Barrett-Jackson Chooses FlexPrint, Inc. For Unique National Managed Print Solution
March 26, 2014 – FlexPrint, Inc. has announced that Barrett-Jackson, the world’s leading collector car auctions and automotive lifestyle events, has selected FlexPrint to manage its document output technology at all company-produced events known as “The World’s Greatest Collector Car Auctions” in Scottsdale, Ariz., Palm Beach, Fla., Reno, Nev. and Las Vegas, Nev., where hundreds of the world’s most sought-after, unique and valuable automobiles cross the block in front of a global audience.
With pre-fabricated shipping containers, FlexPrint is able to safely transport the same imaging technology from auction to auction, providing “white glove” support to the entire Barrett-Jackson team, giving “the road” a convenient office feel. FlexPrint’s dedicated mobile on-site support will provide consistent service no matter where these prestigious auto auctions take place.
Get a preview of the creative pre-fabricated shipping container, click here.
To learn more about FlexPrint, visit our website at www.flexprintinc.com.
Nubeprint Named Technology Supplier to Cartridge World North America
March 26 – Nubeprint has announced announces that its Zero Click MPS service has been selected as the preferred technology supplier to support Cartridge Word North America’s CW Print Manager franchisee program.
“We invested significant time and resources into finding the right technology partner for our MPS program,” said Mark Pinner, Chief Technical Officer. “Our franchisees were asking for a solution and we found that Nubeprint had a unique product that fits well with our business model and target market. The accuracy, automation and the elimination of redundant alerts are just a couple of the unique features that will enable Cartridge World franchisees to provide first-class service to their customers by remotely monitoring printer supplies. The deployment of CW Print Manager will help us move closer to a cost-per-page program in the future.” said Mark Pinner (Chief Technical Officer). Pinner added that Cartridge World sees the potential advantages of moving this program beyond the North Americas as Nubeprint has worldwide capabilities with a multitude of languages.
Business Technology Association Distributes 2014 Channel’s Choice Ballot
March 24, 2014 – Each year, the Business Technology Association (BTA; www.bta.org) provides a comprehensive look at the performance of office technology hardware vendors/manufacturers, based on the balloting of independent dealers. The results determine the winners for the association’s annual Channel’s Choice Awards program. They are also used to produce a comprehensive report, made available to BTA members.
Ballots for the 2014 Channel’s Choice Awards may be cast online by visiting www.bta.org/2014ChannelsChoiceBallot. Completed ballots are due to BTA by Thursday, April 10, 2014.
BTA identifies outstanding performance award winners among MFP/printer vendors in the categories of Corporate Support, Distribution, Inventory and Product Line. In addition, the Superior Performance Award is presented to the overall winner and the Outstanding Performance Award is presented to the top secondary product line provider. Awards are also presented in the categories of Remanufactured Cartridges and Third-Party Leasing. The awards will be presented at the Cruise to Success district event, hosted by BTA Mid-America, May 15-16 in Chicago.
The report will be compiled for BTA by Industry Analysts Inc. and will be available to all members in late spring 2014. It will also be available to vendor members to encourage continued improvement of their programs.
Please take a few moments to share your opinion honestly and confidentially. Note: You may only complete one ballot per dealership and your response will remain confidential. The first 100 respondents will be entered into a drawing to win one of five $50 American Express gift cards.
GreatAmerica Unveils IT Services Business Improvement Tool with Service Leadership
March 24, 2014 – GreatAmerica Financial Services has launched an IT services business improvement tool, licensed from Service Leadership, an IT management consultancy, for the U.S. imaging market. The co-branded cloud application, SLIQ (“sleek”) helps office equipment dealers already active in managed IT or just starting to move down the managed IT path, build a profitable business. SLIQ uses a dealer’s specific business inputs to determine their current Operational Maturity Level and receive a highly prescriptive, step-by-step plan to increase profits and scalability.
“GreatAmerica is committed to providing dealers with the necessary managed IT resources, either directly or through our various partnerships,” states David Pohlman, COO of GreatAmerica Financial Services. “Because SLIQ was developed by Paul Dippell and the team at Service Leadership, dealers are receiving the absolute best step-by-step advice to keep their team marching forward. It’s like getting 75% of the value of Service Leadership consulting and coaching at 1/20 of the cost.”
Service Leadership is publisher of the Service Leadership Index (S-L Index) series of financial and operational benchmarks of over 2,300 companies drawn from an exclusive master database of over 29,000 companies worldwide, the largest such benchmark in the industry. Paul Dippell, CEO of Service Leadership, says, “Our benchmarking shows that providers in the Top Quartile of profit achieve about 2.9 times higher profit percentage than those at Median performance. The good news is that all of the aspects of being a top performer are learnable and now available through SLIQ.”
Dealers interested in learning more about the GreatAmerica exclusive, co-branded SLIQ software should visit the website or contact communications@greatamerica.com. Office equipment dealers receive a GreatAmerica discount by signing up for SLIQ at www.service-leadership.com/greatamerica/SLIQ.
Artec-Group Announces a Master Distribution Partnership with ScanSource in the USA
March 18, 2014 – Artec Group has announced a new major partnership with ScanSource, a distribution company with more than four billion dollars in sales. Artec Group and ScanSource have signed a Master Distribution Agreement naming ScanSource as the main distributor for Artec Group in the USA. This partnership will enable fast, exponential sales growth in Artec 3D products and solutions thanks to ScanSource’s years of experience in the North American market, one of Artec’s priority regions.
In addition to the new partnership with ScanSource, Artec continues to sell its products through a wide network of official partners in more than 40 countries.
HP Delivers New Services and Solutions for Greater Control, Visibility and Management of the Printing Environment
Mar. 19, 2014 — HP has announced services and solutions to help businesses better manage and maintain printer fleets. These offerings, available directly from HP and channel partners, help small-to-medium sized businesses and enterprises free time and resources to focus on core business needs.
The announcements includes: easy and automated supplies ordering and replenishment with new HP SureSupply solutions; updates to HP Express Decision Portal and regional expansions to Partner Managed Print Services (MPS); increased multivendor support in managed environments; and automated fleet management capabilities with the latest in HP Smart Decision Suite.
Quick and convenient cartridge replenishment
As customers are looking to simplify day-to-day tasks, there is a demand for services that enable easy cartridge replenishment. Now, HP is helping customers quickly and conveniently replenish Original HP cartridges from their preferred reseller.
- HP SureSupply Express targets consumers and small businesses with up to 10 HP devices, facilitating ink and toner cartridge replenishment through one-touch ordering from iOS or Android smartphones or tablets.
- HP SureSupply Auto-Delivery aims SMB customers with more than 10 HP or non-HP devices, providing the choice of approving each order or enabling automatic ink and toner cartridge replenishment.
HP expands managed print services
HP MPS is expanding its Partner MPS program into new geographies and increasing multivendor support:
The geographic expansion of HP Partner MPS enables channel partners to sell HP MPS for the first time in their region, expands and enhances the selling experience for partners already on board in existing regions, and brings greater efficiencies and print management to SMB customers around the globe. In addition, HP is extending the availability of HP Express Decision Portal, better equipping channel partners to provide proposals and quotes for cost-per-page pricing and other billing models, updated funnel reports, contract tracking, and account management.
With increased multivendor support capabilities for its MPS customers, HP is helping businesses more effectively optimize, manage and improve mixed fleet print environments through a single partner. This extension now provides advanced-level support for security, mobility, workflow and industry-specific solutions, as well as remote monitoring, for a larger number of non-HP devices.
Centralized fleet management for enterprises
New fleet management capabilities for enterprises provide a direct line of sight into the performance and utilization of an entire print fleet, helping increase efficiency, sustainability and manageability.
With HP Smart Decision Suite 2.0, IT managers can easily monitor and analyze device usage, centralizing printing device fleet management. This upgrade includes enhanced and comprehensive analytics tools, an expansion of global invoice automation, contract administration, reporting and proactive fleet management, as well as language localization in 26 countries.
Additional information about new HP imaging and printing services and solutions is available at www.hp.com/go/managedprintservices.
HP Enhances Security, Mobility Printing Solutions for Enterprise Customers
March 17, 2014 – HP has announced the launch of the first near-field communications (NFC) touch-to-authenticate solution for enterprise customers, enabling end users to easily authenticate themselves with the simple touch of their NFC-enabled Android smartphone or tablet to an HP Enterprise LaserJet printer or MFP.
HP also announced new HP LaserJet devices—the HP Color LaserJet Enterprise MFP M680 series and the HP Color LaserJet Enterprise M651 series—that enable the groundbreaking and security-enhancing NFC touch-to-authenticate capabilities as well as NFC touch-to-print and wireless direct mobile printing options.
Authentication and mobile print solutions
HP is helping customers adapt to the changing business landscape by updating HP Access Control and HP ePrint Enterprise with added capabilities that help increase office productivity while reducing infrastructure costs. Updates include:
HP Access Control 14.0 allows enterprises to authenticate user login information by touching an NFC-enabled Android smartphone directly to the printer via NFC touch-to-authenticate technology. Customers can experience a simplified login process without sacrificing device or data security, or requiring a proximity card reader system.
Updates to HP ePrint Enterprise 3.2 offer enhanced connectivity and security features for environments using mobile device management solutions. HP ePrint Enterprise is now fully integrated with MobileIron’s AppConnect ecosystem, a leading enterprise mobility management (EMM) platform that helps mobile users print content securely. In addition, the application now offers market-leading productivity enhancements based on the new touch-to-authenticate features.
HP enhances LaserJet portfolio for enterprise
Updates to HP’s business printing portfolio address the needs of IT managers to improve document workflows while maintaining security. Updates include multifunction and single-function devices with full enterprise capabilities, groundbreaking NFC touch-to-authenticate capabilities and mobile printing options.
The new HP Color LaserJet Enterprise MFP M680 series reaches print speeds of up to 45 ppm and delivers advanced paper handling and finishing options. The HP M680 series is designed to increase office productivity by giving users the ability to print, copy, scan, fax and use other functions directly from the printer’s 8-inch color touch screen panel. Each device in the series is equipped with full enterprise capabilities and can be easily managed and scaled with HP FutureSmart 3.0 firmware, Open Extensibility Platform, Universal Print Driver and Web Jetadmin. For customers with intensive document workflows, the HP M680 series includes the HP Color LaserJet Enterprise MFP M680z, which is fully equipped with a 900-sheet paper tray, three-bin stapling mailbox and integrated keyboard for greater ease of use.
Additionally, the HP Color LaserJet Enterprise Flow MFP M680, a Flow bundle, offers a set of features, including single-pass two-sided scanning, access to the cloud, HP EveryPage technology and advanced sending and sharing options.
The HP Color LaserJet Enterprise M651 series are single-function printers that complement the HP Color LaserJet Enterprise MFP M680 series devices. They provide simple wireless printing from smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices including wireless direct, HP ePrint and HP AirPrint. The HP M651 series brings reliability and efficiency to the enterprise with print speeds of up to 45 pages per minute, extensive paper-handling options for up to 3,100 pages and minimal office disruption with the device’s built-in acoustic noise reduction technology. These devices provide advanced security measures to help IT managers protect their enterprise organization’s confidential information and promotes further ease of use with a 4.3-inch color touchscreen panel and easy access USB that gives users the ability to manage data directly at the device.
Additional information about these new HP imaging and printing offerings is available at www.hp.com/go/mfp.
FlexPrint, Inc. Continues To Build Upon Their Market-Leading Managed Print Solutions Program
March, 17, 2014 – FlexPrint, Inc., a national managed print services provider, has announced that they have been recognized for having the “Most Outstanding Managed Print Solutions Program” in the country. This is the third time that FlexPrint has received this prestigious accolade from industry peers, and confirmation that their national business model is based on a proven managed print program.
“FlexPrint’s national program for MPS continues to hold a market-leading position year after year. They have a proven track record of delivering exceptional service to best in class companies nationally,” states Sand Sinclair, Editor-in-Chief, imageSource Magazine/ITEX Expo Conference Director.
The Perfect Image Award winners are selected by the imageSource/ITEX Advisory Council whose members include industry consultants, dealers, vendors, and Imaging Network/Questex Media Group executives. This year, seven dealerships were chosen and recognized for being leaders in the industry.
