There’s nothing like the beginning of a new year to trigger the process of reflection, evaluation and self-introspection. Regardless of how you want to tag it, we’re basically using January as the period to determine what’s working, what needs improving and which steps are needed to follow through on the desired enhancements.
As we embark on these New Year’s resolutions, business division, and continue our State of the Industry report on trends and predictions, we’ve queried some of the best and brightest the industry has to offer to see what they believe will make them (and their organizations) better business partners in 2025. Who knows, maybe you’ll want to glean an idea or two and elevate your own value proposition.
Joseph Dellaposta, Doing Better Business: In 2025, our approach to serving customers will be centered on innovation, adaptability and collaboration. To remain competitive and valuable to our partners, continuous innovation is essential. This means staying ahead of industry trends—like digital transformation, automation, and sustainability—and incorporating these advancements into our offerings. By providing cutting-edge, integrated solutions that not only meet but exceed our partners’ expectations, we position ourselves as proactive, forward-thinking partners.
In a rapidly evolving business landscape, adaptability is critical. Whether responding to economic shifts, supply chain disruptions or changing customer expectations, we must stay agile. This will involve refining our internal processes, enhancing our ability to pivot quickly, and developing flexible solutions that can scale with our partners’ needs.
Building stronger, more transparent relationships with our partners will also be a key priority. In 2025, it’s not just about offering products or services—it’s about working closely with our partners to understand their unique challenges and goals, and collaborating to develop solutions that drive mutual success.
Jacob Hardin, Epson: As a manufacturer, we understand and continue to recognize that the market landscape is changing dramatically toward software and data solutions driving the business. By being adaptable and working closely with our reseller partners to deliver this value alongside our hardware, we are strengthening ourselves as a trusted, more relevant and better business partner.
Kuoying Wang, Katun Corp.: The top priority is ensuring our clients’ business success. In 2025, we will continue to explore new ways to support our partners while maintaining our commitment to providing high-quality, reliable products. As an agile organization, we are flexible and responsive, allowing us to act quickly and offer tailored support to our dealer partners.
Karl Boissonneault, Xerox: As we enter 2025, the office technology sector offers vast opportunities for channel partners. Key challenges include hiring skilled staff and investing in training to build a strong workforce. With hybrid work rising and print demand declining, adapting to digital solutions is crucial. High demand for AI, automation and secure remote access solutions will drive growth. Dealers can seize market opportunities by focusing on managed print services, document management, AI-driven solutions, and cybersecurity.
Keep Focus on the Strategies to Pursue New Opportunities
Diversify Offerings: Expand beyond traditional copiers to include managed print services, digital workflow solutions and IT services. This helps meet the evolving needs of businesses, especially those transitioning to hybrid work environments.
Focus on Sustainability: Invest in products and services that minimize environmental impact, such as energy-efficient copiers and recycling programs to attract environmentally conscious clients. Highlighting sustainability efforts can be a key differentiator. End users will expect office technology to help them work toward their sustainability goals. This includes energy-efficient devices, materials that reduce negative environmental impact, and convenient recycling programs.
Leverage Technology: Integrating AI and automation into offerings will enhance productivity and efficiency for clients. It is crucial to stay up to date with the latest technological advancements to remain competitive.
Personalize Client Experience: Use data analytics to understand client needs and preferences to offer personalized solutions and exceptional service. For example, setting up and offering discounts for automatic payment methods can help build long-term relationships.
Enhance Cybersecurity Measures: Provide products and services to include robust security features and are easy to use to protect client data. Educating clients on cybersecurity best practices builds trust and loyalty.
Integrated Marketing: Creating a seamless client journey by integrating direct mail, email, social media and other digital channels to effectively engage clients. Personalized marketing efforts are key to maintaining client interest.
Educate Your Team: Continuous training of a sales team on the latest industry trends, technologies and client needs ensures they can better address pain points and close sales.
As we look towards the future, the office technology sector stands at a pivotal juncture. Despite the challenges there are significant opportunities for dealers to redefine their roles, expand into new markets, and become strategic partners in digital transformation.
Martin Golobic, GreatAmerica Financial Services: GreatAmerica has long sought to provide more than just a simple transactional experience with our customers and that will continue and grow in 2025. As we look at the diversification strategies of dealers and the other day-to-day business challenges they face, we are uniquely equipped to help them in multiple aspects of growing their business beyond leasing and financing. Additionally, our focus on technology, from frictionless transactions to embedded finance solutions, allows us to serve our customers in ways that make doing business with us easier than ever.
Mike Marusic, Sharp: We’re focused on helping our dealer partners stay ahead of the game. Sometimes this is just execution and, frankly, being stable. We continue to refine how we support our dealers and provide them with the necessary tools to succeed. We continue to be committed to offering tailored solutions, training and support to help dealers diversify and grow. Our goal is to help dealers understand the changing landscape, whether that’s offering new product categories or navigating OEM shifts. We also want to give them the tools to make smarter, data-driven decisions. It is going to be critical to be open and honest with the dealer community just as we were through the pandemic and supply chain crisis. By sharing insights on market trends, customer demands and successful diversification strategies, we can empower dealers to act and make informed decisions. We’re here to be the reliable partner who helps our dealers not just survive but thrive in this evolving market.
Hunter Woolfolk, DOCUmation: We will challenge our team to think bigger by exploring and pursuing growth initiatives. Dedicating more time to mentoring emerging leaders within the company, fostering a culture of innovation and growth.
Erik Braden, Braden Business Systems: To strengthen our role as a trusted partner, Braden will continue focusing on localized support, which has been a hallmark of our success. Rapid response times and local decision-making have always set us apart, and we aim to enhance that by streamlining processes and expanding our inventory for even faster resolutions. Transparent communication remains a priority—providing clients with clear insights into costs, performance, and strategies that will deepen our partnerships further.
In 2025, we are taking it a step further by aligning our services to deliver better outcomes, not just tools. Leveraging AI-driven solutions, we’ll proactively solve business problems, enhance cybersecurity defenses and tailor our services to meet each client’s unique goals. By integrating predictive and autonomous technologies, we’ll help clients achieve measurable results and ensure their operations run seamlessly.
Additionally, we’ll double down on thought leadership by sharing expertise through webinars, white papers, and events focused on pressing topics like AI, automation and security. By combining personalized support, innovative solutions and proactive insights, we’ll ensure our clients see us not just as a provider, but as a strategic partner critical to their success.
Patrick Flesch, Gordon Flesch Company: Listening closely to customer needs is something that GFC has excelled at in the past. However, as we focus on customer experience excellence, we look forward to connecting in new ways with our customers.
