Am I the only one who thinks China has weaponized #TheFearOfCovid and is attacking the supply chain?

They have a "1,000-year plan..."

The question is this:  "If one country wanted to take down the US, would they be able and willing to do it with guns, missiles, and troops, or is there another way?  Why would there be motivation to do so in the first place?"

Numbers Up, Volumes Down, and A3 or A4, "Just. Doesn't. Matter."

Do dealers exagerate?  Hell yeah, we all do, every single day about every single thing to every single person we meet.

Over the past 5 months, I've heard more and more positive feedback about sales than I have in the past 36 months.  

The first inkling was tales of customers initiating leases without expecting delivery for 120 days.  When was the last time a customer would willingly wait more than 30 days for their device?

Heard in the back alleys and sidebars of the industry:

 

More Than a Newsletter - The Office Tecnology Tap

Decades in the making.

I've been writing, speaking, and commenting about the copier industry since 2008.  I've built dozens of websites, and multiple versions of this blog, spoken at all the major shows and held conversations with thousands of folks in the technology realm.  From DOS to the Cloud; from the OCe 3100 to Edgeline and all things between and beyond.

I'm an advocate for change, I've pontificated on the benefits and dangers of technology, and with the support of a select few, I've been fortunate enough to maintain a presence in this crazy mixed-up world of toner and fire.

It is with great pleasure, that I am announcing an alliance with Gap Intelligence a great team of analysts in Office Technology and beyond.  I look forward to tapping into the cumulative knowledge this company possesses and bringing to you, the best cutting-edge, relevant office technology content on the planet.  

The first fruits of our collaboration are The Office Technology Tap newsletter and website.

The newsletter is the portal into the future of office technology with relevant, curated content and rapier commentary. We'll submit articles, opinions, and reflections and conduct live streams and podcasts.  You may even catch us at a show or two.

Subscribe, here.  Join us!

The Rise of WorkFromAnywhere Deniers

Virtual, Live Performance Art.  A New Form. Anna Zhilyaeva 

It was good while it lasted. #WFA Deniers.

The #WFA movement is taking hits all over the landscape as the hierarchies struggle for control and begin to inflict 'return to the plantation' mandates.

There are no reasons to force people back to a centralized, physical location to perform tasks in front of a monitor.

Numbers and Three Words: Why Not to Watch the Iran vs America Soccer Match, 11/29/2029

Numbers:444

Wiki - 

On November 4, 1979, 52 United States diplomats and citizens were held hostage after a group of militarized Iranian college students belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, who supported the Iranian Revolution, took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took them as hostages. 

The hostages were held for 444 days, being released on January 20, 1981.

The Three Words

"Death to America!"

Russia, China, and even North Korea don't have throngs of people in the street yelling for our demise.

But Iran does.

Why #Musk is Correct in His Work From Anywhere(#WFA) Stance

Shaking off the chaff - getting rid of the parasites, too many slackers.

Musk is taking it on the chin, if only he cared.  He's evacuated half of Twitter's workforce and demanded the remaining population return to the office AND expect to work long hours.

Poste Malone Writes a Song About You & Hewlett Packard

Words about The Break Up Artist - Mother Blue, Hewlett Packard -  

She's been quiet.  After years and multiple 'break-ups', has she self-actualized and come to the realization that it isn't us, it's her?

Criticize all you want: lots of layers, too big, a 90-degree turn takes an eternity, ego, myopic, self-centered, etc., etc., etc.

The Greg Walters Show with Fran

How did the office become the office and what will it be in the future?

Click For More Information

#WFA vs. #RTO is Pisces vs. Aquarius

In a recent article, "Are Offices Going to Make A Comeback" Steve Todd at Open Sourced Workplace, compares a few benefits and disadvantages of working from anywhere and getting back to an office.

From the article.

#WFH and Collaboration - study this...culture and results, not process and dogma...

This is how we put together The Greg Walters Show - paying neighbors to keep it down and Mcdonald's drink holders stapled to the wall.

Eight minutes - 

Face-to-face, no rules, just creating, getting from A to B.

Happy Thanksgiving - "50 Million Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong..."

Another year, another turkey.

Enjoy!

The Greatest Turkey Event in Thanksgiving Day History - Les Nesman

"Like sacks of wet cement...not since the Hindenberg tragedy..."

"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."

Millennials Have (Finally) Figured out Bigger Salaries Are a Scam

From a post on LinkedIn.

"Some join cults. I joined the corporate ladder cult and fell in love with the devil in a pinstripe suit.

This devil promised me bigger paychecks, more status, and lots of office fun. As a millennial, what I got became my worst nightmare. Us younger generations are getting smarter.

We now see bigger salaries as a scam.

The modern-day corporate nightmare

Cutting Edge #Comedy is Offensive - So Is Cutting Edge #Selling

Arrested for comedy.

Good comedy is cutting-edge and offensive.

Good selling is cutting-edge and offensive.

Lenny Bruce. 

"Climate Change", False #WFH Claims and the State of Fear

Food has become more expensive...

Shelter has become more expensive - can you not see...?

How much short-term pain will you be required to sustain?..decades worth?..

"For your own benefit.  Remember that..."

They are all wrong.  More importantly, articles like these are nothing more than propaganda.  Did Musk ever say WHY he evolved into a less harsh position?  Isn't it possible this was the plan all along? -GRW

No matter how you feel about climate change, human impact on the planet, and who is to blame - step out of your beliefs for one second and consider the effect of a system dictating behavior for an entire planet.

__________

"The best part of any office job is the fact that...you can print."

"Have you ever thrown away...warm paper?"

In less than two minutes and thirty seconds, the entire work-from-anywhere-but-the-office movement and the PaperLess Office Deniers are exposed for all to see.

This guy hits printing all your emails, returning to the office simply to access the printer, and not backing up in the cloud, but on 'Trees'. 

E*Commerce: Where B2C Thrives and Old Business Systems Go To Die.

Summary: DOTC argues that selling office technology has become a commodity, with e-commerce platforms replacing the need for sales reps to pitch the product. The author suggests that instead of focusing on the hardware, companies should shift their focus to managed services and helping businesses increase sales, reduce costs, and grow profits.

______

You've heard it, "If you aren't on my e-commerce platform, you're going to die."  or this one, "Today, you don't need any outside sales reps.  Your prospects don't want to talk to your pushy, commission-breath, hired guns anymore...they'd much rather tap a few keys and have the copier show up at the door."

Well, not that bad.

To be certain, having an ecomm presence is a good thing- for ribbons, toner cartridges, staples, highlighters, and white out.  Groceries, bicycles, and yoga pants are easy to purchase online as well.  So are motor oil, shampoo, peanuts, air compressors, and even lawnmowers.

Do you see the common thread?

Commodity: a mass-produced unspecialized product

Happy Halloween: Grover's Mill, NJ - October 30, 1939

"...We know now that in the early years of the twentieth century this world was being watched closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own. 

We know now that as human beings busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinized and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinize the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacence people went to and fro over the earth about their little affairs, serene in the assurance of their dominion over this small spinning fragment of solar driftwood which by chance or design man has inherited out of the dark mystery of Time and Space. 

Yet across an immense ethereal gulf, minds that to our minds as ours are to the beasts in the jungle, intellects vast, cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes and slowly and surely drew their plans against us. In the thirty-ninth year of the twentieth century came the great disillusionment."

It was near the end of October. Business was better. The war scare was over. More men were back at work. 

Sales were picking up. 

Level Up With West, Ken and Me

I had a great time with these guys talking about office technology and the new way of the Worlds.

Check it out, here.

New to Copier Sales: The Three Levels of Prospects, P1

I once believed selling was selling — that no matter where I lived, or what I was peddling, the act of selling was the same.  From personal computers and insurance in mid-Michigan to corporate identity programs and copiers in Southern California, I was told by many learned sales managers, trainers, and “experts” that “sales is sales is sales.”  They were wrong.

Of course, there are differences across the selling spectrum. Geography, local economics, and social norms impact decision-making on a varied and personal level.  To treat everybody the same is an injustice.  Advanced B2B selling has moved beyond a cookie-cutter methodology.

As far as I see it, there are three levels of B2B prospects:

Read the rest, here.

"Chips Are the New Oil"

The copier industry strikes again. 

We were one of the first to implement M2M in our assets. 

We were a premiere user of remote data collection - yes, even before 'probes' were all the rage. 

You may ask yourself, "How are microchips produced, and is there a parallel with copiers?" 

You may ask yourself, "How did I get here?" - that answer is for other content... 

Anyway - Behold.  The projection of light, creating an image, upon a surface. 

Look a little familiar?

The Biden administration is continuing the weaponization of silicon - it all started back in the 60s - this issue has global and historical ramifications, much like the lack of oil for Japan spurred WWII, cutting off the chip pipeline has economic and strategic implications.

Wars have started for less.

LAUSD Gets Hacked, Does Not Pay, "Secret and Confidential" Data is Released.

Is Anyone Surprised?

From a LinkedIn post by Michael Bruner, Technology Consultant, Managed Print and Content Services, Flex Technology Group.

"I'll just leave this here...

Los Angeles School District gets hacked?

I've called on ALOT of school districts and .GOV letting them know I'd like to meet and talk about the potential security vulnerability of their desktop printers and MFP's. #itsecurity #managedprintservices

What will it take to understand this is a serious threat?"

###

Of course, I chimed in...

New to Copier Sales: The Three Levels of Prospects, Part 1

I once believed selling was selling — that no matter where I lived, or what I was peddling, the act of selling was the same.  From personal computers and insurance in mid-Michigan to corporate identity programs and copiers in Southern California, I was told by many learned sales managers, trainers, and “experts” that “sales is sales is sales.”  

They were wrong.

Of course, there are differences across the selling spectrum. Geography, local economics, and social norms impact decision-making on a varied and personal level.  To treat everybody the same is an injustice.  Advanced B2B selling has moved beyond a cookie-cutter methodology.

As far as I see it, there are three levels of B2B prospects:

Here.

Remember When Twitter Banned anyone Talking about Fouci

Remember all those neighbors calling the police because there "are people standing in a line outside a bar..." or "...there are too many people sitting in the park, next to each other..." or "...that business is open during a pandemic..."

Citizens trusted the government and they believed the talking heads, the experts, on the evening news. Why wouldn't they?  

Well for one reason, the experts lie.  All the time.

Remember when aliens and spacemen from other planets were fake?  Not anymore - UFOs are real - and now everything is in question.  

For 60 years flying saucers were the subject of 'crazy people' nothing but swamp gas and weather balloons.  The pandemic was worse.  It is like the gov't telling us to believe in flying saucers and shame those who do not. If you don't believe in little green men, you can't go to work or leave your home, and your 'friends' ridicule you as a UFO Denier - follow the science.

How to drink like Greg Walters...

I wish...

Ricoh Speaks with Andy - October, 2022.

I RARELY do this. But this video is good. 

Nuggets - 

1. Chips are freeing up (A3 devices only?). 
2. They've found a West/East passage through the Panama Canal. 
3. The numbers are Good and the future of Ricoh includes output devices. 

Caveat One - 

Ricoh is comparing THEIR pre-covid numbers to current...which is like saying, "Last year I had one hit, this year I had 3, so I increased by 300%." Meanwhile, the competition went from 300 hits to 250, showing a decrease and still leagues ahead of you... 

Caveat Two- 

Listen to the narrative in the attached video(8:46) and tell me it wouldn't fly pre-Covid or even in 1999. 

 I like Ricoh. 

 

"Number Two always tries harder."

 

Bloomberg Asks - "Is the #Office More Important than Ever Before?"

Bloomberg posted a veiled 'back to the office' commercial highlighting Accenture and the importance of a centrally located, geographically common area for workers to adhere to corporate policies.

Commonly known as the 'office' - albeit the office of the late 20th century.

A $19 billion, one-hundred-year-old, global real estate advisory and investment firm, recognizes we are "...no longer living in a 9 to 5, 40-hour week work profile..." and the "Omni-connected world is defined by being in an office..." 

They also question the productivity of hybrid meetings.   How does anyone know if"hybrid meetings are underperforming..."? Compared to what, pre-Covid meetings? 

This is a nicely produced, visually attractive piece that lost credibility and my attention at the mention of ESG. Mentioning ESG is like the President recommending a Covid shot in preparation for a hurricane. 

Buyers Put Procurement on a Faster Horse

A new report from Amazon, reflecting a survey of 440 respondents from four sectors, says most everyone in the B2B world wants to buy from Amazon.  

Go figure.

There are plenty of EComm advocates proclaiming digital buying the savior of a dying industry and to be fair, E-Commerce is the way of a future - maybe not yours.

Steer away from summary articles and agenda-supported opinions. The entire report is worth a visit. It is here.

But I must ask, "Does anyone besides me see this as another step into 'commoditization'?  Am I the only one?"