Copier Crime - From the "Dirty D"

Copier deal is targeted.

City Council panel agrees to begin process to nullify $10M agreement.
Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News


"DETROIT -- A City Council committee voted Thursday to begin the process to rescind a $10 million contract awarded June 2007 to Olive Delivery Service LLC, owned by former state Rep. Ken Daniels, D-Detroit.
The former Democratic state House colleague of former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's is not authorized to sell or service the copiers involved, city records and interviews show. City audits of the six-year copier contract, the most recent of which is dated Sept. 17, show most of the work is performed not by Daniels' Olive Delivery, but by Leader Business Systems Inc. of Oak Park in Oakland County and the city's own information technology department..."


This is grand.

First off, who in their right mind has a "six-year copier contract" ? That's 1.6 million a year.

Good lord! And how many Kyocera's can that be?

I also see that A-1 Leader Business Systems is a Canon dealer - I wonder how long before Canon comes knocking, looking to convert that 10 million dollar Kyocera deal...wowzie...

But wait, there's more.

"...He acknowledged he is not authorized to sell or service the Kyocera machines specified in the contract but insisted city audits are wrong when they say he does not come close to performing 80 percent of the contract work as required..."

Ok, so "...he is not authorized to sell of service the Kyocera machines..." yet he claims to performing up to "...80 percent of the contract work as required...".

Yeah, right...no cronyism there...eh?

So this guy's delivery company won the 10 million dollar bid, Ken Daniels claims to be doing at least 80% of the work, but audits reveal A-1 Leader Business Systems out of Royal Oak, is performing "most of the work". (If you go to the map, you will see...yup, located on 8-Mile. You remember the movie...admit it...)

Again, you can't make this stuff up.

Copiers and Crime...This Stuff Can Not Be Made UP

Copiers and Crime...The Blotter..It Grows...

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HP Reveals It's Supply Chain's Carbon Footprint

Self Examination Goes Deep.

Continually examining, investigating and reducing it's own footprint, HP now exposes the carbon output of their Tier One and Two suppliers.

As time goes by, HP will require all suppliers to conform with a consistent method of reporting this information.

Shades of Wal*Mart managing the "chain"?

And Now for Something Completely Different: The Ultimate Liquid Cooled Data Center

Google Data Barges - The Man from UNCLE and SPECTRE meet Google

I know this has little to do with MPS or printers - maybe.

Google has applied for a patent on “water-based data center”.

The floating data centers would be located 3 to 7 miles from shore, in 50 to 70 meters of water. And generate it's own electrical power and use sea water to cool the center.

If perfected, this approach could be used to build 40 megawatt data centers that don’t require real estate or property tax.

Now this is nothing new, and is akin to the "data center in a box" approach put forward by Google back in October of 2007.

What is interesting is the ability, or at least the idea, of a self-sustaining data center outside of any particular country's jurisdiction (wait...didn't the author of Battlefield Earth do something like this?)

But, What About Printing? --- Well, I guess anything to help us print from the internet.
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HP - Above the Fray...

With the re-org at HP IPG there are a few new faces in prominent positions.

Faces from all over the world and people who have fresh ideas and a passion for printing.

As I talk to and work with these people, here are some of my reflections, observations and ideas:

1. The HP/Global acquisition-

I had first thought Xerox had "stole" out from under HP - I was wrong.

HP, after long consideration, and a detailed accounting review, did not want Global. And if they didn't want Global, they sure as heck wouldn't want IKON.

2. HP doesn't know how to market the Edgeline-

I had once thought that HP was trying to slam a square peg, through a round hole, when they tried to work with their existing IT integrators and that they had no plan.

On this issue, I was right and wrong.

The square peg thing - yes, I was correct.

My feeling that they had no plan, I was wrong.

HP had a plan but it was a flawed one.

I am speaking to Edgeline and the space the unit resides in the market.

Nobody has said this out loud to me, but when Edgeline hit the market, some felt "if you build it, they will come...". By adding it to the top of the price list, IT managers will naturally gravitate to the Edgeline as they have for decades with the other HP printing products.

The idea sounds great - present Edgeline to IT through HP's already developed and well trained IT integrators in the field. After all, the current HP integrators are as close as family, know HP's quality, have established relationships with clients' IT divisions and can easily add Edgeline to their product portfolio.

Unfortunately, if you throw some of these technology folks into a selling situation against seasoned copier people, the techies will get slaughtered - and move back into their comfort zone.

This issue will be magnified when the 100+ pager per minute Edgeline hits the streets(not that far in the future) - at 100 plus, isn't that a Segment 5? Well, ok, but it's not production, it's office/business color output at 100+ pages a minute. So do we now redefine the Segment system? And how did all those Segments get determined in the first place and by who?

This is what I believe HP understands now:

Edgeline can not be sold like a laser printer.

Traditional copier dealers are more likely to sell an old school copier than Edgeline - so authorizing within that channel is foolish.

The traditional dealer can find enough "faults" with Edgeline compared to the "cheaper" copier-de-jour, to pivot an HP lead into a copier sale.

-Or even worse, the copier dealer may be motivated to sell HP MFP's, place the client on a supplies inclusive agreement supported by third-party supplies...shudder.-

I wonder if that has ever happened.

Authorizing existing HP integrators -

The Edgeline competes with copiers. I.T. integrators know little about that market. For instance leasing, Cost per copy, meter reads and first copy out times are all foreign phrases.

HP knows now, but might not have before, that you can not work with an existing copier dealer and expect them to get Edgeline and HP's Print 2.0 methodology and how to articulate the differences between and the advantages of going with a "printer" company over a "copier" company.

This is good news, missteps are part of growing.

By the way, speaking of missteps and growing, nobody knows better than the current "honchos" at HP (at least the ones I talk to) about learning how NOT to integrate an acquisition: Compaq is in the forefront of "learning opportunities".

HP is growing the channel organically.

This will take a while - 3-5 years.

This will not be pleasant - converting I.T. order tackers into output solution providers.

HP is not getting into the copier fray and will be taking the high road.

This will change everything.

And my recommendations:

• Stop bringing in so many people from competitive printer manufactures
• Cultivate your base of IT integrators
• Hire from the Copier industry(gag, j/k)
• Think more like a copier provider, but not too much
• Develop a Pull marketing campaign around the best integrators
• Market answers to business problems
• Develop and replicate the "Ideal HP Printing VAR" as though the VAR was employed by HP

I am sure I can think of more...but this is enough...

Canon U.S.A. Acquires San Francisco-Based NEWCAL Industries

Wow...I was just talking to someone from NewCal last week in Napa...


LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., Sep 23, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Expanding its support for business in the San Francisco Bay area, Canon U.S.A., Inc., today announced the acquisition of the NEWCAL Industries business.

The San Francisco-based NEWCAL Industries is an independent value-added reseller of document and print solutions, including document imaging hardware and software, printer fleet and facilities management services. Founded in 1991 by Steve Tarpley and Ken Wilkens, NEWCAL is a leading independent provider of technology solutions to businesses in the Bay Area.

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This strikes near to our heart - NewCal is a decent HP-SVIP/OPS, Edgeline dealer...the report goes on -

"We are thrilled to continue to offer our customers Canon products, considered by most to be among the best in the industry, and are pleased to be part of the Canon family," said Steve Tarpley, president of NEWCAL.

Ken Wilkens, chief financial officer, NEWCAL, added, "Our customers will continue to receive the outstanding service they have come to expect from NEWCAL."

According to Jason Montgomery, vice president, Strategic Development, NEWCAL, directed the acquisition for NEWCAL, and states, "NEWCAL is now positioned for continued growth in the Northern California marketplace with a wide solutions portfolio and a serve-centric reputation."

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This should be a good move for all involved.

Who in The World is "TeknoForce" from Ricoh/RiKON ?

Ricoh has hired an advertising agency, Gigante Vaz Partners, to create a brand and program to promote its service technicians. The brand is called; “Teknoforce”, and Ricoh is hoping it will boost its image with IT Directors in the U.S.

Johannesburg, 23 September 2008 - Ricoh expands Teknoforce

"Gigante Vaz Partners and Ricoh announced that Ricoh is expanding its Teknoforce programme in selected markets across the country, reports Marketwatch.

Teknoforce was created as a response to Ricoh's desire to find a way to monetise the skill and depth of knowledge of its sales and IT force.

The programme will also be used as a way of adding to Ricoh's awareness within the IT market."

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WOW -

It's like HP's strategy with printing only in reverse.

Ricoh, a traditional copier manufacturer is tip-toeing into the IT world...credibility is the issue.

Unlike HP stepping "down" into the copier/facilities world, Ricoh is trying to step "up" into the IT realm - and unlike HP getting into waters filled with "copier, sales, sharks" Ricoh is getting into a more sedate selling sea.

From Atlanta to L.A. -

I find it most interesting that the only returns on a Google search of Teknoforce are related to the advertising campaign. Apparently, the ad campaign tested nicely in Atlanta so Ricoh decided to roll it out in certain markets, across the US.

Part of the marketing campaign includes vehicles adorned with loud decals, a la 'Geek Squad' -



Just a little food for thought, as the two worlds, IT and "Facilities" continue to collide and converge.

Teknoforce