If it’s December, it must be time to look back over the past year and reminisce about the year’s Top 10 stories. As is often the case, some of these stories are big ones, some of them are not quite as big, and others are ongoing trends that continue to impact the office imaging industry. Let’s recap.
The HP Breakup – As of today this is still the biggest story of the year, but over time this story may be relegated to a footnote. Whether or not it will significantly impact HP or its channels going forward is yet to be seen. Realistically, it will likely have more of an internal impact on HP as opposed to a channel impact. After all, HP’s printer division will continue to introduce hardware along with associated solutions and supplies as they’ve always done.
It’s Not the Hardware, It’s the Applications – Recognizing that it’s become increasingly difficult if not impossible to differentiate themselves in the hardware arena, OEMs continue to ramp up their application/software/solutions offerings. Recent announcements from Lexmark with its AccuRead Automate, Kyocera and its CentraQ PRO and CentraQ, along with apps from Konica Minolta, Sharp, Canon, and Ricoh underscore this trend. You name an OEM, they’re in the app business and transforming the industry towards a more solutions-oriented approach. But let’s be realistic, this is still an approach designed ultimately to sell more hardware.
3D Printing: An Overrated Opportunity or Not? – As more dealers jump on the 3D printing band wagon, office imaging industry press and analysts have been quick to embrace this great big new talking point. But is this a true opportunity or one that is overrated and one that will represent nothing more than a small niche in a dealer’s product menu? Yes, some dealerships like Fraser-AIS and The ACT Group are scoring solid wins in this area, and Konica Minolta has taken a huge leap by partnering with 3D Systems while HP has just entered the 3D game with an interesting new 3D printing technology that won’t be available until 2016, but will these organizations prove to be the exception rather than the rule?
Managed Services Gains Momentum – This is another one of those ongoing, never ending top stories. As Konica Minolta’s All Covered Network continues to grow and more dealers turn to third parties such as GreatAmerica’s Collabrance and others for their Managed IT expertise, Managed Services is perilously close to hitting the mainstream. And with Ricoh’s acquisition of mindSHIFT (see story below), there is no time like the present for dealers to transition into the Managed Services/Managed IT world. This was a key talking point at the Executive Connection Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona this past October with Paul Dippell, CEO of Service Leadership, making the concept of transitioning into Managed IT less threatening through his presentation “Success Traits of Office Equipment Companies with Top Managed IT Results.”
Ricoh Americas Buys mindSHIFT – This story goes back to January when Ricoh announced that it had reached an agreement to buy mindSHIFT Technologies Inc., a provider of managed IT, cloud, data center and professional services to small and mid-sized organizations, from Best Buy Co., Inc. The acquisition expanded and deepened Ricoh’s services portfolio. According to Ricoh, the addition of mindSHIFT’s nationwide expertise and customer service professionals will bring a wide array of benefits to the customers Ricoh is currently serving through its proven services organization of more than 8,000 specialists. Ricoh’s acquisition of one of the leading Managed Service providers in the U.S. squarely positions itself to further expand its IT services offerings and position themselves as one of the industry’s foremost IT Services providers. Incidentally, Ricoh already had an IT Services business, but with this acquisition, the $20 million a year they’d been generating from that business has the potential to grow exponentially and allow them to compete on a more even playing field with some of their other competitors who are following that same path.
HP Launches Officejet Enterprise Color Series – With this announcement, one can say that HP has redefined the business inkjet printer and MFP segment, or maybe they’ve defined it. The Officejet Enterprise Series prints at up to 70 ppm and has a black ink cartridge rated for a substantial and very un-traditional inkjet like 10,000 pages. The centerpiece of the product line includes the Officejet Enterprise Color Flow X585z, which offers advanced document scanning (63 ipm) and distribution, a full-size retractable keyboard, single-pass duplex scanning via a 100-sheet automatic document feeder, and scan-and-send to the cloud. The new products include the Officejet Enterprise Color X555xh printer ($1,199 MSRP) and Officejet Enterprise Color X555dn Printer ($749 MSRP), and three MFPs, the Officejet Enterprise Color X585dn MFP ($1,999 MSRP), Officejet Enterprise Color X585f MFP ($2,299 MFP), and Officejet Enterprise Color Flow X585z MFP ($ 2,799 MSRP). These devices follow HP’s 2013 introductions of the Officejet Pro X page-wide business inkjets. What makes these notable and noticeable for the channel is that the Officejet Enterprise Color series has many of the same features as the HP LaserJet Enterprise devices, including solutions support, more robust scanning, and an 8-inch touch control panel. Operating costs that are competitive with workgroup laser devices could shake things up in the office imaging channel even further.
Nuance Acquires NSi – This acquisition from July of this year flew well under the radar, so if you blinked you might have missed it. There was no press announcement although there was some press coverage. Between its earlier acquisitions of eCopy and Equitrac, Nuance has put together a formidable menu of document imaging software within the office imaging space. With the addition of Notable Solutions, Inc. (NSi) that menu has become even more formidable. NSi’s solutions blend mobile and document capture with intelligent routing and secure delivery of information into business applications or other destinations, which made it an ideal acquisition target. You might also remember that a couple of years ago NSi acquired Barr Systems, an output management solution that competes in some of the same segments and applications as Nuance’s Equitrac software so there is additional synchronicity there as well. As a result of this acquisition look for Nuance to expand its capture and output solutions offerings, and maybe even pick up some new customers. Bottom line: This is a key strategic acquisition for Nuance and strengthens its presence in the document capture space.
Samsung Introduces Android-Based MFPs – Office imaging analysts seem to be drooling over the first wave of 10 Android-based MFPs introduced in Europe earlier this fall, followed by the announcement that two of the four new MFPs for the U.S. market will be Android-based as well. Writing in the InfoTrends blog, InfoTrends analyst Barbara Richards and Christine Dunne said, “The most interesting aspect of this announcement is the integration of the Android operating system in Samsung’s latest office MFPs and the associated user experience (i.e., Android apps, a 10-inch touchscreen, haptic technology). In essence, the screen on these new MFPs resembles an Android tablet in terms of responsiveness and access to a full marketplace of consumer and business apps. This is a brilliant value proposition, as it capitalizes on an experience that users are already familiar with. Whereas other vendors have introduced their own app marketplaces and/or offer a narrow selection of apps and cloud connectors, Samsung’s new devices give them a marketplace they are already accustomed to—full of thousands and thousands of apps. Putting the MFP at the heart of the workflow is key to maintaining its relevance in today’s digital world. If workflows are taking place in the cloud via popular mobile apps, it is only logical the MFP is connected to this universe.” It’s no surprise then that when Samsung’s Todd Pike was asked at The Executive Connection Summit in Scottsdale, AZ in October, if he thought that other OEMs would follow Samsung’s lead in introducing similar type interfaces, his response was a succinct, “Yes.”
The Cloud Takes on Greater Importance in the Office Imaging Space – Let’s not get into whether or not anyone can monetize the cloud in a big way yet, because that’s something that’s still being worked out no matter how many cloud-based apps and services race to the forefront of the office imaging space. Instead, let’s just acknowledge that new solutions from the OEMs such as Sharp’s Cloud Portal, Kyocera’s Cloud Connect, and Ricoh’s Integrated Cloud Environment, as well as cloud-based services and solutions from many software and solutions providers, are providing the channel with answers to customers’ questions about cloud-based services, solutions and strategies. It’s not exactly at the tipping point yet, but this is a Top 10 story today and will continue to be one for the foreseeable future.
ECi Software Solutions Acquired by The Carlyle Group – Here’s a switch, instead of ECi making an acquisition as they’ve done so many times in the past, in March, the provider of industry-specific business management and e-commerce software solutions announced it has been acquired by global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group. At the time of the announcement, Ron Books, President and CEO of ECi Software Solutions said, “We are very happy to partner with The Carlyle Group to continue building our leading industry-specific business and e-commerce solutions across a variety of important industries. Carlyle is committed to investing in ECi as we support the entrepreneurial spirit and profitable growth of small and medium size enterprises. I am confident that with Carlyle, we have made the right choice for the future of our employees, our customers, and our business partners.” Reading between the lines in the press release that came out in March, don’t be surprised if this acquisition provides ECi with the capital to make more acquisitions as it becomes the office imaging and office products industries’ software powerhouse.
