Brother Nonstop in Approach to Ensure it Delivers on Dealer Needs

Dan Waldinger will be the first one to tell you that a slogan is just a slogan. But when those words truly embody the ideas, initiatives and actions of a company, that’s when a client understands there is purpose behind the words—not just a Starbucks-induced epiphany of a Madison
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In an Era of Closures, Supplies Network Banks on barcodeSELECT to Open Avenues to Profit

Ted Gruener has some really fond memories of 2019. The vice president of sales for Supplies Network proudly noted the company enjoyed a record year with explosive numbers that touched upon all its core offerings—supplies, equipment and services. The company opened three new
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Coordinated Business Systems Finds Path to Success Leads Down the Street

As Jim Oricchio and his wife, Donna, strolled along the beaches of Maui in 1992, their minds drifted back to work. It seemed an unlikely topic to be pondering, as opposed to the beauty of The Valley Isle. Only nine years earlier, the Oricchios started Coordinated Business Systems
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The Enemy Within: Dealer Security Tools Protect End-Users from Themselves

While high-profile ransomware attacks have dominated technology headlines primarily in the last 10 years, it might be surprising to learn that the first documented attack launched in an effort to extort money occurred in 1989. Although computer worms have been around since the
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Brother Business Solutions Virtual Analyst Update Charts Growth Vehicles

It was a little more than a year ago that Brother International invited a small cadre of journalists and analysts to Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut for a Fireside Chat presentation that was jam-packed with information about the company’s continued push into the A4 market.
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Corner-Office Issue? Dealers Talk About Margin Management

Today’s trivia question: When it comes to margin management, how high up the executive tree does this conversation go when deviating from the original marching orders? Does it start from the very top, or is there a direct line through sales/service managers, COO, vice president
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Minding the Margins: Balancing the Promotions Temptation in Selling

It is an interesting time to be in sales across every business sector. In the COVID era, meetings have increasingly become remote, and reps in all fields have been polishing up on the nuances of making a pitch over platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams. It is a skill unto
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Two-Minute Drill: Stramaglio “Retirement” is More of a Pivot to Next Adventure

Two years to the day after selling MWA Intelligence to Konica Minolta, company founder Mike Stramaglio quietly announced that he was stepping away from the company. When industry colleagues heard the news, Stramaglio was inundated with a flurry of well wishes that was tantamount
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UPDATE: Canon Website Back Online Following Cyberattack

Note: As of last Friday afternoon, the Canon U.S.A. website is back online. We will provide more updates as they become available. Add Canon U.S.A. Inc. to a growing list of major corporations that have been stung by a cyberattack. The Melville, New York-based firm reportedly is
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Countering Margin Erosion: Pros and Cons of Looking to New Sources of Revenue

At a time in business when the sale of bread-and-butter offerings such as copiers and MFPs have been severely curtailed by COVID-induced conditions, dealers may be seeking to supplement their revenues by branching into ancillary offerings or even products that are far removed
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Agent of Change: Kyocera Difference Maker Oscar Sanchez Sees Reward in Risk

The great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy once observed, “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” But with all due respect to the man who penned “War and Peace,” Oscar Sanchez is a living and breathing embodiment of the notion that it is possible
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Now What? How IT Dealers Can Get the Jump on Business, Post-COVID-19

At some point in the not-too-distant future (which we can only hope is more near-term than the opposite), businesses will resume operating at some level of normal. While the definition of “normal” may undergo a metamorphosis during the ensuing months, purveyors of managed IT
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Polek & Polek Difference Maker Chris Polek Seeks to Elevate Customers

In the early stages of his career, Chris Polek quickly appreciated the value of finding a better way of doing something. As the CEO of Polek & Polek, a wholesale distributor supporting the independent dealer, he is always thinking of ways to better serve the customer. His
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Avenues to Profit: Industry Partners Highlight Various Tools to Help Protect and Grow Profits

It’s not enough to identify the vulnerabilities and strategic miscues that can take precious dollars from the bottom lines of dealers and resellers. We’ve asked our panel of manufacturers, suppliers, leasing companies, et al., to highlight the tools, products, services, training
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Profit Pitfalls: Industry Addresses Closing the Gap on Lost Margins

In the face of the biggest economic challenge since the Great Recession of 2007-2008, businesses can ill-afford to leave any unnecessary lights on, so to speak. COVID-19 has turned the nation into change-counters, and with businesses facing reduced net-new business and a
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