Clients, Edgeline vs Xerography...

I had breakfast with a very important client today and he asked, "could you tell me what the difference is between Edgeline and all the other copiers? I mean, how does the toner get to the paper?" This is a large company headquartered locally with locations and plants across the country and over 1500 printing assets.

Well, he tossed me a slow pitch, hanging, softball and all I had to do was smack it out of the park - and I did.

And as I was explaining the process I started to relize, once again, how very evolutionary this period in time has become.

I was harkened back to the "good ole days" - when I saw the very first color VGA monitor, or the very first NEC MultiSync color monitor. The very first laptop I used was the Compaq SLT - the "lunch box" was worlds ahead of the "sewing machine".

Liquid Crystal Displays, the first IBM ThinkPad, and I remember the very first time I ran an Epson LQ-something next to the HP LaserJet II WOWZIE!!! And here I am nearly 20 years later feeling those same feelings - "THIS IS BIG, THIS WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING"

As my conversation filled with "negative static, latent images, fuser oil, melting toner, corona wires..." I had to slow down, my passion was getting ahead of me - I actually took out a napkin and drew a diagram of the "zero-graphic" process ( you know of course Compaq Computer started on a napkin over lunch somewhere).

Explaining the Edgeline technology can be a great deal less complicated and I guess less sexy, “the machine squirts ink on the paper…really fast”

The excitement is there, the time seems to be now and I closed my discussion with,” let me ask you this, do you have a black and white TV? Do you remember when black and white TV’s were manufactured and sold and everybody had one? Have you seen a NEW black and white TV lately? There was a time when people just took black and white for granted in their TVs and color TV’s were too expensive”. – Interesting.

Paperless Offices, Killer Toner , Carbon Offset - "A World Without Sin"

7/2008

Read the email, print the email, throw the email away, print it again, write on the email, send a response, throw it away - again" - yeah, that's how WE roll...

I stumbled onto this article from N.C. and it's illustrative of the next generation gap, and brushes up on the social reasons there are still newspapers being printed all over the world - and why we still cut down Ka-jillions of trees each year. And I really like it because the author uses the phrase "post-coital". One would usually need to go to a bowling alley to read something of this caliber.

The Killer Office - Dunder Miflin meets Resident Evil

I got this off of an article regarding "special" air filters -

"It has been indisputably proven by various international studies that ultra-fine particles are emitted by laser printers, fax machines, and copiers. In 2005, the University of Giessen in Germany initiated a "Toner Pilot Project" on behalf of the Bundesinstituts für Risikobewertung (BfR) to assess the effect of laser printers and copy machines on the quality of interior air.

The final report published on 08.01.08 stated that emissions by toner-based office appliances significantly increased the number of ultra-fine particles in interior air. According to the study, the increase in the concentration of fine dust can be assessed as being quantitatively alarming from a hygiene standpoint and may also be regarded as being questionable from the point of view of health." Based on this current knowledge and seen from the standpoint of precautionary aspects, the FIRA advocates preventative measures in this case."

Just another reason not to be a cube-rat: killer toner and TPS reports.

Managed Print Services - That "Hot, New, Thing..."

2/2008

It seems over the past sixty days, we have been approached by all sorts of "consultants" willing to teach our team (SIGMAnet -MPS) how to perform a detailed Managed Print Service study.

It seems everybody wants to get on this bandwagon, the "I use to sell copiers, but now I sell this service to help you save more money - as long as we are at the beginning of the month..." bandwagon.

Okidata, Lexmark, Konica Minolta, Xerox, Toshiba, and Ricoh, can you see the pattern, trend, and characteristics of this new wave? These folks are all Copier Companies. So the problem with obtaining a true, honest, real-world Managed Print Services program is something I like to call "Hardware Agnostic and Partnering with High Intent". 

It is true that HP is the leader when it comes to getting "marks on paper", but how many companies have 100% HP devices - for printing and copying? Or all Okidata, Lexmark, or Toshiba? You can see my point.

With companies searching out every way to cut costs, printing and the reduction of costs associated with printing are becoming sexy and attracting all sorts of "flim-flam" and "snake-oil" experts. Managed Print Services isn't Brain Surgery, it's Rocket Science!

A copier salesperson does not directly translate into an MPS specialist. 

Nor does an IT Services salesperson translate into an MPS Specialist. It takes both IT experience and copier experience and a great deal of general, C-level, business experience. That holy grail of Professional Selling, "Business Acumen".  Someone with the "Big Picture" insight and manage the details of a solution.