Death of the Copier: The Return

"Why in the hell would you come back?"  

Truth is, I never left.  The bigger truth is that the book is launching and I figured it would be nice to get the word out here where it all started.

A funny thing happened on the way to "blogdom" - I started re-reading entries from six years ago and THEY STILL MADE SENSE!

What seemed like a few years, was nothing more than a blink of the eye.  Whats more, the cast of characters hasn't changed - except for sons-of-old-guys returning home with marketing degrees - I see all the same faces, ideas and ways.

Sad.

But then another turn.  I caught the trailer for The Walking Dead now in its fifth season.  The show premiered on October 31, 2010.  Again, it seems like a million years ago since Rick rode into Atlanta - on a horse. It got me remembering, I published my first post, "Managed Print Services - That "Hot, New, Thing...", TWO YEARS before Walking Dead premiered.

Good lord, I am old.



Back then, I was selling managed print services and traveling the Wild Wild West of MPS. Everything was possible. No benchmarks, few experts, just a handful of tools - Excel, a clipboard and colored dots - and No Rules.

Has anything changed over the last 72 months?

In a way, nothing has changed.  Today:

• Everybody talks about managed print services
• Everybody is an expert
• We still argue about the paperless office
• The OEMs continue to believe they drive the market
• Fax machines are still around
• Nobody listens to the customer - we just talk to each other

And yet, there are some things that are different:

• Everybody sells MpS
• Customers are on their second or third MpS agreement
• The A4's
• Nobody talks about Stage 3 MpS
• Everybody talks about managed IT services
• The OEMs have cornered the definition
• The analysts have sliced and diced managed print services into demographic segments
• The paperless office is here

Well, one thing is sure.  There is plenty to write about and go off on.

Get ready, the end is here...



"In here you're not the greater good...you're part of a system..."

Death of the Copier: The Book is Here

It is official - at least in the E*Book version.  Death of the Copier, the Book is available on Amazon and iBooks as well as other places(SmashWords) and the print version is days away - just in time for the holiday season!

Unavailable on Google Play.

Not only are my words and ideas presented but the best and brightest in our industry contribute great insights.

Forward by Ed Crowley,  Founder and CEO of the worlds premier, managed print services consultancy shares views and insights about managed print services and beyond.

Afterword, Mike Stramaglio, President and CEO of MWAi, a forward thinking, gentleman of industry, talks about the future and a dramatic generational change ushered in by the imaging industry.

Introduction by Robert Newry, past Managing Director of Newfield IT, a cutting edge, visionary of stellar proportions, introduces the section about assessments and tools.

Death of the Copier, the book...

Available soon  - Amazon, and a few Smashwords sites online - iBooks, Nook, in process.

I don not think I am putting on Google Play, on account Google is the new anti-christ, big-brother, establishment type organization that wants to build replicants and keep us all in their Cloud...after we die...spooky.

Is There a "Death of the Copier - Remake" in the Future?

Does a loud, supercharged, mad chariot of fury crap in the Australian desert?

"We don't need another hero..." - maybe, we do.



"I'm crushing you!" @1:40

"Someday comes back..."

"...everything dies, baby thats a fact, maybe everything that dies, someday comes back. Put your makeup on, put your hair up pretty and meet tonight in Atlantic City..."





Well they blew up the chicken man in Philly last
Night now they blew up his house too
Down on the boardwalk they're gettin' ready
For a fight gonna see what them racket boys can do

Now there's trouble busin' in from outta state
And the D.A. can't get no relief
Gonna be a rumble out on the promenade and
The gamblin' commission's hangin' on by the skin of its teeth

[Chorus]
Everything dies baby that's a fact
But maybe everything that dies someday comes back
Put your makeup on fix your hair up pretty and
Meet me tonight in Atlantic City

Seven Deadly Sins...Copier Salesman

This post first appeared on DOTC, January 2009 and is the DOCT book.  This is a truncated version, get the rest, in the book.

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.

It Is Not 'Disruption', It Is 'Turbulence'

Shigetomi's "flowing water crest" is a gem-like work created by abandoning the ego and assimilating it with the flow of water. The main shadow of the flow of the sudden time while echoing the song of Raku Holy Water is

probably because it has the memory of water

July 2014

Catchphrases come and go: Transformation, transactional to services, customer-centric, think outside of the box, change or die, innovate or die, release in beta. Each moniker seems to hold its uniqueness for about a week.

"Disruption" - is one such word.

Today, it's disruption tomorrow it's something else - observing the same thing over and over, calling it something new, expecting different results.   In an attempt to understand the temporarily incomprehensible connectivity between multiple events occurring in real-time, a snapshot is taken.

A static slice of activity predicts futures based on this single shot.

Providers: YOU ARE MISSING THE POINT !

A great sales manager once told me, "Greg, sometimes, we over complicate things - we're just selling copiers."  I've come back to his statement again and again over the years because it's true.  

Speaking as somebody from the industry; we've cold called, assessed, proposed, Powerpointed, scrubbed MIF and yes, even closed a few equipment, EDM, ECM, SFA, FM, Mps and MS deals - I can tell you, most of us take ourselves WAY TOO SERIOUSLY.  Print, even managed print services, just ain't all that important to customers.  Remember them?  

From the Soon to Be Released Book

excerpt from the upcoming eBook...

In the beginning I did not make a living writing. I understand that most everyone has a dream to be a writer ‘someday’ – I did not share that vision, it just fell into place.

My pedigree is that of a "copier-schlep" having cut my teeth over at Océ, Panasonic, IKON.

My technology roots run deep by way of the technology/accounting system/VAR arena MicroAge, Inacomp, IBM, Novell, Great Plains, Timberline, ACCPAC, etc. - I've been in since 1988.

Along the way, I’ve been fortunate enough actually get paid to write – one of the more colorful stories around this subject involves Xerox, UBM and a persona name “Paige Coverage” , that story is for the next book.

With DOTC, I've been pontificating about since the beginning of the current MpS model.

When it gets right down to it, I am nothing more than a guy who used to sell copiers, sitting in front of a computer writing really goofy stories.

888 - DOTC, You Chose the Cover

"W"

"G"

Years of pondering, hand-wringing and soul searching it has come down to this -

What cover do I choose?

014: She's Coming...

Soon to be released, the DOTC eBook.

Chock full of all the best DOTC blogs, commentary as well as a taste of fresh content.  A compendium of delicious, imaging delectables for you to enjoy, over and over.  Do it on your laptop, tablet, phone, or desktop...the demo floor, in the halls, planes, trains and automobiles.

Go down hard, come up breathless... again, again and again.

Stay tuned...

One More Time...

Dear Reader - Thank You,

On December 31, 2011, I submitted the last post for The Death of The Copier. DOTC was to stand unchanging as a historical marker signifying the beginning of the End of the imaging industry, as we know it.

And honestly, there is nothing more to say about MpS or copiers. It can be summed up this way:

1. Print is decreasing; Print is Dead
2. MpS assists this movement, but user behavior is driving the shift
3. The OEMs have LOST control over the populace
4. The Independent dealers are in a great position to survive and thrive
5. The strong will survive
6. The “Next Thing” is content, Big Data, Business Process, business intelligence and mobility
7. Ultimately, like no other time in history, the real power falls to the individual

From that very first post, in 2008, my views were never and are never meant to be vindictive – I do not celebrate the demise of businesses, displacement of good people or the end of an era.

I do, however, bristle when observing blatant disregard for the obvious, can't stand bullies or their enablers and loath those who use fear to fill classes or manipulate.

But that isn't why I'm addressing you now.

Somehow, the DOTC following is growing - .  In my voluntary absence, DOTC peaked over 300,000 lifetime views – without any NEW content.

I’ve attended three shows this year and at every show, you’ve come up to say hello. Hello to me, and Jennifer. She and I have had our names screamed across a crowded bar and been challenged on our views around paperless.

This is overwhelming and humbling.

Our New Enterprise, Walters & Shutwell, is a platform for growth beyond MpS/Imaging – there is a bigger world out there. I encourage anyone with interests that transcend MpS to visit.

This is what I have decided to do here on DOTC:

It is my intent to share edgy views with those who are willing to see. Whether that be two people or 200,000 - it doesn't matter to me.  Entertainment value, perspective and stuff I would read myself - that's pretty much all I was after.

I plan on contributing back to DOTC, but not on the same schedule as the previous four years.

I will tell it as I see it.  You are more than welcome to visit, read or express your opinions.

Either way, strap in.