Under the Radar: Dealers Detail Less Heralded Software Applications

The wonderful aspect of software solutions is the seemingly endless list of titles and applications that can serve end-users on both a vertical and horizontal level, from niche-specific titles that can aid a specific market segment (health care, legal) or business process applications than can help HR and billing become more efficient.

In this segment of our October State of the Industry report on software, we asked our dealer panel to provide insight into the more overlooked applications within their arsenal. Call them hidden gems or under-the-radar offerings, but the common thread among them is the opportunities they present to garner incremental revenue and profits while addressing customer needs.

Matt Kanaskie, Marco

Matt Kanaskie, vice president of solutions for St. Cloud, Minnesota-based Marco, believes there are tremendous opportunities in platforms that provide a better user or client experience, but they require a different type of conversation that many sales reps aren’t accustomed to employing. That’s because it’s focused on a conversation that’s less tangible than saving time, money or bolstering productivity.

Another area that’s intriguing to Kanaskie is employee analytics. “For example, you can gamify the work experience and tie productivity to promotions and bonuses,” he said. “Consolidated subscription management also presents a huge opportunity to help clients combat fraud, and get clarity on their accounting, contract management and expense management.”

Justin Drabouski, Fraser AIS

Production print applications are an overlooked area for many dealers who compete in that space, notes Justin Drabouski, director of managed services for Fraser Advanced Information Systems of West Reading, Pennsylvania. He notes that EFI Fiery print servers come standard with many devices, and his dealership frequently encounters competitor Fiery-enabled devices where the client is in the dark about how to leverage its capabilities. Too often, the device wasn’t set up properly and no training was provided.

“If you don’t work with clients to set up workflows and processes that help them be more efficient, you are just wasting a client’s money,” Drabouski noted. “Our team of production print specialists are dedicated to working with clients to implement these solutions fully and help them reach the highest levels of productivity and automation. This, in turn, makes us a valued partner, and not just someone leasing a big printer every so often.”

Brad Rozmarynowski, Impact Networking

While acceptance of the cloud has made great inroads in the last five years, in some ways the line of thinking surrounding cybersecurity is very much stuck in 2017, according to Brad Rozmarynowski, executive account manager and partner at Impact Networking of Lake Forest, Illinois. In other words, client education is woefully lacking in the appreciation of what partners like Impact have to offer in regards to a true cybersecurity program.

“They still don’t understand what it means to have a security program in addition to an IT program,” he said. “They view it as one program, but we know it’s not. They’re two separate things, two separate staffs, two separate sets of expertise with separate manpower and separate toolsets. That is a gem in the sense that once we start converting the knowledge over, there’s great market potential. But right now, the markets are just not quite ready for the full picture. We’re getting there, it’s moving along and I can see progress. It’s just taken a little bit more time than we hoped.”

Dan Lamborn, Edwards Business Systems

One of the favorite go-to solutions for Edwards Business Systems of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is Datto SaaS and its Protection/Protection+ tool sets for backing up Microsoft 365 applications such as OneDrive and SharePoint, as well as Google Workspace, to the cloud. With a low price point, Dan Lamborn—the dealer’s IT services sales specialist—considers it an indispensable offering for any proposal/quote that includes Microsoft 365.

“Most clients see it as a no-brainer,” Lamborn noted. “In tandem with that, we also have a DNS web filter that provides protection whether end-users are inside the network or working from the local Starbucks. That helps restrict users from going to any spoofed/malicious websites. It’s just one more layer of cybersecurity.”

Scott Schnabel, Frontier Business Products

While faxing hasn’t been considered a cutting-edge technology for decades (the electric printing telegraph actually dates to the 1840s) it incredibly (and stubbornly) retains a viable business function today. Technology has added a cloud twist for those vertical markets that fall under a regulatory thumb, at least negating the need for a POTS (plain old telephone service) line.

Scott Schnabel, chief operating officer for Frontier Business Products of Aurora, Colorado, believes it’s a simple solution to aid the remote workforce. “It’s still huge in the health care industry, and it’s more secure, which is the main driver,” he said. “Cloud faxing is a tremendous growth market.”

Erik Cagle
About the Author
Erik Cagle is the editorial director of ENX Magazine. He is an author, writer and editor who spent 18 years covering the commercial printing industry.