October 2011 Office Technology

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CONTENTS Volume 18 • No. 4

FEATURE ARTICLES 10

2011 Software Buyer’s Guide Helping you race ahead of the competition

COURTS & CAPITOLS Dealers Prevail Court rulings favorable to BTA Channel

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Compiled by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

Although there are many software products that further enhance the use of MFPs, dealers are often advised to select and market only a few of these products.

To help dealers better understand the capabilities of the various software products now available, O° ce Technology magazine invited a number of vendors to submit brief overviews of their products. Perhaps it is time to further enhance your product offerings or use a new software product to improve your internal processes.

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by Robert C. Goldberg BTA General Counsel

Two court decisions brought favorable results for the BTA Channel. › e ÿ rst will assist the BTA Channel in defending itself should an MFP security breach occur. › e second supports an authorized dealer channel and makes investment in a product line more secure.

P R I N C I PA L I S S U E S Building Tenure − ese methodologies can help ensure success

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by Larry Coco Coco Training & Consulting Inc.

Q&A: ECi Software Solutions ECi’s COO addresses Digital Gateway acquisition

Creating a tenured sales group may be the biggest key to growing your business in a consistent fashion. You need to ÿ nd out what truly inspires your salespeople to reach that next level and commit to the team and to your company.

by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

On Sept. 21, the day that ECi Software Solutions announced the acquisition of Digital Gateway, dealers immediately began to ask a number of questions. › ey were recalling the many unhappy dealers who were mystiÿ ed by the handling of the OMD and La Crosse acquisitions. With the goal of giving ECi an opportunity to provide a transparent view of the transition and what dealers can expect, O° ce Technology magazine asked ECi COO Trevor Gruenewald about the acquisition.

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SERVICE CONNECTIONS Determining Staƒ ng Levels Minimize labor expense & identify ineƒ ciencies

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by Ken Staubitz Strategy Development

It is no secret that labor expense has an impact on service margins. As a service leader, it is important to understand and determine the appropriate staffing levels for your organization. › is can be challenging and time consuming, but it plays a pivotal role.

Q&A: Mark Mathews Toshiba president & COO to keynote BTA West event

by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

A 20-year veteran of the oŒce technology industry, Mark Mathews is currently president and COO of Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc., based in Irvine, Calif. Recently, Ofÿ ce Technology magazine had the opportunity to visit with Mathews about the industry and the dealer channel. His responses to O° ce Technology’s questions provide a preview of the areas he will address as he presents his keynote presentation at Capture the Magic, BTA West’s district event, Nov. 17-18 in Las Vegas.

D E PA R T M E N T S Business Technology Association

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• Education Calendar • BTA Highlights

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Executive Director’s Page

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BTA President’s Message

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Advertiser Index

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S PAGE

Is This a ‘New’ ECi Software Solutions?

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o say that most in the office technology industry were surprised by ECi Software Solutions’ acquisition of Digital Gateway is probably an understatement.

After all, we were told that would never happen.

And then there are those recollections of the dismay in the aftermath of ECi’s acquisition of OMD in 2006 and La Crosse in 2007.

You remember it well, right? Following the acquisitions, it did not take long for the ÿ restorm of protests to begin. Dealers were being handed increases for the use of the software products that far exceeded the caps that were spelled out in their existing OMD and La Crosse contracts. It appeared that fair, equitable and ethical treatment of dealers was not being considered.

At the time, it was pointed out that there are “two sides to every story.” In fact, in the March 2008 issue of O° ce Technology, we published “ECi: An Open Letter,” submitted

by ECi, which focused, in part, on explaining why it was necessary for the company to increase its prices. I do not know whether the article or subsequent conversations appeased dealers to any notable degree. Perhaps it did in some cases. However, clearly, many dealers remained bitter.

They were so bitter, in fact, that plenty of them bailed. They turned their eyes to Digital Gateway and its e-automate product. The company was inundated with new dealer customers looking to make a switch. Dealers knew that as Digital Gateway customers, they would be safe from what they saw as the unscrupulous business practices of ECi. On the heels of the acquisitions of OMD and La Crosse, in February of 2009, I heard from Ron Books, who had just been promoted to serve as ECi’s president and CEO.

We had a conversation about the concerns dealers had expressed to BTA. I recall that he seemed driven by the desire to guide the company into a “new chapter” with a vision of helping dealers to be more successful. It appeared to me then that ECi was beginning to change.

Ultimately, Books facilitated substantial change. He brought in a new CFO, COO, leader of global sales and marketing, and senior vice president of marketing. I have met at least one of these individuals — Trevor Gruenewald, ECi’s COO. In fact, each time I talk to him, I am struck by his friendly manner and his sincere interest in supporting the dealer community. I have the same impression of Laryssa Alexander, who serves as president of OMD and La Crosse for ECi. On Sept. 26, I interviewed Gruenewald about ECi’s acquisition of Digital Gateway.

The interview appears in this issue, beginning on page 20. Gruenewald addresses the changes at ECi, its commitment to honoring current dealer contracts and the reasons why Digital Gateway leadership decided to sell. It is clear that the immediate, unfair manner in which dealers were treated following the OMD and La Crosse acquisitions is now just history, not to be repeated with the acquisition of Digital Gateway. It is often said that change means opportunity. Perhaps this will prove to be true for Digital Gateway users.

Will ECi’s acquisition of Digital Gateway ultimately prove to be a good thing for dealers and the industry? Perhaps so. Certainly, the apparent mind-set and management style of the new leadership is in stark contrast to what was obvious in the past. But, like all other company acquisitions — and we have seen many in this industry — only time will tell.  — Brent Hoskins

Executive Director/BTA Editor/Office Technology Brent Hoskins brent@bta.org (816) 303-4040 Associate Editor Elizabeth Marvel elizabeth@bta.org (816) 303-4060 Contributing Writers Larry Coco, Coco Training & Consulting Inc. www.cocotraining.com Robert C. Goldberg, General Counsel Business Technology Association Ken Staubitz, Strategy Development www.strategydevelopment.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 Valerie Briseno Membership & Marketing Manager valerie@bta.org Mary Hopkins Database Administrator mary@bta.org Teresa Leerar Bookkeeper teresa@bta.org Brian Smith Membership Sales Representative brian@bta.org Photo Credits: Creatas Images, Hemera, iStockphoto, Push. Cover created by Bruce Quade, Brand X Studio. ©2011 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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BTA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE 2011-2012 Board of Directors

Register for a BTA District Event Today

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his is a busy fall for the Business Technology Association. On Sept. 2223 BTA East hosted the ÿ rst of three district education and networking events scheduled for the second half of 2011.

Grand Slam 2011 took place at the RitzCarlton, Westchester in White Plains, N.Y. It was the fourth year for the event, which featured six education sessions, 32 exhibiting sponsors and a number of networking opportunities. We were pleased to have Rick Taylor, president and COO of Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. Inc., as our keynote speaker. Grand Slam 2011 drew total attendance of approximately 165 — signiÿ cantly more than the 65 in attendance at the ÿ rst of these events in 2008.

The feedback from attendees has been very favorable. Here is a sampling of the positive comments shared by dealer attendees on evaluation forms completed at the conclusion of the event:  “The speakers were great. We need this time away from our businesses to ‘fan the Ÿame’ and recharge.” — Ray Derstine, Altek Business Systems, Telford, Pa.  “The event is professionally prepared and presented. The BTA people are friendly and courteous and make the overall atmosphere very enjoyable. Each year we have attended (four) we have implemented ideas we gained from the event and have proven results from implementing these ideas.” — Mike Steinhoff, Rhyme Business Products, Portage, Wis. There are still two more opportunities in 2011 to reap the rewards of attending one of BTA’s district events. As highlighted in this space in the September issue of O“ ce Technology, the next event on the schedule

is BTA Southeast’s Fall Colors Retreat, to be held Oct. 21-22 at the Waynesville Inn Golf Resort and Spa, a mountain lodge in Waynesville, N.C. This will be the ÿ rst time that I will attend this event; I am looking forward to it. For details, visit www.bta. org/BTASoutheastEvent.

Until recently, you may not have heard too much about the ÿ nal of our 2011 district events — the ÿ rst to be held in the BTA West district in several years. We are very excited about this event and know that it will be well received. Capture the Magic will be held Nov. 17-18 at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel.

The event begins with a keynote session, “The New Normal,” to be presented by Mark Mathews, president and COO of Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc. The other education sessions in the line-up: “Magical Procedures for Successful Dealerships,” with BTA General Counsel Bob Goldberg; “Capture the Opportunity,” with John Hey, Strategic Business Associates; “There is More to MPS Than Sales & Software,” with Ronelle Ingram, Steven Enterprises Inc.; “The MPS Contract: Getting it is Only the Start,” with Tom Callinan, Strategy Development; and “Beyond Traditional Sales,” with David Ramos, Strategy Development.

In addition, Capture the Magic will be preceded by ProFinance and followed by FIX: Cost Management of Service — two of BTA’s leading workshops.

There will also be plenty of opportunities to visit with our 29 exhibiting sponsors.

The event will conclude with an evening at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino to see “An Intimate Evening of Grand Illusion,” with David Copperÿ eld. This is certain to be a memorable evening.

Want to know more? Visit www.bta.org/ BTAWestEvent. I look forward to seeing you in Las Vegas.  — Tom Ouellette

President Tom Ouellette Budget Document Technology 251 Goddard Road Lewiston, ME 04240 touellette@bdtme.com President-Elect Terence Chapman Business Electronics Corp.

219 Oxmoor Circle Birmingham, AL 35209 tchapman@businesselectronics.com Vice President Todd J. Fitzsimons Network Imaging LLC 122 Spring St. Southington, CT 06489 tjfitzsimons@ni-ct.com BTA East Rob Richardson Allied Document Solutions & Services Inc. 200 Church St. Swedesboro, NJ 08085 robr@ads-s.com BTA Mid-America Ron Hulett U.S. Business Systems Inc. 3221 Southview Drive Elkhart, IN 46514 ron.hulett@usbus.com BTA Southeast Jerry Jackson All South Copiers Inc. 3610 Kennesaw N. Industrial Parkway., Ste. D Kennesaw, GA 30144 jj@ascopiers.com BTA West Ronelle Ingram Steven Enterprises Inc. 17952 Sky Park Circle, Ste. E Irvine, CA 92614 ronellei@msn.com Ex-Officio/Immediate Past President Rock Janecek Burtronics Business Systems Inc. 216 S. Arrowhead Ave. San Bernardino, CA 92408 rjanecek@burtronics.com Ex-Officio/General Counsel Robert C. Goldberg Schoenberg Finkel Newman & Rosenberg LLC 222 S. Riverside Plaza, Ste. 2100 Chicago, IL 60606 robert.goldberg@sfnr.com

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Your dealership has entered the MPS space.

But are your back office and service departments ready and able to support this new business?

We can help you fill in the blanks.

Jump start your understanding of how to set up and manage all operational and service aspects of an MPS agreement.

MPS Operations and Service eWorkshop Course Agenda: • • • • • • • • •

What Should the Contract Include What Printers You Should Service Who Should Service the Printers Where to get Training to Service Printers How to Determine the Number of Techs Needed Whether to Establish Territories for Printers Benchmarking Printer Performance How to establish back-office processes for effective implementation and More

Eight-week, interactive web-based program with low entry cost Sign-up Today!

Next series starts November 1st www.strategydevelopment.com/mpsos Ken Staubitz, Service Consultant for Strategy Development, has 14+ years’ experience. As Modern Office Methods Dir. of Client Svcs, Ken oversaw all service ops and managed a staff of over 60 field service personnel. He led the organization to exceed 52% service GP and was key in creating and implementing the organization’s service structure to handle its explosive MPS growth.

For information please contact Ken Staubitz at 513.200.2169 or at staubitz@strategydevelopment.com or visit www.strategydevelopment.com/mpsos.

www.strategydevelopment.com

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2011 Software Buyer’s Guide Helping you race ahead of the competition Compiled by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

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lthough there are many independent software vendors (ISVs) whose products further enhance the use of MFPs, dealers are often advised to select and market only a few of these products. Many recommend that the dealer should strive to ensure his (or her) dealership becomes the leading, preferred source for certain software products that best serve the needs of customers.

To help dealers better understand the capabilities of the various software products now available, Office Technology magazine invited a number of vendors to submit brief overviews of their products. Most offer software for the end-user’s use. Some offer software for use within the dealership. Perhaps it is time to further enhance your product offerings or use a new software product to improve your internal processes.

Business Process Improvement JBM Systems Inc. www.jbmsystems.com JBM Systems’ OctoTools™ VDP will improve your workflow and increase cash flow using a variety of capabilities.

It is a low-cost, transactional variable data printing (VDP) software package. You can quickly create electronic forms to improve the looks of invoices, POs, checks and other legacy and ERP output. Barcodes, OMR codes and direct payment hyperlinks will speed production and payments.

Forms and data will be merged to produce print to any PCL or PostScript printer, MFP or digital copier. Output may also be sent by e-mail or fax, as well as archived to PDF files.

Capture/Forms Recognition Artsyl Technologies www.artsyltech.com Artsyl Technologies develops a full range of document and data capture solutions that reduce the cost of processing forms, helping companies to streamline processes. Artsyl’s

flagship product, docAlpha, is a fully automated, distributed data capture, classification, extraction and processing solution with self-learning technology that does not require templates to be created. docAlpha works well in health care, financial services, government and education verticals.

Cost Recovery nQueue Billback www.nqbillback.com At nQueue Billback, the capture and recovery of soft costs is just a start. The product also captures hard costs and then feeds all cost data to its iA Engine to process it into information that firms can analyze and act upon to improve processes, procedures and profitability. Unlocking the value of expense and cost data to improve expense management, workflow, scanning and decisionmaking — that is Cost Recovery PLUS. Dealership Management Digital Gateway www.digitalgateway.com Digital Gateway was created in 1995 with one goal in mind — to create the best dealership management software solutions for copier and printer equipment dealers.

Today, Digital Gateway’s flagship product, e-automate, is being used by more than 1,000 dealers to automate their key business processes. Key functions include full-featured accounting, contracts, sales tools, inventory, purchasing, equipment tracking, automated meter reading and comprehensive service.

ECi Software Solutions www.ecisolutions.com For more than 25 years, ECi has specialized in dealership management software solutions that fuel the efficiency and profitability of office equipment dealerships. Whether your dealership is managing toner usage, tracking meter clicks

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Expect More

FLEXIBILITY

Imagine an MPS program designed around you and your business Total Managed Print provides custom-built MPS solutions that fit your business needs.

OFFICE TECHNOLOGY - JULY 2011 - DOMUS, INC. 215-772-2800

TM

OKI offers a flexible MPS platform with nine customizable modules that can be leveraged to build your MPS solution or enhance your current business model for long-term profitability.

Only Total Managed Print offers: • Comprehensive Data Capture and Analysis—using OKI’s proprietary analytic engine • Dynamic Report Generator—automates manual processes and delivers customized reports • Unbiased, Strategic Recommendations—including device and brand agnostic proposals • Continuous Optimization Services—keeps your customer’s business running at its best With Total Managed Print, OKI will work with you to cover all of your MPS business needs, from consultative selling to consolidated supplies fulfillment to delivery of a full host of OEM or private labeled services.

For more information on Total Managed Print and your MPS market opportunity, visit: www.okidata.com/TMP

Feel like a partner again with OKI © 2011 Oki Data Americas, Inc. OKI, Reg. T.M., Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd., Reg. T.M., Total Managed Print, Reg. T.M., Oki Data Corporation.

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or wanting to operate a profitable service department, ECi has the right solution for you.

Miracle Service www.miracleservice.com Optimize your dealership with Miracle Service complete dealer management software. Whether it is scheduling technicians, managing meter contracts and inventory, or communicating with your team in the field, Miracle Service can make your business more productive, cost-efficient and profitable. Easy to use and affordable, Miracle Service has helped thousands of dealers optimize their field services and gain a competitive edge.

Document Capture & Imaging Nuance Communications Inc. www.nuance.com Nuance’s eCopy® ShareScan® Suite 5 is a document scanning and workflow solution for networked MFPs. eCopy ShareScan provides organizations with everything needed to automate their paper-to-digital workflows, letting office workers scan paper documents easily and securely using existing investments in network MFPs and scanners.

Omtool Ltd. www.omtool.com With 20 years of leadership in document-related technologies, Omtool™ helps companies of all sizes (including some of the world’s largest corporations) cost effectively automate their document-intensive processes. Omtool’s awardwinning solutions build upon an expanding platform of secure and scalable document capture, processing, delivery and archive capabilities. With Omtool, organizations are able to reduce the costs, complexity, compliance risks and environmental footprint associated with paper documents.

Document Management ABBYY www.abbyy.com ABBYY® is a provider of document recognition, data capture, language technologies and professional services. Its products include the FineReader line of OCR applications, FlexiCapture line of data capture solutions, Lingvo dictionary software, mobile applications and development tools. ABBYY licenses and OEMs its solutions to industry leaders including Canon, EMC/Captiva, Epson, Fujitsu, Xerox, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Panasonic, Samsung, Toshiba and more.

CIT Vendor Finance.

Lending and Leasing Expertise.

For decades, CIT Vendor Finance has understood your need for flexible financing.

We are a global leader in providing financing solutions that drive incremental revenues for manufacturers, distributors and resellers. With deep industry expertise across many markets around the world, we focus on responsive service and transparency, resulting in long‑standing client relationships.

To learn more, visit cit.com/vendorfinance or call us at 800-245-0506.

HARDWARE FINANCING SOFTWARE & SERVICES FINANCING JOINT VENTURES PRIVATE LABEL PROGRAMS

COST PER / USAGE BILLING

© 2011 CIT Group Inc. CIT and the CIT logo are registered service marks of CIT Group Inc.

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The first choice in managed print

Take your MPS business discussions to a more strategic level FMAudit Enterprise

Get everything you need to assess, analyze, propose, monitor and market your MPS Strategy. Developed on the .NET Framework, this complete package includes all of the FMAudit modules, partner interfaces and MPS best practices.

Central Server Central Server is the heart of the FMAudit software solution. Central Server is the data repository for the wealth of device data collected by FMAudit.

You can leverage the information to empower your staff to develop and act on your strategic business opportunities in both new and existing accounts.

The server can be installed at your company or hosted by FMAudit or an FMAudit partner.

Capture Technologies FMAudit offers the most extensive data collection software tools available in the industry today. USB Viewer for quick snapshot assessment, WebAudit for browser/e-mail enabled quick assessment, Onsite for ongoing assessment, device meter/supply/service monitoring and device optimization and Local Agent to collect non-networked device data. FMAudit provides a secure, comprehensive approach to address the needs of your diverse client base.

TCO Reporting/Green Reporting/ Customized Reports FMAudit provides reporting features to help you understand and present your solutions and recommendations. FMAudit includes TCO reporting to determine and validate current cost of ownership, “Green” reporting to analyze environmental efficiencies and customized reporting to uniquely present data for new account proposals, current account reviews and proactive fleet device management and optimization.

Complete software for remote meter reading and managed print services automation Flexible capture options TCO Reporting to determine operational costs Adaptive Service Management to filter service alerts Bi-directional ERP/CRM synchronization simplifies contract administration Green Reporting for “eco-friendly” optimization

Adaptive Supply & Service Management

Web based assessments

FMAudit includes automation to interpret and filter alerts into process workflows. You can set parameters and triggers to handle the specific needs and expectations of your clients MPS agreement. The ability to automate supply and service fulfillment and the flow of information is a primary differentiator in the delivery of a profitable MPS strategy.

Remote Onsite install and update Supply level alerts and workflows

Bi-Directional ERP Sync FMAudit provides bi-directional ERP systems data integration to enable complete automation of meter collection and accurate billing. Your ERP account data and device information can be pulled seamlessly into FMAudit Central providing ongoing data exchange and updates.

To learn more about how your MPS strategy can reach new levels with FMAudit and the minimal investment required to deploy the FMAudit solution, contact us today for a demo and quote.

Cabinet NG www.cabinetng.com Cabinet NG (CNG) provides document management and workflow software to a variety of industries. Its user-friendly products streamline user tasks, delivering gains in office/ field productivity and bottom-line savings. CNG’s intuitive workflow and scheduling supports secure collaboration with centrally managed and instantly accessible documents.

Products can be installed locally or online in a hosted SaaS configuration and used with a desktop or browser interface.

Computhink www.computhink.com Computhink Inc. provides document management/content management solutions for secure information sharing and compliance, targeting small and medium-sized organizations. Computhink offers high margins for sales of ViewWise®, the document management solution that streamlines business processes, improves customer service, reduces costs and ensures compliance. docSTAR www.docstar.com Got cloud? Get docSTAR! Create an immediate competitive advantage for your MFP sales. All of your competitors’ products copy, print and scan, but what is your competitive weapon? docSTAR’s Scan-to-Cloud is the answer. Adding Scan-to-Cloud to your dealership is easy. Call docSTAR to review its four-step success plan, which quickly gets your company on the path to a substantial recurring revenue profit engine.

DocuLex www.doculex.com DocuLex serves more than 1,000 customers with its award-winning Archive Studio product suite. The suite encompasses document capture, indexing, data conversion, security, 100-percent browser access, e-mail archiving, workflow, word processing document control and records retention management. Archive Studio is an easy-to-use, productive content management solution for any business environment seeking secure instant document access. It is available as a server-based product or in the cloud.

DocuWare www.docuware.com DocuWare’s document management solutions are extremely robust for any size organization (ISO 9001 Certified/FDA Compliant). Improve customer service, increase productivity, control costs and increase cash flow by electronically managing and sharing documents, regardless of their format or source. DocuWare allows for worldwide secure access to authorized users and is available in 16 languages. The software is known for easy installation, integration, administration and use, and an exceptionally low TCO.

FileBound www.filebound.com FileBound is an affordable document management solution that can be deployed locally, outsourced as a hosted service or as a network appliance. FileBound provides the paperless solution your customers are looking for and delivers affordable business process automation, enhanced content retrieval and mobile device support. Over the past 10 years, FileBound has been implemented by more than 3,000 customers of all sizes around the world. FileBound is marketed through a channel of authorized resellers. Its reseller program includes ongoing training, marketing and sales support.

InfoDynamics www.infodynamics.com InfoDynamics is the creator of INTACT, a feature-rich document management software system. Since 1996, the software has been developed to be intelligent, powerful, user friendly and right-sized for any business. INTACT has the ability to support all of your organization’s archival and collaboration requirements. It has advanced features for text, bar code and zonal recognition.

Kofax www.kofax.com Kofax plc is a leading provider of capture-driven process automation solutions. Kofax solutions provide a rapid return on investment by automating information-intensive processes and by managing the capture of information in a more accurate, timely and cost-effective manner.

M-Files Inc. www.m-files.com M-Files Inc. develops M-Files — professional, easy-to-use document management software — and the cloud-based document management service M-Files Cloud Vault, which runs on the Windows Azure platform. M-Files and M-Files Cloud Vault enable companies and organizations of all sizes to make dramatic gains in efficiency and productivity by improving the way they organize and manage their business documents, information and processes.

Notable Solutions Inc. www.nsiautostore.com NSi is a leading provider of content capture and business automation solutions. Its flagship product, AutoStore, is a server-based application that captures and securely delivers paper and electronic documents into business applications. With AutoStore and its 500-plus supported MFPs, business is done faster, with less effort and less paper.

Sagemcom www.xmediusfax.sagemcom.com Sagemcom is a global leader in advanced fax server solutions for IP networks. Its scalable and survivable XMediusFAX™ T.38 Fax over IP (FoIP) solutions leverage IP telephony and UC systems to enhance productivity, collaboration and

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LCD Panel Touch em all BTA Office Solutions Aug11_Layout 1 8/12/11 12:34 PM Page 1

Touch ‘em all!

With customizable touch controls right at your fingertips, Sharp copiers keep your customers on top of their game.

Joe Girardi New York Yankees Manager

No more buttons! Finally a copier with a personalized 10.1" LCD control panel that customizes to virtually all your customer's needs. The new Sharp user interface lets you edit your documents, drag and rearrange files all with the slide of a finger. You can even change languages on the fly.

Visit SharpUSA.com to learn how Sharp can help you help your customers.

WORK WITHOUT LIMITS Design and specifications subject to change. Screen images simulated. User interface of LCD Panel shown only available on models MX-2610N/31110N/3610N as of March 2011.

Sharp is a registered trademark of Sharp Corporation. All other trademarks are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. © 2011 Sharp Electronics Corporation. All rights reserved.

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ROI by integrating fax on the desktops of enterprise and service provider sites worldwide.

Square 9 Softworks www.square-9.com Square 9® is an award-winning developer of innovative, business-centric software solutions designed to enhance product diversification within its dealer channel. Square 9’s flagship product, the SmartSearch Enterprise Content Management suite, helps resellers drive increased equipment sales through an integrated hardware and software approach. Intensely reseller-focused and highly responsive, Square 9® delivers an unparalleled training program for launching, marketing and expanding any document management initiative.

Enterprise Content Management Bull Valley Software www.bullvalleysoftware.com Scalable for organizations of any size, DocumentLOK from Bull Valley Software combines secure document and content management, compliance management and business process management in one application, and integrates with virtually any Windows or Web-based application to provide immediate, single-click access to documents and electronic content from within an organization’s primary business application(s).

Laserfiche www.laserfiche.com Since 1987, Laserfiche has used its Run Smarter® philosophy to create simple and elegant enterprise content management solutions. More than 30,000 organizations worldwide — including federal, state and local government agencies and Fortune 1,000 companies — use Laserfiche® software to streamline documents, records and business process management.

Solgenia www.solgenia.com Since 1990, Solgenia has been providing innovative business solutions to help companies of 50 to 500 employees take full advantage of the Web and cloud 2.0 computing. Its integrated set of business applications includes: ERP and supply chain management; CRM and time management; content and workflow management; and business analytics.

Business technologies include: WAN optimization, unified communications and systems management via the cloud.

Managed Print Technologies N-able Technologies www.n-able.com N-able Technologies is a global leader in remote monitoring and management automation solutions for managed service providers. N-able’s award-winning N-central® software and complementary toolsets are proven to

reduce IT support costs, improve network performance and increase productivity through the proactive monitoring, management and optimization of IP-enabled devices and IT infrastructure.

M2M / M2P Enterprise Management MWA Intelligence Inc. www.mwaintel.com MWA Intelligence Inc. (MWAi) delivers enterprise-class and leading-edge M2M (machine-to-machine) solutions to better serve the imaging industry. MWAi’s intelligent service, workforce, assets and GPS solution suites deliver mission-critical information in real time to the hands of customer-facing employees and into companies’ back-end ERP systems. The MWAi solution automates meter collection, consumables and service alerts and also offers an integrated pre-sale MPS tool for easy auditing of end-user networks. MWAi literally connects the people who service and sell the assets with the actual machines and ERP systems.

Print Management FMAudit www.fmaudit.com FMAudit is a leading software provider for meter, supply and service process automation software for MPS. FMAudit software is easy to deploy and maintain, collects data from both networked and local devices, integrates with eautomate, OMD, DDMS and La Crosse for automated meter billing, and provides supply-level alert monitoring, servicealert filtering, complete TCO analysis and green reporting.

Pharos Systems www.pharos.com Pharos Blueprint Enterprise is a solution for managing print and copy that enables companies to save money, reduce waste and easily secure devices and documents. It incorporates discovery, tracking and accounting technology that provides a complete picture of print/copy across the enterprise, down to the user level. Blueprint is integrated with more than 160 multifunction printers from leading equipment manufacturers.

Print Audit www.printaudit.com Print Audit develops print management solutions that enable office equipment dealerships to sell more hardware and increase their post-sales revenue. Last year, Print Audit redirected half a billion pages from high-cost printers to low-cost MFPs and, to date, the company has helped dealerships sell more than $450 million in additional hardware.

PrintFleet www.printfleet.com PrintFleet’s print management software solutions range from simple, rapid assessment to advanced, independently hosted print management, offering data collection, data

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Cover Story Oct 11.indd 4

9/30/11 4:24 PM

Work With a Partner, Not Just a Distributor

To Muratec, You’re More Than a “Ship-to” Location You’re a business partner. We work closely with our dealers, big and small, to develop market strategies, participate on sales calls, create targeted marketing approaches and assist in growing their businesses. We’ve created turnkey programs to assist dealers in transforming their hardware-centric selling approach into document solutions sales, thus increasing product margins without altering their structure or requiring significant investments.

Recognized for Excellence The Business Technology Association (BTA) has named Muratec the “Top Overall Performance – Secondary Manufacturer” based on the results of their surveys of independent office equipment dealers. To summarize the survey results, we’re the easiest company to do business with.

Ready to Get Started?

Contact your Muratec Area Sales Manager to schedule a no-obligation product demonstration and benefits review in your office, or contact 469.429.3481 or www.muratec.com for more information.

World-ClAss deAler support Muratec America, Inc. • 3301 East Plano Parkway • Suite 100 • Plano, Texas 75074 www.muratec.com • 469.429.3481 ©2011 Muratec America, Inc. All rights reserved.

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8/5/11 2:19 2:47 PM

integrity and back-end support. PrintFleet software is available in five languages and has been used in more than 20 countries. PrintFleet is coupled with award-winning sales, technical and marketing support programs.

efficient, accurate sales commissions. SalesChain is the preferred partner for Digital Gateway, OMD and La Crosse, and has been delivering value to dealers across the country since 2002.

Print Tracker www.printtracker.net Print Tracker is a low-impact, highly secure print management solution that quickly captures information from both networked and locally connected imaging devices.

Print Tracker is easily deployed, often in less than three minutes, and includes management tools such as Service and Meter Viewers, a fully customizable TCO Estimator and will integrate with most ERP accounting software.

Supplies Distribution/e-commerce Red Cheetah www.redcheetah.com Red Cheetah is more than a software company — it is a distribution partner focused on the office supply vertical. Dedicated to continuously improving every aspect of a dealer’s cost of goods, Red Cheetah offers e-merchandising and marketing, coupled with a vast product assortment and SKU mix.

Technesis Inc. www.printcontrolonline.com Technesis Inc.’s PrintControlOnline is a business software solution that supports multiple levels of print device management — from time-based usage counters and status to job-based print tracking. The product includes such functions as: iReport, integrating with other applications associated with printing to provide a single location for reporting regardless of the print functionality; iBridge, gathering logs and/or meters from remote devices and making the data available online; and iMeter, specializing in comprehensive management information-based meter-read solutions.

Miscellaneous Drivve www.drivve.com Drivve is an award-winning developer of software solutions to optimize document-intensive business processes — from image capture and processing, to document management and workflow, to print and output management.

Drivve is a market leader in mobility solutions and cloudbased services, delivered through a best-in-class user experience. Drivve markets, sells and supports its solutions through a global network of distributors and resellers.

Sales Management Compass Sales Solutions www.compasscontact.net Compass Sales Solutions offers an advanced sales-force automation, solution selling and fleet management software system. Designed from a sales perspective, Compass manages your prospect database, provides detailed TCO analysis reports, and generates thorough, professional proposals and sales paperwork. Compass also offers complete integration with your ERP/billing system and Outlook.

Falcon Technology Solutions www.efalcontech.com Falcon Technology markets Soaring, server-based sales management software designed specifically for the office equipment industry. Soaring integrates with popular industry-specific business software such as OMD and e-automate, as well as Outlook, Word and Excel. The most exciting new development is its recently released iPad interface. The iSoaring interface for the iPad gives your sales force a portable, powerful and remote sales tool.

SalesChain www.saleschain.com SalesChain provides sales management software to office equipment dealers who wish to affordably increase core growth and customer retention. Features include: intelligent deal pricing, simplified order documentation and

Objectif Lune www.objectiflune.com Objectif Lune provides businesses with state-of-the-art solutions to compose, process, deliver, track and store any business document, independent of hardware compatibility and with full automation capability. The company’s portfolio includes PrintShop Mail Suite, a VDP composition tool for high-volume mail merge, and PlanetPress Suite for data management of input and output, and workflow automation. In 2011, Objectif Lune acquired PrintSoft, creators of PReS Suite.

Solimar Systems www.solimarsystems.com Solimar Systems is a leading developer of enterprise output management solutions for digital document creation, production and distribution environments. Installed in thousands of sites worldwide, including more than 70 percent of the Fortune 100, Solimar solutions address integrated connectivity, data-stream transforms, print optimizations, document re-engineering/repurposing and sophisticated print queue management with secure Webbased document presentment, distribution and tracking. n Brent Hoskins, executive director of the Business Technology Association, is editor of Office Technology magazine.

He can be reached at brent@bta.org or (816) 303-4040.

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We Double-Dog Dare You

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Q&A: ECi Software Solutions ECi’s COO addresses Digital Gateway acquisition by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

O

n Sept. 21, the day that ECi Software Solutions (ECi) announced the acquisition of Digital Gateway (DGI), dealers immediately began to ask a number of questions. They were recalling the many unhappy dealers who were mystified by the manner in which ECi handled the acquisitions of OMD and La Crosse. The question is: Will that debacle happen again?

With the goal of giving ECi an opportunity to provide a transparent view of the transition and what dealers can expect, in a Sept. 26 telephone interview, Office Technology magazine asked ECi COO Trevor Gruenewald about the acquisition. Following are the questions and his responses.

OT: How will the combination of ECi and Digital Gateway benefit the dealer channel?

Gruenewald: Benefiting the dealer channel is what drove us to make the acquisition. We talk to dealers on a daily basis. I personally have been out over the past two years to see in excess of 150 dealers at their locations. What we see is that there continue to be competitive threats to office equipment dealers. Particularly in the managed print and services areas, our dealers are seeing new competitors come after their customers. Managed service providers and IT VARs are aggressively coming into this space to own the network. We also see the big office supplies giants like Staples, Office Depot and OfficeMax moving into this space as a top priority.

So, we think that it is important to make sure that we are doing what we can for dealers to help them compete.

About the time that ECi acquired OMD and La Crosse, eautomate really became a viable threat in the marketplace and, as a result, we have been, in essence, chasing each other to compete. As you do that, you then start duplicating investments in technology spend, partner relationships and so on. And, so, instead of advancing the dealers at the pace

that is required for them to compete and win, we were sub-optimizing the overall technology spend. The creation of applications like e-commerce, sales analytics, device management, mobile solutions, TCO tools and proposal tools that we were both separately investing in actually slowed the ability to bring the application to the marketplace. Understanding that dynamic and then combining forces does a number of things for the independent dealer. It allows us to bring technology to market faster. It allows us to create more of a standard for the industry so that, again, we are not off creating multiple, different kinds of integrations with various partners. Instead, we have standards that we can create that will accelerate the pace of development and expand the technology available for office equipment dealers. This allows us to actually create investment protection for our dealers as well by having a common “value-add surround.”

If you look at our ERP platforms in the office equipment space today, including OMD, La Crosse, e-automate and even to some degree DDMS, we are able to provide a common set of “surround” applications. Now we have a common e-commerce platform, a common sales analytics platform, a common quote manager or proposal tool and so on. Under these circumstances, if any customer makes the decision to change platforms to meet a critical business need, they have the benefit of investment protection by bringing the “surround” applications forward to their new platform and at the same time, the disruption to their internal and external users will be minimized. We think combining the organizations allows for a more focused effort to help our dealers be successful by providing them with the tools to better compete and win.

OT: ECi made several errors in the acquisition of OMD and La Crosse that left many dealers

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creating a newly combined office equipunhappy with the company. What ment division within ECi. The name of has ECi learned from those purWe are a totally different the office equipment division will be chases? How will it avoid making company than we were Digital Gateway. Digital Gateway will the same errors this time? then ... we realize that consist of the e-automate, OMD and Gruenewald: We place value on the right approach for La Crosse solution suites. Jim will lead learning from every success and every the Digital Gateway division as presius to be successful is to mistake we make. I think it is important dent and CEO. Laryssa Alexander will to start by pointing out that our leaderensure that our dealers continue as president of OMD and La ship team today is completely different are successful.

Crosse, reporting directly to Jim. than the team that executed that strategy. The previous CEO of ECi was very OT: Since Digital Gateway’s acquisition was anfocused on creating financial value for the company, even if it was at the cost of customer satisfaction. This, combined nounced, many dealers have noted how Jim Philwith poor communication and execution, created consider- lips had previously promised that he would never sell the company to ECi. What would you say to able dissatisfaction among the dealers.

We are a totally different company than we were then. those dealers who are now recalling that promise?

Gruenewald: I cannot speak specifically to the promises While we still have a focus on performance, as all businesses do, we realize that the right approach for us to be success- that Jim made to the marketplace, but I can tell you that Jim ful is to ensure that our dealers are successful. Three years is extremely passionate about this market and about the ofago, ECi transformed the leadership team significantly. The fice equipment dealer. Every discussion we had throughout ownership changed the CEO, bringing in our current presi- the process, and every decision he makes — including the dent and CEO, Ron Books. Those dealers who know Ron decision to sell to ECi — is based on what he thinks is the will tell you that he has the dealer’s best interests at heart. best thing to help the dealers compete and win.

This has been a long process with many conversations to Subsequently, he built a leadership team that now consists of a new CFO, a new COO, a new leader of global sales and build trust in each other and build trust in the companies marketing, and a new senior vice president of marketing. as well. Jim has shared on multiple occasions that a comThe focus of these changes was to create a customer-first, pany is, in essence, its people. He equated the previous ECi performance-driven organization. As a proof point of this, to our previous CEO. He had vowed never to sell to ECi, or since the new leadership came in place, we have acquired in effect, to Dan Pritchard, the previous CEO. With the new four companies. In every single instance in regard to those leadership in place, he could see that we really have comacquisitions there were no price increases. We have honored mon goals and a common culture. As he went through his every contract that was in place with our customers and processing and his prayers, he knew he was not selling to have organically grown all of those businesses through new Dan Pritchard anymore. He knew he was selling to a new customer acquisitions and selling value-add technology to ECi, a new leadership team — one that he knew would help him fulfill the strategy of helping office equipment dealers existing customers which, in turn, benefits our customers.

We have done this while at the same time increasing the be more competitive. pace of development. We have a focus on transparency as it OT: Will ECi honor all Digital Gateway conpertains to our product road maps and then measure ourselves against those goals and objectives. We have also insti- tracts in effect?

Gruenewald: Unequivocally, yes. We will support all extuted quarterly calling campaigns where we actually reach out to all of our customers just to see how they are doing. isting contracts.

This is done regardless of role and a part of the compensaOT: Can Digital Gateway customers expect tion of everyone in our organization has a component of customer satisfaction. We know we have a responsibility to price increases for the services they now receive? this marketplace, a commitment to this marketplace and a Will the 5 percent cap on annual price increases commitment to the dealer. I think if you look at the track re- be observed by ECi? Will ECi seek the maximum cord with our existing leadership team, it supports just that. increase under the contract or a lesser amount?

Gruenewald: As stated previously, we will honor all of the OT: What will Digital Gateway founder Jim Phil- existing DGI contracts. One thing that is important to emphasize is that Jim Phillips is now responsible for the office lips’ role be with the now-combined companies?

Gruenewald: Jim will definitely be involved. We are equipment division, under the Digital Gateway name. He 22 | w w w. o f f ic et ec hno lo g y m a g.c om | Oc t ob e r 2 0 1 1

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will have the ability to run the organizaneeds of the independent dealer due to tion as he thinks is most appropriate to the high cost and limited vertical-speEven with the existing meet the common goals of the dealers cific functionality. There are competimarket and economic and the company, and he will have the tive solutions like Microsoft, with its conditions, we have full support of ECi and our senior leadDynamics and/or Navision platforms. increased our ership team. Additionally, as a point of And then you have some of the financial investments in R&D on reference, under the new leadership with solutions like Peachtree, Great Plains, ECi, our average annual increase for cusQuickbooks and so on. While there are a year-over-year basis tomers across our business over the past a number of competitors — and that exfor the past three years. three years has been 3 percent. pands further as you think about manOn a related topic, it is important to aged services — we strongly feel we pronote that ECi continues to invest in technology and in this vide the best solutions in the marketplace because, at the market. Even with the existing market and economic con- end of the day, we understand this industry and the office ditions, we have increased our investments in R&D on a equipment dealer. year-over-year basis for the past three years. That is what our customers expect us to do in order to help them be more OT: Will ECi maintain OMD, La Crosse and ecompetitive. And, our plans are to continue that level of in- automate as separate systems or combine them vestment and leadership. into one platform?

Gruenewald: Consistent with the track record of the ac OT: Many dealers have asked if the combina- quisitions that we have done, we will continue to support, tion of OMD, La Crosse and e-automate consti- develop and enhance each of the platforms. Customers have tutes a monopoly. How do you respond to that built their businesses around these software platforms and question? Who do you see as competitors to our plans are to continue to enhance them. We will look OMD, La Crosse and e-automate? at leveraging synergies by providing a suite of common Gruenewald: It is not a monopoly. When you look at the surround applications across all platforms that include etotal addressable market, the new Digital Gateway busi- commerce, supplier communications, sales analytics/dashness unit has less than 20 percent of the market share for boards, mobile and more. At the same time, we will leverage business systems. When you start to consider the other dy- e-automate as a next-generation solution for customers who namics, including looking at the IT firms that are coming feel they need a .NET, SQL-based platform and the benefits into the MPS base, our share becomes less than 10 percent. that technology provides. At the end of the day though, our Therefore, I would say that is far from a monopoly. commitment is to continue to provide each of our customThe other thing that is important for our customers to ers with choices and allow them to choose the system that understand is that our strategy as a company during my is right for their business — based upon business needs and tenure has been to provide choices. So, when you look at our system capabilities. business systems — DGI, OMD, La Crosse, DDMS — each of them has multiple options as it pertains to this marketplace OT: Many OMD and La Crosse users that went for e-commerce, device management, proposal generation to e-automate were required to purchase OMD tools and so on. We even allow our solutions to integrate or La Crosse licenses in order to access their with competitors in some instances to ensure we do not data on those systems. Will ECi continue to renegatively affect our customers’ businesses. To be clear, that quire those payments? does not mean we can allow integration to every Tom, Dick Gruenewald: I just want to clarify that dealers who left and Harry in the world, because that would defocus our de- to go to e-automate were not forced to purchase additional velopment resources and be counterproductive to ensuring licenses. I think what you are referring to is those dealers new technology at a faster pace. Our dealers say to us that who still wanted to use the system had to pay maintenance they “need integrations to these particular platforms.” We for the system until they stopped using it. Regardless of work with the vendors to allow that and provide our cus- whether a customer is using the system for historical purtomers choices. We have a good track record of that. poses only, running parallel systems or using the entire As far as who we see as competitors in the marketplace, system, it will still require payment. This is consistent with we look at them in several tiers. You have large enterprise many software companies that run software-as-a-service providers like the SAPs and the Oracles. They have good pen- and more the norm in today’s world than the exception. Use etration at an OEM level but do not fit the buying criteria and SalesForce.com as an example. It is right-to-use software. If 24 | w w w. o f f ic et ec hno log y m a g.c om | Oc t ob e r 2 0 1 1

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million per month. It is already being you want to access the system, receive used. It began in the supply space. We support, receive upgrades or all of the ... In terms of converting focused on the integration of ECinterabove, you are required to pay a maindealers and converting active into OMD and La Crosse about a tenance fee. their data, we can now year ago, and we continue to expand the With that said, the great thing is that ... work for the good of functionality in entering meter reads, we are now all part of one company. the dealership across machine matching and things like that.

So, in terms of converting dealers and So, we have a very robust next-generaconverting their data, we can now colwhatever platform it is tion platform already for e-commerce laboratively work for the good of the coming from ... and we are now working on the integradealership across whatever platform it tion plans to bring that immediately to is coming from to whatever platform it is going to. So it should be, without a doubt, a streamlined Digital Gateway customers. process. In fact, we now have the ability to really shorten OT: Are there any final thoughts in terms of the cycle to get them onto their new platform, reducing the the message you would like to express to e-auneed to run multiple systems. tomate users regarding the new relationship?

Gruenewald: I think that the main tenets of our conOT: Will Digital Gateway users be able to take versation are that ECi is a very di‹ erent company than we advantage of ECi’s e-commerce capabilities?

Gruenewald: Absolutely. With the market growth in e- were three to ÿ ve years ago. Our primary focus is delivering commerce, that was one of the key drivers for bringing the value to our customers, and at the end of the day, the only companies together. E-commerce has been a void in Digital way that we can be successful is if our customers are sucGateway’s solution set. ’ ey were in the process of evaluat- cessful. We are fully committed to helping our customers ing investments in an e-commerce solution to meet custom- achieve that success. We know that we have to prove that to er demand. ECi, through our € agship e-commerce solution our customers and we have every conÿ dence that we will be called ECinteractive, provides a next-generation solution able to do that.  Brent Hoskins, executive director of the Business Technology for e-automate users. In ECinteractive, we have invested in Association, is editor of O− ce Technology magazine. excess of $8 million to date to develop and deliver. We are He can be reached at brent@bta.org or (816) 303-4040. doing, through that solution in e-commerce, in excess of $50

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Q&A: Mark Mathews Toshiba president & COO to keynote BTA West event by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

A

20-year veteran of the office technology industry, Mark Mathews is currently president and COO of Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc., based in Irvine, Calif. He oversees the strategic direction and operations of the company’s Electronic Imaging Division (EID) and Toshiba Business Solutions.

Mathews will be the keynote speaker at BTA West’s Nov. 17-18 Capture the Magic event at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel.

On Nov. 17, Mathews will present “The New Normal,” offering executive-level insight into the current market conditions both globally and in the United States.

For more information, see the ad on pages 2 and 3 in this issue, or visit www.bta. org/BTAWestEvent.

Recently, Office Technology magazine had the opportunity to visit with Mathews about the industry and the dealer channel. Following are the questions he was asked and his responses. They provide a brief preview of the types of areas he will address in Las Vegas.

OT: What do you believe are the greatest challenges today for dealers in this industry and how can they best address those challenges?

Mathews: It is a pretty straightforward problem for the industry. The traditional MFP business is very mature. As a result, dealers are experiencing limited growth opportunities and demand, and seeing single-digit growth across the industry when historically it has been a double-digitgrowth business. We are also seeing a lot of well-entrenched competitors on the manufacturer level, as well as the channel-distribution level — the dealerships. And because it is a mature industry, everyone seems to be competing for the same business. Along with limited demand growth, we are also noticing extreme price pressure from competitors offering affordable solutions.

Beyond the industry, we are all dealing with a major economic crisis that has lasted more than two years. We saw the economy dramatically impact the leasing industry, which also affected our ability to finance customers and to sell equipment. Additionally, companies are pulling back on IT spending.

With all of these factors, the biggest challenge for independent dealers is growing their businesses and profitability, and determining if their traditional base of products is sufficient for that purpose in the foreseeable future.

OT: What are your thoughts in terms of how dealers should decide how they are going to grow their businesses?

Mathews: At Toshiba, we have asked our dealers to assess their businesses, determine what have been their primary revenue generators and protect those sources.

The biggest trend in the traditional MFP market is conversion to color. Every dealer must be aggressive with introducing color products into their customer base. It is truly an upgrade opportunity that fights price pressure, has a higher CPC and brings higher revenue levels to the dealership. Today, an average dealer should be one-third color unit sales and 50 percent color on the revenue generated by new business.

The next question for the dealer is: “What do I do in terms of expanding our revenue opportunities?”

We strongly believe that MPS is the number-one priority that independent dealers should be pursuing. If one looks at the traditional MFP business versus what is called the classic, A4 business, it is almost quadruple the size of the MFP business. Based on a typical customer profile, about 25 percent of their document spend is on copier-type business and about 75 percent on printers and electronic document management. Therefore, by entering into the MPS space, dealers can triple their business opportunity just with their

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existing customer base, without having the BTA West event in November, is proto expand into new areas. That is clearly vide attendees a checklist so they can go We also believe that the number-one opportunity for dealerback to their dealerships and say: “Hey, security is a major ships. This transition may not be easy for we need to sit down as an executive concern for today’s all dealers, but it is one that is closest to team and think and talk about these corporations ... There what they sell today and it makes good things and figure out how we transition is a great demand for economic sense for the customer. our business.”

We also believe that security is a masecurity from Toshiba jor concern for today’s corporations, OT: What do you believe are customers ... regardless of the size — from the small the characteristics of the ideal business to the enterprise. We see aloffice technology dealership? most on a weekly basis on the evening news about corpoMathews: Looking at the success factors, it is interesting rations suffering from security incidents. There is a great to see the new types of opportunities that exist today in the demand for security from Toshiba customers — both on dealership. One key characteristic is that the dealer commuexisting MFP and printer products, as well as just overall nity as a whole is extremely focused on customer needs. This security within the enterprise. is a wonderful channel for fully understanding what customAt Toshiba, we are extremely excited about mobile printing ers need, how to help them and how to bring value to them. and cloud computing solutions, which are now in their infanSecondly, it is extremely important to have a good service cy. With these recent technologies, there will be a new world organization, because in all of these scenarios — MPS, secuof products taking advantage of cloud computing to provide rity and the traditional business — service is a key success immediate access and new services to customers without factor for any dealership. Dealers should have a well-run, having to manage locally. These can be security products, well-orchestrated, high-performing service organization. storage products or workflow products.

Dealers being able to adapt is also a key to success. They have to take their current strengths and adapt to the new OT: Where do you think the dealer channel is to- services they are now bringing to the customer. Really, day in terms of embracing the MPS opportunity? these are the same strengths that dealers have had for the Mathews: We see an interesting dichotomy taking place. past 20 to 30 years — customer-focused, strong service and Some dealers are embracing MPS technology while others being there when customers are in need. are more resistant to what I would call “fairly advanced MPS” and they have generated a culture. And there are OT: When you think about today’s end users, those on the opposite end of the MPS spectrum who have what are you most focused on or most interested done very little and are dependent on their traditional prod- in understanding about them that can ultimately uct base. What we are doing at Toshiba is encouraging those help you as a manufacturer and dealers as reseldealers who are on the fence to pursue MPS opportunities lers of your product? because we firmly believe it will be an “adapt-or-die” sceMathews: There are two very interesting phenomena nario in the next five years. If dealers are not pursuing MPS, when looking at the SMB customer, which is the primary they will be relegated to low-growth or no-growth types of focus of the independent dealer. situations. Dealerships must seek to grow if they want to The first is the ubiquitous technology that is everywhere. stay in business for the long-term, and at Toshiba, we be- Today, the individual is empowered with technology outside lieve MPS provides that opportunity. of work. It is quite enabling. We all carry mobile devices.

Every day I use a cloud service for something on my phone — OT: Some dealers are on the fence and are be it directions or to buy something or even to play a game. hearing the message from you and others that They are all cloud-based solutions. I have instant communithis is an adapt-or-die situation, but they are still cation with just about anybody I want to talk to. holding back. Why do you think that is? What is Second, when looking at what is going on in large entertheir hesitation? prises, those things tend to move down into the small- to Mathews: Part of it is fear of the unknown and maybe not mid-sized businesses. For example, MPS is much stronger in quite fully understanding the opportunity or what needs to large corporations than in smaller ones, but one can clearly be done. Once the fear is addressed, it immediately turns see the trend line moving down. So, dealers are in this very into investment and focus, because one cannot do this as unique situation of understanding what the mega-trends a sideline activity. One of the things I plan to do, in part, at are in the market.

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The small- to mid-sized business is ex OT: What are some of your tremely committed to outsourcing, espeIf dealers want to thoughts on where the industry cially its non-critical tasks. This is a permight be five years out? grow, they are going fect opportunity for dealers to come in, Mathews: If dealers want to grow, to have to change their knowing they will have customers who they are going to have to change their business models ... are interested in them. Dealers underbusiness models and move away from MPS is clearly the first, stand the mega-trends in the market and traditional MFP businesses to solutionwhat those businesses need. They have very logical step a provider businesses. MPS is clearly the customers who are very willing and open first, very logical step a dealer should dealer should make ... to outsourcing parts of their business to make and any credible dealership in a dealer. five years must have MPS as part of its So, the dealer becomes not just a provider of products, but portfolio. I believe that in this industry you will see, from all a service provider — an outsource service organization for the manufacturers, the devices becoming more integrated these services. This is a very compelling pitch right now in into cloud solutions. The focus will almost move away from the market, and it is definitely an advantage to come in with being a classic MFP to being an output device and a bridge that mentality with a customer. This type of sell creates a — an on-ramp to third-party applications, probably similar very different type of relationship with the customer — it to a smartphone. Dealers will likely need more of a consultbecomes much more difficult to get bid out. The dealer be- ative sales approach to their customers. n comes a more valued partner to the customer, as opposed to Brent Hoskins, executive director of the just a supplier of products and it creates a longer-term relaBusiness Technology Association, tionship. Ultimately, it is more profitable for the customer is editor of Office Technology magazine. and the dealership.

He can be reached at brent@bta.org or (816) 303-4040.

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EDUCATION CALENDAR November

16-17 ProFinance 2.0 Las Vegas, Nev. Over the last 10 years, the principles of ProFinance have dramatically improved the performance of hundreds of dealerships. But the business has changed — and ProFinance has changed with it. ProFinance 2.0 incorporates these changes into the new industry model, including benchmarks for MPS. With more than 30 key benchmarks, this tool will help you and your team achieve double-digit operating income. ProFinance 2.0 attendees will receive free registration to BTA West’s Capture the Magic district event. Visit www.bta.org/ProFinance to register.

17-18 BTA West’s Capture the Magic District Event Las Vegas, Nev. BTA West’s 2011 district event will feature a keynote presentation by Mark Mathews, president and COO of Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc. There will be five additional education sessions led by industry leaders and dealers will be able to participate in networking events that will allow them to connect with their peers. In addition, there will be time to visit with more than 25 exhibiting sponsors. To wrap up the event, attendees will see David Copperfield’s “An Intimate Evening of Grand Illusion” at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino. Visit www.bta.org/ BTAWestEvent for more information or to register.

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FIX: Cost Management for Service Workshop Las Vegas, Nev. FIX, BTA’s popular service workshop, teaches you how to compute the cost of your service labor hour (service burden rate) and improve your overall service department profitability. Workshop instructors Ronelle Ingram and Rock Janecek will cover proven management and customer service programs to improve morale within your service department. Those struggling with MPS and IT issues can learn new management skills to help transition their staffs to the realities of solution-based servicing. FIX attendees will receive free registration to BTA West’s Capture the Magic district event. Visit www.bta.org/FIX to register.

December 6-7

BTA MPS Sales Workshop Baltimore, Md. Taught by Tom Callinan and Ed Carroll of Strategy Development, this two-day education workshop is designed to provide dealerships with the tools they need to establish a print management strategy that will allow them to significantly increase the quantity of captured prints, lock in customers, distinguish themselves from competitors and, ultimately, sell more hardware. Visit www.bta.org/ MPSSales for more information or to register.

For more information, visit www.bta.org/Education or call (800) 843-5059.

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BTA HIGHLIGHTS BTA would like to welcome the following new members to the association:

Dealer Members JT Ray Co., Tupelo, MS Packard Business Systems, Charleston, WV Sterling Copy Systems, Conroe, TX Vary Technologies, Portsmouth, NH Publication Associate Members The Imaging Channel, Las Vegas, NV Vendor Associate Members ACM Technologies, Corona, CA For full contact information of these new members, visit www.bta.org.

For the benefit of its dealer members, each month BTA features two of its Vendor or Service Associate members in this space.

BTA Vendor Associate member MFiles Corp. develops easy-to-use, professional document management software and the cloud-based document management service M-Files Cloud Vault, which runs on the Windows Azure platform.

M-Files and M-Files Cloud Vault enable companies and organizations of all sizes to make dramatic gains in efficiency and productivity by improving the way they organize and manage their business documents, information and processes. More than 15,000 customers in more than 80 countries worldwide use M-Files to manage their documents. www.m-files.com

WellCard Health Discount Card BTA is now offering the WellCard Health Discount Card to its members. The WellCard Health Discount Card is an easy way to help you and your employees with all your prescription drug needs and medical visits.* It automatically includes all family members, and you will instantly receive an average savings of up to 65 percent on drug prices and up to 30 percent on medical visits. Join a nationwide network of more than 59,000 pharmacies and 350,000 physicians. The service includes exclusive mail order service that will save an average of 20 percent on prescription drugs. Your information is kept private with this discount card program, which is HIPAA compliant. (*This is not insurance. Discounts are only available at participating pharmacies.) For more information, visit www.bta.org/BTAWellCard.

BTA Service Associate member Kingston Training Group Inc. (KTG) can help you implement effective techniques to train and motivate your sales force. The company’s proven method has helped salespeople re-evaluate their perspective of and approach to cold calling. KTG can provide the following services to help companies implement the training and sales programs that are most convenient and productive for them: individual training, group workshops, training and sales support materials and speaking engagement services by Kate Kingston, president and CEO of KTG. http://kingstontraining.com

For information on BTA member benefits, visit www.bta.org/MemberBenefits.

A full list of BTA Vendor and Service Associate members can be found online at www.bta.org.

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COURTS & CAPITOLS

Dealers Prevail Court rulings favorable to BTA Channel by: Robert C. Goldberg, General Counsel for the Business Technology Association

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wo recent court decisions brought favorable results for the BTA Channel of distribution. In the ÿ rst, a United States District Court in Connecticut dismissed a class action lawsuit contending misrepresentation and a failure to disclose the existence of digital storage devices in the copier/MFPs sold. It was found that the dealer had no duty to disclose the possibility that data would be retained on the hard drive of the equipment.

– e suit was brought by a banking institution that had returned equipment and subsequently learned that it was possible that conÿ dential and sensitive information may have been retained on the hard drives of the equipment returned.

– e bank brought a class action lawsuit on behalf of all others who had purchased or leased copier/MFPs, printers, facsimile equipment and scanners, and had not been advised of the possible saving of digital images.

According to the complaint, the bank alleged that the dealer misrepresented or failed to disclose that the dealer’s company did not destroy retained images prior to leasing or selling the equipment to another end user. – e bank asserted that the private and identifying information stored exposed its customers to potential identity theft and caused the bank to incur costs in monitoring its customer’s credit. – e suit was brought under Connecticut’s Unfair Trade Practices Act. Similar legislation exists in all other states.

– e court ruled that for a violation to exist there must be “a duty to disclose.” – ere being no duty, there was no violation. – e court found that there was no evidence that a data breach had, in fact, occurred. – e dealer did not intentionally fail to disclose the existence of the storage device consistent with an absence

to disclose any other internal parts. – e primary purpose of the transaction was the duplication of documents, not the protection of data that would be saved on the equipment. Security was not part of the discussion and was not raised by the bank during the purchase negotiations.

Although BTA has yet to ÿ nd a data breach resulting from information remaining on a hard drive, this court decision will assist the BTA Channel in defending itself in the event a breach occurs.

In the second case, a competing dealer alleged that a manufacturer and a dealer conspired to monopolize the servicing of the manufacturer’s equipment by refusing to provide diagnostic software to the competing dealer. – e manufacturer contended that it had established a network of authorized dealers and those dealers competed with the manufacturer for the servicing of equipment. – e complaint went on to challenge an end-user’s inability to choose the servicer of its choice and to accurately estimate the costs of maintaining the equipment after purchase.

– e court ruled that the proprietary software constituted a “trade secret” and the manufacturer was not obligated to share its secrets with others. – e industry is very competitive and the high price of equipment indicated the purchasers were sophisticated buyers and most likely would consider the life cycle costs of operation prior to purchasing. – e court would not disrupt the manufacturer’s distribution network or mandate the release of proprietary software.

– is ruling supports an authorized dealer channel and makes investment in a product line more secure.  Robert C. Goldberg is general counsel for the Business Technology Association.

He can be reached at robert.goldberg@sfnr.com. www.offi cetechnol ogymag.com | Oc tob e r 2011 | 33

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PRINCIPAL ISSUES

Building Tenure These methodologies can help ensure success by: Larry Coco, Coco Training & Consulting Inc.

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reating a tenured sales group may very well be the biggest key to growing your business in a consistent, vibrant fashion. Let us begin by asking a tough question: Have you ever lost a salesperson who was extremely talented and had tremendous untapped potential — one who you believe in your heart of hearts should have stayed with your company? I find myself nodding in agreement just as you may be doing right now. Yes, we have been there and done that. So, why did the salesperson look for a new job opportunity in the first place?

Perhaps we need to be blunt and admit that there are times where we find ourselves, as managers, so wrapped up in dayto-day business processes that we do not spend enough quality time addressing the motivational needs and aspirations of our people. In other words, what truly inspires our salespeople to reach that next level by committing to something greater than themselves — to the team and to your company? What do they need from you and your business environment?

Years ago, I recall embracing the curriculum developed by Applied Concepts (now Sales Optimizer) and believing it had a very solid perspective on building tenure. I still teach these methodologies today. Some of the core aspects are as follows: n Ignite Each Person’s Motivation to Stay — The point here is that as good as we think we are as managers, we cannot motivate our people for any reasonable length of time.

They motivate themselves and we can help by creating the proper team environment that inspires others to grow. The bottom line is that building this high-performance team environment must be at the top of our priority list. I am sure you can think back to the not-so-distant past and pinpoint specific sales reps who were there physically every day, but mentally, not so much. n Clarify Your Mind-Set — Adjust your mind-set to a place where your people feel like they are getting something more than money out of a job. Always remember that your team’s motivation is directly influenced by your management style.

This can be accomplished by creating payoffs (economic and

non-economic) for each of your team members.

Examples of economic payoffs are things like incentives, bonuses, etc. I think we are all too familiar with these. They involve money as a reward for doing something well and they certainly have their place.

Now, let us move to non-economic payoffs, since I believe this is an area in which we have a tremendous opportunity to improve. An example of a non-economic payoff is a handwritten note on your personal stationary that may read as follows: “Laura, 158 percent of plan for the month. Great work!

Just know we appreciate all that you do and we look forward to even bigger accomplishments in the future. Kindest regards, Nathan.”

I can tell you from personal experience that one of my mentors in life recognized everything. It got to a point where I would smile with excitement when I saw that envelope on my desk. As I write this article, I can see a box in the corner of my office — a box filled with personal notes from my boss written years ago. On any given day, I can reach in, read something positive and walk away feeling special and proud. Within moments, it can turn a lousy day into a good one.

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Another example is recognizing a work 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., but at 5:01 p.m. they salesperson for a job well done in front of have their sneakers on and are leaving skid Your business must have his (or her) peers at your next team sales marks out of your parking lot. Consider a well-developed, meeting. Ask your employee to stand up sharing written expectations with each of ongoing training plan and throw much-deserved accolades his your employees up front so there are fewer to give your employees way. You can also allow one of your good surprises — for example, child-care issues what they need — people to prepare and present something or simply “me time.” at a sales meeting. This can be very emTraditional workers prefer predictabilnot just today, but powering. Also, why not send an e-mail ity and consistency in their work while down the road as well. to your employee with a copy going to the contemporary workers need more varibig boss? How about lunch with you? The ety. If your work environment is stale and ideas are endless. non-challenging, the Y’s will simply lose interest, get bored I think you get the point here — the more personal payoffs and leave. your people can get by working with your company, the more Traditional workers really do learn better via experience. tenure everyone will enjoy. We need to figure out what people They need training, but after some brief training they want to want and need from their jobs. try it out. Contemporary workers receive more gratification n Expect that Your People Will Stay — For those of you and crave additional training. Your business must have a wellwho have been in the world of document management for developed, ongoing training plan to give your employees what some time, it is apparent that the way we have hired many is they need — not just today, but down the road as well. by providing money and autonomy. In other words, “Come to Some employees find comfort in the more traditional manwork for me Michael. I’ll pay you more money and I’ll get out ager/subordinate relationship. If you ask them to jump, they of your way and just let you do your job.” Herein lies the rub. ask, “How high?” On the other hand, if you ask contemporary Once your salesperson has had these benefits for a while, they workers to jump, they ask, “Why?” lose their luster. Thus, the vast majority of your team memSo, you need to create a work environment where your embers want more from a job than being left alone and making ployees have a voice and can be heard. They want to have input money. They need to feel inspired by you. and understand how decisions are being made. This means So much has been written about the X and Y Generations. I you need to watch and learn. Listen to their views. Ask them believe it is important that we now apply what has been writ- about their aspirations. ten to our business models. Let us do a brief exercise and comWe can safely conclude that by moving everyone a little pare traditional work environments versus contemporary more toward the middle of the motivational road, you can crework environments. Please think about where you are on this ate a more positive environment for all and be well on your motivational road. way to building the tenure you need and deserve.

Also, is it possible that while you may be more traditional If you are a more traditional manager, reach out to conin your approach, you are in constant conflict with workers temporary workers since you need them to challenge the “old who are more contemporary in style? Could this be the reason guard” and promote new ideas. Teach your more traditional they left? salespeople to be adaptable, and for your contemporaries, I want to preface this by saying that you need a good mix teach them some patience. of salespeople encompassing both. This is the goal. Each has It is management’s responsibility to offer the opportunity his strong points and needed areas of improvement as well. I for positive gratification to each of your salespeople. After all, never said this was easy. Traditional salespeople may be your they are your major accounts for development. Keep in mind: foundation. Contemporary salespeople can be brilliant and the work environment you create is not for your motivation, it get you to that next level. Having all of one type is not going is for your employees’ motivation. n to get you very far.

Larry Coco is president of Coco Training & Consulting Inc. Traditional workers (Generation X) have grown up believFor the last 28 years, he has focused his career in the world ing that when you work hard, rewards will eventually show of document management, working with both up. Contemporary workers (Generation Y) want instant gratidealer and direct organizations. fication in whatever they do. Your work environment must Previously, he worked at Ricoh Corp. in a provide positive experiences for both. variety of positions. He can be reached at Traditional workers are willing to work longer hours withlarry.coco@salesoptimizer.com out complaint in order to achieve while contemporary workor (914) 588-5384. ers require more life balance. This means they are willing to Visit www.cocotraining.com.

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se r v ic e c o n n ec t io n s

Determining Staffing Levels Minimize labor expense & identify inefficiencies by: Ken Staubitz, Strategy Development

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t is no secret that labor expense, as a percentage of service revenue, has a tremendous impact on service margins.

Therefore, as a service leader, it is important to understand and determine the appropriate staffing levels for your organization. Often, organizations are not sure what their staffing levels should be, which, in most cases, leads to overstaffing at these organizations. Planning and determining the appropriate staffing levels for your service organization can be challenging and time consuming, but it plays a pivotal role in the department’s profitability and response to your customers.

In years past, it was common for service departments to determine their staffing levels by merely assigning a designated number of machines per technician. As an example, an organization might have had 5,000 machines of various speeds, makes and models under contract and simply assigned a certain number of machines to each technician. Under this staffing philosophy, head count was based on the service leader’s judgment of the appropriate number of machines a technician could support. In this case, if the leader thought a technician should be able to support approximately 300 machines, then it was determined that the department’s staffing levels should be around 16 or 17 technicians (5,000/300 = 16.6).

On the other hand, many times staffing levels were determined by images supported by the technician. A common rule of thumb was that each technician should be able to support approximately 1.5 million images per month. For example, if the organization’s base was collectively producing 15 million images, then the appropriate staffing level would be 10 technicians (15 million images/1.5 million = 10).

Unfortunately, neither approach takes into consideration the geography, population mix or workload demand for the organization’s specific fleet. So, you may be thinking, “I get it.

There isn’t a methodology that works for everyone. My technicians always seem to be busy and my customers appear to be happy. Everything is running fine.” Are you sure this is the case?

Regardless of your organization’s equipment population, image volume and geography, there is a methodology that can be applied to each organization regardless of size, geography and machine mix.

First, you have to determine your actual technician workload capacity per technician. This is commonly referred to as “productive time.” Productive time may vary based on your staff’s non-productive factors, such as meeting times per month, vacation time and training time. Most organizations

average between 135-145 available productive hours per technician per month. However, I recommend you analyze your staff’s productive hours to be sure.

Though you have determined your staff’s productive time, you are not in the clear yet. Have you considered your targeted response time for your clients? Your company’s desired response time will affect your field team’s daily productive hours. In order to achieve an average targeted response time consistently, you must adjust available hours for additional non-productive time.

Next, it is important to determine your base’s actual workload demand (call time plus travel time). This should be reviewed periodically throughout the year due to the many factors that could affect your workload demand. Changes in your base — such as net new additions, the loss of a major account and base churn with new placements — contribute to the workload demand and affect your organization’s staffing levels.

Once you have calculated your base’s actual workload demand, it is important to compare your workload to the benchmark (targeted) workload for your base. This step provides the foundation of “what good looks like” for your particular base. If you choose to sidestep this process, you are increasing your risk of being overstaffed, as well as sacrificing further improvement by benchmarking against your own data. This calculation requires some form of benchmark data. BEI Services is a common source of such information.

All of these steps are important when determining your staffing levels. Let us assume your staff’s average productive time is 145 hours per technician per month and you discovered your organization’s actual workload is 2,125 hours, which is currently being supported by 20 technicians. At first www.offi cetechnol ogymag.com | Oc tob e r 2011 | 37

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on additional business without reducing glance, you might calculate the approhead count. Assuming you have the right priate staffing level to be 15 technicians Regardless of the players, this could help eliminate potential (2,125/145). What if your organization deapproach, it is critical growing pains. Another approach is a comsired a four-hour average response time? to identify the reasons bination of both: reduce staff to a certain To achieve this, you must adjust your availyour organization is not degree and utilize the excess capacity to able productive hours accordingly. In this performing at its support additional revenue opportunities. example, the four-hour response would reRegardless of the approach, it is critical duce your available productive hours to 125 benchmark level and to identify the reasons your organization hours per technician per month. Therefore, implement a plan ... is not performing at its benchmark level your current workload demand with your and implement a plan to correct these isstaff performing as it is today should be 17 sues before making any changes in head count. Determining technicians (2,125/125).

At this point, one might be thinking, “That’s great. I can re- staffing levels in this manner will minimize your labor exduce my staff from 20 technicians down to 17.” Although true, pense and it will play a pivotal role in identifying areas of inefit is important to understand what your staffing level should ficiency that could affect your customer satisfaction levels. n Ken Staubitz is a service consultant with Strategy Development be. Using the same example, now let us assume you determined with 14-plus years experience in all levels of service operations down to the model level: Your organization’s benchmark workand MPS service structure. Formerly with Cincinnati, Ohioload is 1,875 hours of work for its fleet, resulting in a workload based Modern Office Methods (MOM) in various service and equivalent of 15 (1,875/125) technicians. In this case, the organization would have an excess capacity of two (17-15) techni- operational roles, Staubitz was MOM’s director of client services where he oversaw all service operations and cians or a total excess capacity of five (20-15) technicians.

There are a few ways to respond to this information. One managed a staff of 60-plus field service personnel.

He served on the Lanier Dealer Advisory way is to immediately reduce your staff and expect the rest of Council and was an e-automate Service the remaining employees to “pick up the slack.” This approach Committee member. He can be reached at provides immediate gains to the organization’s bottom line, staubitz@strategydevelopment.com. but could greatly reduce the level of service to your customers.

Visit www.strategydevelopment.com.

A second approach is to utilize the excess capacity by taking

Adv e r t ise r ind e x 30 • BTA Business Equipment Quota Index

35 • FIX: Cost Management for Service

29 • NA Trading

(800) 843-5059 / www.bta.org/BTABEQI

(800) 843-5059 / www.bta.org/FIX

(800) 231-8434 / www.natrading.com

39 • BTA MPS Sales Workshop

13 • FMAudit

11 • Oki Data

(800) 843-5059 / www.bta.org/MPSSales

(573) 632-2461 / www.fmaudit.com

www.okidata.com/TMP

7 • BTA Southeast District Event

23 • Global Printer Services

29 • ProFinance 2.0

(800) 234-8996 / www.bta.org/BTASoutheastEvent

(800) 588-3554 / www.globalprinter.com

(800) 843-5059 / www.bta.org/ProFinance

25 • BTA Marketplace

40 • GreatAmerica Leasing Corp.

15 • Sharp

(800) 843-5059 / www.bta.org/BTAMarketplace

(800) 234-8787 / www.greatamerica.com

www.sharpusa.com

2-3 • BTA West District Event

27 • LEAF

23 • Solutions Summit

(800) 843-5059 / www.bta.org/BTAWestEvent

www.LEAFnow.com/BTA

www.solutionssummit.net

12 • CIT Vendor Finance

17 • Muratec

9 • Strategy Development

(800) 245-0506 / www.cit.com/vendorfinance

(469) 429-3481 / www.muratec.com

(610) 527-3317 / www.strategydevelopment.com

35 • Densi

21 • MSE

(877) 77-DENSI / www.densi.com

(800) 673-4968 / www.mse.com

5 • DocuWare

19 • Miracle Service/Nexent Innovations

(888) 565-5907 / www.docuware.com

(866) 639-3681 / www.miracleservice.com

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You’ve launched an MPS program, but are you achieving the profits you had hoped for?

Strategy Development will help you accelerate your MPS growth and achieve profit margins in excess of 55%.

BTA MPS Sales Workshop December 6-7, 2011

Developed and taught by Strategy Development consultants, this two-day educational workshop will provide dealerships with the tools they need to establish a profitable MPS strategy.

What you will learn: • Understanding the print space • Getting the appointment • Presenting a value proposition • Conducting an assessment • Building an MPS proposal that sells • Pricing an MPS contract • Quarterly business reviews

Pricing: $1,195 for members $ 995 for each add’l attendee to same class $1,475 for non-members* (using $150 coupon) *Non-member price includes a one-year BTA dealer membership.

For more information and to register, visit: www.bta.org/MPSSales or call 800.843.5059.

Don’t have the time to get to our classroom MPS training...

WE HAVE THE SOLUTION.

When: December 6-7, 2011 Baltimore, MD “In an economy that is faced with daily challenges, Strategy Development offers hope and a ‘valueadd’ plan to help dealers grow exponentially. The program is logical, fact-based and incorporates an ‘under-promise/over-deliver’ mantra. Well done!”

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MPS Sales ad Oct 11.indd 1

9/28/11 11:21 AM

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9/8/11 11:54 AM