{"id":38051,"date":"2020-01-16T13:58:54","date_gmt":"2020-01-16T21:58:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=38051"},"modified":"2020-01-16T13:58:57","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T21:58:57","slug":"looking-ahead-at-possibilities-industry-leaders-point-to-growing-technologies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/feature-articles\/2020\/01\/looking-ahead-at-possibilities-industry-leaders-point-to-growing-technologies\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking Ahead at Possibilities: Industry Leaders Point to Growing Technologies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Clearly, it can be difficult to put a finger on what the\nfuture will look like in terms of technologies that will help to push the\noffice technology dealer space forward. But while the picture may remain a bit\nfuzzy, we\u2019re already aware of some of the drivers that will act as the paint\nand canvas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We continue this month\u2019s look at the 2020 trends and\npredictions offered by our esteemed panel of industry heavyweights, in conjunction\nwith our January State of the Industry review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mike Stramaglio, MWAi<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The conversation about print consumption is somewhat of a boring and well-worn topic of conversation for Mike Stramaglio, president of MWAi, which flies under the flag of All Covered\u2019s Business Consulting Services. A more compelling narrative is the one around artificial intelligence and machine learning. He\u2019s particularly intrigued by the A.I. component that works in tandem with the senses\u2014sight, sound and touch. From retina scans at airports to fingerprint-enabled functionality, he believes more applications will come to light during the course of the year, some of which will have an impact on the office space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAI hasn\u2019t really made an impact yet in our industry, and the reason for that is some of the old technologies don\u2019t embrace it well,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I see these things being brought to the market more quickly, and I think it\u2019s going to impact our channel dramatically.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seller Beware<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Todd Hirshorn, RingByName<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As the movement toward managed services garners even more\nsteam during 2020, some believe that the new year\u2019s predecessor offered up its\nshare of cautionary tales. Included in that group is Todd Hirshorn, president\nof RingByName, warns that budding MSPs should not regard their offerings as a\nfull-blown panacea to their goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think 2019 will show that managed services are not a\nsilver bullet,\u201d he said. \u201cSome of them come with responsibilities that leave\ndealers vulnerable. An example is many of the dealers who wanted to offer\ncybersecurity found that the risk is not worth the revenue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

In an age where online competition has gained an edge\nthrough convenience, Laryssa Alexander\u2014president of the field service division\nfor ECi Software Solutions\u2014strong customer experience is the key to combating\none-click ordering of toner and paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPersonal relationships with customers and a willingness to\nadapt based on customer and employee feedback make small and medium-sized\ndealers unique,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cThose human relationships can be augmented by\nthe intelligence provided by predictive analytics and the IoT, but no\ntechnology can truly replace the personal touch of working directly with vendors\nand partners.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Wouter Koelewijn, Y Soft<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Consolidation is poised to bring about further change in the dynamic between the dealer relationship with OEMs and other technology providers, according to Wouter Koelewijn, chief of products for Y Soft. He expects the volume of deals will yield to larger acquisitions within the various player sets of the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, he noted, \u201cISVs (independent software vendors)\nwill expand print management to the cloud for both SMB and enterprise, and\nbegin to incorporate other areas that are traditionally MPS-related, such as\nfleet management, data analytics and IT services.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Stephanie Keating Phillips, Advanced Imaging Solutions<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Stephanie Keating Phillips, director of solutions for Advanced Imaging Solutions, believes the dealer quest to branch out into other ancillary offerings will lead many companies to give industrial printing. She\u2019s speaking from experience, as Advanced Imaging Solutions has made great strides in offering larger production units. \u201cWhether it is embellishment, wide-format, label, packaging, color and effects, these types of devices will help customers continue to differentiate themselves from the competition,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clearly, it can be difficult to put a finger on what the future will look like in terms of technologies that will help to push the office technology dealer space forward. But while the picture may remain a bit fuzzy, we\u2019re already aware of some of the drivers that will act as the paint and canvas. We continue this month\u2019s look at the 2020 trends and predictions offered by our esteemed panel of industry heavyweights, in conjunction with our January State of the Industry review. The conversation about print consumption is somewhat of a boring and well-worn topic of conversation for Mike Stramaglio, president of MWAi, which flies under the flag of All Covered\u2019s Business Consulting Services. A more compelling narrative is the one around artificial intelligence and machine learning. He\u2019s particularly intrigued by the A.I. component that works in tandem with the senses\u2014sight, sound and touch. From retina scans at airports to fingerprint-enabled functionality, he believes more applications will come to light during the course of the year, some of which will have an impact on the office space. \u201cAI hasn\u2019t really made an impact yet in our industry, and the reason for that is some of the old technologies don\u2019t embrace it well,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I see these things being brought to the market more quickly, and I think it\u2019s going to impact our channel dramatically.\u201d Seller Beware As the movement toward managed services garners even more steam during 2020, some believe that the new year\u2019s predecessor offered up its share of cautionary tales. Included in that group is Todd Hirshorn, president of RingByName, warns that budding MSPs should not regard their offerings as a full-blown panacea to their goals. \u201cI think 2019 will show that managed services are not a silver bullet,\u201d he said. \u201cSome of them come with responsibilities that leave dealers vulnerable. An example is many of the dealers who wanted to offer cybersecurity found that the risk is not worth the revenue.\u201d In an age where online competition has gained an edge through convenience, Laryssa Alexander\u2014president of the field service division for ECi Software Solutions\u2014strong customer experience is the key to combating one-click ordering of toner and paper. \u201cPersonal relationships with customers and a willingness to adapt based on customer and employee feedback make small and medium-sized dealers unique,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cThose human relationships can be augmented by the intelligence provided by predictive analytics and the IoT, but no technology can truly replace the personal touch of working directly with vendors and partners.\u201d Consolidation is poised to bring about further change in the dynamic between the dealer relationship with OEMs and other technology providers, according to Wouter Koelewijn, chief of products for Y Soft. He expects the volume of deals will yield to larger acquisitions within the various player sets of the industry. In addition, he noted, \u201cISVs (independent software vendors) will expand print management to the cloud for both SMB and enterprise, and begin to incorporate other areas that are traditionally MPS-related, such as fleet management, data analytics and IT services.\u201d Stephanie Keating Phillips, director of solutions for Advanced Imaging Solutions, believes the dealer quest to branch out into other ancillary offerings will lead many companies to give industrial printing. She\u2019s speaking from experience, as Advanced Imaging Solutions has made great strides in offering larger production units. \u201cWhether it is embellishment, wide-format, label, packaging, color and effects, these types of devices will help customers continue to differentiate themselves from the competition,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":38052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1650,82,87,1638],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38051"}],"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=38051"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38053,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38051\/revisions\/38053"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}