{"id":38002,"date":"2020-01-09T12:03:08","date_gmt":"2020-01-09T20:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=38002"},"modified":"2020-01-09T12:03:11","modified_gmt":"2020-01-09T20:03:11","slug":"whats-going-on-2020-style-every-corner-of-the-office-technology-community-weighs-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/feature-articles\/2020\/01\/whats-going-on-2020-style-every-corner-of-the-office-technology-community-weighs-in\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s Going On, 2020 Style: Every Corner of the Office Technology Community Weighs In"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Coming off a 2019 that witnessed a dizzying degree of\nM&A activity from players large and small across our humble industry, it\nwill be interesting to see what the new year holds in store. But if 2020 is\nanything resembling its predecessor, fasten your seat belts and hold on for a\nfun, if not tumultuous ride. The ongoing Xerox-HP saga rolled over with the\ncalendar, and many companies are on the verge of announcing new agreements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s ask our panel of industry players what trends and\npredictions they have for 2020. Our State of the Industry review in this\nmonth\u2019s issue only scratched the surface, so read on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dean Swenson, TSG<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Dean Swenson, president of The Swenson Group, has first-hand\nknowledge of the voracious appetite being shown by private equity and venture\ncapital organizations who are in the market for annexing dealers, and it\u2019s not\njust the major players, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDealers are getting hammered by organizations interested in\nacquisitions,\u201d he said. \u201cThis goes beyond the known PE roll-ups like Flex\nTechnology Group. We are getting calls from organizations I\u2019ve never heard of.\nI am cautiously optimistic that this will allow the remaining independent\ndealers\u2019 value to grow and value proposition to be different than private\nequity or manufacturer-owned dealers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paper Chase<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The digital transformation will continue to apply downward\npressure on paper usage, according to Joseph Odore, product manager-document\nand imaging, Office Products Unit of Panasonic. There is more ingestion than\noutput, he notes, and more users are starting to get the message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Joseph Odore, Panasonic<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople are still stuck with warehouses full of paper and I\nthink that the digital transformation is going to increase further,\u201d he said.\n\u201cI think there are a lot more business out there taking the larger initiative\nand starting to face some of the potential issues of how paper-based documents\nare going to be an issue going forward, especially with on-demand information.\nThe digital transformation will definitely be a top focus for a lot of\ncustomers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Jeff Gau, Marco<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

While MPS is often viewed as the worst-kept secret to dealer\ngrowth, a remarkable amount of dealers have been loath to leverage it as a tool\nfor increasing their bottom lines. Jeff Gau, CEO of Marco, notes that when he\nobtains a dealer, managed print only accounts for about 10% of that firm\u2019s\nbusiness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think MPS is going to continue to be a nice business. Ours continues to grow organically at about 15% per year, and that\u2019s a huge number,\u201d Gau said. \u201cIt will continue to be an opportunity for those who execute on it. This is really low-hanging fruit for the dealer. When we buy dealerships, one of the first things we do is introduce MPS to their customers on a broader scale.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Security Concerns<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Lee Flood, Pearson-Kelly<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Cybersecurity ranks as a threat and an opportunity. Lee\nFlood, director of sales for Pearson-Kelly Technology, notes the various layers\nof protection needed for true security tasks the dealers to raise their game.\nAs security continues to rise in popularity, the more competitive it becomes, and\nproviders need to be mindful of making measures too difficult for end-user\nemployees to do their jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe biggest risk is the client\u2019s own people, clicking on\nemail attachments they\u2019re not supposed to, using old passwords,\u201d Flood said.\n\u201cIf I (as an end-user) have too much security and make employees\u2019 jobs too\ndifficult to do, they stand the chance of losing good people. There\u2019s this\nbalance we have to weigh as a provider for clients who come to in order to\nfully outsource or augment their existing IT. We have to be vested into the\norganizations we\u2019re working with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Laryssa Alexander, ECi Software<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Laryssa Alexander, president of the field services division\nfor ECi Software Solutions, believes mobile applications will enable the\nindustry to be more efficient and effective when providing service. \u201cMobile\napplications provide technicians better visibility into the offices they\u2019re\nservicing, how equipment is used and how they can discuss new offerings with\nthe client,\u201d she said. \u201cIt also helps them to pull up any previous service\nappointments before they go into an office, where the more information they\nhave on previous problems, the better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coming off a 2019 that witnessed a dizzying degree of M&A activity from players large and small across our humble industry, it will be interesting to see what the new year holds in store. But if 2020 is anything resembling its predecessor, fasten your seat belts and hold on for a fun, if not tumultuous ride. The ongoing Xerox-HP saga rolled over with the calendar, and many companies are on the verge of announcing new agreements. Let\u2019s ask our panel of industry players what trends and predictions they have for 2020. Our State of the Industry review in this month\u2019s issue only scratched the surface, so read on. Dean Swenson, president of The Swenson Group, has first-hand knowledge of the voracious appetite being shown by private equity and venture capital organizations who are in the market for annexing dealers, and it\u2019s not just the major players, either. \u201cDealers are getting hammered by organizations interested in acquisitions,\u201d he said. \u201cThis goes beyond the known PE roll-ups like Flex Technology Group. We are getting calls from organizations I\u2019ve never heard of. I am cautiously optimistic that this will allow the remaining independent dealers\u2019 value to grow and value proposition to be different than private equity or manufacturer-owned dealers.\u201d Paper Chase The digital transformation will continue to apply downward pressure on paper usage, according to Joseph Odore, product manager-document and imaging, Office Products Unit of Panasonic. There is more ingestion than output, he notes, and more users are starting to get the message. \u201cPeople are still stuck with warehouses full of paper and I think that the digital transformation is going to increase further,\u201d he said. \u201cI think there are a lot more business out there taking the larger initiative and starting to face some of the potential issues of how paper-based documents are going to be an issue going forward, especially with on-demand information. The digital transformation will definitely be a top focus for a lot of customers.\u201d While MPS is often viewed as the worst-kept secret to dealer growth, a remarkable amount of dealers have been loath to leverage it as a tool for increasing their bottom lines. Jeff Gau, CEO of Marco, notes that when he obtains a dealer, managed print only accounts for about 10% of that firm\u2019s business. \u201cI think MPS is going to continue to be a nice business. Ours continues to grow organically at about 15% per year, and that\u2019s a huge number,\u201d Gau said. \u201cIt will continue to be an opportunity for those who execute on it. This is really low-hanging fruit for the dealer. When we buy dealerships, one of the first things we do is introduce MPS to their customers on a broader scale.\u201d Security Concerns Cybersecurity ranks as a threat and an opportunity. Lee Flood, director of sales for Pearson-Kelly Technology, notes the various layers of protection needed for true security tasks the dealers to raise their game. As security continues to rise in popularity, the more competitive it becomes, and providers need to be mindful of making measures too difficult for end-user employees to do their jobs. \u201cThe biggest risk is the client\u2019s own people, clicking on email attachments they\u2019re not supposed to, using old passwords,\u201d Flood said. \u201cIf I (as an end-user) have too much security and make employees\u2019 jobs too difficult to do, they stand the chance of losing good people. There\u2019s this balance we have to weigh as a provider for clients who come to in order to fully outsource or augment their existing IT. We have to be vested into the organizations we\u2019re working with.\u201d Laryssa Alexander, president of the field services division for ECi Software Solutions, believes mobile applications will enable the industry to be more efficient and effective when providing service. \u201cMobile applications provide technicians better visibility into the offices they\u2019re servicing, how equipment is used and how they can discuss new offerings with the client,\u201d she said. \u201cIt also helps them to pull up any previous service appointments before they go into an office, where the more information they have on previous problems, the better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":38003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1650,82,87,1638],"tags":[653,545,286,3654,1011],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38002"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38002"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38004,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38002\/revisions\/38004"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}