MWAi/Technology United: "Force Multiplier"

Technology United is a group of cutting edge, early adopter companies.

This is not old skool; NOT the same old, MLM, Jaycee-type, loosely run, networking and poker club.(not that there is anything wrong with the Jaycees, old your emails) Technology United members are all best of breed in their industries and standouts in the technology realm.

I like Mike.  I like the idea of TU and I like the players.

Please read Mike Stramaglio's introduction, review and update:

TheDeathOfWebOS Took Less than a 3 year Lease.

I sold the "Hawk": HP/Konica Minolta and Ikon's nexus of the absurd. HP's first toe-dip into the copier industry.

I sold Edgeline.  HP's second and "this time, we'll get it right" attempt to play in the copier industry.

I own a TouchPad.  I wanted to own one.  I was an HP head, as much as could be, without being employed by Mother Blue.

So when the TouchPad was rumored, I maneuvered into a position to get one.

When the rumors came down the channel that HP was going to market their E*Print along with the new tablet, as an MpS Practice manager, under the HP OPS banner, I was doubly excited.

I was not alone.

Across the country, honorable, trusting, HP believers, and employees,  fanned out to the channel exalting the next big thing in print; mobile print through HP tablets and phones.  WebOS was to be installed on every printer, MFP, laptop, phone, and tablet.

Ubiquity.

We were encouraged to invest and build mobility practices. Indeed, HP VARs all over, hired, shifted, and built business plans around the "Blues Clues' handy-dandy notebook" and print.

At the time, we saw Apple as pulling tablet use up for everyone - like the rising tide lifts all ships.

Of course, it ended up not being the tide, but a tidal wave, dashing the hopes and dreams of mobility practice managers everywhere into the rocks of BYOD.

Looking back like this feels as though I'm 'piling on' as Meg tries to right the lumbering behemoth - jettisoning tens of thousands and returning to HP's hardware roots.

HP will survive.  It's too big to fail.

What is to be learned from this Shakespearean tragedy?  What can we as individuals take from the meteoric arc?

1.  Everything dies, baby that's a fact...
2.  What is strong today, can be gone tomorrow
3.  Logic sometimes, doesn't prevail
4.  The obvious isn't
5.  When you forget who you are, you're just aching for a smack-down

Currently, HP, Canon, and Samsung have announced, each in their own way, that they are now, always have been, and always will be, hardware manufacturers.  Defining who you are and promoting yourself as true, is the only way to survive these days - we can debate over the sustainability of a pure hardware play, my money is on Samsung.

Period.

The truth is finally revealed.  No more talk of 'solution-based selling', or 'on-ramps to EDM', or such nonsense.  For these guys, the value is, 'best product', 'reliable performance', "affordable price', 'simple to use', printers and copiers.

For them, MpS will always hold a capital "P" and a small 'm'.  Oh, they will protest, flaunting symbolic MpS programs, designed by marketing departments and tasked with landing more equipment.

Period.

So it is with great nostalgia that I combed through this article from The Verge, regaling the rise and fall of Pre, WebOS, and TouchPad.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen - $1.6 billion write-off? - ain't nothing but a thang, just ignore that.

BladeRunner in Water Color

This is a great video. 3200 water color paintings of the first 12 minutes of BladeRunner.

Enjoy:

Going Mobile and Big Data

From imaging to content to the cloud to Big Data to Business Intelligence to Mobile Business Intelligence.

We're moving from marks on paper to the clouds, all the data is moving off the paper files.

But the data is just data, unusable.

In the old days, we would 'crunch' the numbers either manually or on a spreadsheet.

Today, there is an app for that; instead of the numbers getting crunched on paper, it's being presented on a screen.

Typewriters and impact printers - gone. Carbon paper, white-out - gone.

Add cubicles, office furniture, water coolers, uniform rental programs, IT departments, factory floors, inventory shelving, hi-lows, truck docks, and pallets to that list.

Then take away the roads, parking lots, air conditioning units, and tons of paper.

And all those useless meetings. Gone like a freight train. Gone.

How so?

The answer is in the palm of your eleven-year-olds hand...right here.

Webinar:The Internet of Things

July 2, 2:00PM - Free Webinar.

Curious about how all this new technology can help your practice or dealership?

Wondering what all the hub-bub is about Big Data, BYOD, and Business Intelligence?

Are you seeing your volume decreasing?  How about your MIF?  Some studies are calling for 40% of the channel to disappear by 2014.

What should you do? What can you do?

There are no silver bullets, but tune in and learn about a few options.





Greg Walters will be presenting on the new technologies, how to survive and thrive during this secular shift.

Xerox and Greg on One Stage: Go Ahead, Pull my Finger...

Date: Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Time: 11:00 am PT/2 PM ET
Duration: 60 minutes

Hazaaah!

From the invite:

"The managed print services industry grew more than 15 percent last year and will continue at this clip at least through 2012.

If you're a print VAR, an IT VAR, or an MSP you can still profit from this hot market—but the opportunity won't last forever. Join this interactive discussion with Greg Walters, a consultant with years of experience running a managed-print business, and Tom Gall, Value Channel Marketing Director at Xerox Corp., as they explore what works—and what doesn't—when it comes to jump-starting managed print profits today."

- Xerox Channel Cast 

The above is the official line - and it is all true.  My hope is that you get at least ONE good nugget out of the discourse.

It's set up like this:

The moderator introduces us.

I get 5-7 minutes of pure MpS bliss, yakking on about City on the Edge of Forever, the MpS ecosystem, and Tri-Dimensional chess.

Then Tom Gall of Xerox contributes and recovers from my tomfoolery, saving Xerox's good name.

We will be talking about why NOW IS THE TIME to get into MpS - but there is work, it ain't easy but it can be done.  It will be done.

Join us.

Greg Walters, Senior Correspondent, The Business Transformation Center

I'm not kidding, it says so, right here.



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