Where were you in ’92? That was 22 years ago. How about in 1989, 25 years ago? Many of us were smack dab in the middle of this industry, doing some of the same things we’re doing now, or laying the groundwork for where we are today.
This month we’re going to look at what some of the movers in shakers in this industry consider the 25 most notable events of the past 25 years. I’m sure you can guess what some of those are, and for some of the subsequent events, it’s been somewhat of a domino effect with one event leading to another and so on.
With the exception of the first event on the list, which is arguably the most significant, the other four events appearing this week and the remainder that will appear over the next few weeks are not in any particular order of significance.
The Transition from Analog to Digital
Without a doubt, the most significant event of the past 25 years on virtually everyone’s list is the transition from analog to digital. Indeed, many of the most significant events, at least technology wise of the past 25 years, are rooted in that transition.
“Everything that has happened is because we’re in a digital world,” observes Frank Cannata of Marketing Research Consultants, publishers of The Cannata Report. “If you look at the past 25 years, that’s it.”
“It brought printing, copying, network copying, which opened up service opportunities and a whole stream of annuities for dealers that couldn’t survive on copier clicks,” adds Bob Sostilio. “The transition from analog to digital updated all aspects of the business and the industry. It brought the copier dealer into the printing industry and provided them with the ability to sell digital presses.”
And for those who want to give credit where credit is due, the Ricoh DS320 holds the distinction of being one of the first digital copiers to reach the market. “It was big and clunky and cost a lot of money and nobody had a clue what you could do with a digital copier at that time and it sold diddly squat,” recalls Bill Melo, vice president marketing, services and solutions for Toshiba who was with a Ricoh subsidiary at the time of the DS320 launch. “When an OEM releases something to a subsidiary they have to figure out what to do with it, so what did we do, we learned a lot about what these things could do so when a couple of years later they released the Aficio line (either the 200 or 250), that’s the product in my mind that blew the doors off the digital transition. The first viable, cost was right, performance was right, timing was right because people were using networks. But if we didn’t have DS320 two years earlier, we wouldn’t have known what to do with the second one.”
The Death of the Standalone Fax Machine
What goes up usually comes down and after a meteoric rise in the 1980’s, standalone fax machines took a nose dive with the advent of MFPs, the Internet and e-mail communications with the latter two effectively sounding the final death knell for fax. It was a nice ride while it lasted. Besides the obvious OEMs who remain relevant in the MFP space today, the fax industry saw companies like Dex, Fujitsu, Telautograph/Omnifax, Sanyo, and many others try to make a go of it. Some succeeded for a while, doing their best to raise awareness (Anyone remember who put out the brochure targeting end users with the corny title, “Just the Fax…”?), but virtually all have either abandoned the fax space or departed the office technology scene altogether.
The Dawn of and Dominance of the Copier-Based MFP
Was there ever any doubt from the moment the first MFP was introduced that this would become the most dominant device in the office? Of course there were doubts, but time and history have secured the copier-based MFP’s status across all brands. As Mike Pietrunti, senior vice president of Global Imaging Systems recalls how 15-20 years ago few people scanned anything and if they did they had a separate scanner, a separate fax machine, a separate printer, and a copier. “It was anyone’s guess where that would all go,” he says. “The bottom line is it’s amazing that the copier was the base platform that won—everything was integrated into the copier.”
And yes, this dominance is all because of that analog to digital transition.
The Emergence of the Internet
Think about it, without the Internet, what would this industry look like today? Dealers might still be selling fax machines and there would be less concern about declining page volumes. The Internet has paved the way for a wealth of new solutions and applications along with the emergence of Managed Print Services and Managed Network Services. That emergence, in the view of MWAi’s Mike Stramaglio can be traced back to around 1996, culminating in the birth of Google in 1998.
“The world took its first steps forward and boy were they big steps!” exclaims Stramaglio. “Most of the world’s knowledge was at your fingertips at a moment’s notice and this pushed the envelope for the ‘everything and everyone connected’ world.”
The Cost per Copy Concept
In the early days of the copier industry the customer purchased or leased equipment and then acquired a separate service agreement with or without supplies. The Cost per Copy concept approach was one of those events that completely shook up the industry as customers could now bundle equipment, service, and supplies into one with a cost per copy for a stated minimum volume per month. “Not only did this assure the dealer that the customer would get all three elements from them, but it locked the customer into a fixed rate per copy for a fixed volume over a stated term,” recalls Hunter McCarty, COO with RJ Young in Nashville, TN. “Many leasing companies had to adapt to the new method of acquiring the products and services, but it certainly gave [dealers] an advantage.”
