Every year this time we ask the various players in the office imaging hardware, solutions, services, and supplies space to share with us their top highlight of the year. If you’re a dealer or reseller, this makes for a fascinating and succinct recap of what occurred throughout the industry in 2014. We’ll be running 10-12 different highlights each week for the remainder of December. Let’s get started.
“This year was another milestone year for Ricoh dealers as they continued to support their customers’ demands for richer applications, improved efficiencies and higher ROI. They will have even more opportunities for high-end sales in 2015, with the recent introduction of new production color printers, including devices that lower the barrier of entry for high-value graphics arts applications. From office technology environments to commercial print, the services that support these and other solutions represent an important growth area for Ricoh’s dealer community. From managed document services, to color management, to workflow implementation, 2015 will usher in more chances for Ricoh dealers to deepen their existing customer relationships.” Jim Coriddi, vice president, Dealer Division, Ricoh USA
“EverBank Commercial Finance has seen impressive year-over-year growth exceeding 40 percent in its Office Products channel in 2014. Significant investments made in people, products and technology have resonated with independent dealers and manufacturers alike and continues to fuel new business relationships and deepen existing ones.” Fred Carollo, GM of Office Products Platform, Everbank Commercial Finance
“The 2014 highlight was that our resellers, who followed our newly introduced sales activity program, enjoyed an average growth rate of 73 percent in revenue with document management. This is a great testament to the growth potential of an office equipment dealer once they focus their efforts.” Thomas Schneck, President, DocuWare Group
“The highlight of 2014 has to be the launch of our DOCassess current state mapping app. As DOCassess (info@docassess.com) continues to gain global awareness user wanted greater flexibility to map print environments including end user customers in some cases. A great example was a dealer in the U.S. who was in the process of undertaking a major assessment with locations in Canada, U.S., and Europe. The app allowed the end user customer to download and map the current state and from the tablet check the floor plans into the web application where the dealer compiled and completed the assessment. The mapping app allows users to decide what device to map with, PC IOS MacBook, iPad, and Android tablets.” Mike Lamothe, President, Office Document Consulting
“IBPI (International Business Products Inc.—the largest buying group in our industry) continues to grow in size and in the benefits we provide to our Member dealers. In 2014, we linked with BTA Southeast to partner in a March 2015 event in Orlando that will advance the members of both groups! In addition, our membership nears 360 dealers, with many of the top independent dealers in the industry enjoying the IBPI advantages!” Randy Horshok, Executive Director, IBPI
“In our ninth year of consulting 2014 was another great year for Strategy Development. As companies focus more on growth and on adding additional products or services, like MNS and getting serious about MPS, senior management is getting more focused on putting strong sales management processes in place that ties directly into our strength.” Tom Callinan, Managing Principal, Strategy Development
“Our most notable highlight for 2014 was the launch of the EFI Fiery FS150 Pro digital front end (DFE), which offers unsurpassed image quality, seamless MIS/ERP integration, even easier to use automated workflows and Fiery HyperRIP, which provides a significant speed improvement, processing images up to 55 percent faster than Fiery Driven printers without the HyperRIP feature. According to Kaspar Roos, associate director of production workflow solutions at analyst firm InfoTrends, ‘EFI raised the bar again with its Fiery FS150 Pro. With its speed enhancements, better color management and productivity improvements, it is a perfect fit for demanding print environments.’” EFI
“In 2014, PrintReleaf will have ‘releafed’ its 100 millionth page of paper, which translates to 12,000 new trees being planted in regions where our planet needs them most. With more than 400 end customers, in the U.S. and Australia, these transactions included our first fully automated ‘end to end’ releaf, which means we’ve gone from printer data sent via the cloud to PrintReleaf, to a reforestation partner who has already planted trees in the ground.” Jordan Darragh, founder and CEO, PrintReleaf
“We’re going to achieve about 50 percent year over year growth. That’s probably our best achievement. And then the dealer ERP integrations and the additional Reno West Coast distribution center and the color laser adoption were responsible for almost all of our growth.” Bob Willmes, CEO, Supplies Wholesalers
“In December we celebrate 20 years in business, which is a milestone that wouldn’t have been attainable without the support of our customers, suppliers, and dedicated staff. This 20-year anniversary is a testament to our commitment to quality, innovation, and in creating enduring partnerships with our MSE family internally and in the dealer channel. We continue to be bullish about the future of the aftermarket imaging supplies business and we believe that our 20-year foundation built on quality products, quality people, and quality partnerships will continue to propel us forward and create successful collective futures.” Luke Goldberg, SVP, MSE
“Acquiring the two printer companies was a big one for us and that’s going to be a big part of our future.” Gary Willert, President & CEO, LMI
“Metrofuser launched an app in April 2014 that is available for both Apple and Android devices called TekSuite. Teksuite was built for professional printer service technicians that repair HP and Lexmark laser printers. It contains a knowledge base, reset codes and tons of other useful information for techs out in the field. The app was a major hit with both our current customers and prospects, too.” Eric Katz, co-president & CFO, Metrofuser
