February 2006 Office Technology

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Consultants, Inc. – Marketing Research

“Copier Manufacturer of the Year”– The Cannata Report’s 20th Annual Dealer Survey

©2005 Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc. Electronic Imaging Division. All rights reserved.

For office products that have a reputation that won’t let you down, why not go with a company with the same reputation?

When you become an Authorized Toshiba Dealer you partner with the seventh largest integrated manufacturer of electronic equipment in the world—a $53 billion company that’s been around for 130 years. Toshiba has a full line of office products (12 ppm to 105 ppm) and gives their Authorized Dealers award-winning support, in-depth training, technical support, network training, competitive data and service updates 24/7. And Toshiba puts its reputation of quality into every machine.

Why not consider becoming an Authorized Toshiba Dealer yourself? For more information call 949-462-6165.

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CONTENTS

Volume 12 • No. 8

FEATURE ARTICLES 10

16

Vertical Markets A look at a few of the possibilities

COURTS & CAPITOLS 24

by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

by Robert C. Goldberg BTA General Counsel

The payoffs from vertical market sales are often cited — increased hardware installations, better margins, differentiation from competitors and greater customer loyalty. Perhaps it’s time to take a closer look at a few of the possibilities.

Every year the U.S. government varies the dollar amounts to be utilized in many employment situations. Failure to know these changes may result in penalties, interest, etc.

Target: Printer Clicks Success lies in controlling the key components

PRINCIPAL ISSUES 25

Copier manufacturers have been telling us for years that our customers will adopt the all-in-one technology, replacing their network printers. It has not quite evolved that way. So the question you must ask yourself is: “Do I really care where the pages are coming from as long as I’m capturing all of them profitably?”

What do you do when your dealership has been recognized as one of the nation’s finest? If your dealership is Saxon Business Systems, you do everything in your power to be better.

27

Canon has taken steps to help accelerate business results for dealers and the channel by providing a customized, interactive, user-friendly learning tool.

by Tom Flesch Gordon Flesch Company Inc.

20

Rapid Revenue Acceleration Focus on solving business process problems

by Arnie Valenzuela OneAccord

Rather than becoming an expert on the “bells and whistles,” become an expert at discovering the most significant problems in your clients’ document delivery processes. Here are five quick steps to get you on the right track in every sales engagement. Following these steps will help convert leads to sales.

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Training Close-up: Canon A look at its customized, interactive Learning Zone

by Mitch Bardwell Canon U.S.A. Inc.

Cost Management Are you helping clients find ways to save money?

As business owners forecast budgets, they must allow for rising costs. By providing the right solutions to your clients — as their office technology provider — you can play an important role in helping them manage costs. You will also strengthen relationships and create sales opportunities for your dealership.

Customers First At Saxon Business Systems, it’s part of the culture

by Dustin Phillips

by Michael Greenberg PrinTelogy Inc.

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Uncle Sam’s Revisions Here are a few numbers you should know in 2006

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Universal Copier/Printers In many respects they ‘represent the final evolution’

by Jonathan Bees InfoTrends

The last major transition in imaging technology is the long-anticipated migration from monochrome-only devices to mainstream, low-cost color devices.

DEPARTMENTS 23

Business Technology Association February-March Education Calendar

6

Editor’s Page

8

BTA President’s Message

30

Advertiser Index

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EDITOR’S PAGE

Dealers Share Views on OEM Direct Sales very time I hear that one of our industry ’s OEMs has acquired a dealership or opened a direct sales operation otherwise, I have two thoughts: (1) I’m sure some dealer is not happy about the announcement; and (2) Obviously, there is a reason that the OEM’s management felt it was necessary to go direct in that particular market. As a champion of the independent dealer channel, neither thought is comforting to me.

Are we, in fact, seeing a growing emphasis on direct sales operations? Or does it just seem that way, due to the strategies of a few OEMs? How concerned are dealers? How often do they find themselves competing directly with OEMs? To find some of the answers, I sent an e-mail survey to a portion of the Office Technology dealer readership. I received 70 responses. (The same survey included questions regarding Internet sales competition; see Mark Naylor’s column on page 8.) Perhaps the results will provide you with some new insight into how other dealers view OEM direct sales efforts.

■ “To what degree are copier/MFP OEM direct sales operations (of any brand) a source of competition in your market?” The results (dealers could choose from four answers): “There are no direct OEM sales operations in my market,” 12 percent; “They exist in my market, but are less of a concern than other sources of competition,” 23 percent; “They exist in my market, but are no more significant than other sources of competition,” 40 percent; and “They exist in my market and are among our most significant sources of competition,” 25 percent.

■ “Do you compete against a direct sales operation of your own OEM partner in your

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market?” The results: “Yes,” 46 percent; “No,” 54 percent.

■ “How concerned are you regarding the growing number of direct sales operations among some of the copier/MFP OEMs?” The results (dealers could choose from three answers): “I am not concerned,” 20 percent; “I am somewhat concerned,” 39 percent; and “I am very concerned,” 41 percent.

I also asked dealers to share their general comments. Here are two sample responses: ■ “I will drop a manufacturer if they are found selling direct to our customers.”

■ “They sell for less than my cost.”

(For a look at many of the other responses received, visit www.bta.org and click on the Office Technology link.)

Of course, the survey results lead to a final question: Just how many OEM direct sales locations are there today? I asked. Following are the numbers, reported as they were emailed to me by representatives of eight of the OEMs that sell through the dealer channel.

■ Canon — 46 sales offices.

■ Konica Minolta — 65 direct branches.

■ Kyocera Mita America — Seven direct branches.

■ Panasonic — None.

■ Ricoh — Ricoh Business Systems Division (RBS), 17 markets with 56 locations.

■ Sharp — One branch.

■ Toshiba — 16 Toshiba Business Solutions subsidiaries (core companies) in the United States with approximately 124 sales offices.

■ Xerox — 100-plus direct sales offices.

Are you concerned by some of the numbers you see? Whatever your answer, one important reality remains: No one can match the type of quality relationship independent dealers can form with customers. That is comforting.

— Brent Hoskins

Editor Brent Hoskins brent@bta.org (816) 303-4040 Contributing Writers Mitch Bardwell, Canon U.S.A. Inc. www.canon.com Jonathan Bees, InfoTrends www.infotrends.com Tom Flesch, Gordon Flesch Company Inc. www.gflesch.com Robert C. Goldberg, general counsel Business Technology Association Michael Greenberg, PrinTelogy Inc. www.printelogy.com Dustin Phillips Arnie Valenzuela, OneAccord www.oneaccordcorp.com

®

Business Technology Association 12411 Wornall Road Kansas City, MO 64145 (816) 941-3100 www.bta.org Member Services: (800) 505-2821 BTA Legal Hotline: (800) 869-6688 Bert Darling Executive Director bert@bta.org Robin Keller Member Services / Marketing Director robin@bta.org Valerie McLaughlin Membership Marketing Manager valerie@bta.org Gary Hedberg Accounting Manager gary@bta.org Mary Hopkins Accounting Clerk mary@bta.org ©2006 by the Business Technology Association. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the publisher. Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of published material.

However, the publisher assumes no liability for errors in articles nor are opinions expressed necessarily those of the publisher.

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Why did 350 independent office equipment dealers name Muratec “MFP Facsimile Manufacturer of the Year?”

In the Marketing Research Consultants (MRC) 20th Annual Dealer Survey, Muratec was named “MFP Facsimile Manufacturer of the Year” by over 350 independent office equipment dealers. Muratec was lauded for its commitment to product innovation, dealer support, sales training and distribution practices.

It’s simple. No manufacturer is easier to do business with.

And with the release of our award-winning Network Gateway Platform, which enables seamless network connectivity and powerful digital document delivery solutions, there’s no better time to become a Muratec dealer.

For more information about becoming a Muratec dealer, call 469.429.3481.

MFX-1330 MFX-2830

MFX-2030

F-560

Visit us at ITEX 2006 – Booth 401.

Muratec America, Inc. 3301 East Plano Parkway • Suite 100 • Plano, Texas 75074 • www.muratec.com • 469.429.3481 ©2005 Muratec America, Inc. All rights reserved.

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BTA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE ®

Are Your Prospects Purchasing Online? o you recall the reaction of the dealer community when Segment 1 machines began showing up in mass merchandise stores like Office Depot?

The word “uproar” comes to mind. Today, however, we have accepted the reality that inexpensive commodity products can be bought off the shelf.

Is the Internet next? That is, will prospective customers increasingly buy off the Web. While I hope that does not prove to be the case, I’m beginning to see the rise in this unfortunate trend. Today, far too many of our prospective customers are turning to us for a recommendation and then shopping online.

Are other dealers seeing the same trend? To find the answer, BTA e-mailed several survey questions to a portion of Office Technology’s dealer readership seeking views on Internet sales. We received 70 responses.

The first question: “To what degree do you believe prospective customers come to your dealership first, asking you to recommend a product and then ‘shopping’ the Internet for a low price?” The results (dealers could choose from three answers): “It occurs infrequently or not at all,” 14 percent; “It occurs occasionally,” 62 percent; and “It occurs frequently,” 24 percent.

Currently, it appears, Internet sales competition is not a significant threat. However, clearly, it does exist. How can dealers best address the problem? That leads to the second survey question: “When you believe that a customer is using your dealership as a sales consultant, with plans to shop the Internet for a lower price, how do you handle the situation?” In this case, the question was open-ended. Most respondents indicated that they lead with a

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focus on the value-added services they provide.

Here are two representative responses: ■ “Local support still has value for most customers. As a way to get them to realize this, we look at the type of business that the shopping customer is in and make a comparison of buying their product or service via the Internet.

In most cases, they convince themselves that it is worth dealing with a local dealer.”

■ “We try to sell the added value of being a local service provider as well as having trained IT and service people on staff ...”

There is, of course, another side to the Internet sales trend. Our third survey question: “Do you provide service and support for equipment that is purchased over the Internet from other suppliers and used by customers in your market?” A significant majority of respondents, 66 percent, indicated that “yes” they do provide service for these products, while 34 percent do not.

We also asked respondents: “If you do provide service and support for Internet-purchased equipment, how do you charge for it?”

Here is a sampling of the responses: ■ “Our regular contract or hourly rates.

Subject to a service inspection.”

■ “Highest rate.”

■ “If it is a good customer of ours, we will.

We charge at the top fee range and remind them of the mistake they have made, if possible.”

As I consider the rise in Internet sales, I am evaluating various strategies to address the threat. For example, we are considering offering satisfaction guarantees. If the Internet is not a threat to your dealership today, might it be in the future? If so, what steps are you taking to ensure your dealership remains profitable?

(To read additional responses to these and other survey questions, visit www.bta.org and click on the Office Technology link.)

— Mark Naylor

2005-2006 Board of Directors President Mark Naylor ABM Automation 740 NW 63rd St. Oklahoma City, OK 73116 markn@abmautomation.com President-Elect Dan Hayes Purcell’s Business Products 222 E. 1st St. Campbellsville, KY 42718 dan@purcells.com Vice President Shannon Oliver Copier Source Inc. 215-G Industrial Ave. P.O. Box 36395 Greensboro, NC 27406-4542 soliver@copiersourceinc.com BTA East Thomas Chin Accolade Technologies LLC 604 Hampshire Road Mamaroneck, NY 10016 tchin@accotech.com BTA Mid-America Dave Johnson G-I Office Technologies Inc. 701 Atlas Ave. Madison, WI 53714 davej@gioffice.com BTA Southeast Bill James WJS Enterprises Inc. 3315 Ridgelake Drive P.O. Box 6620 Metairie, LA 70009 bjames@wjsenterprises.com BTA West Greg Valen Hawaii Business Equipment Inc. Toshiba Business Solutions 590-A Paiea St. Honolulu, HI 96819 gregory.valen@tabs.toshiba.com Ex-Officio/General Counsel Robert C. Goldberg Schoenberg Fisher Newman & Rosenberg Ltd. 222 S. Riverside Plaza Ste. 2100 Chicago, IL 60606 robert.goldberg@sfnr.com

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Vertical Markets A look at a few of the possibilities by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

s your dealership passing by potentially lucrative vertical market sales opportunities?

Sure, you’ve sold a few copiers to your local community college, but are you helping the college account for all printing and copying expenses campus-wide. Likewise, you’ve sold printers to the local hospital, but are you helping the hospital comply with legislation intended to protect patient records?

The payoffs from vertical market sales are often cited — increased hardware installations, better margins, differentiation from competitors and greater customer loyalty. Sound appealing? If so, perhaps it is time for you to take a closer look at some of the software solutions currently available. Which vertical market sales opportunities should your dealership be pursuing?

Today, it seems, software is everywhere in the office technology industry. And, in most cases, the many products availabl e c an b e s old hor i z ont al ly into va r i ou s in du st r i es.

Nevertheless, software vendors recognize the importance of a vertical approach. “We have a very horizontal product,” says Andre Pavlovic, president of Questys Solutions, makers of the Questys Pro document imaging solution. “However, we realize that we actually need to market our product in a vertically focused manner in order to help dealers get their foot in the door of many prospective customers.”

In an effort to provide a brief look at some of the leading vertical markets and sales opportunities, Office Technology magazine interviewed individuals representing five software companies. In all cases, the companies offer products that serve a variety of markets.

However, each interviewee was asked to discuss a software product/application designed for a specific vertical market or discuss the sale of a horizontal solution using a vertical approach.

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The Legal Market “I often hear salespeople say that law offices are the most difficult and demanding customers,” says Malcolm Stevens, national sales director for eCopy (www.ecopy.com), a provider of solutions designed to integrate paper-based information into existing business processes and applications. “However, we’ve found that if you address their business issues successfully, law offices can be a dealer’s most loyal and profitable customers. There are many opportunities for complementary revenue streams.”

So, says Stevens, despite any negative perceptions that may exist, dealers should seriously consider pursuing the legal market, if they are not doing so already. “There are still many law firms that are heavily paper-based,” he says. “They have only just begun this path to digital documents. So, for your up-and-down-thestreet dealership, there is plenty of opportunity.” eCopy addresses that opportunity, in part, through such products as eCopy ShareScan OP, which transforms MFPs into information hubs by integrating paper documents directly into the workflow of critical processes. This is accomplished through addon connectors, providing seamless integration with networked software applications, says Stevens. For example, of particular interest in the legal market, eCopy offers integration with products from all the major cost recovery software vendors, which provide functionality for law firms seeking to recoup costs from clients for printing, copying, scanning, etc.

In addition, eCopy offers its Bates Numbering Service, enabling users to add a Bates number to every scanned page. The use of Bates numbers (actually, a name, number and label for every document) is the standard in the legal industry. “It provides a simple methodology to organize documents, and that’s

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making users accountable for regional hospital that has more “With the FileBound printing/copying through than 70 million images stored.” system, not only can we quotas or payment; and ensure And what about HIPAA? create security so that only printing/copying expenses are Yes, FileBound can assist with charged to the appropriate compliance. “With HIPAA or authorized users have departments or specific any of the patient-privacy legaccess to view patient files, funding sources, including islation, the important issue is we can also limit grants and special programs. securing that information so functionality. For example, In selling Equitrac Express, that only the users who should some users may have ‘view-only’ rights ... “ dealers have found that the have access to it actually do,” — Rex Lamb education market has some says Lamb. “ With the FileMarex Group Inc. particularly appealing characBound system, not only can we teristics, says Wyszkowski. create security so that only “Educational institutions are longstanding and they tend to be rela- authorized users have access to view patient files, we can also tively stable in terms of their budget access,” he says. “So, any cus- limit functionality. For example, some users may have ‘view-only’ tomer you get in education tends to be a customer for a long time.” rights, while others may have rights to view it and print it.”

The Healthcare Market Today, when one thinks about the burgeoning healthcare market, two areas likely come to mind: the substantial volume of documents and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, commonly known as HIPAA. Both provide substantial opportunity to the BTA channel, says Rex Lamb, president of Marex Group Inc. (www.marexgroup.com), makers of FileBound, a Web-based content management solution.

“In a hospital or a clinic there are a lot of areas that generate paper and information,” he says. “However, most of the document-intensive areas are not being fully addressed with systems that can help them run more efficiently.”

Lamb cites a list of healthcare facility areas commonly in need of further automation: patient billing, EOB (explanation of benefits) documents, human resources, purchasing and regulatory compliance. Specifically, all of the areas are prime targets for imaging systems that will allow documents to be scanned, stored and easily retrieved, he says.

Marex Group’s FileBound product addresses the need for document storage and retrieval, and makes doing so easy for dealers and their customers, says Lamb. “The FileBound product is easier for someone who hasn’t sold software solutions in the past because it is an ASP (application service provider) solution, so they don’t have to install or maintain any software,” he explains.

“Instead, documents are automatically uploaded to a customer’s secure Web site, where we do all of the management of the software and the back-end system.”

Because it is a Web-based solution, FileBound is easily scalable, says Lamb. “One of our smallest customers is a small, onedoctor clinic,” he says. “Our largest healthcare provider is a 12 | w w w . o f f i c e t e c h n o l o g y m a g . c o m | F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 6

The Financial Market The time is ideal for dealers to pursue sales opportunities in the financial market (i.e., banks, credit unions, securities companies, etc.) says Christopher Lupton, president of InfoDyn ami c s (w w w.info d.c om), m a k er s o f Int a c t d o c um ent management software and inCheck Check 21 software. Just as in the healthcare market, there is a new focus on digital documents, document security and compliance with federal regulations, he says. “In the past, basically, this industry just needed something that could microfilm or copy checks,” he explains.

“Today, there are so many things to take into consideration that they are willing to take a look at technology.

“The opportunities are definitely out there,” says Lupton.

“Dealers will need to learn some of the vocabulary and develop some understanding of the industry, but they don’t have to know it all. They just need to be familiar, for example, with Check 21 (the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act) and some of the NASD (National Association of Securities Dealers Inc.) compliance issues. You don’t have to have a background in the financial industry to converse well with these folks.”

With the financial SMB (small- to mid-size business) market as the target, InfoDynamics’ software products are finding their way into an increasing number of financial institutions. The company’s inCheck software, for example, is helping with Check 21 implementation. (Check 21 is a federal law that is designed to enable banks to handle more checks electronically, making check processing a faster and more efficient process.)

Meanwhile, InfoDynamics’ Intact document management software provides “an all-encompassing product to the financial market,” says Lupton. “Our software has features like check

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management, loan portfolio in this process, we’ve put “If you can ... help them management, SEC requiretogether ROI calculators that with the management of ment guidance, loan docucalculate everything down to ment help and auditing. So, the average salar y of a file these documents, there’s a Intact provides a good option clerk, so that they can break much greater chance that to cover all the bases.” down for the prospect ‘this is you will ‘strike a chord’ As they consider financial how much your manual filing that really makes sense to market sales opportunities, process is really costing you.’” that community bank, Lupton advises dealers to not While the real estate services credit union or small lending company.” only focus on checks, but recindustry — mortgage, title and — Christopher Lupton ognize the many other types of escrow companies — has InfoDynamics documents that are commonproven to be a key vertical place in the market — documarket for Questys Solutions ments that need to be scanned, archived and readily available. and its dealers, real estate management, land development and “For example, there are loan papers, signature cards, statements, even real estate sales offices are also good prospects for document etc.,” he says. “If you can show that you understand and can help imaging systems, says Pavlovic. He cites the example of a real estate them with the management of these documents, there’s a much sales office in Florida. “The goal was speeding up customer service greater chance that you will ‘strike a chord’ that really makes and collaboration,” he explains. “They wanted to make everything sense to that community bank, credit union or small lending available to any agent, anytime over the Web through a central company. They will see that you can save them time and money.” document repository. By installing Questys Pro, they stimulated productivity, making agents more effective in selling real estate.”

The Real Estate Services Market Like the other leading vertical markets highlighted, the busi- The Primary Goal nesses serving the real estate industry are ideal prospects for the All of the software company representatives interviewed BTA channel, says Pavlovic. (As noted, Andre Pavlovic is presi- acknowledge that among dealers selling their solutions, the dent of Questys Solutions [www.questys.com], makers of the primary goal is a simple one — more hardware placements.

Questys Pro document imaging solution.) “Mortgage, title and “Having a bundled solution will open more doors than trying escrow companies — handling the entire funding process and to just be another company selling a faster, less expensive transactional process in the real estate industry — are very machine,” says Marex Group’s Lamb. “I believe that in today’s verpaper-intensive,” he says. “Although our product is horizontal, tical markets, customers are looking for solutions that deliver we have a vertical approach to this industry. We know the hot value. With bundled solutions, dealers have a better story to tell, buttons and the document processes.” which, ultimately, will open more doors and provide more opporAs with any market, the key in approaching the real estate serv- tunities to sell their core product — MFPs, etc.” ices market, says Pavlovic, is focusing on document workflow Mike Rich, CEO of Equitrac, agrees. “Increasingly, our partners processes. “It’s hitting the pain points with the goal of overall (dealers) see the role a value-added software solution plays,” he process improvement and increased productivity,” he says. “Timing says. “It gives our partners more to talk about. It raises the level of is very critical in this industry, especially as it relates to customer the conversation. It gives them a great message and it helps them service and delivery. The 30-day mortgage process on a house, for distinguish themselves from competitors. Instead of just selling a example, typically stretches out to 45 or 60 days in most situations. couple of copying machines, they have got an opportunity to sell That’s part of the opportunity for the dealer — focusing on overall an entire fleet. process improvement from a customer service standpoint to help “In the majority of cases, the implementation of Equitrac the mortgage company set itself apart from the competition.”

Express has been in conjunction with a major Just like selling MFPs and copiers, selling the Questys Pro doc- investment in an MFP fleet,” says Rich. “We’ve ument imaging system is “all ROI-based,” says Pavlovic. “Prospects seen deals where the placement of MFPs was in in this industry should be asked such questions as, ‘How many excess of a million dollars.” ■ files are you processing? How much time are you spending filing Brent Hoskins, editor of Office Technology, and retrieving these documents?’” he explains. “To assist dealers can be reached at brent@bta.org.

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1/19/06

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Target: Printer Clicks Success lies in controlling the key components by: Michael Greenberg, PrinTelogy Inc.

et’s face it, we’ve all worked at replacing the laser printer. Some of us have had more success than others, but as a whole we have not been quite as successful at this model as we would have liked.

The copier manufacturers have been telling us for years that it is less expensive to consolidate print to a workgroup MFP, and that our customers will adopt the all-in-one technology, replacing their more expensive network printers with less expensive MFPs. It has not quite evolved that way.

So the question you must ask yourself is: “Do I really care where the pages are coming from as long as I’m capturing all of them profitably?”

Most end users understand that laser printers are more expensive to operate than shared MFP devices, but they have never really focused on the true expense of print. They view print as a “necessary but relatively small expense” and assume it has little to no impact on their organization as a whole. They have no idea that this cost can be as much as 3 percent of their total revenues.

In addition, a political battle emerges around who gets a printer on his (or her) desk. “You’re not taking my printer away” is a constant reaction of many users. Further, IT managers typically drive the print process and rarely, if ever, has anyone been fired for “buying Hewlett-Packard (HP).” There is a general enduser perception that HP printers do not require service. However, when you ask an IT manager if you can take over the support of his printers, he is more than willing to give up this responsibility.

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Recently, I have been asked: “How do you truly calculate cost per page on print?”

Some dealers have decided to take a flat-rate cost-per-page approach.

While this is a desirable process, it is a very complex answer that could cost your company a lot of money.

Printers are vastly different than MFPs. The single cartridge, monocomponent technology is critical to the total overall cost of operating a printer.

Upwards of 80 percent of the total cost of ownership (TCO) is in the toner cartridge. Having this knowledge, how do we calculate the TCO of printers and, more importantly, how do we make money at it? The answer lies in controlling several key components: toner cartridge, parts, service expense, meter capture, processing toner replacement and service requests.

First and foremost, you must consider the toner cartridge.

Whether you elect to remanufacture the product yourself or do as I have and buy them from a reputable, large toner cartridge manufacturer, you must be able to calculate an accurate yield.

There is a potentially huge risk with the concept of calculating yield. If the toner cartridge accounts for nearly 80 percent of the TCO of a printer, then what will 5 percent page coverage versus 10 percent page coverage do to the overall cost of the program?

More importantly what will it do to the profitability of your contracts and how do you protect yourself?

The OEMs typically rate their cartridges to yield “X” number of pages at 5 percent coverage, but does anyone really produce 5

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machines and on a set schedule automatipercent page coverage document s? ...

If your cartridge cally transmit them to us directly. We then Industry averages are between 9 percent supplier is not reputable “scrub” this data for accuracy or missing and 12 percent page coverage for black and meters and automatically confirm this inforwhite and 20 percent for color, so be or you are having mation via e-mail with our customers. A careful. Further, if your cartridge supplier is trouble with quality, you cost-per-page invoice is then generated not reputable or you are having trouble will increase your service during the next billing cycle. with quality, you will increase your service costs and decrease We have all experienced upgrading a cuscosts and decrease your toner profits, drayour toner profits ... tomer’s MFP and finding a half-dozen new matically eroding your profits. toner bottles inside the cabinet. This is a In addition to a reputable toner cartridge supplier, you will want to identify a reputable parts sup- potentially huge risk in a cost-per-print model. Remember that plier. Just as with the toner cartridge, poor quality parts can upwards of 80 percent of your profits are tied to the toner cartridge. erode your profits. Also, don’t assume that printer service just So, if your customers are hoarding toner, you are losing money.

If your model is to utilize your technicians or low-wage entails replacing a maintenance kit. There are more than 40,000 parts among the component lines of both HP and Lexmark employees to capture meters, then you should use these same printers alone. So you must calculate your service burden rate employees to replenish toner. However, again, I believe this to be and question your parts supplier about the yield (pages per a poor use of resources. I recommend automating this process as failure) of not only a maintenance kit, but also on all other parts. well. Most current model network printers can report toner low Finally, service expense, in addition to parts, weighs heavily via e-mail or, like we have recently implemented at PrinTelogy, in designing your cost-per-page program. The perception that you could utilize software to monitor the machines and request printers never break is misleading. Printers require much less toner when the machines really need it. You could utilize this service than traditional copiers, so if you are servicing printers same software, as I have, to report service-related issues and help as often as you are servicing customers’ MFPs, you are losing you identify a true service incident.

Most of us are capable of dispatching for service and have profits. Recently, printer manufacturers (specifically HP) are making it more difficult to become service authorized for war- systems for doing so. However, if on average you are disranty work. They require a training investment by the servicing patching for service on a printer more than once per year, you entity, and the application delays to become warranty author- are losing money. I recommend training an internal team or outsourcing the process to support your first-call requests. ized are increasing.

Now that you have identified your toner cartridge and parts Presently, at PrinTelogy we are closing 26 percent of the initial supplier, calculated your service burden rate and are beginning printer support calls we receive over the phone. This has to estimate your cost per page, you should begin to consider reduced our burden rate dramatically and, more importantly, some operational tasks. How are you going to collect all of increased our profitability.

I believe we are in the infantile stages of cost per print, just as those meters? How are you going to track machines and invoice your customer? How are you going to replenish your customers’ we were with copiers in cost-per-copy in the early 1990s. The toner and how often should it be replenished? How are you opportunity is to get a foothold in your customers’ cost-pergoing to dispatch for service and what constitutes a valid print environment before one of your competitors beats you to it. But proceed cautiously, there is a lot more to this process service incident?

Meter capture can be accomplished in a number of different than first meets the eye. ■ Michael Greenberg is president and founder ways. Obviously, you could dispatch your technicians or hire a low-wage employee to collect meters. I know a few companies of Denver-based PrinTelogy Inc. He is also on staff at NER Data that utilize this model, but I question if this is really a good use Products Corp. for the delivery of its Print4 of resources. Also, they must consider the impact it has on their Program and has provided consulting services burden rates. You could rely on your customers to report them to to Toshiba for its Encompass Total Print you, but we all know how difficult it is to obtain accurate meter Management Program. Greenberg can be reads from our customers’ MFPs on a regular basis. reached at mikeg@printelogy.com At PrinTelogy we have automated this process. We identified a or mgreenberg@nerdata.com. Visit software product that can capture the meters from our customers’ www.printelogy.com and www.nerdata.com. w w w . o f f i c e t e c h n o l o g y m a g . c o m | F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 6 | 17

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Cost Management Are you helping clients find ways to save money? by: Tom Flesch, Gordon Flesch Company Inc.

n the past year, adjusting to the effects of sudden rising fuel and energy costs has become a necessity for most companies. Of course, the devastation wrought by hurricanes Katrina and Rita resulted in a particularly notable surge in costs. Many businesses were unprepared.

As business owners forecast budgets for the next few years, they must allow for such rising costs and look for ways to “manage the manageable costs” of doing business. By providing the right solutions to your clients — as their office technology provider — you can play an important role in helping businesses manage costs. You will also strengthen relationships and create sales opportunities for your dealership.

It is important for your clients to recognize that a significant but seldom measured cost of a business is that of office productivity. With effective office cost management practices in place, they can better minimize the risk associated with having to withstand ongoing and unpredictable economic impacts from events such as 2005’s natural disasters.

As they see ways to save money, you have an opportunity to help your clients understand that today’s office technology provides tools to better serve productivity needs. By modernizing current office equipment, integrating and customizing multifunction devices into workflow and maximizing their capabilities, your clients will achieve new levels of long-term cost savings and productivity.

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Increasing Effectiveness Managing the manageable costs begins with a workflow analysis of office productivity and efficiency. Understanding technology usage and related costs offers a starting point for 18 | w w w . o f f i c e t e c h n o l o g y m a g . c o m | F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 6

best utilizing networked office technology.

It ha s been common to supplement existing office devices strictly on an “asneeded” basis. At a certain point, however, a workflow analysis — conducted by your dealership — needs to take place within each client’s business to determine the most cost-effective configuration of office technology going forward. Do your clients know that businesses have reduced costs by as much as 20 to 30 percent through better use of existing equipment resources and the adoption of newer multifunction copier and printing devices?

A savings of 30 percent is significant when one considers that research indicates companies spend approximately 10 percent of their revenue on document production, management and distribution. Determining document management needs can provide more opportunities to effectively integrate electronic documents into the overall business workflow instead of simply printing the documents as costly hardcopy output. These hidden savings are significant when considering some individuals print thousands of pages per year. A document workflow analysis is a worthwhile investment for your client to determine potential savings.

In addition to finding ways to address the costs associated with printing large volumes of hard-copy documents, there is the factor of the cost of the equipment itself. As you know, in recent years the unit cost of new multifunction office devices has continued to decrease while the number of features of the devices has continued to increase. That said, your clients need to understand that merely upgrading to new multifunction devices is not the complete solution. Multifunction devices now offer more features than the average user utilizes or is even aware exist. For instance, while the networked connectivity of an office’s equipment might

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be up-to-date by today’s standards, newer individual business needs. The customiza“The future of office capabilities like scanning are underutilized tion offers new opportunities to increase technology will integrate as substantial cost-savers. A professional productivity by reducing the hours recommendation and customized training employees typically spend performing docincreased customization based on unique business needs can save ument management operations. based on individual While all industries continue to research thousands of dollars over many years. customer needs, with methods for managing costs to offset Companies are also able to achieve new more software-driven external economic impacts, office techlevels of productivity through proper equipapplications ...” nology continues to provide more tools to ment training. As dealers, we are well aware better serve productivity. Modernizing that copying, scanning and sharing tasks — lengthy processes that used to require multiple devices — have current office equipment, integrating and customizing multifuncbeen reduced to single operations. The underutilization of these tion devices into the workflow and maximizing their capabilities capabilities among your clients is oftentimes a direct result of a allow business operations to achieve new levels lack of training and awareness. They need to know how to better of long-term cost savings and productivity. ■ Tom Flesch is president and CEO of Gordon apply the capabilities of the multifunction devices in their offices.

Flesch Company Inc. Based in Madison, Wis., the dealership has 800-plus employees working Document Management I view document management as a particularly important area from 13 locations, including six satellite offices.

Visit www.gflesch.com. of focus for increasing efficiency and cost savings in the workplace. Many companies have for years outsourced their printed output to document archival companies. Do your clients fully understand how, with today’s multifunction equipment, they can eliminate those costs by bringing that capability in-house?

As you know, over-stuffed filing cabinets are rapidly becoming an image of the past. Maintaining digital storage provides a solution that is more manageable internally. Make sure your clients recognize that with today ’s technology, a document can be scanned, labeled, filed on a central server, shared in a matter of seconds and later quickly retrieved upon request.

“Using office technology to create a digitized document provides a secure, retrievable file that will outlast the original hardcopy output,” your reps can explain to the client. “Digital storage conserves resources and time.” So, having an “analyst” from your dealership develop a storage strategy will prepare your client to take the next step into the new digital era.

The Future The future of office technology will integrate increased customization based on individual customer needs, with more software-driven applications and products. This will allow more efficient management of files and the ability to better integrate the information they contain into the business workflow. Document control will be more than just producing hard copies.

Updating your clients’ technology provides the benefit of keeping them on the cutting edge, laying the groundwork for continuous improvement. The industry is seeing customized software that can tailor multifunction equipment to perform to w w w . o f f i c e t e c h n o l o g y m a g . c o m | F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 6 | 19

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Rapid Revenue Acceleration Focus on solving business process problems by: Arnie Valenzuela, OneAccord

t was a familiar feeling that I was all too accustomed to — that feeling of getting ready to attempt a death-defying feat in front of a crowd. To make things worse the crowd wa s made up of my peers, fellow sales executives and clients.

What I was facing was the formidable task of teeing off with a driver to start the company golf tournament. I had no business attempting to execute a decent tee shot with a driver. The hole was too far away. The only way to get to the green was to use the club that provided the longest shot available. The result was the same as most of my other attempts at using a driver to tee off. I duffed it.

What does this golf story have to do with the title of this article? Consider this: All successful selling engagements result in a specific problem being solved in a way that provides such value that the client is willing to pay what the product or service is worth.

Back to my golf story for a moment. My problem was my inability to successfully tee off with a driver. Notice that I said it “was,” not “is” my problem. How did I solve the problem? I bought a new driver. It has a larger club head and higher degree of loft. The combination of these two factors solved a 20-plus year problem. It was that simple.

You may still be asking: “What’s this have to do with rapid revenue acceleration in my dealership?” After 23 years in this industry I have concluded that more is not better when it comes to features, multifunctional capability, finishing or software programs. This proliferation of features has created a focus on the “bells and whistles” instead of a focus on solving the business process problems that exist within every business you encounter.

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Your customers want solutions to their problems. They don’t want your “bells and whistles.”

The fastest method of achieving rapid revenue acceleration is to become very simple-minded in your daily selling efforts. Become an expert at discovering problems. Look for the obvious and you may find that the solution to a business problem is simple.

How do you do that in an industry that, historically, has pushed the requirement to sell features instead of becoming intimate with specific business problems? Rather than becoming an expert on the “bells and whistles,” become an expert at discovering the most significant problems in your clients’ document delivery processes.

This is not to say that you can go about selling your products or services without any product knowledge, but don’t spend your time trying to sell features from the start.

I know this industry well enough to know that there is an abundance of product expertise available to you through your vendors as well as your professional or technical services staff.

What you need to do is invest your time discovering the business process problems and quantifying them in terms of the negative impact they have on your customer's organization, whether that impact is a slowed production process, a delay in billing, frequent delivery of documents to the wrong client or a document production process that is riddled with errors.

With these thoughts in mind, here are five quick steps to get you on the right track in every sales engagement.

(1) Locate three to four departments inside the customer’s organization where money is handled or revenue is the core focus.

The best targets: finance (accounts payable/receivable, buyer

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whether he believes you are providing a want by discovering real business problems Make sure you don’t let unique value. If he answers “yes,” you are on and create solutions that speed up the quotas or personal your way to a highly profitable sale. If he buying cycle. Implementing these steps can answers “no,” ask him, “Why not?” His improve your conversion ratio of leads to agendas of your team answer will provide the road map to the sales. Good selling! ■ members influence the sale. (Another possibility is that you are at Arnie Valenzuela is a partner recommendation. If you the wrong level of decision making and at OneAccord, a national do, you will likely lose need to find another contact to present your executive management consulting the sale to a competitor. findings and solution.) firm that specializes in strategic and (5) Once you have a commitment that tactical solutions that provide the catalyst the manager wants to solve the problem and will spend money for rapid revenue acceleration. With 27 years to solve it, assemble your support team (product specialist, of experience in sales, sales training, executive sales manufacturers, professional and technical services) and review management and sales operations, he has the findings of your EIOP meetings. Make sure you don’t let invested 23 years in the BTA channel. quotas or personal agendas of your team members influence the He has served at Print Inc., Ricoh Corp. recommendation. If you do, you will likely lose the sale to a IKON Office Solutions and several leading dealerships. Valenzuela can be reached competitor. at arnie.valenzuela@oneaccordcorp.com.

If you use these five steps as a guideline you will create a comVisit www.oneaccordcorp.com. petitive advantage, improve your focus, deliver what customers

Having trouble finding money for your child’s education?

BTA can help.

Scholarships are available to the sons and daughters of BTA Retail Dealer and Value Added Reseller members and the sons and daughters of their full-time employees. Scholarship recipients are chosen by an impartial and independent evaluator for use at colleges or accredited vocational trade schools. Completed applications must be received at BTA by May 1. To obtain a scholarship application form, call Mary Hopkins at (816) 303-4031 or write: BTA Scholarship Foundation, 12411 Wornall Road, Kansas City, MO 64145. ®

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EDUCATION CALENDAR BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATION â&#x20AC;˘ February 2006

EDUCATION CALENDAR February 13-15 Sales Management Leadership Program

Southern California Targeted to sales supervisors, managers and executives, this nationally-recognized management program by Applied Concepts Institute is available to BTA members. It is an intensive, three-day workshop coupled with telephone coaching and Web seminar support and will provide the sales manager with ownership of increasing revenues/gross profits. This program is designed to help you develop an elite, highperformance sales team.

23-24 BTA FIX: Cost Management for Service

Kansas City, MO Learn proven service management and customer service strategies to use in your company. Costing out the service hour, effective and profitable maintenance agreements, efficient vehicle operations, reducing personnel turnover, competitive compensation plans and identifying profit-making opportunities through the service operation are issues that are critical for success. Receive service department worksheets and action plan templates, sample maintenance agreements, cost/price spreadsheet templates on diskette and a handy workshop reference manual.

March 8-9

BTA ProFinance Atlanta, GA Analyze current business practices and evaluate strengths and weaknesses. Participants will explore important issues surrounding profitability benchmarks, asset management, expense controls and employee productivity. They will leave with a clear set of benchmarks and proven strategies for successful implementation with a target goal of 14 percent operating income. This course is sure to help you take control of and improve the financial performance of your company.

14-17 ITEX 2006

Las Vegas, NV The schedule for the office technology industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest trade show features 100 hours of education and 200-plus exhibitors. To register, visit www.itexshow.com.

For more information and to register for the Sales Management Leadership Program, FIX or ProFinance, visit www.bta.org or call (800) 843-5059. www.of ficetechnologymag.com | Februar y 2006 | 23

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COURTS & CAPITOLS

Uncle Sam’s Revisions Here are a few numbers you should know in 2006 by: Robert C. Goldberg, General Counsel for the Business Technology Association

transit passes or for qualified vanpools is $105. ach year the U.S. government varies the Each year the U.S. Parking, valued up to $205 per month, can be dollar amounts to be utilized in many government varies the provided to employees or as part of a tax-free employment situations. This year is no dollar amounts to be program serving as another fringe benefit. different. Failure to know these changes is not Employees may receive education assisan excuse and may result in penalties, interest, utilized in ... employment tance, including graduate-level programs, up etc. The revisions do not follow logic, so you situations ... Failure to to $5,250 tax-free. This is an excellent means must take note of them and ensure the proper know these changes ... to improve the skills of your employees and to individuals in your organization do as well. may result in penalties ... provide added benefits. Many employers vary There are several dollar amounts every the amount of assistance based on the employer needs to know when handling the employee’s performance in the class. Thus, an “A” would earn a 100 company payroll. The wage base for Social Security — or Old Age, Survivor and Disability Insurance (OASDI) — is $94,200. The percent reimbursement, a “B” 80 percent, a “C” 50 percent and anymaximum amount an employee may have withheld for OASDI in 2006 thing lower would not result in any reimbursement. A plan such as is $5,840. Employers must contribute funds equal to the amounts this ensures that the course is taken seriously and your money is withheld from employees for both Social Security and Medicare. well spent. Of course, the policy can be as suggested, but as the There is no wage base limitation amount for Medicare. The OASDI owner you always have the right to make an exception provided rate remains at 6.2 percent and is matched by the employer. The such does not discriminate against other employees.

If an employee adopts a child in 2006, he can deduct $10,960 as Medicare rate remains at 1.45 percent and must be matched as well. qualified adoption expenses from his taxable income. This may The amount of a single annual federal withholding allowance for 2006 is $3,300. There is a limit of $15,000 for tax-free deferrals to seem like a considerable sum, however, often the adopting party your Section 401(k), 403(b) and 457 plans in 2006. This amount pays the mother’s medical bills. An increasing number of adoptions increases to $20,000 if you are over 50 years of age. Employees at a are taking place outside the United States, resulting in additional dealership with a SIMPLE Plan can defer $10,000 in 2006 and expenses as well.

One of the more difficult challenges is compliance with the over$12,500 if over 50 years of age. If you have not implemented a 401(k) plan at your dealership, one should be seriously considered. These time provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Paying someone a plans have proven to be an excellent incentive for retaining salary does not exempt an employee from overtime. An examination of the employee’s job functions is always necessary to determine applicaemployees through employer contributions to the plan.

Transportation costs have increased considerably. However, in bility. If you err, the amount per employee that an employer may be 2006 the amount one can claim for mileage reimbursement for use charged for repeated or willful violations is $1,100. This amount is in of his (or her) personal automobile has been lowered to 44.5 cents addition to the compensation and interest due the employee.

The Internal Revenue Service has established a toll-free number per mile. It should always be noted that this is the maximum amount for a business to deduct, but does not serve as an entitle- (800-829-4933) to assist small businesses with questions on employment to the employee. Many dealers utilize monthly car allowances ment taxes. If you are preparing your own payroll keep this number to reduce paperwork and the time and effort required to track handy. More and more dealers have gone to payroll services to actual mileage. If an employee utilizes a company-owned vehicle prepare their payroll. A payroll service knows the rules and requireand has the use of it for personal needs, an employer is obligated to ments and may eliminate a significant burden for you. Of course, if you have questions BTA Legal Serinclude the personal usage amount as additional income.

If you live in a city where public transportation is utilized or parking vices is pleased to assist association members. ■ Robert C. Goldberg is general counsel for the is an expense there are additional amounts that apply. The tax-free monthly amount an employer can provide to an employee under a Business Technology Association. He can be reached qualified transportation fringe benefit plan in the form of either public at robert.goldberg@snfr.com.

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PRINCIPAL ISSUES

Customers First At Saxon Business Systems, it’s part of the culture by: Dustin Phillips

laro. “He has our entire hat do you do organization being proacwhen your dealtive and making sure cusership has been tomers don’t experience recognized by your peers problems in the first place. and vendors as one of the He meets with all departnation’s finest and it has ments regularly and grown more than 20 perteaches customer service cent annually for as long while recognizing those as you can remember? If who have performed well your dealership is Saxfor their customers. on Business Systems of “ He ha s an underMiami Lakes, Fla., you do standing of how papereverything in your power work f lows throughout to be better.

Saxon and even if someIn an industry in which customers now lack confi- Clockwise from top left: Saxon Founder and President Florio Abbate (left) and thing makes sense to us, if dence in the national com- Vice President George Cavallaro; Saxon’s headquarters in Miami Lakes, Fla.; it is causing the customer panies and rapid growth by Bill Wallace, who oversees Saxon’s CustomerFirst program; and two views of grief, it gets changed,” he continues. “We changed their vendor is not neces- Saxon’s Technology Portal, located in its headquarters’ facility. our overnight freight comsarily embraced, Saxon has taken the initiative to get closer to its customers. The first step was pany due to the feedback Bill received from our customers.”

Wallace has been very active as Saxon’s customer advocate from to create its CustomerFirst program. the start. He has implemented customer surveys that are action“CustomerFirst has become a corporate culture, but it’s much more than that,” says Florio Abbate, Saxon’s founder and president. able, visited vendors to discuss how their procedures can be more “It’s a tangible program that ensures our customers will always Saxon customer friendly, fields customer complaints and logs them have an enjoyable and hassle-free experience when they do busi- through resolution. And even with Saxon’s multiple locations throughout Florida, geography is not an issue when it comes to ness with Saxon.”

The next step in implementing the customer-focused program customer satisfaction.

“Bill has been very supportive of our customers and has created was finding an individual to spearhead it. The job would not just be the same CustomerFirst culture within our employees as he has in a clerical position fielding customer complaints.

“We realized if we wanted to be sincere in our efforts to truly put all the other Saxon locations,” says Vince Manno, Saxon’s branch the customer first, we needed an individual who would be the cus- manager in Jacksonville, Fla. “He regularly comes up here and tomer’s advocate,” explains Abbate. “Providing direct access to meets with customers and awards CustomerFirst lapel pins to the management to fix a problem was the easy part. We wanted employees.”

Part of Saxon’s CustomerFirst program is a CustomerFirst someone who could ferret out the root of the problem and, if need be, make recommendations to change our policies and procedures Welcome Kit intended to make doing business with Saxon easy. so that the problem wouldn’t occur again for any of our customers.” The Saxon CustomerFirst Welcome Kit is an eight-page brochure Saxon found its man in Bill Wallace, a veteran of the office prod- that does more than thank business people for becoming Saxon ucts industry who had worked for Office Depot and once headed up customers. It holds Saxon accountable by reminding customers of a national service organization with 400 field technicians. “Bill has why they selected Saxon, gives tips on keeping equipment trouble exceeded our expectations,” says Saxon Vice President George Caval- free, details how the Automated Dispatch System can work best

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for them, warns customers about toner environment yet, with our size, we have the “We market Saxon as phoners and paper pirates and what to do if capabilities of any national company. Hurrithey are contacted by them and, most imporcane Wilma put that to the test and I’m proud being a local company tantly, gives the direct telephone numbers for to say we delivered. Any downtime for Saxon that understands all upper management. customers was kept to a minimum.” the local business “Too many CEOs, along with their manageCustomerFirst might be a recent innovaenvironment yet ... we ment team, insulate themselves from their tion, but Saxon has been consistently have the capabilities of customers,” laments Abbate. “Our Customerrewarded for innovative marketing programs any national company.”

First Welcome Kit has the telephone numbers and its dedication to customer satisfaction and extensions for all of our customers’ key that is now embodied in the CustomerFirst contacts, including mine, the VP of sales, the VP of service and the program. Saxon has received Ricoh’s prestigious Renaissance Award branch managers. It’s designed to simplify the lives of our customers that goes to one of its premier dealers each year, is a multiple winner and, if it gets too complicated, it lets them know who they can call of “Elite Dealer” status and its service department has won every to immediately get things back on track.” major award from the manufacturers Saxon represents.

In the last couple of years, Mother Nature has been cruel to Like any company that has outstanding customer service, Saxon Saxon’s customers due to the string of hurricanes that have ravaged has created an environment that makes it enjoyable to show up for the state of Florida. Hurricane Wilma was Saxon’s most recent chal- work each day. Recently, management implemented a sales contest lenge, especially since Saxon’s corporate office was without power that involved every Saxon employee, not just the sales staff. for a week and a half.

“Everyone in the company was assigned to a team that included “Due to our size, we can keep a lot of inventory on hand, so we one of our salespeople,” says Cavallaro. “Based on the salesperson’s have a large fleet of rentals and loaners to help our customers unit sales and overall performance, team members from service and during and after a natural disaster,” says Cavallaro. “We market admin won cash or chances at cash. It was great because each salesSaxon as being a local company that understands the local business person ended up with four or five managers. It wasn’t a good time for a rep to take off on a Wednesday afternoon to go golfing.”

Having one of America’s premier dealerships and making sure everyone is having fun along the way drives Abbate and Cavallaro.

They are constantly striving to stay ahead of the curve. A couple of years ago when the Business Technology Association (BTA) formed the Select Dealer Group (SDG), they became charter members.

“George and I have been involved in other dealer groups, but we enjoy SDG because it is a young organization that is a growing and developing forum for dealers interested in learning from each other,” says Abbate. “It’s all business. It’s not a travel group. It’s a Business Technology Association members can protect themselves and their customers good network of dealers who make themselves available to provide from fraudulent telemarketers by participating in insight and bounce ideas around. Rarely a week goes by without an exclusive BTA Fraudulent Telemarketing Awareness some contact with another member.” program. Make sure your customers are aware Baseball pitching great Satchel Paige once said, “Don’t look of companies that misrepresent themselves as back, someone might be gaining on you.” With Abbate and Caval“their usual suppliers” for toner and other supplies laro, it would be very easy to admire their accomplishments in the by including amusing yet serious statement stuffers rear view mirror. However, for those who know them and know how (available from BTA) in your invoices and by placing driven they are to remain on top, there is the realization that Cusawareness stickers on your cartons. tomerFirst may be the centerpiece program of the business right For more information and to order, now, but they can count on many more customer-focused innovacall BTA at (800) 505-2821. tions at Saxon Business Systems in the future. ■ Stuffers: $65/1,000. Stickers: $35/250.

Dustin Phillips is a freelance writer based in Costa Mesa, Calif. Saxon Business Systems is a Business Technology Association member dealership. Visit www.saxon.net. ®

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PRINCIPAL ISSUES

Training Close-up: Canon A look at its customized, interactive Learning Zone by: Mitch Bardwell, Canon U.S.A. Inc.

Editor’s Note: Throughout 2006, Office Technology magazine will be inviting the copier/MFP OEMs that sell through the dealer channel to submit articles regarding their dealer training initiatives. The intent is to provide each of the OEM’s authorized dealers — and the channel in general — a look at some of the training programs that are currently available. Following is the first of these submissions, from Mitch Bardwell at Canon U.S.A. Inc.

people who require training and increasing product complexity. Canon copiers were once standalone devices.

Today, they are complex, networked digital communications “hubs” for entire organizations. This has saddled dealers and salespeople with the task of not only understanding how an individual product operates, but also how entire digital workflow systems within companies operate and relate to one another.

As a result of increased product complexity, more courses are required and o sustain a competitive advanthe content must be precisely targeted to tage in the 21st century, organiparticular subsets of learners. Thus, zations must constantly seek to Canon is tasked with imparting all the improve performance. Canon has taken knowledge associated with a digital steps to help accelerate business results device and its extended applications to for dealers and the channel by providing each member of the sales team. a customized, interactive user-friendly Canon’s approach to content delivery learning tool to assist in the training of has been to offer some material electronthe sales force.

Top image: “The Millionaire Game” allows sales ically, while other material is delivered Training methods have historically reps to earn “big bucks” by answering product- personally by instructors. An individual involved salespeople and an instructor related questions. Bottom image: The “Data Canon learner would receive a robust in a traditional classroom setting with Center” provides an interactive sales simulation. blend of learning experiences. the instructor imparting information Before the launch of the Learning about products, technologies and sales techniques. Since its intro- Zone, 90 percent of Canon’s courses were instructor-led, and 10 duction in January 2001, the Canon Learning Zone has built upon percent were delivered via CD-ROM. Now the breakdown is approxitraditional methods to bring greater flexibility and extended mately 70 percent Web-based and 30 percent instructor-led. instruction beyond the classroom. Field training is now delivered Currently, Canon has more than 300 courses available online in in multiple ways. This includes: traditional instructor-led courses the Learning Zone, compared to 25 courses before the Learning taught by professional facilitators in a classroom; Learning Zone Zone was established.

Live, offering synchronous online e-training with an instructor; The Learning Zone also allows for mission-critical content to and Web-based courses available through the Learning Zone. reach Canon sales and marketing professionals immediately and The Canon Learning Zone is a dealer’s front-line portal into the with a more consistent quality, as compared to previously when it world of office solution education. The Learning Zone provides a took weeks for training on a new Canon product to become availblend of classroom experience and online courseware to create a able to the channel. rich, robust learning environment intended to help dealers improve Also, the Learning Zone creates an opportunity to offer more individual technology acumen and sales performance. advanced content. Previously, nearly all courses were designed for Two fundamental changes in the business environment led to the new hires and intermediate-level sales representatives. With the creation of the Learning Zone: a significant rise in the number of advent of self-paced Web-based courses, Canon has been able to

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add complex content, such as color science, for these documents and have one-click access ...

Canon has been able variable data, large format and demand once the desired documents are located. printing to courses for users to absorb at their The Sales Training Knowledge Base is to add complex content, offered as an information resource compiling own pace. such as color science, hundreds of reference materials and clips In addition to instant access to online variable data, large related to digital printing technology and terlearning courses, the Learning Zone proformat and demand minology. This quick reference tool is available vides dealers with learning schedules and printing to courses for to query text definitions, animation clips and details about traditional classes, pathways users to absorb ... short learning excerpts to help facilitate the to professional growth and access to perlearning process. The knowledge base is fully formance support.

The Learning Zone offers a number of features that will help searchable by keyword or alphabetical listing and includes facts and dealers increase their product and industry knowledge, as well as concepts covering color theory, digital scanning and printing, document workflow, digital photography, printing production process, increase productivity. These features include the following: color management, marketing and selling print, graphic arts, proofing and imaging system technology.

Personalized Delivery From the minute a dealer sales professional arrives, the Canon Learning Zone adapts the look and feel of the site to the learner’s Collaboration In 2006, facilitators and participants will use a Collaboration profile, dealership product authorization or channel relationship.

Canon locates and delivers the most appropriate recently released Center to share discussion threads and access to content experts. courseware for individual learner needs, specialized topics, unique One of the most popular areas of the Learning Zone is Learning launch methods and/or information that might be of particular Zone Live. Learning Zone Live is the perfect blend between an interest to the learner. instructor-led classroom and a time-sensitive Web-based course.

The Learning Zone continues to personalize the learning experi- Learning Zone Live offers the learner personalized interaction with ence by tracking individual performance in courseware and book- an instructor yet does not require the time and cost of travel to marking progress so users can return to where they left off in attend a course in a classroom. training at a later time that may better fit their schedule. The Learning Zone Live courses take less than one hour and consist Learning Zone communicates with learners via e-mail to remind of small groups that interact through conference calls and online to them about upcoming training events and recommended courses interface live with experts and presentation graphics to provide the prior to or following the user’s completion of an instructor-led class. most flexible training experience possible. Recently, Learning Zone Live was enhanced with an exciting feature, Learning Zone Live Learning Management Lab, which offers online access to the most recent Canon software The Learning Zone is powered by an award-winning Learning products. The Live Lab simulates software to allow the user to train Management System (LMS) that delivers robust Canon content and and use software as if it were installed on his (or her) computer, but schedules a variety of training. The Learning Zone allows managers without installing or downloading any programs onto the user’s to supervise their employees’ training activities online and provides terminal. Learning Zone Live Lab not only demonstrates the softthe manager access to transcripts. This system also allows each ware product, but users may test and familiarize themselves with Canon dealership to develop and administer learning plans based software by actually navigating the drivers and interfaces. upon its educational goals.

As we move into 2006, attracting, retaining and training good people to deliver products and services will be an important differInformation Management entiator among successful dealers. We feel the Learning Zone will be The Learning Zone provides learners with quick access to the a vital tool for dealers as they look to build high-performing, enthuinformation documents they need most. It is also a one-of-a-kind siastic and successful sales organizations. ■ content distribution system that provides training content once Mitch Bardwell is director and only available by mail or courier. Canon is now able to deliver video, assistant general manager of Canon U.S.A.’s presentation materials and product manuals quickly through the Sales Training Division, Imaging Systems Learning Zone that would otherwise be intrusive through tradiGroup. He can be reached tional computer or network resources. at mbardwell@cusa.canon.com.

In the Learning Zone, users can quickly perform keyword searches Visit www.canon.com.

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PRINCIPAL ISSUES

Universal Copier/Printers In many respects they ‘represent the final evolution’ by: Jonathan Bees, InfoTrends

he growth in universal copier/pr int er (UC P) placements is the most significant market driver in the office today. In many respects, UCPs represent the final evolution of office equipment.

Over the past 10 years, the office equipment industry has made the transition from impact to non-impact printers, from analog to digital copiers and from single-function to multifunction devices. For mainstream office equipment, the last major transition in imaging technology is the long-anticipated migration from monochrome-only devices to mainstream, low-cost color devices. UCPs are driving this final transition.

The market for UCPs is already here, and several major vendors are actively selling products and transitioning their monochrome product lines to color. InfoTrends believes that the market for copier-based UCPs is supply-constrained and will grow more rapidly as more vendors and products become available. Based on InfoTrends’ primary research, customers are very interested in these products and appear poised to purchase them instead of traditional black-and-white devices if offered at the right price points and feature sets that parallel fully functional monochrome MFPs in support of office applications. The market for workgroup color printer-based MFPs is truly emerging, with a variety of vendors now offering a wide range of products.

InfoTrends defines a UCP as a color output device, most commonly a multifunction device, that cost-effectively copies and prints in monochrome and color with only a marginal price premium over comparable monochrome-only devices. There are two classifications of devices within the UCP category, and these are outlined below.

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Color-Capable UCPs Color-capable UCPs are designed to primarily output black-andwhite pages (70 percent to 90 percent of monthly volume) and offer the ability to occasionally output color pages (10 percent to 30

percent of monthly volume).

Color-capable devices typically use a single-drum desig n or another configuration where the black speed is significantly higher (two to four times) than the color speed on the same device. Colorcapable devices tend to carr y prices that are comparable to — or only slightly more than — similar black-and-white products.

They typically offer the same cost per page for monochrome pages.

Examples of color-capable UCPs include: Ricoh’s Aficio 3224C and 3228C; Canon’s ImageRUNNER C3170; Toshiba’s e-STUDIO 351c/451c; and Xerox’s CopyCentre C3545/WorkCentre Pro C3545.

Color-Centric UCPs Color-centric UCPs are designed to print more color pages (30 percent to 70 percent of a device’s total volume) than color-capable UCPs, but they also offer operating costs that are competitive with black-and-white devices for monochrome pages. Color-centric UCPs typically have a tandem (in-line) drum design, where the output engine produces maximum color speeds that are equal to or nearly equal to the same device’s black-only speed.

In relation to color-capable UCPs, color-centric UCPs tend to carry higher prices than comparable-speed black-and-white products, but they also have comparable per-page costs for monochrome pages. The higher prices correlate with the higher color production speeds of this class of devices. Examples of colorcentric UCPs include: Canon’s Color ImageRUNNER C2620; Konica Minolta’s bizhub PRO C500; Toshiba’s e-STUDIO 2100c/3100c; and Xerox’s DocuColor 3535.

Color Devices by Product Type The chart appearing on this page shows the split between colorcapable, color-centric and non-UCP devices. InfoTrends expects placements of color-capable devices to increase by 15.9 percent CAGR between 2004 and 2009, while placements of color-centric devices are expected to increase by 50.5 percent within the same w w w . o f f i c e t e c h n o l o g y m a g . c o m | F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 6 | 29

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period. Since most UCPs will be sold to casual to capturing more network print output on ...

Color-centric UCPs ... users of color output in office environments, devices other than standalone printers. Color will eventually capture the lower cost of color-capable devices will provides subtle but important value and as increase color access to more users and iniusers become more familiar with the produca greater share of tially drive unit demand and growth despite tivity of these devices and come to expect the color market as the lower maximum color speed performance color capability in the office, the chances are users seek the fastest, of color-capable UCPs. very good today that they will look toward most productive and O verall, the market for color output laser-based UCPs rather than outside services cost-effective products. devices, driven by the universal nature and or alternative technologies like inkjet. ■ capabilities of today ’s new breed of office Jonathan Bees is director of InfoTrends’ equipment, is enabling an important shift in product mix and the Digital Peripheral Solutions Service. He has capabilities available to users. As the market continues to evolve, more than 25 years experience in the office imaging color-centric UCPs, those devices with higher color speeds and industry, including market research, product higher monthly rated output volumes, will eventually capture a management, competitive analysis and sales. greater share of the color market as users seek the fastest, most Prior to joining InfoTrends, he was productive and cost-effective products. editor-in-chief of Better Buys for Business, a publisher of information and analysis on the Copier-based UCPs are being sold with very high network office imaging market for end users. connect rates and solution connect rates higher than traditional Visit www.infotrends.com. monochrome MFPs, reducing one of the traditional sales barriers

ADVERTISER INDEX Ames Supply Company (800) 323-3856 / (630) 964-2440 Fax: (800) 848-8780 / (630) 964-0497 www.amessupply.com E-mail: info@amessupply.com

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Business Products Council Association (800) 897-0250 www.businessprouductscouncil.org

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DocuWare Corp.

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Print Audit (877) 412-8348 / (403) 685-4932 / Fax: (403) 249-9471 www.printaudit.com E-mail: sales@printaudit.com

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