When I retired from the business after 37 years, people seemed surprised to hear what I think impacted us the most: the internet. It sounds simple, and we almost take it for granted. We may even think we’ve adapted and are using it to our advantage in business.
But are we? Many days, I think we’ve still only scratched the surface of what the internet will mean to our industry—or any industry, for that matter. The almost instant shift to a remote, work-from-home environment in 2020 only emphasized and accelerated our need to maximize its use.
All dealers should be repositioning to take advantage of the new opportunities we have today. Yes, print volumes have slowed. We’re managing paper in new ways. What used to create stacks of paper are now leveraging tools with guided screens and a simplified end-user experience. We can actually serve more people in less time. Just like the manufacturers, dealers can diversify their strategies, financial portfolios and products.
For nearly four decades, I’ve seen this industry undergo significant shifts. Those who are willing to take advantage of the shifts will continue to thrive.
Develop a Blueprint for Coming Out of the Pandemic
For more than a decade, industry leaders have talked about the importance of dealers building out an IT practice. Given the market conditions, this is no longer an option. Reaching the scale needed (over 25 percent of total revenue) in the very near term will be difficult to achieve organically. The better move is to consider an IT acquisition and accelerate diversification, or sell to someone who can do it.
Dealers need to ensure their teams understand the business model, or it will be a struggle making it a material part of the business. It does take a different mentality—copy-print is more of a science with plenty of metrics and benchmarking. IT, on the other hand, is more of an art and requires a different management skillset.
The results look different, too. Achieving the 15%-18% net margins that dealers are accustomed to in the copier world would require astute moves in IT.
Invest Beyond Managed IT
While managed IT continues to get a lot of airtime, it’s not the only opportunity available to the copier industry. Here are some additional investments to consider:
- Document management: Follow the paper—digitally. This is an obvious move, as information is shifting from file cabinets to electronic systems for scanning, signing and document management. Copier dealers are well positioned to step in and serve as these tools evolve.
- Security: This will be the hardest to implement, but could be the most impactful if you get it right. Focus on building confidence and demonstrating certified competency in this area. Your sales reps will need clear talk tracks to go to market. It will be a differentiator and can be applied to every solution, starting with managed print services. It will take a steep investment.
- Voice: While this market is beginning to get crowded, there’s still value in offering some form of voice technology, such as hosted voice. It’s actually most parallel to the copier business
- Print: Continue to grow the specialized print market with production print and wide-format printing. These continue to gain traction and show a positive outlook.
Looking to the Future
Copier dealers have many opportunities because of their extensive customer relationships and contracted base. The key is to accelerate the execution of diversification strategies, and do it now. Yesterday would have been ideal.
This will require dealers to put money (investment) in front of results and have confidence in their team’s competence to pull off new strategies. It will be uncomfortable. But the returns are totally worth it. I look forward to seeing my colleagues and friends take this industry through the next decade of evolution.
