Ricoh May Want to Get "The Umbrella of Silence"

Wall Street Journal, by Dana Mattioli ...Glenn Floyd, senior director of field and headquarters human resources for Ricoh Americas Corporation in Atlanta, said he has spotted more employees hanging around in certain places like the hallways where executive offices are located, where they may be more likely to hear information about the state of the company or possible layoffs. The company is currently undergoing a reorganization, and Mr. Floyd said many employees are uneasy. "I think everyone's worried about stability right now. They come in one day and someone they worked with for 20 years isn't here anymore and it makes them wonder if they're next," he said.

To prevent private information from leaking, Mr. Floyd said he and management now have conversations behind closed doors, rather than sharing even benign information in public places, like the hallway or an open office..."


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The 2009 Lyra Symposium

I will be covering the Lyra Symposium next week, Monday through Wednesday.


Jim Lyons from the Photizo group will be there blogging along.

It is my intention to post articles each night or during the show.

Canon Will Pay for The Nine Months of Your Lease

I found this - in Coral Gables, Fla.

Canon Pays 9 Months Of Your Lease

Canon will pay up to 9 months of your exisiting lease when you Refresh your equipment with New Canon Copiers.

FUNDS WILL BE DIRECTLY REIMBURSED TO THE CUSTOMER WITHOUT HAVING THE AMOUNT ROLLED INTO THE CUSTOMERS NEW LEASE AGREEMENT. Up to $300,000.


Fax lease and maintenance agreement to Canon Review Center at 333-333-3333 indicate CODE: 237 / CP9

If you dont have the agreements, fax most importantly your Vendor, lease payment and how many months your have left on your lease.

This offer expires June 30, 2009, however may change without notice.

Why continue paying for 3-5 year old equipment? Get new equipment today.

Call 333-333-3333 ext 333 Refer to Promotion CP9

Or 333-333-3333 for faster response
-------

This announcement clearly says funds will be "reimbursed..." directly to the customer, not rolled into the new lease.

So where does this money come from? The Canon War Chest.

As mentioned on P4P, Art wrote, "...In an effort to gain its customers back from IKON (which was acquired by Ricoh), Canon Business Solutions launched the “War Chest” program, giving sales reps ability to pay for up to 9 months of a competitive lease..." This is a result of Canon's attack on IKON/Ricoh.

Canon and HP: A Response to Ricoh/IKON?

Are Canon and HP a good mix?

"Chatter" or the volume of transmitted communications, increases as a terrorist act nears - in our industry, the opposite occurs - silence before the storm.

I haven't heard a peep regarding ANY sort of arrangement or agreement between HP and Canon - and I have heard even less about Edgeline (isn't that like the Hawk back in 03?).

So we ask, what is going on?

Last year, I was able to review the Gartner's Magic Quadrant report.

Buried in the narrative are the strengths and weaknesses of Canon and HP.

The following is from Gartner:

Canon
---
Strengths

* Canon has a solid office product portfolio in MFPs and printers, in A3 and A4 engines, and in monochrome and color that can satisfy the most discriminating needs of customers.

* Manufacturing strength and R&D investments have provided the company with a wide range of products to fit most customer needs. Canon's engineering and portfolio strengths (both monochrome and color) have kept the company at the top of the worldwide laser MFP market share for well over a decade.

* Canon supplies HP with enough LaserJet engines to make it the No. 1 provider of laser printing technology worldwide.

* Canon's leadership team has prudently led a well-financed organization with over $10 billion (cash on hand) to invest in growing its MFP/printing business.

Cautions

* Canon's largest distributor for its line of office and light-production products, IKON Office Solutions, was recently acquired by Ricoh, Canon's chief rival. In 2007, 30% to 40% of Canon's U.S. office/central reprographics department (CRD) shipments were distributed through IKON. This has caused a profound disruption in Canon's channel and has forced the provider to start investing heavily to realign its channel strategy.

* The company has also seen additional cracks in its distribution channel as Danka Office Imaging and GIS, both of which sold tens of millions of dollars of Canon products, were also acquired within the past 18 months.

* It has lost its leadership in the growing SMFP (open-architected MFP platform) market that it created more than five years ago.

* In recent months, smaller, providers have outperformed Canon in closing large deals — especially in the light-production and midproduction color space.

HP
--
Strengths

* HP is the undisputed leader in single-function page printers (with 53% of the worldwide market share) and has also eclipsed Canon for the most overall MFP placements (17.1% worldwide market share) in the four quarters we examined (the last two quarters of 2007 and the first two quarters of 2008).

* Like other leaders, HP has a global reach and a broad set of customer types that use both printers and MFPs in monochrome and color.

* Perhaps HP's greatest strength is its strong relationships with IT organizations and decision makers. As document management technology accelerates on MFPs, HP, with its HP Open Extensibility Platform, will be in an excellent position to leverage its IT connections to incorporate paper-based and other documents into enterprise and other software applications that make customers' processes more efficient.

Cautions

* HP customers tend to be leveraged from its IT connections and are usually buyers of mostly A4-centric MFPs with limited page volumes.

* HP's capabilities in A3 are limited to a couple of LaserJet products and the Edgeline (8050/8060) series of inkjet MFPs. This portfolio is not broad enough to meet the needs of the widest range of Gartner customers.
* HP's market share leadership with LaserJet — for which Canon manufactures the engines — could be undermined if Canon, as part of its recent strategic changes, decides to modify its contract with HP and begins to sell its engines under its own label through Canon Business Solutions.

Death of The Copier Analysis -

The last two points, emphasized in red, allude to some of the puzzle: HP's narrow portfolio of A3 and Canon's ability to undermine HP by selling laser engines under its own label through CBS.

There are many possible scenarios, but here are some of my guesses:

#1 - An agreement between HP and Canon allowing HP to resell a few Canon copier systems. This is a natural fit filling the holes in the product line to be filled with proven Canon hardware.

Perhaps these re-labeled Canon units would ship with HP JetDirect internal print servers and DSS.

The more troublesome part of this idea is the ability or lack of ability of HP's existing high-end, IPG VARs to service a real, honest copier, let a lone HP direct service capabilities.

One is painfully reminded of the "Hawk" - HP 9055's and 65's sold primarily through IKON. These were 55 and 65 page per minute Konica machines with DSS and JetDirect cards.

There are many reasons for the product's failure, too many to go into, but one lesson learned may be managing all the obstacles encountered when trying to work within an established copier sales model.


#2- HP acquires Canon Business Solutions.

This would be an acquisition of the North American Canon. HP would secure an instant IPG channel; $75 million in revenues, 2400 employees, 40 locations. Instant MIF. Instant service network for copiers.

Enhanced multi-vendor, MPS capabilities. HP OPS VARs certify on certain Canon units and add to their product portfolio.

This scenario seems unlikely.

#3 - HP and Canon enter into a joint agreement, much like the Fuji/Xerox venture. HP

A quote from 2005 by Vyomesh Joshi, Executive vice president of the imaging and printing group, "The relationship with Canon is strong. It's a win-win for both of us, so we see tremendous benefit," (regarding the importance the 21-year partnership with Canon)"
#3.1 - HP and Canon form a "Sales Alliance"
Similar to the recently announced Ricoh/IBM arrangement; an alliance of sales forces.

In my opinion, which is more like guess work in the dark, the first alternative seems more plausible - and the most likely is that nothing will happen. HP will stay the course and grow their channel organically.

How Does Your Copier, 30 Day Funnel Look?

Hank Moody fan.

Californication, is a punch in the face - if you know what I mean. Hank captures truisms about life in southern Cali - albeit exaggerated. A transplant for NYC, a writer of some notoriety, semi-eternally struggling with writer's block, we follow Hank's antics as he crisscrosses the landscape.

Hank is flawed.

He mistakenly assaults young women with his mouth, usually fighting off a bevy of drop-dead gorgeous, California Girls. Driving around L.A. in a dirty, beat-up, cyclopean Porsche.

His greatest misstep is an intimate encounter with a hottie, who unbeknown to him, is the 16-year-old daughter of his ex-girlfriend's current fiancee - yeah... it's confusing, it's California.

His life, his work, his character - damaged but not perverted  - his baggage may be significant, but he keeps going, keeps moving.  Laughing, smirking, and drinking his way along.

When I lived in Michigan, I thought that the people in California were nuts - I was right. Of course, all the "nuts" out here are originally from "back east". "Back east" means anyplace east of the state line.

Like it or not, California creates trends and the rest of the country follows - socially, politically, and economically.

It's the economic direction that should interest those not in the Golden State - the state of Regan and Nixon; of Boxer and Pelosi.

Today, I saw fear in the eyes of a prospect -

Across the desk, she sits. Piles of papers in front of, behind, and all around us - like a lot of people, she doesn't have To Do lists, she owns To Do Piles.

We are discussing her current print environment. A hodge-podge of single-function, multi-function laser and inkjet, HP devices - printing, faxing, copying, and scanning functions are performed daily and at times, in great volume.

She has been approached by the Canon rep for years. He told her that "one of my machines can replace all those expensive HP's - it's cheaper to print on my copier than their laser-based printer..."

She is suspicious, so we add up the numbers - the numbers only. I am concerned that if the volumes approach a higher level, say 20, 000 images a month or above, the copier guy may indeed be correct - of course, he quoted a machine well above what is needed - along with a monthly lease payment of nearly $500.00 - 60 month (3-hole punch, and 11x17 - neither of which my prospect has used in over 10 years).

After our elementary calculations, we both realize that my recommendation prices out significantly lower than the Canon - mine for TWO devices over 36 months with a CPC, all-inclusive, SA.

And yet, no "close" -

She goes on to tell me the state of California is thinking about paying her with an official I.O.U.

Her business is a medical testing lab and she bills Medi-Cal(the state) for a majority of her work; before she asks, I tell her I can not accept an IOU from her.

So she needed to hold off on getting 2 new machines, but will strongly consider an MPS engagement if she can save money.

The MPS is a no-brainer.

Her monthly supplies expenses are not that much, under one thousand a month, and our program may reduce that figure by 20% - offering up a $2,400 yearly saving - it will help, but won't save any job.

The conversation leads to how she came to this country 40 years ago. How her husband and she built this "small" business, put kids through college, provided good jobs for hundreds of families over the years, and how "...this recession looks nothing like the 70s - it is worse..." - she is scared.

Like any good entrepreneur she is planning for the worst and hoping for the best.

What is more intriguing, is how representative this micro-scenario is of the larger business segment - hardware sales had been flat and are now dropping.

Cost savings and reductions are the mantras, once again, of business - especially in the SMB market.

Who is Immune? No one.

We have been through some of this before; the layoffs, the economic plunge, international challenges, global society on the brink of annihilation - of course, I am referring to the "'70s"( could the summer of 2009 see a re-birth of Disco and Dance Fever?).

It's the state and local government budgets that are red flags to me. Of course, out here in California, the state budget never gets approved until 6 months after the year is over; because politicians like to be...political. But this time, the budget isn't being passed because there is no money - no taxes because most business has been taxed out of the state.

Property tax revenue has dropped because so many homes have gone to the foreclosure - it does not matter that those folks shouldn't have been approved in the first place - revenue is off, so the state is thinking about issuing IOUs - for STATE INCOME TAX REFUNDS.

Our state budget, last year's budget, has still not been approved and is facing lots of challenges - but - fear not. The wisdom of our elected officials is tackling much more important issues - digital billboards.

The base is shrinking and they want to raise taxes. The money supply is dropping, leasing is now swinging in the other direction, and people are scared.

Our economy is flawed, our business model is flawed, and we are flawed - and always have been.

But like Hank Moody, we who don't beat ourselves up for our shortcomings and can live in our own skin, keep going. 

Even if our biggest customer needs to write us IOUs and when we only have one headlight.

Originally, January 16, 2009

Managed Print Services - Saving Money And The Planet, Down Under

Hewlett-Packard (HP) has announced that Leighton Contractors has signed a Managed Print Services contract with HP.

As part of this contract, HP will manage and offset the carbon emissions generated by Leighton Contractors’ fleet of 700 HP LaserJet printers; total amount of carbon that will be offset from the printers will be 209 tons.

It is not mentioned if the Carbon footprint reduction was a specification of the contract or a benefit of going with HP.

“Leighton Contractors’ policies ensure that we manage our environmental footprint and minimise our environmental impact,” said Michael Herbert, Leighton Group IT, customer support manager.

“HP’s Managed Print Services offering together with the Carbon Offset program dovetails with the Leighton Contractors’ Group IT’s current “Green IT” Project.”

I first wrote about this program over the summer - 424 companies in Australia have signed up for HP’s Carbon Offset for LaserJet Printers program since its launch in February 2008.

“HP’s JetDirect and SecureJet solutions have allowed us to implement greater security for staff pool printing,” said Herbert.

“Our staff use proximity cards to print, the same cards they use to enter the building, which improves security and reduces wastage.”

According to Herbert, the disparate nature of its printing technology and the lack of a central equipment management function meant they didn’t understand the true cost of its printing infrastructure.

“HP’s managed print services provide visibility into the costs associated with our printing environment. HP looks after all billing, reporting and accounting, so that headache is taken away and taken care of by HP,” he added.

All HP printers rolled out at Leighton Contractors are HP Energy Star qualified. They produce less heat and reduce cooling loads by 15-30 percent.

They also use approximately half as much electricity.

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It is Now Officially "Bizzaro-World": Intel Net Profits DOWN 90%

Absolutely stunning. Banking, manufacturing, finance, home and now technology Giant - can't wait to hear Xerox's report.

IDG News Service

Agam Shah, IDG News Service 01.15.2009

Intel's fourth-quarter profit plunged 90 percent from a year earlier, as the chip maker battled a worsening economy and recorded a steep loss from investments.

The company recorded net profit of US$234 million for the quarter ended Dec. 27, compared to $2.27 billion in last year's fourth quarter. The net profit also fell short of the $257.22 million consensus expectation from analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

The results included a loss of $1.1 billion from equity investments and interest, primarily due to a billion-dollar reduction in the value of Intel's investments in Clearwire, the company said.

The company's fourth-quarter revenue was in line with lowered expectations of $8.2 billion. Fourth-quarter revenue was down 23 percent year-over-year and 19 percent sequentially. Revenue from microprocessors and chipsets was lower compared to the third quarter.

The bright spot for Intel this quarter was the sales of Atom chips that go into netbooks, small laptops designed for Web surfing and productivity applications. Revenue from Atom microprocessors and chipsets was up 50 percent sequentially to $300 million.

Intel did not project revenue guidance for the first quarter of 2009, citing "economic uncertainty and limited visibility."

While the economic environment is uncertain, the company is adjusting its business plans to adapt to build for the future, said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO, in a statement. The company is entering new markets and has cut costs by around $3 billion since 2006, he said.

The restructuring yielded $800 million in savings in 2008, Otellini said during a conference call on Thursday. The company ended the year with approximately 84,000 employees, down 3 percent from a year ago.

"Intel has weathered difficult times in the past, and we know what needs to be done to drive our success moving forward. Our new technologies and new products will help us ignite market growth and thrive when the economy recovers," Otellini said.

The company hopes to ramp up to the 32-nanometer process technology to lower chip-manufacturing costs and increase production. It will then be able to make more chips at lower costs, which should add efficiencies to the production process, said Stacy Smith, Intel's chief financial officer, during the call.

"We are absolutely prioritizing the investment that it takes to get to 32-nm process technology ... we are going to get there as fast as we possibly can. That gives us a performance advantage, cost advantage and allows us to get to this higher level of integration that the future markets we want to serve requires," Smith said.
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Seven Deadly Sins… The Qualifications of a Copier Salesman…

Never mind that he is hundreds of miles north of the Gulf of Mexico, he lives on a boat, sells "big-iron" copiers...and has a blog. Introducing Pirate Mike. I received a "hit" today from one of my internet-search-spiders-thingies, and read the resulting post while waiting for the Rover to be washed - it was 86 degrees and sunny - as I scrolled along the post I literally laughed out loud. Upon further research, all good bloggers do this, research that is, the story of Pirate Mike unfolds. I will not steal his thunder. Instead I recommend you read his post here, then go to his site - all of four posts - I am sure with the eyes of the world upon him, he will blog with the best of them... I have copied, edited slightly, and pasted his post here on my site. Enjoy: ------------- Wednesday, January 14, 2009 Seven Deadly Sins… The qualifications of a copier salesman…

The Death of "Kaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhnnnn...!"

Khan Noonien Singh and Corinthian leather...

Ricardo Montalban, TV Star and Chrysler Pitchman, Dies at 88-

Detroit - 30 below, 10 inches of snow, mayor in jail, Lions the biggest losers in NFL history, auto plants shuttering everywhere, GM "Generous Motors" begging the likes of Barney Frank for money, and now, Cordoba's biggest fan passes.

Forever aboard the Reliant surfing the Genesis Effect...

Konica Minolta Diving Head First Into MPS - Make that OPS

Press Release

ORLANDO, Fla. - (Business Wire) Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. (Konica Minolta), a leading provider of advanced imaging and networking technologies for the desktop to the print shop, today announced its Optimized Print Services (OPS) program, an innovative new managed print services offering that saves customers time and money by revolutionizing how they manage their printers assets.

The fully customized one-stop print services solution – part of the Konica Minolta Business Intelligence Services initiative – is an effective strategy designed to help customers better monitor, measure and manage printers and Multifunctional Products (MFPs). The OPS program enables organizations to be far more efficient by:

* Fully controlling their entire printing environment
* Conserving resources and ongoing maintenance costs
* Streamlining unknown costs associated with all MFPs, All-in-Ones (AIOs), and printers throughout an organization

Historically printers have been viewed as an IT-sourced product while MFPs have been sourced through procurement or administrative functions within the company. This often results in higher costs and unnecessary strain on IT helpdesk.

Konica Minolta uses a range of assessment tools to fully understand volume, typical and peak usage patterns and sources of print within an organization, then develops a strategy to maximize the efficiency of print devices being used.

“At a time when organizations around the globe are tightening their belts and are faced with deep economic challenges, Konica Minolta’s Optimized Print Services program not only reduces total cost of ownership, but allows customers to get the most mileage out of each of their printing assets,” said Rick Taylor, Senior Executive Vice President and COO, Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. Inc. “With the introduction of OPS, we are making printing as seamless as possible so that our customers can focus on their core business goals.”

The OPS program, driven largely by customer demand, leverages the opt-WORKFLOW model to provide all necessary services required to control output costs based on business needs. The four modules that comprise opt-WORKFLOW are as follows:

* opt-MONITOR assesses your current printing environment, provides timely proactive maintenance and ongoing assessment and optimization.

* opt-ANALYZE creates a cost-per-print plan covering consumables and service;

* opt-VISUALIZE develops a road map to replace outdated or inefficient hardware;

* opt-MANAGE gives better control of print routing.

The OPS offering is geared toward organizations that use several printers and MFPs on their network. Managed completely by Konica Minolta, customers can choose to leverage part or all of the new program modules as Konica Minolta will service and manage printers both from Konica Minolta and other vendors. Konica Minolta’s OPS program leverages web-based management tools, automated supply replacement, customer support and service in one unified program. Proactive maintenance is delivered and supported by Konica Minolta’s team of certified technicians.

The OPS offering, a key initiative under Konica Minolta Business Intelligence Services (BIS) provides customers with a predictable cost structure for printing that assists organizations in making better business decisions. The BIS initiative, which consists of a broad range of professional services, hardware and software solutions, identifies and creates cost-effective solutions using both Konica Minolta’s own products and products from a range of solutions partners. Konica Minolta has a dedicated BIS team in place that offers innovative thinking to transform advanced technology into a simple plan of action.

Additionally, OPS makes conservation a top priority as it enables companies to use entire toner cartridges until empty, thus reducing the amount of waste. As part of its commitment to the environment, Konica Minolta’s recycling program prevents cartridge materials from ending up in landfills, recycling all of the returned cartridge.

---------------------

Welcome to the party.

Zogby Poll Shows People Think Printing Color is a Luxury

Duh...

In a very well crafted "Social Network Release"(here) from Xerox some of the results, in actuality four points, from a Zogby poll are embedded among marketing puffery.

Xerox doesn't come out and say that the Zogby poll reflects the Phaser as a cost effective alternative, but to the untrained or unaware eye, the post "feels" like Zugby respondents prefer the Phaser.

There is even a quote at the end of the post, praising the ease of use, excellent quality and crediting the color printer with "winning quite a few more bids" - I guess the Death of The Sales Person hit the catering business first.

Regardless, here are the stats from the Zogby poll, as filtered by Xerox:

-More than half of the 2,100 respondents (53%) said they think printing in color is a luxury.

-More than one third of respondents said the expense (35%) is the main reason they did not print more in color, and four out of five (82%) said they would be somewhat or very likely to print in color if it cost the same as black and white.

-Two in five respondents (39%) did not recognize the ROI value of printing in color – they strongly or somewhat disagreed that they spend time thinking about the places in their documents where color would give them more of a ROI.

-About one-quarter of respondents said they most frequently print presentations/PowerPoint documents (28%) or those with graphs (25%) in color.

Ricoh and DocuClass - "...Solutions Driven by Customer Need and not Industry Hype..."

First Copy Out Time's and Scan Once, Print Many are Phrases of the Past...

Ricoh introduces DocuClass-

DocuClass, is a process-oriented, document management software solution that enables organizations to streamline internal operations by organizing the capture, management, access, and distribution of documents and information.

Enhanced for Ricoh, the DocuClass MFP Link ties the software directly to most Ricoh multifunction products (MFPs), offering a simplified method of document indexing, archiving, document processing, workflow routing and full version control directly from the MFP control panel.

What About the Channel -

One of three Ricoh Alliance programs, RiSVP, developed in cooperation with Ricoh solution partners and Ricoh's direct and dealer channels, focuses on two key areas: expansion of channel marketing opportunities for RiSVP members and simplifying solution access for Ricoh sales channels.

By providing RiSVP member products directly from Ricoh, the direct and dealer channels have more opportunities for new revenue growth combined and simplified sales operations.

In turn, RiSVP members enjoy faster and greater financial return on the investments they have made in developing solutions that when combined with Ricoh's award-winning product portfolio address customers' key concerns. Cima Software is a Platinum Plus member of RiSVP.

"Together with Cima Software, we will continue to provide customers with real enhanced value by delivering a broad set of capabilities designed to improve business processes and reduce operational costs," said Hede Nonaka, executive vice president, Ricoh Americas Corporation. "Both organizations are committed to developing solutions driven by customer need and not industry hype."

"Form Follows Function": Is Samsung Positioned in HP's Blind Spot?

"You can have any color you like, as long as it's black..." - Henry Ford

Jim Lyons picked up on Samsung and the possibility of them nudging into the office MFP market as reflected in an article over at Business Week, Samsung:Rethining the Printer Business, by Cliff Edwards.

Additionally, Robert Sethre from the Woodford Group goes on to analyze the article in his contribution at GLG, The Expert Network.

In the past 60 days, I have heard more about Samsung as a printing/MFP provider, than I have in the last 20 years.

First off, Samsung is well known for its line of consumer electronics especially for their attractive and sleek design of everyday, mundane household appliances.

The thought, and the practice, can be seen in the above laser printer. The design is completely different from any other output device. "Lacquer" finisher, touch controls interesting shape.

And as Jim poses in his article, what if Samsung applied this style to "higher end departmental printers". I have often wondered who decided office machines needed to be drab and unattractive - disengaging.

From the "big green" Oce's, the "blue hooded Xerox's", the Ricoh/Canon sorta-beige and the battleship grey of Konica/Minolta and HP - couldn't we just spray paint some flames on the side?


The closest thing to an exciting, eye-catching application is from Panasonic with their colorful, color MFPs. Is that like coffee flavored coffee? (ADULT LINK)

Though one could make the argument that the Panasonic resembles the Daleks on Dr. Who, and I have yet to see one in the field. I imagine a real estate office or small advertising agency may find the physical color of the unit part of their buying criteria.

Samsung printer designer Bong Uk Lim is promoting something new- a printer that doesn't look like one.

"Most companies ask people to adapt to the product instead of the other way around," Lim says. "As you see with Apple, design is more important than ever before for most products. The same can be made true for printers."

Regardless, is Samsung looking to step into the office printing niche?

Samsung is the second largest manufacturer of laser printers in the world - next to that "other" company - but manufacturing prowess may not prevent them from "stepping into it" when they take on HP, Canon, Ricoh/IKON, et el.

And in typical, HP, battleship gray style, upon hearing of a possible Samsung insurgence, David Murphy, head of HP's LaserJet imaging business, says most of the industry's profits come from selling to businesses ...

"For them, it's about the whole value proposition of having a product that does the tasks you want it to,then, form follows function."

Bad Day ? Take it out on your Printers and Copiers

Xerox Tightens The Belt - Putting the Links in Storage for a Year

The big X isn't even sponsoring golf this year.

With earnings report out in a couple of weeks, Xerox is making news again as rumors of layoffs persist.

Xerox was one of the first companies to recognize the somber economic environment and took steps to address by offering 5% of its workforce separation packages - if not enough people take the package, forced layoffs may ensue.

Some of those layoffs could come before fourth quarter earnings are announced later this month.

Xerox is reportedly working on reducing its costs by $400 million, through consolidating manufacturing and other real estate.

In related news, after four years, Xerox allowed it's title-sponsorship contract at the Irondequoit Country Club to expire.(Apparently, there was no automatic renewal for another 30 days or 4 years)

The Xerox Classic will be taking at least a year off.

Don Jeffries of the Rochester Broadway Theater League, the tournament organizer, said,

"With the economic times the way they are, they(Xerox) just couldn't put up money to sponsor a tournament."

HP To Stop Selling in Iran - Power of The Press

The Globe Report get's a response:

In a statement released last Thursday, HP said, "Having recently examined the situation, we believe it's important to go beyond the letter of the law,"

HP is responding to an article published last week in the Boston Globe which "exposes" the company's practice of selling printers in Iran.

In reality, this is not the case.

HP provides its product to a distributor, Redington Gulf in Dubai who in turn sells to dealers all over the mid-east. No doubt some of the dealers are in Iran.

In addition to HP, Redington distributes Acer, Cisco, Linksys, APC, IBM, 3COM and many other technology products.

A statement posted on Redington Gulf website -

Holding Statement in response to the Boston Globe article

Redington Gulf is an authorized distributor and an authorized service provider in Middle East & Africa, for HP brand, amongst other brands of global repute. We sell authorized products, to HP authorized customers, in authorized territories, in line with HP’s policy guidelines.

Corporate Communications Team

It is the Best of Times- Copier, Printer, Technology Sales

I see that the blogashere is dispatching its share of gloom and doom.

And predictably, so is the "mainstream" media - but this time, I don't think that the media is exaggerating the circumstances - it is bad out here.

In the sales world, it seems at every turn, there is another "expert" telling us how to sell in these difficult times, how to save our career in these difficult times, how to find clients in these difficult times, and how to make more money in these difficult times.

In light of all the "difficult economic times..." chatter, I have a question:

Why or how is it that we should be doing things differently now?

Shouldn't our "plans" and strategies, our skills and fortitude allow us to face the stiff winds with our chins out?

I mean, as sales people, shouldn't we be use to idiot managers who have never sold, ding dong owners who demand more, expect more, pay less and maximize their personal financial position over others?

Are not we familiar with "negativity", rejection and "turbulent financial circumstances"?

Who of us has never failed? Which one has never been “let-go” and faced the world without a job?

Are we not the same ones who not so long ago, looked at people who couldn't sell themselves out of a wet paper bag, making bank by writing shady mortgage agreements for anyone with a pulse? Was that fair? Was that the way it should be?

Or as outside Selling Professionals, do we take exception with the “inside order fulfillment” folks claiming to be Sales People and demanding like compensation for filling out an order form? Yet, we continue to pound the pavement, make a sale that helps pay for the inside order takers', kids baseball glove?

The bold, the strong and the steady knew it would not last. The smart (and you didn't need to be all that smart) could see that the boom times were built on paper machete – not bedrock.

These times are trying, and will only get more challenging.

Now the REAL you will come out.

Now we will see REAL Rainmakers.
Where once there was no shade, we create forests.
Now we will see who is really good at doing what’s best for clients, families, companies, and our country.

We make something out of nothing. It is what we do, it is what we love to do; it is what is needed to be done.

This is what it means to Sell.

It's not the Profession, it is the people in the profession - there are lots of layoffs right now, you don't need to be reminded. But layoff a Selling Professional, and he will make things happen bringing shade where there once was none.

Layoff a line worker or a cube rat - and he will make everyone around him miserable, spewing blame in all directions, queuing up for the "stupid persons" bail-out.

It’s easy to be in Sales when times are good – let's see who can walk the walk today.

Click to email me.

Ricoh Surges 7 Percent on News of Firm North American Market and Canon (CBS) has New President

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., January 5, 2009 – Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging, today announced that Tod Pike will become President of its subsidiary, Canon Business Solutions, Inc. (CBS), effective today.

Mr. Pike joins CBS from Canon U.S.A.’s Imaging Systems Group (ISG), where he was Senior Vice President and General Manager since May 1999. Prior to serving in this role, he served as President of Office Equipment and Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Imaging Systems Group at Canon Canada. Mr. Pike began his Canon career in 1993 as an Executive Vice President with MCS Business Machines (now part of CBS), and was promoted to President.
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Today, reported by ForexPros.com:

"Ricoh Co Ltd advanced 7 percent to 1,297 yen after Credit Suisse upgraded the stock to "outperform" from "neutral" and raised its target share price to 1,400 yen, saying firmness in the North American market could counter earnings concerns about its subsidiary Ikon."
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Ricoh and IBM's Alliance Spearheaded by Ricoh's New Document Security and Management Services (DSMS).

Ricoh to the Channel - "...I can't guarantee it has no impact [on channel partners], but IBM is obviously in a lot of places already,"

According to a press release today, January 5th, IBM and Ricoh will first launch a new Ricoh offering, Document Security and Management Services (DSMS) in the US.

This solution builds upon Ricoh's expertise in helping customers improve their document workflow, security and compliance, while reducing the total cost of ownership of office equipment investment and advancing environmental sustainability practices.

The DSMS offering includes Assessment & Deployment, End User Services, Managed Services, Security, Green Office and Enterprise Content Management services, which will be delivered by Ricoh Document Solutions and Services Division and IBM's Global Technology Services.

In addition, Ricoh has an agreement to resell IBM's Managed Server offering and collaborate on the sale and delivery of IBM software, hardware and services, such as End User Services, Internet Security Systems (ISS) Services, Business Continuity & Resiliency Services, and Storage & Data Services.

In an interview with ChannelWeb, Mark Minshull, recently promoted, Ricoh Vice President and Chief Technologist said, "Ricoh and IBM have been working together for a long time, so I see this as kind of a deepening of that relationship," adding, "We're teaming up at a sales level to go after major global accounts and do what we each do best. Ricoh and IBM pair up very nicely. The promise ... is to lower the cost of implementation -- incorporate an service oriented architecture (SOA) into MFPs so they can more easily integrate into IBM's selling process. Over time, printers are becoming very smart and sophisticated, and it makes sense to use enterprise network monitoring tools like Tivoli."

Minshull said he did not anticipate conflict with Ricoh's channel as a result of the alliance, the focus of which, he said, is primarily on the largest, enterprise-level accounts.

"...I can't guarantee it has no impact [on channel partners], but IBM is obviously in a lot of places already," he said. "In both the U.S. and Europe, the focus tends to be larger companies with enterprise-wide initiatives."

"IBM and Ricoh are both trying to solve the same problems," Minshull added. "Take the IBM Tivoli story and meld it with the Ricoh one. There's a lot of strategic symmetry in where they're going and where we're going. Looking at [Hewlett-Packard] and what they're doing with EDS, this is a natural fit for us to offer a high-end services capability."

"Ricoh and IBM's partnership will help clients to incorporate MFP capabilities into their business in the same way a new building block could be added to an existing structure." , said Sandy Carter, vice president IBM SOA and WebSphere.
A SOA-enabled Ricoh MFP facilitates the integration of other new technologies including autonomic computing that proactively alerts customers when a problem arises so they can resolve it before failure of the device occurs. Also, by integrating supply chain management systems with diagnostic data generated within the MFP, the ability to automatically order MFP supplies can be performed.

Ricoh and IBM Alliance:The Shape of Things to Come

"Yeah...I use to be a Copier Salesman, it's a tough racket..." - 2009

1/2009

Introducing James Hands, ex-copier salesperson supreme - while at IKON, he lit the world on fire - attaining COE(Circle of Excellence) in his first year and continuing as a high-performer until the Education of Young Skulls Full of Mush pulled him back in. James will contribute quirkiness and humor - or heads shall roll...

Copiers never die. They just xero-gro-pheye... Get it?

The copier perhaps has died in a sense that those using a copier simply as a copier, are probably closer to death than the 'copier' is. The MFP, or as one who was in the industry and then bitterly left to hunt and gather in other fields will tell you, Mother F**** Printer has all but replaced the 'Stand Alone' copier. 

The lone holdout I see in my area of experience continues to be schools and/or government, although I was stunned to discover our office manager actually followed a suggestion I gave her regarding the 'scan to e-mail' function available on the existing 'copier'.

I have been a Learning Monitor Facilitator for an Adolescent Organization (LMFAO) for most of my life but for about 4 (four) years I sold quite a few 'copiers' (sorry, I mean solutions) for a company that was so much more than a four letter word, but I digress.

The main issue I bring up is that copiers will change and evolve, as they have so far, and will continue to do so due to the speed at which the government and society move. I argue that they do not move at the same speeds while others would say they're not even moving in the same direction. I'm not sure I would argue with that either. I'm a nice guy.

Print will never die.

I've seen one Kindle and it was more of a kid's toy than an actual 'book.' The need to get information to the masses from those in power or those having a yard sale this weekend is too great. Political signs, advertisements, takeout menus, drink specials and the like will be needed and copies will be made, albeit perhaps on a smaller 'MFP'. The costs of the new technology will be prohibitive until it becomes cheaper than toner on paper, and that's right: I said toner.

So, before we all go pushing our imageRUNNERS, Aficios, and Copycentres, etc. out into the street in exchange for 'electronic paper,' remember this: If the masses can't afford it, don't get it, or can't use it, then it won't work.

I would comment more, but I have to find and print the cheat codes for Doom 3 and make copies to send to my friend Greg. 

He likes things in color... Think Wikipedia has them?

Jim H.
(LMFAO)
Click to email me.

Ricoh and IBM Alliance:The Shape of Things to Come

Reuters reports that Ricoh and IBM will begin to share sales networks:

IBM and Ricoh will start handling each other's products in their U.S. sales channels in spring 2009, with the cooperation set to expand to other regions including Europe and Asia eventually, the paper said.

Ricoh expects the alliance to yield 1.1 billion in sales over the next three years.

Last year, HP completed it's acquisition of long time IBM competitor EDS.

2009 begins as speculation on HP's reaction to Ricoh's acquisition of IKON last year increases.

As HP looks on, Ricoh continues to nudge it's way into it's traditionally strong niche: I.T.
This from an editorial written by David T. Mendelson, Argecy Computer Corporation back in July of 2007, when IBM announced the arrangement with Ricoh that spawned InfoPrint:

"...Ricoh has a very long and hard-earned history of success in the world market. The relationship between IBM and Ricoh goes back quite a long way. Ricoh has had a strong market penetration in the copier and fax markets for many years, but had little “in” with the IT community. IBM employed Ricoh’s engines and technology in their mid-range laser printers, and probably negotiated to keep Ricoh from competing in the lower end market. (Why is Canon Corporation not selling hard into the laser printer market? Because that’s who makes HP’s lasers). But now Ricoh is in control..." - David T. Mendelson, Argecy Computer Corporation

As mentioned in my November article, Ricoh and IBM into InfoPrint and Now, rIKON, in addition to the standard office equipment/Purchasing model, Ricoh appeared to be moving towards an I.T. based selling model - today, there can be no doubt.

Summary -

Ricoh increased it's dealer channel nearly 10 fold.
The acquisition of IKON's Professional Services give Ricoh some of the best assets in the industry, versed in many, leading EDM software.
Ricoh's ownership of InfoPrint, high-end, I.T. based solutions will be complete in 2010.
Ricoh and IBM will be sharing sales leads to cross market each productline;copiers and servers.
Where is Canon ?

Canon's feeble attempts to shore up a non-existent channel in order to defend the existing Canon/IKON base, may have taken yet another hit with today's news.

How can CBS possibly compete with the likes of IBM and IKON's Professional Services?

Canon will need an "I.T." shot in the arm - instantaneous access to corporate/enterprise I.T. departments supported by knowledgeable professionals.

Could the alliance between IBM and Ricoh be a template for a similar arrangement between HP and Canon?

Or is a bigger shoe ready to drop?

2009: The End of Print - Andrew Keen

1/2009

Who the heck is Andrew Keen?

We will get to who he is at the end of this report but for now, he is some dot com millionaire who wrote a book and convinced me to never reference Wikipedia.

On his blog, The Great Seduction, he posts 2009: The End of Print.

His reference point is similar to mine in The Death of Print - 12,000 Layoffs And Counting and PC Magazine Dropping Print for Online. My observations reflect the dire straights in which print media finds itself.

As a matter of fact, the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press (Detroit being one of the last cities with TWO major newspapers) have moved to eliminate home delivery and shift assets toward their digital versions. A point Keen observes in his writing.

Indeed, in his piece on Internet Evolution, he explains how 2008 was the beginning of the end and how 2009 will be "the year that the print business literally falls off the cliff". 

He nails it:

"...And yet 2009 will, ironically, also bring much, much, much better news for a media in the business of selling textual content. The truth is it’s not their newspapers, magazines, and books that are dying, but rather the archaic medium of print. And the good news for both trees and technophiles is that in 2009 paper is finally being replaced by affordable and ergonomically sophisticated digital devices for reading electronic content..."

Additionally, Dan Costa, PC Magazine, comments on the decision to go completely digital: