{"id":6974,"date":"2014-05-28T09:04:23","date_gmt":"2014-05-28T13:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theweekinimaging.com\/?p=6974"},"modified":"2014-05-28T09:04:23","modified_gmt":"2014-05-28T13:04:23","slug":"the-25-most-significant-events-in-the-office-imaging-industry-of-the-past-25-years-part-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/feature-articles\/2014\/05\/the-25-most-significant-events-in-the-office-imaging-industry-of-the-past-25-years-part-4\/","title":{"rendered":"The 25 Most Significant Events in the Office Imaging Industry of the Past 25 Years Part 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

One might think that as we close in on the final 10 most significant events in the office imaging industry of the past 25 years that the list would start thinning out with events that might not be all that significant. You\u2019re free to think that, however, as someone who has been floating around this industry for more than 25 years I don\u2019t think that I\u2019m anywhere close to scraping the bottom of the barrel. Maybe if I\u2019d extended the list to 40, that would be the case, but with only 25, there\u2019s bound to be a few key events that somehow didn\u2019t make the list either because no one mentioned them when I was soliciting ideas or they might have fallen to #26 or #30 if I went with all the suggestions I received during the past four months.<\/p>\n

With that in mind let\u2019s take a look at five more significant events from the past 25 years.<\/p>\n

\"copier<\/a>MFP Security Flaws Create an Opportunity for the Office Imaging Industry<\/strong><\/p>\n

Based on the response the OEMs and BTA had to that CBS News story a few years back regarding security breaches on MFP hard drives, the industry has been security conscious ever since. It\u2019s not like this was an issue that had been ignored by the OEMs. Companies like Ricoh and Sharp were raising awareness for security long before the rest of the industry took it seriously and turned what was a perceived liability into an opportunity. One can credit Bob Goldberg and the BTA with being proactive in addressing this issue and bringing the OEMs and the leasing companies together to correct any misconceptions about hard drive security and what the industry and end users can do to protect themselves. While Ricoh and Sharp were ahead of the curve on this issue, the rest of the industry is now squarely on board and you\u2019ll find most OEMs, dealers, solutions providers , and leasing companies have made device security a key component of their hardware and services offerings.<\/p>\n

\"young-professionals-with-tablets\"<\/a>The Mobile Workforce<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe rapid ascent of mobile devices in recent years, coupled with the arrival of millennials into the workforce, may collectively be the start of what we ultimately see as one of the most significant events in the office imaging industry,\u201d predicts BTA\u2019s Brent Hoskins. \u201cWe will likely look back on the dawn of these two realities as having the greatest impact on the industry in terms of changing its course.”<\/p>\n

That\u2019s an intriguing parallel and no doubt those millennials are one of the factors that\u2019s driving the mobile revolution. Most players in the industry have embraced mobility and are bringing out products, solutions, and services that acknowledge the workforce is no longer tethered to a desk and that access needs to be anywhere, any time. Indeed, it\u2019s a rare OEM, solutions, or services provider that is not thinking about or incorporating mobility into what they do or thinking about how to leverage this opportunity.<\/p>\n

\"ArmWrestlingBusinessmen1\"<\/a>The Direct Distribution Dilemma<\/strong><\/p>\n

What independent dealer\u2019s business, particularly in major markets, hasn\u2019t been affected by competition from direct distribution? Direct distribution has had a huge affect on the industry. The most notable impact of direct distribution over the years has been price erosion and the commoditizing of the box. The box may have become commoditized anyway, but direct operations where the goal is to move boxes no matter what the cost, has proved to be more harmful than not to the industry in the long term. Many OEMs have embraced direct distribution, bringing with it an unlevel playing field. To be fair, however, we have seen some efforts in the not too distant past to alleviate that situation and eliminate the bad blood between the dealer community and their OEMs. Although things seem to have improved for the better with some OEM direct operations, there\u2019s no denying that the crazy prices and wacky cost per copy quotes, some of which is routed in direct distribution, have had a dramatic impact on the industry and the reverberations of the direct distribution model continues to echo throughout the industry.<\/p>\n

\"HP<\/a>The Rise of Inkjet Technology in the Office<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is one of those events that\u2019s going on as you read this. \u201cIt\u2019s always kind of been there, but was never sensible for three reasons\u2014it was slow, the [output] quality was questionable, the [operating] costs were high\u2014other than that it was great,\u201d observes Industry Analysts Lou Slawetsky.<\/p>\n

During the past few years the industry has seen inkjet devices coming to market with higher speeds, improved output quality, and lower operating costs. Think the HP Pro series, which is 70-ppm color inkjet at prices in the $700-$800 range. \u201cThey claim that the cost per page is half what it is for laser,\u201d says Slawetsky. \u201cIt may not be half, but it\u2019s less. The quality is better than it has been, and it\u2019s still good and it\u2019s cheap to the point where you could probably buy 10 or 15 70-ppm color inkjet systems for what you would pay for one 70 ppm laser color system.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Slawetsky is seeing is a new generation of inkjets from HP, Memjet and others operating at higher speeds and capable of handling higher volumes while providing more features and lower hardware and page costs. \u201cThat perfect storm of events will cause a huge influx of inkjet into the office.\u201d<\/p>\n

These devices are slowly changing users\u2019 and the industry\u2019s perception of inkjet in the office. \u201cOne of the criticisms of inkjet is that it can\u2019t stand up to the volume of laser,\u201d notes Slawetsky. \u201cBut can it stand up to one tenth of the volume? Because that\u2019s the issue and I think it can.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Monitoring<\/a>

Monitoring Activity in Fraser-AIS’s Global Support Center.<\/p><\/div>\n

Service Goes Remote<\/strong><\/p>\n

You can\u2019t underestimate how the emergence of remote diagnostics and the ability to remotely install updates and patches or fixes have changed the nature of copier service. Of course onsite break-fix service is still a necessity, but the ability to offer proactive service through remote diagnostics, and fix issues before a customer calls with a problem, has been a significant development for this industry.\u00a0 This has only accelerated within the connected world thanks again to the transition from analog to digital. With the emergence of mobile applications and the cloud, remote diagnostics continues to evolve in ways that could never have been imagined 25 years ago.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One might think that as we close in on the final 10 most significant events in the office imaging industry of the past 25 years that the list would start thinning out with events that might not be all that significant. You\u2019re free to think that, however, as someone who has been floating around this industry for more than 25 years I don\u2019t think that I\u2019m anywhere close to scraping the bottom of the barrel. Maybe if I\u2019d extended the list to 40, that would be the case, but with only 25, there\u2019s bound to be a few key events that somehow didn\u2019t make the list either because no one mentioned them when I was soliciting ideas or they might have fallen to #26 or #30 if I went with all the suggestions I received during the past four months. With that in mind let\u2019s take a look at five more significant events from the past 25 years. MFP Security Flaws Create an Opportunity for the Office Imaging Industry Based on the response the OEMs and BTA had to that CBS News story a few years back regarding security breaches on MFP hard drives, the industry has been security conscious ever since. It\u2019s not like this was an issue that had been ignored by the OEMs. Companies like Ricoh and Sharp were raising awareness for security long before the rest of the industry took it seriously and turned what was a perceived liability into an opportunity. One can credit Bob Goldberg and the BTA with being proactive in addressing this issue and bringing the OEMs and the leasing companies together to correct any misconceptions about hard drive security and what the industry and end users can do to protect themselves. While Ricoh and Sharp were ahead of the curve on this issue, the rest of the industry is now squarely on board and you\u2019ll find most OEMs, dealers, solutions providers , and leasing companies have made device security a key component of their hardware and services offerings. The Mobile Workforce \u201cThe rapid ascent of mobile devices in recent years, coupled with the arrival of millennials into the workforce, may collectively be the start of what we ultimately see as one of the most significant events in the office imaging industry,\u201d predicts BTA\u2019s Brent Hoskins. \u201cWe will likely look back on the dawn of these two realities as having the greatest impact on the industry in terms of changing its course.” That\u2019s an intriguing parallel and no doubt those millennials are one of the factors that\u2019s driving the mobile revolution. Most players in the industry have embraced mobility and are bringing out products, solutions, and services that acknowledge the workforce is no longer tethered to a desk and that access needs to be anywhere, any time. Indeed, it\u2019s a rare OEM, solutions, or services provider that is not thinking about or incorporating mobility into what they do or thinking about how to leverage this opportunity. The Direct Distribution Dilemma What independent dealer\u2019s business, particularly in major markets, hasn\u2019t been affected by competition from direct distribution? Direct distribution has had a huge affect on the industry. The most notable impact of direct distribution over the years has been price erosion and the commoditizing of the box. The box may have become commoditized anyway, but direct operations where the goal is to move boxes no matter what the cost, has proved to be more harmful than not to the industry in the long term. Many OEMs have embraced direct distribution, bringing with it an unlevel playing field. To be fair, however, we have seen some efforts in the not too distant past to alleviate that situation and eliminate the bad blood between the dealer community and their OEMs. Although things seem to have improved for the better with some OEM direct operations, there\u2019s no denying that the crazy prices and wacky cost per copy quotes, some of which is routed in direct distribution, have had a dramatic impact on the industry and the reverberations of the direct distribution model continues to echo throughout the industry. The Rise of Inkjet Technology in the Office This is one of those events that\u2019s going on as you read this. \u201cIt\u2019s always kind of been there, but was never sensible for three reasons\u2014it was slow, the [output] quality was questionable, the [operating] costs were high\u2014other than that it was great,\u201d observes Industry Analysts Lou Slawetsky. During the past few years the industry has seen inkjet devices coming to market with higher speeds, improved output quality, and lower operating costs. Think the HP Pro series, which is 70-ppm color inkjet at prices in the $700-$800 range. \u201cThey claim that the cost per page is half what it is for laser,\u201d says Slawetsky. \u201cIt may not be half, but it\u2019s less. The quality is better than it has been, and it\u2019s still good and it\u2019s cheap to the point where you could probably buy 10 or 15 70-ppm color inkjet systems for what you would pay for one 70 ppm laser color system.\u201d What Slawetsky is seeing is a new generation of inkjets from HP, Memjet and others operating at higher speeds and capable of handling higher volumes while providing more features and lower hardware and page costs. \u201cThat perfect storm of events will cause a huge influx of inkjet into the office.\u201d These devices are slowly changing users\u2019 and the industry\u2019s perception of inkjet in the office. \u201cOne of the criticisms of inkjet is that it can\u2019t stand up to the volume of laser,\u201d notes Slawetsky. \u201cBut can it stand up to one tenth of the volume? Because that\u2019s the issue and I think it can.\u201d Service Goes Remote You can\u2019t underestimate how the emergence of remote diagnostics and the ability to remotely install updates and patches or fixes have changed the nature of copier service. Of course onsite break-fix service is still a necessity, but the ability to offer proactive service through remote diagnostics, and fix issues […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[82],"tags":[120,122,127,1439,203,1167,1437,433,1436,1438,261],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6974"}],"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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6974"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6979,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6974\/revisions\/6979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}