In writing about office technology dealers, one thing becomes abundantly clear. It is the word resiliency. Dealer owners have an amazing capacity to handle so many distractions and different types of impediments that must be overcome. At the same time, we must tip our cap to them and say, “Good for you.”
Running a dealership is not for the faint of heart. Just ask Andrew Ritschel, a self-described technology consultant and principal of Electronic Office Systems (EOS) in Fairfield, NJ. EOS serves New Jersey and the New York City metropolitan area. Ritschel (some people call him Drew, which is fine by him) has been in the copier industry since 1980 and could have sold his dealership 10 years ago, when annual revenue stood at the $8 million mark.
But, no. An office technology manufacturer wanted to buy EOS, Ritschel explained, however, “I didn’t want to do it at the time. It meant switching lines and laying off probably two-thirds of the staff. I said ‘no, thanks.’” In the past decade, Electronic Office Systems has seen annual revenue, once as high as $10 million, dip to $6.5 million (in 2025) amid economic turmoil.
Ritschel, who began working in the office tech industry in 1980, has learned that dealers cannot rest on their laurels.
The banking crisis in late 2008 was bad enough, though Electronic Office Systems managed to weather that storm. But the bad business demons taunted: “You think that was hard? Just wait,” they seemed to say. “Get ready for our triple whammy!” Eight years passed, then, toward the end of 2016, the next gale hit, and the office technology dealer saw another drop in business. Ritschel explained:
- “There was uncertainty in Washington [D.C.],” he recalled, as Donald Trump was elected to his first term as U.S. president.
- Less than four years later, the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc with the office as we knew it.
- In mid-2025, the tariff debates began—and persist to this day. Heading into Q2 2026, will U.S. flat tariffs translate to price increases of 10% or 15% for importers?
The landscape for office technology dealers “has been chaotic . . . and somewhat painful,” Ritschel lamented. The list of EOS customers includes nearly 4,000 accounts. “Our key clients are mostly down-the-street businesses and mini-majors, which produce mixed results,” he explained. Dealerships are closely held companies that have faced difficult decisions, such as whether to sell, merge, or retire.
For EOS and peer office technology dealerships, the tariff impact has been a source of ongoing frustration, causing “constant pricing adjustments and modifications,” Ritschel noted. The traditional imaging side of the business still accounts for 85% (including MPS) of the dealership’s revenue, he reported. Ricoh and Kyocera are his primary A3 MFP OEMs and, more recently, the Brother enterprise A4 line as part of the 2025 alliance with Ricoh.
EOS service staff members proudly showing off their Master’s Technician Certifications from Kyocera.
Presently, the Electronic Office Systems’ sales team focuses on vertical-market opportunities in the AEC (architecture, construction, and engineering), legal, medical, and nonprofit sectors. This is a good mix of verticals that overall provides some stability to the market. Ritschel reports that the dealership is experiencing growth in wide-format printing, a result of the multi-unit housing and rental-apartment construction underway in New Jersey. Between wide-format, business phone systems, and small-format printing, cross-selling remains a major strategy. EOS’s ability to deal with adversity is remarkable. “In New Jersey, the state closed down all non-essential businesses we were closed down from March 21, 2020, through June 15, 2021,” Ritschel not-so-fondly recalled. EOS, an essential business, had technicians and salespeople working remotely, he noted, “and we focused hard on training.” During that time, ensuing equipment delays from supply-chain issues forced the dealer to turn to refurbished, certified pre-owned options and refinance existing equipment in the field. “Six years post-COVID, we are still dealing with extended leases and the additional pricing that was put into place,” Ritschel reported.
Profiting from office technology trial and error
Electronic Office Systems has buoyed profitability by diversifying into VoIP (voice over internet protocol) phone systems, which now represent about 10% of revenues. For its VoIP and UCaaS (unified communications as a service) services, EOS works with Fanvil, Polycom, and Yealink for hardware. “We’re heavily into wide-format equipment sales as well. Our current manufacturing partners there are Canon and KIP,” noted Ritschel. On a smaller scale, the dealership branched out into document management via DocuWare (a Ricoh subsidiary), electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, mailing equipment, paper shredders, and interactive whiteboards. Has the strategy worked?
“We’ve had some success with Ricoh’s ‘smart’ whiteboard products,” shared Ritschel, “mostly at private schools and nursery schools.” And, the shredder business is working, he added. EOS is a manufacturer-authorized dealer of Ecolman and DestroyIt paper shredders.
There have been some disappointments, of course. Electronic Office Systems experimented with managed IT services in the early 2000s but didn’t exhibit the patience to turn a profit. “We lost a great deal over three years,” Ritschel said, which is when he pulled the plug on IT. “At first, I thought we had the wrong people, but that wasn’t the case. Believe the dealers at peer groups, like CDA and BTA, when they say it could take four to five years to break even in IT/managed services.” He cited the skyrocketing costs of cyber insurance along with errors and omissions (E&O) insurance as barriers to the information technology business.
The showroom features wide-format printing equipment, which accounts for revenues of more than $300,000 per year for the New Jersey dealership. That figure represented approximately 5% of EOS’s total revenue ($6.5 million) in 2025.
Ritschel resold water-filtration systems, too, but ended up giving that portion of the EOS business to a good friend, who “recently sold it for $8.5 million. So, go figure,” he said with a shrug and a smile. Don’t get him started on EV charging stations, though, which seem to be trapped in a bureaucratic nightmare caused by slow-moving state government. “I think the State of New Jersey missed the boat with EV chargers,” opined Ritschel. EOS was paired with electricians, ready to go, but the dealer has been waiting two years for grant approvals. “In the meantime, new batteries are expected next year,” he smirked. “I think Toyota is developing one model that can go 1,000 miles on a 10-minute charge.”
Amid all the uncertainty, Electronic Office Systems somehow has maintained a 91% customer retention rate, which ranks higher than Harvard Business Review’s 85% for “great” performing customer servicing companies, according to Ritschel. At one of his biannual meetings, he attributed that amazing statistic to employees who have an average tenure of 18 years with EOS. “Maybe I’m stupid or just too nice a guy,” he joked, adding that no family members are involved in the business, making nepotism a non-issue. The dealership is celebrating its 43rd year in business in 2026.
He cites four Fs as the secret to long-term success: be fast, flexible, friendly, and focused. “When customers call our number at EOS [973-808-0100], a human answers the phone,” he assured. (The telephone system’s auto-attendant is activated only after regular business hours.) “I don’t like that instant messaging and avatar nonsense,” he scoffed. On the company website, you’ll find that the dealer’s street address is easy to find, and employee email addresses are not elusive either. While the EOS approach may seem “old school” to some people, Ritschel thinks total accountability is a timeless concept that simply works well.
“Right out of college, I worked for a small dealer,” he reminisced, which soon became insolvent. Ritschel struck out on his own in 1983, running the business from his apartment. Later, he hired a tech and a salesperson, then opened a 1,200-square-foot showroom. Now 68 and 10 years a widower, he is engaged to be married. The couple met on Match.com. “Have a woman write your profile,” he advised, this time with an even bigger smile spanning his face. He admits that selling remains his forté and that he still enjoys “getting out there to sell and visit long-term clients.”
EOS is more than a survivor and continues to demonstrate resilience in the face of adversity. With all the office technology dealership has dealt with, it is still a strong player in the game.
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