Futuristic or Not, the Next Big Thing Weighs Heavily on Minds of Office Technology Dealers

As much as we’d like to say the next big thing for office technology dealers is something driven by artificial intelligence or tied together by the Internet of Things, the truth of the matter is that those are not nearly the most important aspects about tomorrow’s office or the future of work. It doesn’t have to be technologically sexy, or draw shock and awe from onlookers. No, for now, sliced bread can maintain its tired title as the great thing.

Honestly, the greatest thing that could be said about serving tomorrow’s office, today and forever after, is that your company is relevant and active in the industry. That your dealership is not only viable, but thriving in a landscape that is clearly evolving, and what that will ultimately look like in three to five years is anyone’s best guess. But this we know for certain—whatever that future holds, we can be certain that printing will be less of a factor with each progressing year.

We’re not Nostradamus; there’s no crystal ball (or even a Magic 8 Ball) that will predict how strong the movement away from prints will continue. But look at the industry forecasts, many of which illustrate that the millennial generation will dominate the workforce by 2027. They get a bad rep for being print haters, which is a bit overblown. But have we seen any projections that foretell a future where the demand for printed output, at least in the office universe, will increase?

Like a balloon that loses a little air each day, we can see where volumes are going. And while the banging of the diversification drum can get to be a little annoying after a while, your ability to change up the conversation you’re having with customers will go a long way toward setting (or extending) your business mortality.

Recognizing Trends

Plus Inc. is a 61-year-old, family-owned dealership in Greenville, South Carolina, that is currently into its third generation. Plus has been around since the days of typewriters and adding machines (hence the name, as adding machines only featured a plus or minus bar back in the day). Typewriters were a lucrative business, aided by contracts. They started to go away, as did the dealerships that offered them. President David Carson was young enough not to be worried about the major shift that was taking place in his business, and Plus kept reinventing itself as the technologies changed over the years. Plus moved into the digital copier realm around 2000.

“Definitely, in the last 12-24 months, the recognition of the print shift has begun to infiltrate our company to the point where it’s recognizable,” Carson observed. “We have a lot of changes coming.”

If I put a rep on the street, 99 times out of 100, the rep is going to want to talk about copiers—who are you with and when is your lease up? That’s where the money tends to be. But rarely is it that you have a talk track that no one else is doing.

David Carson, Plus

In recent years, Plus has amped up its efforts as an IT services provider, which has helped to augment revenues. And last year, while attending Ricoh’s ConvergX dealer conference, Carson took a hard look at the company line of interactive white boards (IWB). In them, he saw not only a cool niche, but an opportunity to refocus conversations with customers while still driving business toward the copier and managed IT spaces.

After a Ricoh rep had the device installed and running at Plus, Carson began to work with the IWB and quickly fell in love with it. It operates with a Windows 10 system and enables users to write on it, but Carson knew that most of his educational and manufacturing customers already had solutions such as the Promethean. But up-and-down-the-street SMBs would have the same reaction he did. While Plus has only offered them for a few months, he’s already calling the technology a “game changer.”

“People didn’t know they needed it,” he said of the IWBs. “But once they got their hands on it, they couldn’t do without them.”

Techs on Parade

Another dealer who follows the “eat-what-you-cook” edict is Pearson-Kelly Technology of Springfield, Missouri, which has its headquarters decked out as a demo room (though it does have demo rooms, in addition). Among its smart office solutions are the Teem-brand conference room sharing tool; The Receptionist, a virtual reception desk through iPad; cloud fax; PaperCut; secure file transfer; Citrix File Share for cloud-based document routing and digital approval workflows; and hosted VoIP, among others.

All of these solutions speak to the concept that “work is wherever you are,” notes President Chelsey Bode, who pointed out that Pearson-Kelly will soon be adding Konica Minolta’s WorkPlace Hub at its headquarters to build upon the Workplace of the Future conversation.

“We are constantly trying to find more-efficient ways to digitally emulate our current processes or streamline them to make them better,” she said. “While simple, when we look at what we need as an organization to take us five years forward, we usually find our ideal client is focused on this as well. This observation allows us to be more of a real partner and enables us to focus on the pain points and proven solutions for other offices, too.

We are constantly trying to find more-efficient ways to digitally emulate our current processes or streamline them to make them better.

Chelsey Bode, Pearson-Kelly Technology

“Our evolution was less about offering beyond-the-box solutions and more about solving real efficiency challenges in our business and other businesses alike. Not to mention, mobility is vital in today’s workforce.”

Being the parent of two youngsters brings the mobile capability more into focus for Bode. She can answer her work phone from an app on her mobile or Mac. She’s able to host face-to-face video conferences via screen sharing and can sign approval documents through the Citrix File Share solution—all while home making chicken noodle soup when a child comes down sick.

While Pearson-Kelly typically delivers solutions designed for the general office setting, some are better suited for certain vertical markets. The dealer focuses on those technologies tailored to a specific workflow or pain point. Virtual Receptionist has proved to be a great conversation starter, but is more of a gateway to higher margin solutions such as cloud fax and PaperCut. The latter, while better suited to educational needs, has found entry into commercial businesses.

Anticipating Challenges

Being able to anticipate a client’s future needs is not an act of guesswork or speculation. At Impact of Lake Forest, Illinois, the dealership conducts periodic business reviews with all clients, which provides the opportunity to identify their challenges in general, beyond areas where Impact currently provides assistance. According to Jon Evans, director of solutions architecture, and Mark Sengstock, director of enterprise solutions, the dealer was able to identify trends in the challenges confronting their customers. This compelled Impact to expand its portfolio to offer solutions to address those challenges.

In the process, Impact spun off several new and expanded departments, including its managed IT, ERP and RPA/BPO teams. Impact also expanded its vCIO service to coach IT customers on the evolving landscape of available technology to clients.

Through an analysis of existing processes, we can find the inefficiency, target that process and recommend solutions blended from our toolbox.

Jon Evans, Impact

“The technology that we’ve had success providing our customers runs the gamut from sophisticated managed print software all the way to custom web applications,” Evans said. “In between, we have a portfolio that includes business process optimization tools, robotic process automation, rapid customer application development, enterprise content management and cloud-based ERP.”

In devising or offering solutions tools, Impact considers several measuring sticks: One, how does it solve the business problem, and two, how does it influence the organization to move forward, or transform, to a more agile, scalable and (ultimately) more efficient entity? Regardless of whether the efficiency gain is in print output or robotic process automation of repetitive processes, it’s always geared toward solving the business problem.

We do not target specific verticals. Our cloud ERP and other offerings are meant for the entire SMB market—manufacturing, distribution or field service, to name a few.

Mark Sengstock, Impact

Rather than taking a vertical approach, Impact targets departments and processes. “Through an analysis of existing processes, we can find the inefficiency, target that process and recommend solutions blended from our toolbox,” Evans said.

Sengstock added, “We do not target specific verticals. Our cloud ERP and other offerings are meant for the entire SMB market—manufacturing, distribution or field service, to name a few. These verticals all share the same departmental challenges, and we are well suited to help.”

Millennial Mavens

For the younger generation of office technology dealership owners who aren’t beholden to old-school traditions, embracing newer technologies that provide office gains is second nature. Such is the case with DOCUmation of San Antonio, Texas, where co-Presidents Hunter and Preston Woolfolk—millennials both—see the evolution of their business through the smart office of the future.

“We’re fully committed to the office of the future and diversifcation, such as the Ricoh IFPDs, which we call smart boards, projectors and other products that help us achieve that aim,” Hunter Woolfolk noted. “We needed to get a head start on this to make sure, in the event that something happens to our print market and those revenues, that we have diversified to other services businesses need.”

Conference services, as DOCUmation calls it, is the next step in an evolution that has already touched our personal lives. With software solutions like FaceTime enabling constantly mobile family members to connect with one another, those experiences and others through social media and other digital platforms have become must-haves in the business realm.

Our world is run off of human interaction; we need to be able to see the facial expressions, the reactions to what they say, so we can read them.

Hunter Woolfolk, DOCUmation

Like Plus Inc. and Pearson-Kelly Technology, DOCUmation is an ardent user of smart office technology; in this case, Ricoh’s IFPDs. DOCUmation has nine different service and sales locations that blanket all of Texas. Having the smart boards enables Woolfolk to meet with them face-to-face on a regular basis without needing to constantly board a plane. Being able to read body language, non-verbal cues and other gestures provides that insight he needs to effectively communicate with his various teams, something a conference call cannot provide.

“Our world is run off of human interaction; we need to be able to see the facial expressions, the reactions to what they say, so we can read them,” he said. “That’s why email is such a poor form of communication. You can’t hear the tone, you can’t see the body expressions.”

Seeking Solutions

Woolfolk tried several other smart board options, but found some lacking in connectivity or video quality. So he tasked DOCUmation’s IT department to devise the best, most-effective conference rooms in each location. Knowing his own frustrations and the need for quality components to maximize the remote meeting experience has paid dividends in the dealer’s understanding of what their customers need to be successful.

“Anybody who needs to be able to communicate effectively to remote locations needs this technology,” Woolfolk said. “I believe that this will be the business technology of the future, just like a printer or server is. This is the way businesses will communicate across the world.”

For LDI Color ToolBox of New York City, the dealer’s success has always been rooted in understanding and providing the products and services where client requirements and emerging technologies intersect. According to Brian Gertler, senior vice president, the dealer’s greatest success stories leverage the core disciplines that its business is built upon, including copy, scan, send, print and document workflow technologies.

Gertler noted that incorporating the new AI/AR solutions enhance LDI’s base offerings and supply a logical migration path to its clients. The benefits are recognized across multiple vertical platforms.

VNTANA uses our showroom in Times Square to demonstrate their latest technologies and entertain carriage trade prospects and customers, primarily in entertainment and at the creative agencies.

Brian Gertler, LDI Color ToolBox

Partnership Potential

A somewhat unexpected networking opportunity arose two years ago when the dealer was interviewing for a marketing/sales position. The candidate interviewed with LDI and VNTANA, a social augmented reality company that developed a V-3 hologram system which can project holograms without wearables. Users can also manipulate the holograms with gestures.

The candidate ultimately went with VNTANA, but she thought LDI’s showroom could provide a platform to house the company’s hologram kiosk. While a bit off the beaten office technology path, LDI welcomed VNTANA as a strategic partner, and gave the dealer a truly unique entry in the world of AR.

“VNTANA uses our showroom in Times Square to demonstrate their latest technologies and entertain carriage trade prospects and customers, primarily in entertainment and at the creative agencies,” Gertler explained. “That set the stage for our strategic partnership and LDI’s recognition of the importance of AI and AR as an emerging category.”

Another example of a dealership that has weathered the business need shifts of the end user is Woodhull LLC of Springboro, Ohio. With 69 years under its belt, Woodhull’s primary objective is to provide consultative insight to help customers wade through their processes and focus on what is a priority to them.

Woodhull also takes advantage of Ricoh’s Intelligent Workplace Services portfolio. On the front end, the dealer’s biggest success with Ricoh has been its commercial imaging and scanning services, for which the OEM recognized Woodhull as having the highest revenue in commercial imaging across the United States. In providing digitized documents, Woodhull is able to provide a more consultative approach and can now use the smart board on the back end to close the workflow process.

Those scanned documents, taken to the Ricoh interactive flat panel displays or white board, can enable a construction company with multiple locations to see, edit and comment on blueprints in real time. “It provides added layers of communication to enable remote parties to better collaborate and work together,” said Robert Woodhull, marketing manager. “That’s where we’re going to take a little more time to be consultative through that process. For Woodhull, it’s the beginning of our philosophy; we’re always looking to create a partnership with our clients. We are more than a vendor and they are more than a client because we are partners. Woodhull’s success in our client partner’s environment directly impacts that client’s success.”

Woodhull’s success in our client partner’s environment directly impacts that client’s success.

Robert Woodhull, Woodhull

One of Woodhull’s greatest success stories is an international glass company that acquired seven white boards that allow them to work on a manufacturing level internally, as well as communicate with its headquarters in China. Woodhull has also enjoyed success in bringing its white boards to trade shows for the educational space.

“The white boards provide an interactive feature that they haven’t always seen in other offerings,” Woodhull noted. “And from our perspective, this conversation allows us to take a back-door approach to dialogs about MFPDs and really expand that conversation.”