The Death of Print, Predictably, Sooner than We Think

"Book Sellers, defend your lonely forts!" - John Updike, 2006.

Newspapers, except possibly the Wall Street Journal, are not the only organizations facing the same fate as buggy whip manufacturers.

"By the end of 2012, digital books will be 20% to 25% of unit sales, and that's on the conservative side," predicts Mike Shatzkin, chief executive of the Idea Logical Co., publishing consultants. "Add in another 25% of units sold online, and roughly half of all unit sales will be on the Internet."

In his book, "the cult of the amateur", Andrew Keen reflects on the demise of the record store - blaming the internet.

Keen pines about record stores like the Tower Records that spanned three blocks in New York's Greenwich Village or his beloved record store at the corner of Bay and Columbus in San Fransisco. How, ultimately, change came to this world of hidden imports, ad hoc concerts, U2 and Madonna sightings.

Like the music store, book stores, the brick and mortar type, are doomed.

What has all this got to do with Managed Print Services?

If you are seriously asking, leave right now, and never come back to this blog again.


A New Business Model -

This year, publishers agreed to implement an "agency model" for digitally distributed content. The publisher receives 70%, e- book sellers 30%, of the digital price.

Seems publisher can read the writing on the wall - change is a necessity for survival.

The Gorilla in the room, Apple, is poised to rule the publishing channel as it already does the music channel with iTunes.

Consider Barnes and Noble -

In mid-March, Barnes & Noble's named a new CEO.

This new CEO is a veteran of the digital world and is seen as a change agent shaking things up, hiring from e-commerce and technology companies.

His talk track includes the phrase, B&N is "as much a technology company as we are a retail company."

Change or die.

Newspapers are dying, books are changing, retail is evolving - Is it any wonder our little industry, MPS, is considered a $60 Billion market?

Consumers are demanding easier, more portable mechanisms allowing them to read/acquire information and entertainment.

These consumers not only own iPads, DROIDs and netbooks - they have jobs; they work in offices, they interface with paper every day.

How long will it be before they expect to receive the company newsletter, financials, invoices, statements, medical records, mortgage documents, kid's report cards, DMV documents, tax filings, credit card and utility bills, and the latest King novel, etc. on their iPad/Slate/Droid/Kindle?

Change is. This may be "new" to you, to me, to us. But this isn't anything we started, the fire's been burning since the world's been turning, we're just the latest to enjoy.



Click to email me.

Things I Love About the Copier Industry - 2014

One night at the bar, while attending the MWAi Executive Summit, I was in a rather animated discussion about women in the industry and your MPSA.

a remarkable aspect of the copier industry is how some men regard some women.

During the conversation when I mentioned out loud, "The Managed Print Services Association", one of the more elderly industry participants replied, "Managed Print Services Assholes" as he walked away.

Look Into Your MpS RearViewMirror - Here Comes Our Future - Yes, that's a Red Mohawk...

"It's only a night, only a moment..."

As I explore the MpS Galaxy, I can't help but notice the generation gaps.  Like the gaps between Brady Bunch and The Hills; between Lost In Space and BSG.

Gaps in the way our clients, OEMs, and we see our position in this digital realm; IRL.

We, and by we, I mean us in MpS old enough to remember ditto machines, blackboards, automobiles with ashtrays, 73 cents/gallon gasoline, Schoolhouse Rock, and Iron Eyes Cody, are so deep into how technology affects the corporate world, we sometimes miss the point.

Too deep in the forest to see the trees.

It can't be helped, we see things through a lens ground into shape by our personal past.

Mind the Gap -

Up until 3 days ago, I had only heard the name, Thirty Seconds to Mars, not their music. This song caught my ear, while listening to the Sirius Top 45 countdown. I wasn't overly impressed, but interested enough to look them up on YouTube.

Its almost cliche:

There is a young, U2 feel. I saw one or two Billy Idol moves; the gloves are Billy all the way - or Duran Duran.

Angst? Hell yes, but didn't every single generation think their time was 'the end of the World'? Don't all kids feel Lost and circle themselves together?

Since Elvis, music has attracted like-minded. Like spirited. Counter-insurgents, Contrarians, the idealistic youth.

This generation is no different than all others before them with one exception - the full integration of technology into every corner of their world.  Closer to The Edge.

Which, is, of course, our world too, Closer to The Edge.

ArcDrive Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Greg Walters
June 6, 2019 262-370-4193 or greg@grwalters.com

ArcDrive Delivers Converged Advance Capture, Intelligent Workflow, and Managed Print Services

Oconomowoc, Wi. – Greg Walters Inc. today launched a new entry into the office technology channel that will revolutionize the MPS market for the independent dealer channel. ArcDrive is a self-contained, converged solution stack that will allow vendors to initiate or build out managed print services (MPS) engagements.

A cutting-edge appliance embedded with advanced capture, intelligent workflow, data collection, remote monitoring and automatic supplies fulfillment software, ArcDrive is a small box that can be attached to a network or used as a standalone workstation and provides SharePoint or hybrid storage on the device or through the cloud.

“Since 2009, I’ve promoted managed print services as a bridge to managed IT and, ultimately, managing the Internet of Things,” said Greg Walters, the creator of ArcDrive. “I believe MPS, electronic document management (EDM) and IT asset management should be under one umbrella. ArcDrive is the realization of this concept. All the tools that you typically think of with an entry-level document management system and MPS program are embedded on this device.”

"Today, our industry is transforming like never before. Independent dealers are joining together to form large networks, OEMs are shifting go-to-market strategies, software companies are converging,” said Walters. “ArcDrive will help independent dealers protect their base, establish new income streams and increase monthly recurring revenue.”

ArcDrive is available today with MPS, advanced capture and intelligent workflow software. Future releases will incorporate network probe, RFID, ITIL real-time asset management and a single-pane interface.

Greg Walters is available for media interviews. He can be reached at greg@grwalters.com For more information, visit TheArcDrive.com.

Five To Do's for a Successful Year

It is the first week of the year and you're going to hear a lot about business plans, forecasts, funnel management, and quotas.  Thousands of time-saving, productivity enhancing, sales coaching, articles flow through the digital rivers of the internet - nauseating in its volume.

I ask you, how are you, personally, forging ahead in the new year?   Will you be part of another's plan or will you set the agenda?

My advice is simple - nod your head to whatever your manager says, tuck the dogma away, get alone and do the following five things:

1.  Download and print the chart below

The chart was developed to illuminate intent between clients and vendors. It works on a personal basis as well.

2.  Find your personal position on the chart

Trust yourself enough to be completely honest.  There is NO WRONG position. Think about the past year; did you add value beyond delivery and price?

3.  Find your employer's position

Step back and consider your organization's sales over the past 12 months. Did you see lots of devices delivered yet a handful of software implementations?  Are your equipment quota's higher than services?  Do you lead with the latest and greatest or solve real business problems?  Do you often hear your manager say, "That price is not competitive, bury the profit in the service, bundle installation into the lease..."?

4.  Where do your best client implementations fall on the chart?

Now consider your client base.  Did you sell machines or provide answers? Were most of your deals price-driven?  Did they begin and end with a purchasing agent?

5.  Look at the gaps and imagine moving into a more desirable position in 2015.  What will it take?

Although there is no wrong position, if for example, your prospect is looking for a 'Specialized' relationship and your company only provides 'Transactional' services, your relationship is not sustainable.

By the same token, if your personal position is in 'Specialized' but your employer falls comfortably in the 'Transactional' column, you may have some issues to work out.

If your clients are all in 'Transactional' yet you want to get to the 'Specialized' area, what can you do to elevate the conversation?

This is a simple beginning to personal success - we can get deep on both the provider and client-side of the spectrum.  The devil is in how your customers perceive your offering relevant to how they think of themselves; do you two match?

I'd love to discuss with you how to best use this tool.  It's been effective for providers and end-users alike.

For now, hang your chart in your cube, office, or dashboard.  Embed it into your pre-call planning or (god forbid) your pitchbook - heck, make it your wallpaper.

But make sure to take a pic and email it to me.  The most interesting one will get a Starbucks card on me.

Cheers!

Reach out to me: greg@grwalters.com and enjoy this sweet jam:

Send in the Robots: They're Already Here #Tesla

Tesla unveils its latest humanoid robot, Optimus Gen 2, in demo video

the video is real...

The Convergence, in my humble view, is the point in time when all things become one.

Like a gravity well or blackhole, everything in the real; time, technology, society, politics, even our individual conscious, share the same space and time.

Think of it like how phone, cable, and the internet were all single, siloed disciplines - now they are one.

For Ai, another step toward general intelligence involves participating on the same physical versus virtual world.  Sensors come to mind as Ai connects to the sights, sounds.  

Those two senses are covered. Touch, taste and smell are not far behind. 

Actually, they are already here.

Tech-News: More Plastic Paper, Self Assembling MicroParticles and the Last Book Ever Printed

Yeah, I know, the electric paper trick has been around for decades.

Below is the latest:

"I think the greatest breakthrough was that traditional display devices usually require electricity to write, but our technology made it closer to how we would use normal paper," said John Chen, Vice President of the Institute and general director of the Display Technology Center.




The more interesting advancement revolves around micro-robots.

"Danger, Danger...Will Robinson..."

HP & Samsung: A Faster Horse?

There is no evidence that Ford uttered the phrase, "“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

Still, the feeling is relevant - "If we had asked OEMs what they wanted, they would have said dozens of more copiers..." Of course, we only ask OEMs, not customers.  Customers, might say things like, 'fewer copiers', and who wants to hear that?

The print volume is down, and printer hardware placements are off, but studies(IDC) reveal growth in contracted hardware somewhere between a 4% and 40% increase.

Could this mean while printers are dying off, copier volume is increasing?  No.  As the MpS trend continues, a portion of the print volume is captured as a 'contractual' type.  It wasn't tracked like this before MpS; same images, different billing scheme.

No. New. Clicks.

From a great webinar, BPO Media

Industry chatter supports the IDC report as dealers report stable and growing MpS/Contractual volume.  Following the logic, HP's do-over makes sense.  They are digging in somebody else backyard.

Who knew?

HP Inc., and her crew, are excited about this turn, it is a new wrinkle in an otherwise boring and waning realm.

Yet,

• An HP/Samsung adventure is not disruptive - the HP Series II was "disruptive".
• The Mopier and Hawk were not disruptive - the Internet was "disruptive".
• Pagewide ink is not disruptive - Gutenberg was "disruptive".

The effects will be the subject of discussion for months, but the industry won't buck, markets won't gallop into 'black', and end-users will not race to print and copy like it was 1999.

What does it all mean?

For the Copier Dealer - "Isn't this horse dead? Kick it again."

This steed has been around the track a few times; the pitch borrowed from Edgeline:

"IT departments trust the HP logo."
"Your cost with HP is less than copiers."
"We're looking for loyal partners."

All true.

Just a few things to remember:

• HP believes everybody works for them - even clients
• HP will not be happy with being your 'second' choice - the rules change every October
• Your clients who purchase HP, are really HP's customers, not yours - it's not your name on the box

If you haven't been approached by mother blue, you are not on their radar.  HP is hitting up the larger dealers for 'partnerships'.  Pinstripe suits, great meeting venues, and bags of cash - what could possibly go wrong?

For VARs - "Rebates"

Print still sucks and you don't want anything to do with hot machines, dirty boxes, and a help desk inundated with paper jam questions.

So HP will take that headache.  In contractual programs supported by HP, all you need do is work with your customers, sell the machines and pass them on to the blue Goddess.

What could possibly go wrong?

Customer - "I watch NASCAR"

The trifecta winner is the customer.  You know clients love to complain about copiers.  They leave sticky notes and write memes about their multifunction device.  Pictures of exploded toner flood the inter-webs.

Cheaper, smaller, simpler devices will rule the day and nobody does A3 better than HP.

At the Finish Line, its HP - "By a Nose"

Not like Man-O-War or Secretariat, the Blue Gorilla may win the day by being the biggest, not the best.  The sheer size of HP allows great losses before the organization fades into darkness.  Also, this isn't the same HP that purchased and arguably destroyed COMPAQ, Palm, and WebOS - the names are different - maybe

For dealers and VARs, if you're into supporting devices that mark paper, I would jump on the HP wagon.  Keep a clear head, and understand that HP's loyalty only goes as far as stockholders' wishes and dividends.

You will never be a true, Partner.  Form an alliance, benefit from the HP logo, sell a few more devices and keep your options open.  It could be a short but profitable ride.

Indeed, when that Last War Horse of a printer is sold, it will be an HP.