I Know One Name - Canon

Should Canon buy IKON ? The rumor has been around for at least 4-5 years; Canon is going to buy IKON. I have no facts to back this up. Only guess work and conjecture.

Imagine:

The mature copier industry is consolidating; more mergers and acquisitions will take place. Kyocera? Sharp? Toshiba? Panasonic? We all know Oce is partly owned by the Dutch government, so very unlikely to be purchased.

Consider Canon - CBS:

With the purchase of IKON CBS becomes the largest provider of Electronic Document Management software and solutions in the US - with a very large staff of highly trained Professional Services people.

And don't forget the small, Canon facilities management presence - with the addition of the IKON FM client list, Canon FM becomes a large force to contend with.

And consider Ricoh - Canon could in one motion, force Ricoh to lose it's largest distribution channel. Both Canon and Ricoh have stated the IKON (at one time) represented a majority of their business. As in nearly 50%.

Of Course, the price. Apx 3.0 billion?

What about the investment firm that owns some IKN stock ? I wonder what they think...

More to come...

KonicaDankaIkonHP - Fallout?

IKON - the only large, nation wide, independent distributor of printers, copiers and MFPs in the U.S.

From one of the most respected industry analysts in the world, "...This deal, which comes just one year after Xerox's $1.5 billion dollar acquisition of Global Imaging Systems, will have significant ramifications throughout the U.S. enterprise print market.

HP is not likely to stop distributing its products through Danka (although its long-awaited Edgeline products could be affected; HP is reliant on Danka with these products, which have a high-touch sales model).

But Canon USA can be expected to stop selling products through Danka. Though Danka accounts for 5% of Canon USA's revenue, such a move would be consistent with Canon's stance when Xerox purchased Global..."

The report goes on to recommend to existing Danka customers, "...You must soon choose to:1) stay with Danka and switch to Konica equipment, or 2) keep your equipment and switch your service and supplies to someone else (Canon direct sales or dealers or IKON)..."

For Those of Us In Managed Print Services - Wow!

I.T. is taking over the fleet...This article is very revealing and confirms pretty much what I and my collegues are seeing in the field every day.

I have taken some excerpts - the data was revealed after interviews of both MPS providers and clients; approximately 100 companies interviewed in the first quarter of '08.

Ed Crowley Founding Partner and CEO of the Photizo Group -

“Perhaps the most interesting detail is what is happening within brands. Each brand’s dynamics are unique, and it is important to understand what levers to pull -- awareness, consideration or product offering -- to improve your brand’s performance,” said Crowley... “For decision makers in both IT and non-IT roles, HP is the leading brand in terms of unaided awareness and consideration for printers and MFPs. While HP and Xerox are very close in terms of brand consideration rates, HP has almost twice the unaided awareness of Xerox as an MPS vendor among IT decision makers...”

And something that reflects what I see all the time:

“...It is important to note that the decision making process is less collaborative than might be expected. The market is shifting to an IT-controlled, printer-based MFP-centric environment, and study results indicate that IT is winning the battle to make the MPS decision for the entire fleet, including printers, MFPs and copiers..."

Interesting...