The #LastCopierSold

11/26/2017

Everything dies, baby that's a fact, but just because something doesn't last forever, doesn't mean it wasn't perfect.  Proclaimed back in 2011, the fading of managed print services continues.  Don't believe me?  

Ask your customers/prospects and you'll hear the truth. Whispers from the Abyss:

• "We've really cut back on the number of printers and copiers we use."
• "We don't print as much."
• "We once had a copier on every floor and printers at each desk.  We don't anymore."

I could go on - hell, if you're in the field and honest, YOU can add to the above list.

So here it is - what follows is a list of industry influencers and players with reflections and status according to DOTC.

The year is 2017; just about 10 years after managed print services arrived on the scene. Much has changed.

Hollywood Has Been F*cked for Decades(Literally and Figuratively)

Last night, I was scrolling through XM and came upon an oration that caught my ear. The host was articulating his experiences with the Hollywood elites/liberals.

I spent some 12 years on the coast and loved every second of it. I did find it odd that the land of Regan and Nixon had so many conservative 'haters'.

And "hate" is the right word.

At one Christmas party, high in the San Bernardino mountains, the hostess went on to explain how she wished, "President Bush would die." Over and over she said this - so often that I felt threatened by the President. I skirted around the issues at hand, the Iraq War, and tried to discuss the food, the drink, the Christmas tree, or the weather - anything but the politics of the day.

She wasn't having it.

Yes, paper-less offices are real. "And they're Spectacular."

2017

In an episode of Seinfeld, Jerry's gorgeous new girlfriend's lovely breasts become the subject of conjecture; are they real or implants. Elaine thinks they're fake so Jerry decides not to see her again. Elaine changes her mind after tripping and falling into the ample bosom. 

Again, the "paperless office will never exist" debate is grabbing headlines and copy.  Good stuff, if not factually spun.

I've been face-to-face with organizations that significantly reduced the number of copiers, printers, and reams of paper utilized.  

• A major retail company went from 100 or so devices to 10
• Health network(s) go from huge file rooms to no filing cabinets at all
• Manufactures shifted away from paper-based job jackets to digital files

These companies didn't feel compelled to save the trees or Chewbaccas.  Prospects tell me they squeeze paper out of the process because "paper slows everything."