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Wednesday, September 3, 2008

RiKON - XerGlo - KonDanka - What is an HP Dealer to do?

During an interview the other day, I was asked some good questions...Questions I really could not answer.

1. How will Canon survive losing 30% of US sales?
2. What will happen with all the existing, independent Ricoh dealers?
3. How many independent dealers still exist?
4. How many locations does CBS have?
5. What will the industry look like in 5 years? 10 years?
6. How does this affect the RBS channel?

Wow. As the dust settles, the huge significance of what just happened is almost more than we can bear.

The questions posed to me illustrated how much I really don't know.

How is Canon going to respond to losing 30% of its US sales?

Dang, that is a good question. From the Canon Business Solutions web site, there are only 53 locations in the US.

And Ricoh says it is going to convert IKON's Canon base into Ricoh MIF within the next 3 years...oh really? Do you think Canon might have other plans for those "Canon customers bobbing in the wake of corporate takeover"?

And, how is RiKON going to survive losing nearly 60% of it's business? Or not being able to service those existing customers after the de-certification?

Wowzie.

The bigger question - Why have all these manufacturers purchased the channel to begin with?

I don't see Ford or IBM buying up dealer associations - cereal makers buying grocery chains, or cattle herders purchasing McDonald's restaurants.

What gives?

The old manufacturers' beliefs were,

"...we manufacture and we manufacture very well...we don't have the infrastructure or the knowledge to successfully market, sell or support our finished goods, to the ultimate customer..."


Has this changed?

Has Konica Minolta discovered how easy it is to sell to the ultimate consumer?

Do Ricoh and Xerox think they know better then the folks who have developed and maintained the current channel and selling model?

--- Maybe "yes" AND maybe "no".

To me, this consolidation proves one of my theorems -


"All copiers are the same - every single one."

Look at it, now there are only three main channels each driven by a "manufacturer". Manufactures of "xerographic" machines - they are all the same.

The differentiating factors will be interesting to watch - and the marketing will be fascinating.

Oh How the Mighty Have...Changed -

Like a caterpillar suspended in it's chrysalis, the metamorphosis of the copier industry moves into a new phase. What emerges will be the "Hybrid Dealer" you have started to hear about. Never before, in recent hi-tech history, has a channel been assimilated like this. Change is guaranteed.

I go back to the PC -

In the 80's the PC market was booming but not one manufacturer tried to own the channels - what changed? I mean "consolidation" occurred but through manufactures buying other manufactures and software companies adapting or going away. The channels responded, contracted yet remained intact. The number of distributors thinned as did the quantity of machines - but the channel remained.

It's the Economy - Stupid.

I guess if we look at this phenomena in a macro sense, from 10,000 feet, as an investment, these acquisitions look good.

The stock holders realize a tidy return on their investment, the folks who built the channels(Global, IKON, Danka) can retire rich. The remaining, small independent dealers can now start looking at Canon, Toshiba, Sharp, etc. as equipment competitors more willing to work with then just 12 months ago. Especially Canon.

As for the employees - they can hang on, or move into one of the smaller competitors and help them thrive on all the industry chaos.

Ah...but what about the Customer? -

How does the Customer benefit? Does all this consolidation mean a more competitive industry? Does this give prospects more choices? Will prices and margins be driven down even further?

Right now there is Xerox, Konica and Ricoh - the Very Big Three - and Canon all by itself. So it looks like the customer's choices have just been limited - is that a good thing?

In the short run Canon customers looking to upgrade can leverage this change over Canon possibly resulting in lower pricing as Canon defends the base. But RiKON will go after all the Canon customers with a price point designed to "buy the business" - this could be good for the customer; these two giants fighting over the customer.


By the way, speaking of all by itself - HP

The company with the largest number of MIF (machines in field) is now nearly transparent.

And Edgeline is the humongous gorilla in the room of every single sales meeting in every single IPG office at HP. End of year for HP is October 31st - and I am sure that upper management is "monitoring" Edgeline cycles down to the minute - HP is not use to being in the copier industry.

Competitive pressures were not fully appreciated and channel breadth might have been over rated. How can you expect to push 3,400 units - big, huge, wonderful, new technology units - through approximately 120 dealers? And convert "direct sales people" into document management consultants, overnight?

Edgeline is not a new laser printer; you can not sell it off a price sheet, over the phone.

The selling cycle for these types of units(copiers) is much more complex and usually triggered by an event - lease termination. And if you have no machines in field to begin with, every single unit is a new sale converting a competitor's existing lease.

The sale of an unproven, relative to all the copiers, technology from a "new" player only adds to the pressure. And if this isn't enough- HP sales people are swimming in a part of the ocean inhabited by some of the smoothest, most savvy, and ruthless Sales Sharks in the world - Copier Guys(or gals). The copier folks know how to talk CPC, leasing, 4 hour response time, real service levels and of course, first copy out time(yuck).

And then there is the HP channel -

I don't even want to go here, except to possibly repeat what has been told to me -

"OEM toner is way too expensive..."

"If HP is serious about getting into the copier industry, why do they price CPC so high?"

"Why is there no 3-hole punch?"

"...you mean this big machine can't handle glossy?"

" ...the rebates are too difficult for us to manage..."

To me, all these statements are just examples of lazy people whining. Blah, blah, blah...

Be that as it is, perception is reality. Again, not my reality.

Edgeline is a great platform, HP just needs to work through the "growing pains". Some very good HP partners are here who DO believe and are willing to "tow the line" - for now.

Well, as with everything, time will tell - history will judge. And as Selling Professionals, Agents of Change, we don't hide from history, we make it.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

The Death of the Typewriter...er...sorta...

Rise of the Machines

I stumbled on to this Typewriters Morph Into Creepy Sci-Fi Creatures.

These things are the reason we look for QWERTY keyboards on our Blackberrys n stuff...

Someday, somebody is going to be making things out of Edgelines.





Monday, September 1, 2008

Xerox Reacts - In Predictable Fashion

If you have been in the industry long enough, you remember when the Xerox sales force could be summed up in one word...

Arrogant.


From the Democrat and Chronicle.com,

"...Xerox is dismissing the idea that the acquisition makes Ricoh a difficult competitive challenge.

"We see this move for what it is: a defensive play by Ricoh to try to keep pace with the industry's leader — Xerox," Xerox Office Group President Russell Peacock said in an internal message sent to employees last week.

Office imaging equipment means big bucks to Xerox. For the second quarter of 2008, the company had revenues of $2.5 billion in its office segment.

While Xerox's Global Imaging carries some non-Xerox equipment, Ikon likely will become a distributor solely of Ricoh equipment, said Andy Slawetsky, president of Industry Analysts Inc. in Rochester.

In his memo, Peacock said the Ricoh-Ikon deal causes more problems for other office equipment companies than it does for Xerox. He said it places competitors Canon and Konica Minolta "in a difficult position, especially considering Ikon delivers 35-40 percent of Canon's total revenue in the U.S."


There is a phrase I like that my high school football coach use to tell us, "...it ain't braggin if it's ture..." So, perhaps, Xerox's statements are not just bluster...

RiKON- Reactions Coming In

Lot's of buzz as expected - some tid bits:

It only took a few days, current IKON employees are starting to weigh in by articulating there emotions and thoughts on their personal blogs.

As well as some astute observations by some outside our industry.

Just a few to date:

From, Jason Found This Interesting:

"...So I used to tell my wife, "If I had to leave IKON for another copier related company... it would probably be Ricoh." What I didn't totally anticipate was Ricoh coming to me..."

From The Wallstrip Blog:

"The Dutch take over our beer, now the Japanese take out office solutions. What’s wrong with this picture?"


From "The Akbas Post:

"In the short-run, Canon is the biggest looser but in the long run HP will be. However, the biggest winner will be Xerox; It will help defend its turf against the print-centric assault by HP while aggressively targeting IKON-Canon customers during merger integration via its subsidiary of Global Imaging Systems. Having picked a much less problematic dealer group (Global vs IKON) to acquire, Xerox will have a window of opportunity to better compete against Ricoh particularly in the US middle market."

And from Corey's Blog:

"It is interesting to me Ricoh buys IKON for $1.6 Billion or $17.25 per share. A little over a year ago Xerox bought Global Imaging for $1.5 Billion or $29 per share."

And from itbusiness.ca:

"The Ikon acquisition should have minimal impact on Ricoh's dealer and IT channel partners", says Russell Marchetta, manager of corporate and public relations with Ricoh.

He notes Ricoh and Ikon have been partners for more than 20 years and they've always considered Ikon a separate distribution channel within their organization, in addition to the independent dealers and their direct business. "

HP Layoffs -

From the "Job Cuts Taking Place at Hewlett-Packard's Boise-Based Imaging and Printing Group"

"In what one employee, who asked his/her name be withheld, has called "Black Monday," a round of job cuts is taking place at Hewlett-Packard's Boise-based Imaging and Printing Group today, part of the company's global reorganization of the division..."


HP spokesman Scott Stalla issued this statement:

"As part of the HP Imaging and Printing Group's (IPG) continued Print 2.0 transformation, the business announced plans in June 2008 to realign and streamline its organization by reducing the number of its global business units from five to three customer solutions- oriented businesses. The realignment of IPG's business entails shifting resources from slower growing businesses to new business opportunities. In some cases, parts of IPG's business will experience reductions while investments will be made in high growth segments of the business. These decisions will be made at the level of the global business unit and are not specific to HP sites. Consistent with its transformation, IPG will continue to proactively manage the challenges of the current market and consider changes that will position the business to win today and in the future."

"...The reorganization of HP's Imaging and Printing Group was made public in June, when statements were issued that the company would reduce its five IPG groups to three. Layoffs began last week at HP's facilities in Corvallis, Ore. and Vancouver, Wash., where about 300 positions were eliminated..."

Contact Me

Greg Walters, Incorporated
greg@grwalters.com
262.370.4193