Chicago—Give Sharp a lot of credit. The manufacturer could have used the final leg of its four-city 2019 Dealer Roadshow tour to extol the virtues of its celebrated MFP fleet, which captured the Keypoint Intelligence – Buyers Lab 2019 Copier MFP Line of the Year, as well as Read More

It’s not uncommon for dealers who are new to a peer group to be a bit bashful initially. You look around the room and see dozens of grizzled veterans representing big-name dealerships, and the tendency is to sit quietly and let the heavy hitters do all the talking. But don’t sell Read More

Listening is often a lost art form. Sometimes, we get so caught up in what we know and believe without really giving a different viewpoint the attention it deserves. Look no further than the current political climate; we’d be hard pressed to find a juncture in recent memory where Read More

After 35 years in the industry, Bob Moore has learned several irrefutable truths. First, a provider is only as good as the people behind it, which includes employees, partners and suppliers. Second, no entity can last 40 years without adapting to changing technologies and Read More

With the Seattle Space Needle looming in the backdrop of the company’s block-wide main campus, Copiers Northwest has some impressive technology and retail heavyweight neighbors in the form of Amazon and Facebook, with Microsoft a short distance away and Google soon to set up shop Read More

At the risk of ending up on Bernie Sanders’ newsletter distribution list, we operate under a capitalist system that enables businesses to acquire vast amounts of properties, resources (both tangible and intellectual) and advantages of scale. This can create a distinct chasm Read More

In our previous look at vertical-driven business, we examined the art of developing competencies within a given set of market spaces. This time around, we’re asking our panel to provide a glimpse of what the vertical market approach may look like going forward. For CPI Read More

One of the elements of the Konica Minolta dealer conference, held in Newport Beach, CA, from March 4-6, was the solid array of products manufactured by the OEM and some offerings displayed in tandem with technology partners. We’ve selected a half-dozen points throughout the expo Read More

Rick Taylor will be the first person to tell you that he relishes competition. The president and CEO of Konica Minolta strolled the stage of the cavernous and intimidating Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, CA, reminiscent of Titus holding court in the Roman Colosseum. Read More

It might be said that RJ Young’s recent acquisition of Automated Imaging Systems (AIS) was 15 years in the making, but only needed 30 days for completion. RJ Young President and CEO Chip Crunk had been discussing the possibility of acquiring the Monroe, LA-based dealership with Read More

How does a dealership like Kelley Imaging Systems of Kent, WA—or any dealer for that matter—employ sales reps that have some specialization in certain vertical markets, but can talk the talk of a given market space without having a majority of its business in any one or two Read More

I had the pleasure of attending the Konica Minolta event this week (which we’ll profile in next week’s newsletter).  A rash of recent trips got me to thinking about flying adventures. We’ve all had our shares of canceled, rescheduled and delayed flights, prompting headaches and Read More

As an industry, we spend a great deal of timing focusing on the tools and technology that help keep office technology dealers and their clients on the cutting edge of automation and workflow enhancements that enable them to thrive and prosper. But as any top executive will tell Read More

OK, so the calendar reads March 1, and I’m as ready for spring to arrive as the next fellow. But February always gets the short-shrift, and IT security is too important of a topic to abbreviate. So given this, gentle readers, we’re going to pretend it’s Feb. 29 and take one more Read More

Over the course of nearly 20 years, Guy Gecht has been the face of Silicon Valley technology heavyweight Electronics for Imaging (EFI). He has transformed and transmogrified the company from a single product line and OEM business model to a multifaceted digital provider. Along Read More