Business perpetuity is a beautiful thing. People, by nature, seem to gravitate toward developing long-term relationships with those entities they do business with, but it can be a fragile bond. One tragic misstep can undo years of fostering goodwill between a vendor and end-user. Read More

I’ve got to be honest with you, the last few weeks have been a bit of a grind. We put out the call for our annual Difference Maker issue, and in the last couple of weeks of the submission period, we were hit with an unprecedented avalanche of nominees. Between collecting Read More

On the heels of last week’s look into how dealers took potential managed print services program implementation disasters, this week we’ve charted the measures dealers put into place to ensure the implementation process is a positive one. As is the case with any project, there is Read More

Those members of the imaging industry who knew and loved Paul Youngberg have two things in common: the game of golf and humorous stories. Youngberg, 77, passed away on Feb. 11 while on a long-planned trip to Florida with his wife Marilyn in their new motor home. He spent a Read More

Managed print services…an ideal program whose very name indicates three distinct elements. And as much as it can represent a recipe for success, missing any one ingredient can also spell disaster or, in a best-case scenario, a learning opportunity that can benefit the dealer’s Read More

Last week’s announcement that James Loffler would assume the mantle of president for Loffler Companies represented not so much a changing of the guard—after all, his father, Jim, remains at the CEO helm—but is more in the vein of the passing of a torch. It’s a celebration of the Read More

In tandem with this month’s State of the Industry report on managed print services, we’ve culled the thoughts of several major manufacturers about how dealers can optimize print management in the wake of the pandemic and the challenges it has visited upon end-users. The panel Read More

One could certainly argue that any substantive conversation regarding the genesis of managed print services (MPS) has to include Bill Melo, Toshiba America Business Solutions’ vice president of marketing and the unofficial dean/godfather of MPS. After all, Melo was at the Read More

During a year in which the office equipment industry and the business world at large were tackling the challenges of creating value and sustaining revenue under less-than-ideal conditions, HP spent a great deal of time, energy and resources focusing on the future. The Palo Alto, Read More

Sam Errigo isn’t worried about the market dropping two or three points in the coming year. The newly-promoted chief operating officer of Konica Minolta Business Solutions knows that, at the manufacturer’s current position of 17% share, there’s ample opportunity for gain. The Read More

If there’s one thing a dealership learns after 60 years in business, it’s that the firm will not be in business for another 60 years if it completely abandons what’s worked up until this point. That’s not to say that Topp Business Solutions is a slave to a decades-old approach of Read More

It’s not difficult to find a microcosm of what transpired in the world of managed print services (MPS) during 2020. These stories are everywhere, and this particular example—courtesy of Pulse Technology President and CEO Chip Miceli—truly epitomizes the degree of difficulty Read More

As we put the March State of the Industry theme of ancillary products and services to bed, we’ll conclude with a few thoughts from our dealer panel as to what their dealerships may be looking to add in the not-too-distant future. There are a few variables common to what most Read More

The IT distribution network was shaken by Monday’s announced merger between Synnex Corp. and Tech Data, a deal valued at (including debt) approximately $7.2 billion. Synnex shareholders will hold 55% of the combined entity, which will be led by Rich Hume, CEO of Clearwater, Read More

For any office equipment dealer looking to widen its product and service portfolio, there are ample options to pursue that require varying degrees of investment, from minimal (temperature-scanning devices) to considerable (managed IT)—with plenty of options in-between. And while Read More