revolution has started, and there is no going back. The Imaging Channels current circumstances will modify continuously, and there is no stopping the A4 militia, soon the A3 warriors with their big paper drawers will sink to the bottom of that preverbal Harbor called Too Stubborn to Modify.

Don’t fall victim to the disruptor become the disruptor.

“You can be the vendor with the greatest relationships and lose to the new unknown innovator who delivers a better experience.”

R.J. Stasieczko

The Commuter Train runs the line, nothing different than the day before. Is your business like a Commuter Train? running down the track of sameness every day. Well, many businesses do just that. They ride the train to sameness as they say, they hate status quo, or how they will never be content by a false sense of security, all the while exclaiming - their business is greater than all their competitors.

Here’s my thinking; So many businesses have already determined their destination, and they already decided what they will see along the way. So, most don’t even look out the window, and today a business who believes they know and can beat all their competitors is totally delusional. Today it is impossible to have predefined your competitors; competitors come from places most refuse to look. Innovative organizations take such advantage of status quo companies or companies who have an arrogance to their greatness.

“Status quo is born when the comfort of sameness replaces the need to explore.” 

As the train stops at the normal places along the route, there is no time to step off the train and explore; there is no time to look on the other side of the small local station that the commuter passes by every day. Like the status quo content company heading in the same direction, they planned decades ago, passing by what they never defined or even care to explore. After all status quo companies have no time to explore the unknown, they are on a schedule to sameness the place they are most familiar. 

If your business is the train taking the same route every day transporting you to a place you defined decades ago. Get off the train! Jump off at the next stop the stop and explore. Yes, explore the unknown whose path is in front of you. Don’t be the business who wakes up and realizes that that train you depended on every day has terminated the line, don’t be the business which when traveling to sameness day after day passed by the best opportunity imaginable because you didn’t allow your imagination on the train.

Today’s innovators are challenging everything that was once decided to be unchallengeable. Today’s innovators do not care about competing by the terms of their competitors. In other words, some organizations believe there; competitors can only compete with them in the way they have prescribed them to compete. It’s these unimaginative organizations who usually get completely disrupted by the new unknown, unimaginable and most uncooperative competitors. So, remember this,

“You can be the vendor with the greatest relationships in the world and quickly lose to the new unknown competitor who delivered a better experience.”   

Ray Stasieczko

I  recently attended the Lexmark Roadshow held in Vegas. The theme was winning, and the after-hours fun was driving exotic sports cars at Speed Vegas. Lexmark can win the A4 race and here’s why. Lexmark isn’t listening to the noise of keeping things as they were or temporarily are. Lexmark has always lived in and is doubling down on A4. A4 is the future and those who dismiss this will be left in the past.

It seems amazing the speed of these small footprint output devices. All of which have duty cycles enabling them to replace Tens of millions of A3 devices. While the rest of the manufacturers are racing towards approvals from outdated dealer programs, or have pulled into the pit stops investing in production print equipment the lowest percentage of placements in the market. Production prints deliverable once controlled by one vendor now every vendor is toting their new light production printer thinking it’s as exciting as the Lamborghinis racing around the track in Vegas and as they fight to survive this small market share, they will destroy all possibilities to monetize it profitably. These manufacturers should be creating better A4 products with as few replaceable parts as possible.

The cost for a dealer to move into production print is enormous. The better investment is reinventing your sales and service platform to differentiate yourself. Learn how to deliver cheaper faster and focus on the space the majority of the customers you seek live segments one through four. 

The future will be unimaginable to those who still live in the eighties. The end-users who support the industry are more and more evaluating service as not how good you are when you show up. They evaluate service by how little you need to show up. 

The next decade will completely change print’s deliverable. Everything which is thought unchangeable will indeed change and those in the industry who understand the importance of continuously modifying will prevail. The future will challenge today's leasing strategies, today's billing strategies, today’s sales strategies, and most importantly today’s management strategies.

The new competitors will come from places once thought impossible. The industry must explore and welcome the introduction of ways to monetize print’s decline. Chasing clicks is not the industry’s future. Without the ability to reinvent themselves the industry’s collaborators get circumvented by the new innovator. 

So, my advice to those selling A4 stop competing against other A4’s go after A3 in all segments one through four. The volumes are low, and the end-users acceptance to replace A3 with A4 is growing quickly. The growth of the pull-economy will increase the acceptance of lighter out of the box set up, and service free equipment. All dealers must prepare and continuously modify to maintain profitability.

R.J. Stasieczko