Riooh/IKON - The Final Word in 2008

Great Article at imageSource

Summarizes the merger, the impact and the results of the Ricoh/IKON deal.

Another Power Deal in the Making
By Infotrends Authors/Analysts

Greg's Top 12 Events of 2008 - Managed Print Services, Edgeline and Napa

from 2008...

It's just my view. These are MY "top of mind" events and posts in 2008, in no particular order:

1. Ikon/Ricoh - Easily the biggest event of the year. After much rumor and guessing, Ricoh NOT Canon steps up. 

 2. WEB 2.0 - The Wild, Wild, West The BlogaSphere, social networking. From MySpace to LinkedIn. It is crazy out here. There are no rules, everyone is an expert on how to "monetize" your site, but nobody has a track record - it's all new. Anyone with a computer and an internet connection can instantly become an "expert' - I do not understand this phenomena and I have practically given up trying.

 2.1 Andrew Keen's book, the cult of the amateur. Monkeys with typewriters - that's what we are. Thanks to him, I no longer reference Wikipedia.

3. The Death of The Copier - Why Do You Write? I write to read what I write. The "success" of The Death of The Copier is not measured by how many views occur(16,000/month) or the average time spent on the blog(two minutes 48 seconds). I measure the success of the blog by how often I go back and add to it. If my interest is still there, than the blog is succeeding for me. An unforeseen and added benefit of TDOTC, has been all the people I have met out here; unknowing mentors, colleagues, cohorts, planners, visionaries and all around great peeps.

4. Photizo - defining and elevating Managed Print Services From start up, first two newsletters, now two locations, a conference and more, the folks over at Photizio, Ed and the gang, I have found to be the most knowledgable group in terms of Managed Print Services and the industry. I found them quite by chance, via a google search, and it has been a pleasure ever since. I look forward to watching and working with them in 2009.

5. LinkedIn - MySpace all grown up. Much more mature than Facebook with real contacts and real business and NO high school moms pretending to be CEO's...well, maybe. Quite by chance, I fell into LinkedIn. Early, I joined MySpace, Facebook, Plaxo, etc. - but LinkedIn, for some reason has held my attention and gets most of my input when it comes to "social networking". I do not tweet.

6. Napa - The Dump, the Wine and the Hot, Microbiologist - Huba, Huba As I mentioned in point #3 above, The Death of The Copier is for my entertainment and one of the most "entertaining" posts I have(in my opinion) is about an HP Green Symposium in Napa. It still makes me laugh right out loud.

7. Magic Castle, A Week in The Life - Every now and again, I am suddenly reminded why I like it so much out here.

8. Single Unit Install - Not the biggest sale of the century, not even close, but a significant and fulfilling experience. One that I did not write about. This past year, one of my clients involved a 90 day cycle which included a 30+ day trial for a single Edgeline.

The total sale was for ONE Edgeline.

But, this one particular engagement had every nightmare available: bad lease, terrible service, a color machine (K/M) that did not perform, a single line of color text costing a dime each. Monthly volumes were around 10,000 images, mostly color and 95% printed. 

Today, as I click over to the PrintSolv tab in my Mozilla browser, I can see that total life count on the Edgeline is 99,000 images. (Since August) This month they have 5,900 color images, all of them printed - no color copies. We solved many issues: Recommending they purchase instead of lease (because of the benefits of the Economic Stimulus package of 2008) was "refreshing" and negated any "bad taste" they had from their current lease. 

Although they went with a new Edgeline, the existing lease is still in effect, the old machine is tucked away and relegated to "back-up" duties. Color overages - a perfect fit for Color Accent, saving thousands in "click" charges. Automated Supplies Ordering - the machine emails us when it needs supplies. 

This in addition to the information available via PrintSolv. Easy to use scanning, and simple mis-feed resolution with "live" video walking the end user through the process. 

And this is as good as it gets: 

“Greg, I just wanted to say that we love the CM8060...it prints consistently and much faster than the Konica c500. I’ve noticed it handles its tasks much better. I can scan large document sets to myself via email while it is printing other jobs, and continue to scan while it is still processing the previous scan batch – all with no hiccups. Your response time to our requests has also been very good. Thus far, it has been a pleasure to work with the HP Edgeline..." 

9. The Hardware Begins to Disappear; Customers get Smarter - Machines are all the same but people still care 

Are clients smarter? As the commoditization of output devices continues, does it really matter if there is a little blue label that says "HP" on your printer? 

Clients are looking for more - more help, more business, more control, more vision...but they are not in our industry, they wake up in the morning thinking about their business model, not printers, copiers or Managed Print Services. So, how can they be "smarter" then us? Maybe more informed then they use to be, but they should never be smarter then us - ever. 

I've  found (once again) the smart clients are the ones who understand that they do not know everything and need to surround themselves with experts. Experts who posses business acumen, people who are not walking spec sheets. 

10. Gas Prices/Mortgage and Credit Crunch - The Gas Price restricted the miles I would travel, the Mortgage crisis eliminated two of our largest customers, the Credit tumble slowed or delayed commercial purchasing decisions - but all of these factors shot the interest in Managed Print Services through the roof. 

11. Managed Print Services - Changing the copier model and creating another. The Photizo Group, as do I, call them the Hybrid Dealers. 

12. Bill Caskey Bryan Neale and Brooke Green - These folks are on the cutting edge when it comes to Selling and the sales process, the mental attitudes and beliefs needed to succeed. And they are overall good people. 

13. Web 3.0 - The Death of Print? I still have not figured out Web 2.0 and now there is talk of the Web 3.0. The next decade will be the decade when printing is truly redefined into something we can not fathom today. 

 It should be fun.

Photizo Group Appoints Datum Inc. to Represent MPS Leader in Japan

Press Release - North America, Europe and now Japan -

Expands industry-leading MPS research and consulting services for Asian market

Lexington, KY ­­– December 17, 2008 – Photizo Group and Datum Inc. announced an agency agreement to make Datum the exclusive distributor in Japan for the Photizo Group’s information products and services. The agreement goes into effect immediately.

The Photizo Group is the leading provider of consulting and multi-client research services for the Managed Print Services (MPS) market. Eight of the top ten firms in the imaging industry are Photizo Group clients, and the company has established itself as the authority on this rapidly growing segment of the imaging industry. The exclusive Photizo Managed Print Services tracking studies for North America and Western Europe are the only on-going research of its kind targeting the MPS market. Datum is an established research and consultancy company based in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in providing IT marketing information to Japanese companies requiring data on overseas markets.

"This agreement with the Photizo Group provides clients with unique insight into the market and opportunity for outsourcing hardcopy fleets under Managed Services contracts," commented Shuji Hirooka, President of Datum Inc. "Our customers will now have access to the best insight and expertise on this key growth market, with full back-up and support available in their home country."

Photizo Group CEO Ed Crowley added: "We are excited to be partnering with Datum Inc. and look forward to ensuring our Japanese customers receive the most insightful information in the Managed Print Services market backed up by a full service support operation based in Tokyo."

# # #

About The Photizo Group

The Photizo Group is the market’s main source for ongoing business intelligence about the rapidly growing opportunity of Managed Print Services. Since its landmark MPS study released in April 2008 to ongoing research covering North America and Europe, Photizo has emerged as a leader in dynamic business intelligence about the MPS market. Clients include eight of the top ten imaging manufacturers in the digital marketplace. Vendors, dealers and enterprises can find MPS information and resources at http://www.managed-print-services.com.



“Photizo” is a trademark of the Photizo Group. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

HP Printers Sold in Iran - The Unholy Alliance -

"HP has a policy of complete compliance with all US export laws.", David Shane, a spokesman for the HP.

He would not say whether HP plans to stop sales of its printers in Iran.

In a story first broken by Farah Stockman, at the Boston Globe, and now breaking all over the internet, HP, through a third party distributor, Redington Gulf is reported to be selling printers in Iran.

Lot's of printers.

According to sources withing Iran, HP holds 41% of the printer market, this, in the face of a comprehensive embargo that prohibits HP from sending its products to Iran.

There is a good argument that selling consumer based goods may not tip over into a national security issue, but neither do cigars and rum.

Indeed, HP is not breaking any laws.

Products being supplied to Iran are not likely to be mentioned in a specific "ban" list and the third party distributor provides insulation from legal harm. Of course, if HP is sufficiently aware of Redington Gulf's sales in Iran, it may be in violation of US export laws.

Andrew DeSouza - US Treasury Department, said US companies are barred from selling their goods to a distributor if they have "knowledge or reason to know" that the goods are intended for Iran.

But what of the publicity damage? Xerox may provide answer.

After reviewing the Xerox website in February of 2006, SEC contacted Xerox, asking about the third-party distributors Xerox used to sell its copiers in Iran, Sudan, and Syria.

"We note from your website that you may have operations associated with Iran, Syria, and Sudan, which are identified as state sponsors of terrorism by the US State Department and subject to economic sanctions imposed," stated the letter from Cecilia D. Blye, chief of the SEC's Office of Global Security Risk. "We note also a public media report that Xerox products are sold in Iran."

Xerox said they had entered into legal distribution agreements with foreign distributors who were within their legal rights to sell in Iran.

By August, Xerox announced an end to the those distributor agreements.

HP is on the right side of the law on this. Whether Hurd acquiesces to the predictable media attention remains to been seen.

Sourced article, Boston Globe by Farah Stockman, here.

Click to email me.

Ricoh In Times Square - Wind and Light, wind and light

Its "green", has windmills, solar panels, and is printed...

Ricoh is putting the first green, self powering billboard in Times Square - the $3 million sign will be completely powered by wind and sun.

The eco-board weighs in at 35,000 pounds and will be 55 feet off the ground at 3 Times Square, wrapping around the northwest corner of Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street.

The sign will be the first of its kind on Times square. Ricoh has a similar board in Japan.

Fitted with 16 wind turbines and 64 solar panels, Ricoh spokes person, Ron Potosky, says the unit will produce enough electricity to power six homes for a year. This green "spectacular" also eliminates 18 tons of carbon released into the atmosphere each year.

Passive Sign -

This is a "passive" sign - it is not populated with bulbs or light-emitting diodes. 16, 300-watt floodlights will illuminate custom-printed opaque vinyl sheeting.

Bullish on MFP's? Good News in a World of Bears?

"By leveraging the multi-functional devices (MFDs) they already own with software that expands its capabilities, you can add measurable value to your clients’ existing investments. More importantly, you can build loyalty by helping them to be successful in times that are as challenging for them as they are for you." - Laurel B Sanders

Great report over at imageSource Magazine, here.