The Office of the Future -

...As seen from the year 1975 EXECUTIVE BRIEFING June 30, 1975, 6:43PM EST 

 "...Will the office change all that much? "

Listen to George E. Pake, who heads Xerox Corp.'s Palo Alto (Calif.) Research Center, a new think tank already having a significant impact on the copier giant's strategies for going after the office systems market: 

"There is absolutely no question that there will be a revolution in the office over the next 20 years. What we are doing will change the office like the jet plane revolutionized travel and the way that TV has altered family life." 

The Economic "Crisis" Hits Home - American Express

Oh, how the mighty have FALLEN.

Up until today, I had only "heard" of companies having challenges getting credit. 

For instance, I have seen reports of a company unable to secure a 20k lease for one copier; although they were very creditworthy. 

But today, I spoke with small businesses with a superior credit ratings, and long relationships with their banks and American Express. I mention AE because of their ad campaigns pitching directly at small businesses. 

The Gold, Platinum, Blue, and the newest, Plum. First. An owner of a small business has an 800+ FICO and enough cash in the bank to choke a horse was refused a mortgage on a $60,000.00 cabin in the woods. He could have purchased 5 cabins that day with cash. 

But like any savvy business person, he wanted to use the bank's money - denied. 

 Additionally, he uses American Express to purchase inventory. And with his inventory turns at 30 days, "floating" the cost on an AE card makes sense, and earns him points. His limit was reduced from $65,000 to $16,000.00 in a day; then reduces again to 10k.

OK, now this customer is not complaining - I will do that for him - and I am kinda torn. I actually DO understand American Express's position - credit EVERYWHERE is tightening up, so they need to as well. But - small businesses all over the country have been using AE exactly like this customer and American Express has been urging companies to utilize credit in this manner. Throw in the fact that they are reducing limits without prior notification and get an even bigger mess; a customer service mess. 

My Point - as agents of change, you need to help your clients more than ever before. Help them through difficult times. And it is not easy. Times are tough. This "recession" is not going to last forever and when the turnaround comes, we should all remember who was there with us.

Are Customers Smarter Now?

Everyone says, "...because of the internet, your clients are smarter now more than ever..."

I wonder. Really?

I my opinion, there was a time when the internet held all sorts of "information" - but today, there is so much, that it is all just "data". Perhaps a subtle difference, perhaps not.

Think about it in the world of copiers. Just because a prospect can search the 'net and retrieve hundreds of brochures, user reviews and even pricing does this make him/her smarter?

Informed, agreed.

Can access to all the facts in the known world make your prospect "smarter" than you? The down and dirty answer is "yes" if you are a copier person. (If you are reading this, you are in the 2%)

But if you client has access to all the data in the known world, SO DO YOU.

Just because I can search out and find information on how to build a Space Shuttle, does not mean I know how to fly it...and just because your prospect can find out exactly how xerography, or Edgeline or copier leases work sure as heck does not mean they now know how to navigate the sea of confusion.

They need someone to help, to advise, to partner with.

That someone could be you.

Not all that easy if you think about it, eh?

Lots of pressure, eh? Pressure? Yes.

If you go into a relationship knowing you can help and intending to help, you put it all on the line. So you better do your homework, and you better know more then your client.


Sales - who woulda thunk it could be this difficult.




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A Great Slide Show on The History of Xerox

The 70th anniversary of Chester Carlson's invention of Xeroxography is almost here. Carlson succeeded in creating the first Xerox copy on October 22nd, 1938.

Good show, here.

70 Years of Xerography -

Xerox Print Drivers Lauded by Industry for Freeing up IT Staff

Xerox and the "Universal Print Driver"

Industry Analysts praised the Xerox Global Print Driver and Mobile Express Driver print drivers for simplifying printing management for IT departments and making it easier for workers to print from multiple locations. The drivers' ability to support competitive printing devices, as well as nearly all Xerox printers and multifunction printers (MFPs) played a key role in the award selection.


"The beauty of technology is when it makes things simple," said Ted Needleman, senior technical director of Industry Analysts Technical Services Division. "The Xerox drivers work regardless of who made the printer plus you don't need to spend all kinds of time setting them up. Xerox has made the whole process seamless."


"This award underscores Xerox's dedication to delivering real-world solutions that help our customers simplify their processes, become more productive and improve their bottom line," said Rick Dastin, president, Xerox Office Group. "


Providing these free print drivers is just one way Xerox continues to stay ahead of the technology curve and anticipate the needs of our customers."


SOURCE: Xerox Corporation

Imitation is the greatest form of flattery...

You Think Man Can Destroy the Planet?

"What intoxicating vanity."


"Let me tell you about our planet.

Earth is four-and-a-half-billion-years-old. There's been life on it for nearly that long, 3.8 billion years. Bacteria first; later the first multicellular life, then the first complex creatures in the sea, on the land.

Then finally the great sweeping ages of animals, the amphibians, the dinosaurs, at last the mammals, each one enduring millions on millions of years, great dynasties of creatures rising, flourishing, dying away -- all this against a background of continuous and violent upheaval.

Mountain ranges thrust up, eroded away, cometary impacts, volcano eruptions, oceans rising and falling, whole continents moving, an endless, constant, violent change, colliding, buckling to make mountains over millions of years.

Earth has survived everything in its time. It will certainly survive us. If all the nuclear weapons in the world went off at once and all the plants, all the animals died and the earth was sizzling hot for a hundred thousand years, life would survive, somewhere: under the soil, frozen in Arctic ice. Sooner or later, when the planet was no longer inhospitable, life would spread again. The evolutionary process would begin again. It might take a few billion years for life to regain its present variety.

Of course, it would be very different from what it is now, but the earth would survive our folly, only we would not. If the ozone layer gets thinner, ultraviolet radiation sears the earth, so what? Ultraviolet radiation is good for life. It's powerful energy. It promotes mutation, change. Many forms of life will thrive with more UV radiation.

Many others will die out. Do you think this is the first time that's happened? Think about oxygen. Necessary for life now, but oxygen is actually a metabolic poison, a corrosive glass, like fluorine. When oxygen was first produced as a waste product by certain plant cells some three billion years ago, it created a crisis for all other life on earth. Those plants were polluting the environment, exhaling a lethal gas.

Earth eventually had an atmosphere incompatible with life. Nevertheless, life on earth took care of itself. In the thinking of the human being a hundred years is a long time. A hundred years ago we didn't have cars, airplanes, computers or vaccines. It was a whole different world, but to the earth, a hundred years is nothing.

A million years is nothing.

This planet lives and breathes on a much vaster scale. We can't imagine its slow and powerful rhythms, and we haven't got the humility to try. We've been residents here for the blink of an eye.

If we're gone tomorrow, the earth will not miss us."



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