Clearly, it can be difficult to put a finger on what the future will look like in terms of technologies that will help to push the office technology dealer space forward. But while the picture may remain a bit fuzzy, we’re already aware of some of the drivers that will act as the paint and canvas.
We continue this month’s look at the 2020 trends and predictions offered by our esteemed panel of industry heavyweights, in conjunction with our January State of the Industry review.
The conversation about print consumption is somewhat of a boring and well-worn topic of conversation for Mike Stramaglio, president of MWAi, which flies under the flag of All Covered’s Business Consulting Services. A more compelling narrative is the one around artificial intelligence and machine learning. He’s particularly intrigued by the A.I. component that works in tandem with the senses—sight, sound and touch. From retina scans at airports to fingerprint-enabled functionality, he believes more applications will come to light during the course of the year, some of which will have an impact on the office space.
“AI hasn’t really made an impact yet in our industry, and the reason for that is some of the old technologies don’t embrace it well,” he said. “But I see these things being brought to the market more quickly, and I think it’s going to impact our channel dramatically.”
Seller Beware
As the movement toward managed services garners even more steam during 2020, some believe that the new year’s predecessor offered up its share of cautionary tales. Included in that group is Todd Hirshorn, president of RingByName, warns that budding MSPs should not regard their offerings as a full-blown panacea to their goals.
“I think 2019 will show that managed services are not a silver bullet,” he said. “Some of them come with responsibilities that leave dealers vulnerable. An example is many of the dealers who wanted to offer cybersecurity found that the risk is not worth the revenue.”
In an age where online competition has gained an edge through convenience, Laryssa Alexander—president of the field service division for ECi Software Solutions—strong customer experience is the key to combating one-click ordering of toner and paper.
“Personal relationships with customers and a willingness to adapt based on customer and employee feedback make small and medium-sized dealers unique,” Alexander said. “Those human relationships can be augmented by the intelligence provided by predictive analytics and the IoT, but no technology can truly replace the personal touch of working directly with vendors and partners.”
Consolidation is poised to bring about further change in the dynamic between the dealer relationship with OEMs and other technology providers, according to Wouter Koelewijn, chief of products for Y Soft. He expects the volume of deals will yield to larger acquisitions within the various player sets of the industry.
In addition, he noted, “ISVs (independent software vendors) will expand print management to the cloud for both SMB and enterprise, and begin to incorporate other areas that are traditionally MPS-related, such as fleet management, data analytics and IT services.”
Stephanie Keating Phillips, director of solutions for Advanced Imaging Solutions, believes the dealer quest to branch out into other ancillary offerings will lead many companies to give industrial printing. She’s speaking from experience, as Advanced Imaging Solutions has made great strides in offering larger production units. “Whether it is embellishment, wide-format, label, packaging, color and effects, these types of devices will help customers continue to differentiate themselves from the competition,” she said.
