{"id":38154,"date":"2020-01-23T12:33:02","date_gmt":"2020-01-23T20:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=38154"},"modified":"2020-01-23T12:34:41","modified_gmt":"2020-01-23T20:34:41","slug":"one-final-look-back-how-events-of-2019-shaped-the-dealer-universe-going-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/the-week-in-imaging-twii\/editors-blog\/2020\/01\/one-final-look-back-how-events-of-2019-shaped-the-dealer-universe-going-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"One Final Look Back: How Events of 2019 Shaped the Dealer Universe Going Forward"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Hard to believe, but we\u2019ve almost clicked off the first full\nmonth of 2020. For those of us who still write paper checks, it\u2019s time to stop\nscribbling out 2019 and get with the New Year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ah, but were it not for the lessons delivered by 2019, we\nwould be ill-equipped to deal with the issues that will confront us sooner than\nlater. As we wind down the State of the Industry trends and predictions talk\ntrack (we\u2019ll offer a look at the great unknown next week), it\u2019s time to pay\nhomage to some final trends that shaped the needs of your clients and dictated\nthe framing of your game plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Chip Crunk, RJ Young<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Of course, any look back at 2019 would be incomplete without\na few words about Xerox, which underwent more than its share of changes. Chip\nCrunk, president and CEO of RJ Young, believes Xerox\u2019s decision to restructure\nthe organization and bring Global Imaging Systems under the Xerox Business\nSystems umbrella was impactful and a significant play leading up to the current\ndiscussions with HP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPrior to the Fuji Xerox separation and potential HP merger,\nXerox made strides to enhance the shareholder value,\u201d Crunk observed. \u201cThe\ndirection that many manufacturers were heading with the dealer channel versus direct\noperations will be interesting. As Ricoh moved away from direct and more into a\ndealer focus, Xerox took the opposite approach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Wouter Koelewijn, chief of products for Y Soft, firmly\nbelieves that the customer\u2019s appetite for cloud-based services has accelerated\ndevelopment into print management for the cloud. He feels there is a better\nunderstanding of the limitations of the cloud in this regard, including latency\nand bandwidth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBased on the independent research that Y Soft commissioned,\ncustomers are still concerned about document security and data privacy,\u201d\nKoelewijn said. \u201cHowever, they are reassured that a cloud-based print\nmanagement solution that still processes print jobs locally keeps documents\nsecure, solving this concern.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Merits of Scale<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While no one would dispute that M&A activity has visited\nquite an impact across the business landscape, creating a wider chasm between\nthe biggest and smallest players, not everyone agrees that the activity will\nspell dire consequences at the lower end of the food chain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Dean Swenson, president of The Swenson Group, feels many\nbusinesses\u2014including those within the end-user pool\u2014still find the qualities\nassociated with smaller partners (more responsive, quicker turns, the personal\nexperience) to be more compelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe big are getting bigger,\u201d he said. \u201cWhile there are certainly some good things about the strategy, I believe the value proposition of the independent dealer resonates with a growing number of companies that aren\u2019t enamored with big business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

One technology that has been garnering a head of steam the\npast few years and promises to continue is undoubtedly artificial intelligence.\nStephanie Keating Phillips, director of solutions for Advanced Imaging\nSolutions, traces the earliest examples of it several years earlier in the form\nof voice recognition capabilities within smart printers and MFPs. Now, she\nnotes, dealers are leveraging it for smarter, more efficient printing and\nprocuring accurate document information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have the ability to protect and automate the document\nprocess and optimize workflows,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cAccording to various research\nanalysts, the AI market is expected to grow to be worth around $15 billion by\n2022. This is definitely a topic that needs to be on the radar of every dealer,\nin my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Managed IT Caveats<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

IT security was a major issue that, although developing\nsignificantly over the last five-plus years, grew added legs in the dealer\nconsciousness during 2019. Breaches in the BTA channel brought the subject\nsharply into perspective, causing dealer providers to take inventory of their\noffering as well as their potential liabilities, noted Marco CEO Jeff Gau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Businesses turning their IT reins over to a copier dealer\nthat is not as savvy as its reps make them out to be can be downright\ndisastrous. But for those competent enough to answer the call, this managed\nservice could be the significant growth catalyst in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I talk about the millions of dollars we have invested\nin our IT infrastructure, security is at the foreground,\u201d Gau noted. \u201cIt\u2019s hard\nto build your own platform, but it\u2019s really lucrative. Cross-selling this\noffering to your copier customers\u2026it doesn\u2019t get any better than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve never had a security breach and we have 36,000\ncustomers. Knock on wood, we built in all the infrastructure to mitigate those\nconcerns to the degree that we can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Jim Coriddi, Ricoh<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Jim Coriddi, vice president, dealer division of Ricoh USA, notes that more affordable, intuitive production print technologies have emboldened even smaller businesses to bring some or all of their high-volume and specialty printing needs in-house. That paved the way for astute dealers to address these market demands in 2019\u2014a growth catalyst that is certain to amplify as 2020 plays out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGood production print \u2013 like any implementation \u2013 fits seamlessly with the business,\u201d Coriddi said. \u201cBecause of this, dealers who offered production capabilities in 2019 are better positioned to pivot to the adaptive, customer-success-centric approach that will characterize 2020\u2019s top dealers.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hard to believe, but we\u2019ve almost clicked off the first full month of 2020. For those of us who still write paper checks, it\u2019s time to stop scribbling out 2019 and get with the New Year. Ah, but were it not for the lessons delivered by 2019, we would be ill-equipped to deal with the issues that will confront us sooner than later. As we wind down the State of the Industry trends and predictions talk track (we\u2019ll offer a look at the great unknown next week), it\u2019s time to pay homage to some final trends that shaped the needs of your clients and dictated the framing of your game plan. Of course, any look back at 2019 would be incomplete without a few words about Xerox, which underwent more than its share of changes. Chip Crunk, president and CEO of RJ Young, believes Xerox\u2019s decision to restructure the organization and bring Global Imaging Systems under the Xerox Business Systems umbrella was impactful and a significant play leading up to the current discussions with HP. \u201cPrior to the Fuji Xerox separation and potential HP merger, Xerox made strides to enhance the shareholder value,\u201d Crunk observed. \u201cThe direction that many manufacturers were heading with the dealer channel versus direct operations will be interesting. As Ricoh moved away from direct and more into a dealer focus, Xerox took the opposite approach.\u201d Wouter Koelewijn, chief of products for Y Soft, firmly believes that the customer\u2019s appetite for cloud-based services has accelerated development into print management for the cloud. He feels there is a better understanding of the limitations of the cloud in this regard, including latency and bandwidth. \u201cBased on the independent research that Y Soft commissioned, customers are still concerned about document security and data privacy,\u201d Koelewijn said. \u201cHowever, they are reassured that a cloud-based print management solution that still processes print jobs locally keeps documents secure, solving this concern.\u201d The Merits of Scale While no one would dispute that M&A activity has visited quite an impact across the business landscape, creating a wider chasm between the biggest and smallest players, not everyone agrees that the activity will spell dire consequences at the lower end of the food chain. Dean Swenson, president of The Swenson Group, feels many businesses\u2014including those within the end-user pool\u2014still find the qualities associated with smaller partners (more responsive, quicker turns, the personal experience) to be more compelling. \u201cThe big are getting bigger,\u201d he said. \u201cWhile there are certainly some good things about the strategy, I believe the value proposition of the independent dealer resonates with a growing number of companies that aren\u2019t enamored with big business.\u201d One technology that has been garnering a head of steam the past few years and promises to continue is undoubtedly artificial intelligence. Stephanie Keating Phillips, director of solutions for Advanced Imaging Solutions, traces the earliest examples of it several years earlier in the form of voice recognition capabilities within smart printers and MFPs. Now, she notes, dealers are leveraging it for smarter, more efficient printing and procuring accurate document information. \u201cWe have the ability to protect and automate the document process and optimize workflows,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cAccording to various research analysts, the AI market is expected to grow to be worth around $15 billion by 2022. This is definitely a topic that needs to be on the radar of every dealer, in my opinion.\u201d Managed IT Caveats IT security was a major issue that, although developing significantly over the last five-plus years, grew added legs in the dealer consciousness during 2019. Breaches in the BTA channel brought the subject sharply into perspective, causing dealer providers to take inventory of their offering as well as their potential liabilities, noted Marco CEO Jeff Gau. Businesses turning their IT reins over to a copier dealer that is not as savvy as its reps make them out to be can be downright disastrous. But for those competent enough to answer the call, this managed service could be the significant growth catalyst in 2020. \u201cWhen I talk about the millions of dollars we have invested in our IT infrastructure, security is at the foreground,\u201d Gau noted. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to build your own platform, but it\u2019s really lucrative. Cross-selling this offering to your copier customers\u2026it doesn\u2019t get any better than that. \u201cWe\u2019ve never had a security breach and we have 36,000 customers. Knock on wood, we built in all the infrastructure to mitigate those concerns to the degree that we can.\u201d Jim Coriddi, vice president, dealer division of Ricoh USA, notes that more affordable, intuitive production print technologies have emboldened even smaller businesses to bring some or all of their high-volume and specialty printing needs in-house. That paved the way for astute dealers to address these market demands in 2019\u2014a growth catalyst that is certain to amplify as 2020 plays out. \u201cGood production print \u2013 like any implementation \u2013 fits seamlessly with the business,\u201d Coriddi said. \u201cBecause of this, dealers who offered production capabilities in 2019 are better positioned to pivot to the adaptive, customer-success-centric approach that will characterize 2020\u2019s top dealers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":38155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[80,1650,82,1638],"tags":[98,545,312,501,1011,2264],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38154"}],"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=38154"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38156,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38154\/revisions\/38156"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}