The office technology dealership ushered in the new year with a trio of M&A deals, which continues the custom of waiting until after the holidays to reveal previously-closed transactions.
The 2021 calendar year kicks off with two acquisitions and a partnership. On the latter front, Impact Networking of Lake Forest, Illinois, forged an agreement with Quality Assured Office Machines of Lansing, Michigan. Applied Imaging of Grand Rapids, Michigan, struck a deal to obtain Lasers Resource, another Grand Rapids firm. Eakes Office Solutions acquired Schwarz Paper in a deal between Lincoln, Nebraska, companies.
Impact Networking, a leading managed service provider, is partnering with local office equipment provider, Quality Assured Office Machines, Inc. (QAOM), to expand into Northeast Wisconsin as Impact Northeast Wisconsin. This expansion and new team will be led by the QAOM leadership team, Marsha Muenster, chief operating officer of Impact Northeast Wisconsin, and Wendy Roberts, president of Impact Northeast Wisconsin.
This was one of two industry deals announced during the first week of 2021. Applied Imaging added Lansing, Michigan-based MPS specialist Lasers Resource.
For more than 40 years, QAOM has supported businesses in Northeast Wisconsin with a range of high-quality office technology and customized workflow solutions. This partnership allows them to expand their service offerings with the support of Impact’s infrastructure and knowledge to offer additional Impact solutions, including IT and cloud, cybersecurity, digital innovation (including RPA, ERP and ECM) and marketing and branding through ES99. Partnering with a local leader like QAOM allows Impact to work with a wider range of organizations in the Midwest.
The leadership team at QAOM will own a substantial part of the business, making Impact Northeast Wisconsin a woman-owned business. The team at QAOM will also remain the same.
“Wendy and I are extremely excited to partner with Impact Networking to lead the Quality Assured and Impact Northeast Wisconsin teams,” Muenster said. “We initially approached Impact about this partnership because we believed that Impact and QAOM were well-aligned and that the expansion of services would be a true benefit to our clients. We look forward to leading Quality Assured Office Machines and Impact Northeast Wisconsin, and having a successful, long-term partnership.”
“All of us at Impact are very excited to welcome our new partner, Quality Assured Office Machines, into the Impact family as the team behind Impact Northeast Wisconsin,” said Frank Cucco, Impact CEO. “Wendy, Marsha and their team bring the expertise and talent necessary to break into new markets, and through this partnership, we’ll help them to enhance what they do for their customers.”
Impact Northeast Wisconsin will have two locations, the existing Green Bay, Wisconsin, location that will remain as QAOM, and a new Appleton, Wisconsin, location that will be opening under the Impact Northeast Wisconsin brand in 2021.
Applied Imaging-Lasers Resource
Applied Imaging, one of the USA’s largest and most successful providers of office technology products and services, acquired Lasers Resource, a Grand Rapids-based managed print services (MPS) specialist, effective Dec. 1, 2020. All Lasers Resource locations will now operate under the Applied Imaging brand and their customers will now have access to the vast array of Applied Imaging’s products and services.
Lasers Resource was founded in 1991 as a laser printer toner remanufacturer but evolved over the years to focus on helping customers effectively manage their printer fleets with MPS and become an authorized HP printer reseller. Applied Imaging has also had a focus on MPS with their PrintSmart offering and with the acquisition will add the HP line-up of printers to its list of represented manufacturers.
Lasers Resource is the fourth acquisition Applied Imaging has completed during the COVID-19 pandemic; Kopy Sales in Traverse City, Michigan, Upstream Office Solutions in Tampa, Florida, and ACR in Luna Pier, Michigan. This acquisition is very strategic and will be important to adapting to changes in the industry.
“We plan to keep the entire Lasers Resource staff to make the transition seamless for their customers,” said John Lowery, Applied Imaging’s founder and president. “They’ve had an excellent reputation in our market for almost 30 years, so we’re excited to bring both their employees and their customers into the growing Applied Imaging family.”
“Both cultures are centered on people, innovation, and delivering an exceptional customer experience,” remarked Laser Resource CEO, Tom Senecal. “I’m excited that our customers now have access to many more products and services such as IT services, document management hardware and software products, document shredding, large format printing, facilities management and much more.”
Eakes Office Solutions-Schwarz Paper
Eakes Office Solutions announced it has acquired Schwarz Paper Company. Both companies are based in Lincoln, Nebraska. Schwarz has been locally owned and operated since 1899, serving the office, locker and janitorial supplies needs of businesses in Lincoln and throughout the state.
“We are thankful to everyone that helped us grow over the years. We are excited to join Eakes Office Solutions, and to be able to expand our products and services to all of our loyal customers.” said Knox Jones, president of Schwarz Paper Company. Jones will be joining Eakes, along with Andy Riddle and Pat Jones as janitorial specialists.
“Knox, Pat, Andy, and the rest of the team from Schwarz have a tremendous wealth of knowledge and experience in the janitorial products industry. Working together, we believe we can provide an even higher level of service to our customers throughout Nebraska.” said Mark Miller, president and CEO of Eakes.
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About Impact
Founded in 1999, Impact is one of the fastest-growing managed services providers in the nation, employing over 550 industry experts at 17 locations throughout the Midwest and West Coast. Beginning as a hardware dealer in an increasingly stagnant industry, Impact expanded into the business process optimization sector, helping businesses to reduce redundant, manual processes with intelligent automation. Today, Impact specializes in the conception, development and execution of customized strategies and solutions that improve technical, financial, operational and creative aspects of a business. The Impact suite of services includes intelligent process automation, managed IT and cloud services, print and document management, and branding and marketing. Recognized for rapid growth, continued innovation and company culture, Impact has been listed as an Inc. 5000 “America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies” nine years in a row, Entrepreneur Magazine “Top Company Culture” and Chicago Tribune “Top Places to Work.” In 2019, Impact will celebrate 20 years of successful growth with continued plans for rapid expansion in sales, solutions, employees and locations.
About Applied Imaging
Lowery founded Applied Imaging in 1987. From its roots in Grand Rapids, the company has grown to over 450 employees with offices in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Muskegon, Lansing, Traverse City, Flint, Petoskey, Alpena, Southfield and Ann Arbor, Michigan; Toledo, Ohio and Tampa, Florida. Applied Imaging’s business includes the sales and service of copiers, printers, wide format products, document storage and retrieval products, shredding/document destruction through their ShredHub division, and facilities management. The NetSmart Plus division offers IT infrastructure, software, cloud, security, managed services, carrier, and telephony solutions. Manufacturers represented by Applied Imaging now include Ricoh, Canon, Kyocera, HP, OnBase, Microsoft, Duplo and more.
