Issue 435:

The Cannata Report’s 38th Annual Dealer Survey keeps rolling along, yielding valuable insights into the status of the office technology dealer channel and the performance of the OEMs that supply the channel with products and services.

Scenes from the Toshiba LEAD Beyond conference in Las Vegas, September 12-14.

Scenes from the HP Imagine 2023 Event in Palo Alto, California, October 5.

Konica Minolta’s MFP production bases have achieved 100% renewable energy across all overseas sites and the company has revised its goal of reducing CO2 emissions in its own product lifecycle from 80% to 100% by 2050.

Office technology partnerships can be challenging whether that partnership is with a vendor or a customer, but certain qualities make a difference in a lasting partnership.

Flat-rate billing is a better way of billing for MPS, but it has struggled to catch on with most office technology dealers.

GreatAmerica Financial Services understands that an evolving office technology industry requires finance programs flexible enough to change along with it.

Our 38th Annual Dealer Survey reveals a thriving industry despite the challenges of the past three years.

In this year’s Survey, 920 A3 MFP lines were reported across 456 respondents.

The average number of A4 lines carried per dealer saw a modest increase from 2.0 to 2.2, likely driven by a greater number of Survey respondents, and some dealers adding new A4 suppliers that had products available during the height of the supply chain crisis.

Each year in our Survey, we identify the manufacturers with the strongest distribution. To do this, we track how they ranked as a dealer’s primary and secondary equipment supplier.

After seeing the percentage of dedicated dealers rise to 44%, the highest in the history of our Survey last year, the percentage of dealer dedication fell to 37.5% this year.

If the dealer revenue results of our last two Surveys were sharply impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, one might think that this year’s Survey would have been impacted by the supply chain crisis.

The number of dealers in the $10 Million-Plus Club continues to grow thanks to organic growth and diversifying their product lines.

Multifunction A3 and A4 devices may have become the dominant technology in many offices, including home offices in the growing hybrid work environment, but standalone printers have not yet become extinct as evidenced by the results of our 38th Annual Dealer Survey.

Production print is also a great opportunity to capture clicks outside the traditional office. And now with Kyocera offering a production print machine and Sharp poised to do the same early next year, the number of OEMs offering production printers is expanding.

Fully 42% of dealers reported their managed print services revenues were up in 2022 compared to 33% last year. On the downside, 8% reported revenues were down, and 50% said that their MPS revenues were the same.

As the number of dealers participating in our 38th Annual Dealer Survey soared to 458 this year, we saw a modest decline in the percentage of dealers offering managed IT services.

Ever since we first began presenting revenue and productivity data in 2009, we have witnessed a series of spikes and declines in the number of sales reps per dealer.

Between last year and this year, we saw a 2% dip in the percentage of dealers making acquisitions. However, there was a significant uptick in the number of acquisitions.

In our Annual Dealer Survey we ask dealers to rank their greatest diversification opportunities from a list of nine, including “other” in order of preference.

Cybersecurity Awareness Month is an opportune time to acknowledge the many cyberthreats that can impact your dealership and your customers’ businesses.

KPAX software has a growing ecosystem and a promising future across multiple channels.

You never know what the future will bring and succession planning that focuses on objectives and financials will help ensure an orderly replacement or exit strategy.