This week we speak with Brian Kempke, vice president and general manager with Martin Whalen Office Solutions in Tinley Park, IL to find out what’s hot and what’s not in their markets. Martin Whalen Office Solutions was acquired by Global Imaging earlier this year.
What’s hot?
Kempke: From a product standpoint we’ve had some real good traction on mid-range color. We’ve put some promotions together earlier in the year and the market has been eating it up. On the solutions side, job accounting, cost recovery, and user authentication. We do a considerable amount of business in the education area and there seems to be a lot of interest in that. On the services side, MPS is hot. It’s been a topic for five-plus years and it’s a big part of our business strategy and a growing part of our business.
What’s not?
Kempke: Surprisingly to me, A4. When A4 came on the scene it was ‘it’s going to hurt your revenue, the whole financial model kinds of shifts.’ We’ve had A4 product in the past from Canon and Lexmark, they’re good products, but we’re not seeing a ton of traction in the market [with those products].
