Three Steps for Your #ManagedprintServices Practice

There were dark days.  

Back in 2007, MpS was new, on the edge, and a bit contrarian.  The year was 2007, copiers were flying off the shelf, and everybody signed a 60-month lease with an accompanying service agreement.  A4 was a dirty word.

MpS didn’t flourish it sputtered and more often failed. Stories of fallen MPS practices outnumbered the successful.

I, myself, declared MpS dead in 2011 because the discipline became adulterated into the lowest price possible. The race to the bottom was inevitable.

Today, I look upon the contemporary MpS ecosystem and see customers calling dealers looking to sign MpS contracts, more MpS press coverage, INCREASED membership in your MPSA, ridicule, and criticism from industry "pundits" and “shills” it’s beginning to feel like the ‘good old days.  Sorta. My optimism is cautionary.

End User Snapshot 21: How Companies Provided WFH Hardware

Thirty-eight percent told us that companies supplied VoIP phone equipment or reimbursed an employee for obtaining that equipment. Interestingly, more than half of the survey takers said their company did not require this equipment.

Almost half of survey takers said their company supplied printers or MFPs along with the ink or toner to work from home. However, more than a third told us their company did not require this kind of equipment or supplies as they worked from home.

Watch the video for more, here.

Six Predictive Points of #WFH

Castor. 
Six-star system. Castor is a multiple star system made up of six individual stars; there are three visual components, all of which are spectroscopic binaries.

From Cubicles to Constellations: The Future of Work in Six Shining Points

The future of working from home (WFH) is outlined through six key insights, signaling a shift in the modern working paradigm. The article portrays a landscape where traditional models are fading, and a new virtual frontier is emerging.

1. The Hybrid Work Trap: Oscillating between home and office is highlighted as a stressful and inefficient process, questioning the logic behind maintaining two working environments.
2. The Unleashed Worker: This concept illustrates the newfound freedom to work for multiple companies, enabling a diversified and dynamic professional life.
3. Remote Workers as Urban Saviors: By embracing WFH, cities can transform into hubs that support remote work, with amenities like fast internet and affordable living spaces, thus sparking urban revitalization.

Together, these points sketch a future where work is not confined to a physical place but is an adaptable, flexible, and innovative way of living and contributing.

_________

1. The #HybridWork model is a trap.

It is more stressful and less productive to switch back and forth from working at home to working in a cube.  Why commute only to sit in on another Zoom meeting? Why support TWO sets of technology and if you're still paper-bound, why lug files and 3-rings back and forth between offices?

#WorkFromHome Will Save Cities

I've been saying "the 'good' things about city life will move to where the customers and audiences live and work."

• "Broadway" moves off-broadway into the burbs and countryside...
• Marc Forgione opens in Brighton...
• The local coffee joint builds a conference room...
• 5G helps telepresence flourish...

All the good things about cities will move closer to their customers and audiences.  Makes sense.

But there is something else - Remote Workers will save NYC.

How many of Us have ever lived?

I've often contemplated this very question.  Where are all the dead people?

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Productivity is Up & Employees are Happy

I’ve been saying this from the beginning, management, upper management and C Level people must be shaking in their boots as decades of redundancy and inefficiency come to light under remote working.

Productivity went UP and employees are happier.

What will be improved by RTO?

If you say productivity, you’re ignoring facts. When you say ‘culture’ you are manipulative and transparent.

People may come back to the plantation but they won’t be happy about it.

All the Blue Jean Fridays, 2% raises, & ping pong tables, won’t make up for the cold dinners, missed recitals, chaotic schedules for doctor and vet appointments, and boorish coworkers.

Of course, there are people who WANT to get back to an office - there always are.

Good video, here...

With 1 Sentence, Google's CEO Revealed the Best Reason NOT to Return to the Office I've Heard Yet.

The argument is self-centered concentrating on a"community" based on employer location, not the employees'.

Google has 9.5 billion reasons to keep knowledge workers on the plantation - not a sense of community.

From the article:

"Pichai says Google is spending $9.5 billion on offices and data centers this year...

Pichai points out another overlooked reason for returning to the office. The physical space your business occupies provides a "vital anchor" to your local community. It creates a connection that doesn't exist with a distributed team working in different places.

Eight Reasons the MetaVerse is better than Hybrid Work

#WorkFromAnywhere #wfh is all the talk now and so is:

• the effect of Covid vs the effect of the fear of Covid
• gas prices are too high
• increased productivity
• happier with 'work', vs working
• office appearances are lower in priorities than family, fun, Netflix, & sweatpants 
• real friends (vs work friends)
• lower crime in the 'burbs
•  etc., etc., etc.

Musk Uses His F*ck You Money

How about this guy...the absolute literal definition of "F*ck ewe $":

“I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy.  As a result, I am offering to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54% premium over the day before I began investing in Twitter, and a 38% premium over the day before my investment was publicly announced,”. 

“My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.”

...and heads blow up all over the world...next on the block?

FaceBook. After that?  Universities/higher education.

Twitter is no different than FB or Google(Meta or Alphabet). 

Consider Musk as a player in the MetaVerse.  Giving everyone on the planet a shared experience through telepresence, of a walk on Mars.

Unions at Amazon

I was reading how Amazon employees voted to unionize at one DC and it got me thinking about robots. Robots don't vote. Or strike. Or catch Covid...or even spread Covid.

Then I read about it will be another ten years before "fully automated shipping warehouses" are a thing.

I don't believe Amazon.

Read the article here.

The Luddite Falsehood

"The Luddite fallacy is the simple observation that new technology does not lead to higher overall unemployment in the economy. New technology doesn’t destroy jobs – it only changes the composition of jobs in the economy.

Historical background

The Luddites were a group of English textile workers who violently destroyed machines. They broke up power looms because they feared that these new machines were taking their jobs and livelihoods.

Against the backdrop of the economic hardship following the Napoleonic wars, new automated looms meant clothing could be made with fewer lower-skilled workers. The new machines were more productive, but some workers lost their relatively highly paid jobs as a result. It was this unemployment of former skilled workers which led to the industrial unrest and direct action."

Read the rest here.

Last week, the 15th week of 2022

Last week, the 15th week of 2022 -

Unions at Amazon. Musk, the once Hero of Technology, bought Twitter (the employees go nuts), and teachers acted badly - 1200 bodies of civilians in Ukraine.

Unions are on their last breath -Robots will not participate in a Great Resignation. Nothing is going to stop Alexa, Cortana, or Siri.

Amazon Plant Just Voted to Unionize: This is What Happens Next

Robots Don't Strike -

Or catch Covid or spread Covid, for that matter.  Robots don't mind the commute, need few employee benefits, work three shifts, and couldn't care less about "Blue Jean Friday" or "Taco Tuesday".

Robots hate corporate picnics

Of course, robots may break down or need routine service - but that's what Service Drones are for.

Hailing from Detroit, I know a bit about unions - maybe no more than you, but most of my friends' fathers were either in or despised unions.

All I need say is "Jimmy Hoffa" and watch for the response.  Either you know or you don't.

Today, 2022, unions are making one last grab at members as the times are skewed towards the employees. The Great Resignation is upon us, 24 months of Covid scare has illuminated for most the futility of empty work and little recognition.

Folks "on the line" are motivated into hating ownership, C-level executives, management, and stockholders. If not hate then at least envy.  

The caldron requires little stirring

Maybe We Shouldn't Get Into Managed IT Services

Are we marketing the edge of forever or yesterday's Enterprise?

I'm beginning to think the road to #digitalTransformation, for #TheImagingChannel, doesn't require stepping into the managed (IT) services niche. 

Maybe we've been looking at and been told the wrong thing by well-meaning yet misguided know-it-alls. (me included).  

I.T. isn't all that sexy. 

I know, I know, compared to #copiers, firewalls and anti-virus are #seductive.  

Wouldn't it be easier to deliver, and install coffee machines connected to the IoT? Or design and implement an IoT Connectivity Policy? Or how about looking to the fringe of technology beyond the curve? 

“Fewer clients. Less money. More attention. Caring for them.”

Speaking to the next generation of copier dealers - those who have survived, inherited, or still fly under their original colors - If every copier, printer, and paper document disappeared tomorrow, what would you do? 

What would you sell? 

Why MPS Now?

Managed print services prevented customers from paying too much for devices, service, and supplies and reduced the number of machines in the field. After decades of over-purchasing copiers, companies were paying much more than they should. Paramount to the MPS process was the assessment and every assessment, if performed honestly, found devices well under recommended usage.

The MPS movement was perceived by some as anti-copier, anti-output volume, and thereby, anti-industry. As a practitioner and a champion of “30% cost reduction,” I was a pariah to “peers” and a contrarian to prospects. It was a great time.

As part of a minority movement, we had little control over the definition of managed print. Indeed, prospects, dealers, software houses, and OEMs created MPS in their likeness – which is fine – but each version was supported by an agenda and narrative: “sell more devices, toner, and software packages.” Instead of fighting the system, I pronounced the death of managed print services with hopes of a resurrection in the future.

Read the rest, here.

Ask Greg is Back

A while back, I had an "Ask Greg" column writing for Xerox around Managed print Services where folks would write in and ask all sorts of questions and I would answer.

For the past few years, I've been writing a series titled "New to Copier Sales..." for The Imaging Channel, here.

I'm bringing it back.

I know that there isn't a shortage of 'know-it-alls' out here - the cyber-world has always been populated with bloviating pontificators - I'm not looking to compete with those folks.  All I know is that for the last 20 plus years, I've been involved with sales teams selling and prospects buying.  I've been on BOTH sides of the sales table.

The process is simple.  Ask a question, I'll give you an answer. The question can be about anything: selling copiers, managed print services, uniform rental programs website design, and anything in between.  "

For example, Fred Farkel from Flint, Michigan asks, 

"Greg, I've been in copier sales for 60 days and I haven't sold a thing.  My manager is all over me to sell something, anything.  How can I turn a quick sale?  Can I do anything to get my manager off my a$$? - Fred.

My response might go something like this:

"Dear Frustrated in Flint, 

Quit.

Yours very truly, 

G"

Of course, I'm kidding. (sorta)

"Dear Frustrated in Flint,

I am sorry to hear of your challenges in the 'thumb'.(Mid-Michigan)  Sales managers like yours are the bane of our industry. Regardless,  here are some ideas your manager should have already reviewed with you:

1. Hit up all your existing clients. 
2. Check lease renewals.
3. Comb the "New business" announcements looking for live prospects.
4. Approach family and friends for leads at their place of business.

Remember, you're looking for quick transactional, turns the above ideas are short term answers in a long term game.

PS - Seriously, if your sales manager is all over you so early, keep your resume up to date.

Do you have a question?  Click here.  What have you got to lose?

"Help me, help you."

Cheers!

HP Behind UAPs/UFOs:Department of Defense

Hewlett Packard announced today the existence of HP-researched and developed UAPs commonly known as UFOs.

Throughout the 70s, HP in cooperation with PARC, worked with DARPA to reverse engineer technology not sourced from any country. 

Speaking anonymously, an HP source said, "We've been testing gravity-generating engines for years and although we've been able to lift these devices a few feet off the ground, we have no idea exactly how these machines work."