Issue 445:

If it’s Autumn, it must be Survey season at The Cannata Report. And indeed, it is as we launch the first of our two Annual Dealer Survey issues.

Frank and CJ travel to PRINTING United Expo 2024 in Las Vegas to discover what’s new in the world of production and industrial print.

On Monday morning, September 9, Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. hosted a first-class celebration to send off the Patriot Pack on its annual charitable ride.

The Printer and MFP Subcommittee of the Japanese Business Machine and Information System Industries Association (JBMIA) recently announced the results of a domestic survey on “business areas where paper output remains strong,” a topic of great interest in the MFP/printer industry.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a transformative force across industries, encompassing various technologies such as machine learning algorithms, neural networks, and large language models.

PRINTNG United Expo 2024 once again proved to be a hotbed of innovation, showcasing the latest advancements in printing technology and highlighting emerging trends to shape the industry’s future.

Don’t underestimate the perseverance of the office technology dealer channel based on our annual dealer survey.

This year’s Survey had the second highest number of responses in the history of the Survey, 401, with 375 representing the Big Six manufacturers—Canon, Konica Minolta, Kyocera, Ricoh, Sharp, and Toshiba.

In this year’s Survey, 825 A3 MFP lines were reported across 400 respondents.

Despite generating lower margins than A3 devices, supply chain disruptions, and chip shortages, A4 multifunction printers have taken a licking but keep on clicking.

To identify the manufacturers with the strongest distribution, we track how they ranked as a dealer’s primary and secondary equipment supplier.

Over the years of conducting our Annual Dealer Survey, we’ve found that the data in many sections remains somewhat consistent year in and year out, deviating by a few percentages or fractions of a percentage.

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted dealer revenues in 2020 and 2021.

Since 2019, we’ve been tracking dealers with revenues of $10 million or greater, calling it the “$10 Million-Plus Club.” Before then, we focused on dealers with revenues of $7.5 million and higher from 2017 through 2018, and before that, dealers with revenues of $5 million and higher.

Despite the dominance of A3 and A4 devices in the office, single-function printers keep plugging along. Survey respondents cited twelve different printer brands, including one dealer identifying the discontinued OKI product line.

There’s no denying that production print is a valid diversification opportunity, particularly for dealers with the appropriate financial resources.

Much to our surprise, this year’s Survey reveals a resurgence of managed print services (MPS).

After dropping to 43% a year ago, the percentage of dealers offering managed IT services rose to 47% in this year’s Survey.

To understand the impact of revenue on productivity, we divide total dealer revenue by the average number of salespeople.

Since last year’s survey, we’ve seen a modest increase in the percentage of dealers making acquisitions.

As office technology evolves, dealers that want to remain relevant with customers and continue growing their businesses must diversify their product offerings.

A3 devices, the too-much-is-never-enough workhorses of office printing, have long been the go-to machines for customers seeking a full set of features and capabilities.

Late country music artist Johnny Paycheck first sang these lyrics 47 years ago: “Take this job and shove it! I ain’t workin’ here no more.”

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, a perfect time to audit and upgrade your security practices, and if you offer managed IT services, talk to your clients about doing the same.

Everybody has to start their career somewhere, and for Matthew Charles, president of Complete Business Systems (CBS) in Arvada, Colorado, that place was selling Xerox copiers for his uncle, who owned a Xerox agency in New York City in 1996.