We’re down to the final five of our 25 most significant events in the office imaging industry of the past 25 years. I could have easily done 40 even though I believe I’ve touched on 25 events that most readers would agree are significant. I’m sure I’ll be hearing from readers with additional significant events that we should have considered. I hope you’ve enjoyed the series so far. It’s been loads of fun putting it together and I appreciate the feedback from everyone in the industry who offered their suggestions, some of which made the list, others just missing.
Network Scanning Comes to the MFP
As important a device as the MFP has become in the office, it became even more important back in 1996 when Simplify (later to become eCopy before its acquisition by Nuance) launched ShareScan, software that enabled network scanning from the MFP. “Simplify had been trying to pursue the network scanning software market in the early nineties and was working with scanner vendors, but it was sort of the confluence of what they were doing and the GP30 and GP200 from Canon’s early digital copiers on the network that brought together the idea that once the copier was digital and networked, you can go for more than printing,” recalls Brian Bissett, editor of The MFP Report. “Together and what was Simplify at the time created what was network scanning, scan-to-e-mail market and made it credible business, which to this day is widely used. That was at a time when the printing side and IT side were still kind of laughing at MFPs from copier companies.”
Declining Print Volumes
Here’s another one of those significant events that is taking place as you’re reading this…on your computer screen or on some type of portable device. Print isn’t going away, but print volumes are declining. Everybody in the industry is experiencing that decline one way or another and is looking for ways to offset it. Look at companies like Sharp and Toshiba and what they’re doing with digital signage. Do you really think they’d be as intensely focused on that business if print volumes were going up? The name of the game in a world where fewer pages are being printed is alternate revenue streams whether it’s digital signage, digital content, MPS, Managed Services, or some other as yet to emerge service or technology. This is an event that shows no signs of abating even though the printed page is far from dead.
Light Production Devices Bring the Dealer into the Production Space
“The Konica 8050, I’d trace it back to there,” says industry veteran Harry Hecht. “That had a big impact on the industry because it was pretty much a DocuTech/Kodak-dominated business. It opened the door for all the other Japanese manufacturers to get into that production space, monochrome first and then color. For those that can handle it, it helped their businesses and for the end user brought things down from a $200,000 device to a $100,000 or $90,000 device.”
Vendors Divesting Themselves of Branch Accounts
It’s amazing when one steps back and views the various trends and sees how one trend eventually leads to another even though at the time when that trend emerges, such as the growth of direct distribution, it looked as if it were going to go on forever.
Lou Slawetsky of Industry Analysts considers it both a major event and the tail end of a trend. “I don’t think any vendor, Xerox aside, made significant sums of money in direct distribution. They acquire, acquire, acquire, and so then they began to divest themselves of direct distribution in those areas they could. Wherever you see true branches as opposed to subsidiaries I think you’re going to see them divest themselves of that distribution.”
As he explains, what often happens when a vendor opens a branch in a dealer territory, their independent dealers take on other brands. “I can prove that,” emphasizes Slawetsky. “If the dealer is selling 100 units a month of one brand, he’s not going to sell 200 units a month, he’ll sell the same 100, maybe one or two more, which means the original vendor or incumbent, if you will, is going to lose distribution from that dealer. And I don’t think the manufacturers make up the profits in the branch that they lost from that dealer.”
In Slawetsky’s opinion, and it’s a valid one, vendors never truly analyzed that scenario as carefully as they should have. “They said we can pick up distribution, revenue, service revenue, but they never asked about the downside when the dealer takes on another brand. Now they’re realizing what that downside is.”
The Channel Takes a Serious Look at A4
During the past few years A4 product introductions have been rolling out at a fast and furious pace. These introductions have shaken up the A3 world, and although haven’t supplanted A3, are giving it a run for its money. This trend has had both a positive and negative impact on the dealer channel with lower prices and smaller margins while providing end users with a wider variety of output options, options that make sense in a world where print volumes are on the decline.
