Issue 394:

I love fall, the changing colors, the cooler weather, the baseball playoffs, our Annual Dealer Survey. As I’m writing this in early September, I’m lamenting the the…

Celebrating BTA East at Tiro A Segno, our favorite NYC hot spot. Standing, from left to right: Josie Heskje, GreatAmericaFinancial Services; Aaron Dyck, Clover…

The Cannata Report catches up with dealers at BTA East’s 2019 Fall Colors Retreat in New York City. From top to bottom and left to right: CJ Cannata; Jim George,…

The Cannata Report meets with Continuum senior executives Michael George, CEO; and John Schweizer, VP of office technology; at the IT services provider’s…

Sharp’s 2019 Own IT-themed Dealer Meeting kicked into high gear during an opening night party at the Wynn Las Vegas. Thanks to Brian Gertler, LDI Color ToolBox, we…

It”™s been a busy year in Tokyo for printer manufacturers that have enhanced their existing showrooms or opened new ones to showcase their latest printing…

Everybody talks about workflow. You have to have one; you have to document it; you have to improve it continuously; no workflow, no profit; and so on. Let’s…

After 34 years of conducting our Annual Dealer Survey, and closely following the office technology industry day in and day out, one might think there wouldn’t be too…

This year’s Survey had the greatest number of responses in the history of the Survey – 344 with 336 of those representing the Big Six manufacturers – Canon…

Starting with our 2014 Survey, we began separating the A3 and A4 MFP lines. From 2004 through 2013, the number of lines per dealer was impacted by the number…

Whatever resistance dealers had to A4 in the past (primarily the lower margins compared to A3) seems to have dissipated in the wake of a new reality. That reality…

As acquisitions reconfigure the dealer landscape, the era of the single-line dealer should be on the decline. Yet, as we’ve seen since 2016, the percentage of single-line…

For the second consecutive year, the percentage of dealers participating in our Survey went up, as did the percentage of dedicated dealers from 36% last year to…

When analyzing our Survey results, we do not base our findings on profitability and choose to examine revenue. This year, the total dealer revenue of our entire universe…

Prior to our 32nd Annual Dealer Survey in 2017, we tracked dealers with revenues of $5 million or greater, calling this group “The $5 Million-Plus Club.” But times…

If a dealer is going to offer MPS, they”™d better have at least one printer line. Regardless of how dealers define their MPS offerings, printers remain a critical element…

In the wake of declining print volumes, we have been adamant that dealers need to seriously consider production print. We might add that industrial print is…

One of the misconceptions about MPS that we are as guilty of promulgating as others in the industry have, is that almost every dealer (or most dealers are) is…

Last year, 50% of Big Six dealers said they offered managed networked services (MNS). In this year’s Survey, that percentage declined to 46%. We don’t feel this drop…

Service is a critical component of any dealer operation and a huge contributor to maintaining customers. That’s why we examine the makeup of a dealership’s service…

This is the era of acquisitions. News of acquisitions may not be flowing in daily, but hardly a week goes by when an acquisition isn’t announced. Most of those acquisitions…

The flow of private-equity money into the channel continued unabated throughout 2018. Meanwhile, mid-sized and larger, well-funded dealers expanded their…

For years, progressive dealers have been looking for ways to grow their businesses beyond traditional office copying and printing. Call it diversification, if you will. The…

While many businesses still require and insist on A3 copier/MFPs, the last decade has increasingly seen companies switch to A4 devices. The advantages of A4…

The vendor equipment finance business at TIAA Bank is embarking on a series of digital initiatives to serve its dealer partners more effectively. “We’ve always…