While the pandemic may be an unpleasant memory, the damage left in its wake continues to provide an opportunity for office technology dealers that serve particular business verticals. Many of the challenges clients faced prior to March 2020 have morphed and taken abrupt left turns. Some are specific to a given segment, others are universal.
For this month’s initial foray into serving the needs of customers in specific verticals (health care, education, legal, health care) our State of the Industry panel provides insights into some of the primary challenges they are facing, as well as the strategy and solution sets offered to help these clients focus on the tasks specific to their industries.
Even before the pandemic, businesses were facing a variety of challenges in modernizing their business technology stack, according to Scott Titus, marketing director for Usherwood Office Technology of Syracuse, New York. COVID-19 forced their hand in “warp speed,” which didn’t always yield the most strategic of approaches, thus Usherwood chose to focus on assisting the different verticals in adjusting to the new work environment.
“[Some challenges entailed] right-sizing their print environment and adjusting to new compliance requirements in health care and education or doing more with less in not-for-profits that are still feeling the strain of tax law changes and staffing shortages, to manufacturers that have seen rapid growth in re-shoring that’s forcing them to upgrade their antiquated tech stack,” Titus noted. “Through our flexibility and client-first approach, we are able to adjust with our clients and their changing verticals.”
Cloud Coverage
A common thread linking the verticals has been the post-COVID hybrid work model, notes Josh Salkin, a partner with EDGE Business Systems in suburban Atlanta. It helped that the dealer was already armed with solutions that could quickly curtail the challenges across a spectrum of verticals.
“Most companies were forced to adopt a cloud solution for document collaboration,” he said. “We have several software offerings that cover security, connectivity and collaboration that buyers are demanding.”
It’s almost impossible to discuss challenges that stemmed from the pandemic in the past tense; although it is three years beyond in the business rearview mirror, many verticals are still dealing with the aftermath of changed business conditions. United Business Technologies (UBT) of Gaithersburg, Maryland, has a large focus on enterprise accounts, among them education, legal, entertainment and government (state, local, federal). It’s a fine line to walk for a company that emphasizes its value proposition over price but is mindful that acquiring net-new accounts generally calls for coming close to matching the price of the incumbent provider, according to Stu Wise, president and COO.
“It was easier to [price match] because our assessments would usually show they need less equipment than before,” he said. “Whether it’s the schools, legal or even government, there are fewer people in the office. We really do a very good job with our assessments and providing a footprint of print as well as copy to offer efficiency and reduce the number of devices that they had. It always starts with establishing a relationship.”
Addressing Needs
Fomenting relationships, particularly in the health care sector, backed by a wealth of comprehensive services has firmly solidified Repeat Business Systems (RBS) of Albany, New York, as the provider of choice, according to Dawn Abbuhl, company president. In an industry that’s core value is responsiveness to an emergency situation, RBS has crafted a value proposition that is relatable to the client base.
“What’s most challenging right now is the financial situation for many health care systems,” she said. “A lot of hospitals struggle with issues surrounding staffing, which has been significant. We do everything we can to support them. For example, last winter a cold snap caused broken pipes in three hospitals in our community. We were there on a weekend, bringing them loaner devices, and assessing their damage from a technology standpoint. They value that level of responsiveness.”
There has been a pivot of sorts to handling vertical-specific challenges for Loffler Companies of St. Lois Park, Minnesota. The work-from-home conversion and setup called upon the dealer’s Microsoft Gold Partner competence in enabling Teams, cloud applications (including phone systems) and secure printing. On the back end, compliance is a significant variable for the dealer’s finance, legal and health care clients, according to James Loffler, company president.
“We spent a lot of time consulting with clients regarding their plans and having the right tools in place,” he said. “We crafted plans for them to do more security awareness training and implement technology that makes them more secure. Document management and tools like Canon uniFLOW are vital; even though there are fewer people hitting the copy/print button, we need to ensure they are moving their documents around in a secure way. We’ve concentrated on helping these verticals automate that process.”
Under Review
Periodic business reviews have long been an elixir to ensuring dealers have a firm grasp on the evolving challenges confronting specific vertical sets. In the case of Cincinnati-based Prosource, quarterly business reviews enable it to understand what has changed within the client’s structure and provide solutions that can speak to their needs for the next three to five years, notes Jay Cartisano, company president.
“In education, that may be changing student ratios, while health care is in cost-savings mode,” Cartisano noted. “These reviews ensure that together with the customer, we can right-size equipment and restructure agreements to achieve cost savings, improved efficiency, and increased productivity—three end results that customers are looking for when they make investments in technology and services.
“We’ve found that in many ways, we’ve had to get creative when assessing and making recommendations for our current accounts and prospects, as well as stay flexible in how we meet their needs, leveraging our expertise in document automation, managed IT, and cybersecurity to adapt solutions within the ever-changing market.”
