The topic of AI permeates nearly all of our content these days, as evidenced by its prominence in so many of our articles. Still, in an effort to focus intently on artificial intelligence, we present The Cannata Report’s third annual AI issue. In his “Mark My Word” editor’s letter, Mark Vruno asks, “Are robots coming to the workplace?” He and I saw autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) roaming about the Executive Connection Summit earlier this year. Precision Duplicating Systems is one dealer that is preparing for the future. Reena Philpot shares their story.
We also debut a new, regular column, “Office Tech & AI,” written by Greg Walters, co-founder of Crickets Continuum, which is building a network for service robots that work in the real world. Greg is also a founding member of the Managed Print Services Association. His columns will focus on AI usage in the dealer channel. AI is moving fast, and West McDonald (GoWest.ai) believes that 2025 was a warm-up for what’s coming. In our cover story, he writes that now is the time for office technology dealers, manufacturers, and other vendor partners to get serious about using artificial intelligence in the channel.
Additional office technology content:
- How will these new products and services be financed? Columnist Petra Diener has some thoughts.
- Economist Henry Willmore examines how leasing partners can pave the way to monthly, subscription-based pricing models in more software-centric dealer environments.
- Noel Ward ponders the effect of private equity suitors on the channel.
- When is it time to “fire” a customer? Learn about warning signs from new contributor Adrienne Palmer.
- For the latest CR CONNECT-DEALER TOUR, Filomena Tamburri spoke to CEO Sean Mummert and The Office People in the Southeast.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at cjcannata@cannatareport.com with any questions, issues, or comments. We welcome your feedback as we strive to provide the best reporting and analysis of the industry.
CJ Cannata
President & CEO
