How can a $100,000+ printer save you money?

Yesterday afternoon, one of my clients signed off on a decision to move forward with a printing system in the neighborhood of $100,000. As a result, this client is going to be able to eliminate nearly $500,000 in annual expenses that are spent outsourcing documents that will soon be designed, printed & finished in-house.
Of course, there will still be the expense of printing their documents (including paper, reduced by roughly $.19 per page), personnel to operate their new Print Shop, increased electrical expenses, and professional finishing equipment. Needless to say, there is some upfront investment required on their part. So, what exactly are they gaining by making this investment?

First of all, they no longer have to wait for a job to be printed by an outside source, nor do they have to purchase a large volume of that job in order to achieve a reasonable cost for producing the piece. Secondly, if there is a particular piece that they are "on the fence" about, they no longer have to weigh the financial risks of producing it or electing not to. Instead, they can print EVERY piece On-Demand at an unprecedented 90 pages-per-minute in vibrant color.

Third of all, what typically happens if an organization decides they want to make changes to a particular publication or marketing piece? Of course, we all know the answer: they have to either liquidate or dispose of the existing inventory AND incur the expense of paying to have the piece printed. Now, my client will have the flexibility of printing as many of a particular piece as they need, when they need it to eliminate waste and will also be able to create future editions without waste or unnecessary dollars spent.
After working through this process with my client for nearly 2 years, I am extremely excited to be part of an implementation that will result in so many positive things for my client for years to come. I also cannot wait to see this part of their organization grow by leaps and bounds moving forward, & because of the quality of the people I've worked with on this project, I know this is going to make a dream that was 6 years in the making become a reality.

I bought the wrong domain

Yes, I sell copiers, but if I only provide my clients with copiers, printers & MFPs in the next year or so, I may end up on welfare, because it is no longer about putting toner on the page in the best manner possible.  This evening, I have been working on a presentation for a group of prospective clients that are visiting our Technology Portal tomorrow over lunch to learn about how we can provide our clients with solutions beyond just saving money on servicing & supplying their printers.  My portion of the presentation revolves around looking beyond the print fleet to gain efficiencies by implementing simple document management solutions.  Part of the presentation is about how we were able to help one of our clients print LESS.

A few years ago, I would have thought that merely suggesting that my clients print less would end up putting my company towards inevitable bankruptcy.  However, due to recent technological developments, it turns out that so many of our clients are looking to cut costs that we have a huge opportunity to create a win-win situation.  We now have solutions available that will not only allow clients to reduce their print volume but also allows them to gain efficiencies by utilizing embedded solutions to gain efficiencies in their key business processes.

Needless to say, my future is not in selling copies (hence the title of this blog entry) but rather is helping clients reduce "soft costs" by implementing software soutions that help them achieve their goals

Please contact me at 972.888.1510 x121 if you would to schedule a time to discuss what we can do for your organization.

When NOT to save money on your copiers...

Several weeks ago, I conducted an assessment for a fairly large account that is a current Ricoh Business Solutions customer, even though they initially started doing business with Lanier a number of years ago. The prospective client has about a year left on their existing lease, but since their sales rep approached them with a quote to upgrade, they were willing to see what I had to bring to the table as well.

Since there are roughly 12 months left on their existing lease with a monthly payment of roughly $3,000, the remaining payments they owe to the current vendor is around $36,000. However, when the customer asked their vendor for a buyout quote to share with me, the vendor gave them a buyout number of over $54,000. Considering that I've been around a block a time or two and have battled dishonest salespeople along the way, I was very frank with the customer in telling them that most likely their current vendor was giving them an inflated buyout quote in order to put himself (or herself) in a position to come in significantly under any quote that any competitors would submit. The prospective buyer agreed & was fine with me submitting my proposal using the $36,000 figure.

To bring a long story to a close, I submitted my best pricing to the prospect, & including the $36,000 buyout, I would be able to reduce their cost by over 25% by upgrading them now versus later. However, instead of going in for the kill like many salespeople would, I told them that since they are not having any pressing issues with the equipment, they should wait until they get closer to the end of the lease to consider upgrading due to the fact that if they wait until the lease is over & do not buyout the remaining 12 months, I can reduce their cost by an additional 30%!! The customer called me this afternoon to say that they were taking my advice & looked forward to speaking with me in the near future.

The salesperson they are working with at Ricoh has probably not been around very long & is facing pressure from his Sales Manager to hit his sales numbers at all costs without having the client in mind. Considering the high-turnover nature of this industry, that rep will probably not be around in another 9-12 months. Considering that I have worked at ASI Business Solutions in the same sales territory (Plano, Allen, Carrollton, Frisco, Richardson, McKinney) I hope the prospective client trust the fact that not only will I be here for them next year but for the duration of their new contract with me and will be able to serve them for years to come.

If you are sick of receiving calls every 6 months from a new salesperson with your copier vendor that wants to "introduce himself/herself as your new account manager" and would rather have a long-term business partner, please email me, call me in my office (972) 888-1500 x121, or feel free to call my cell to schedule a meeting.

I hope to hear from you soon!

Nathan

Does that copier you just upgraded contain confidential information?

Police data on copiers causes city to scramble

CBS report prompts worry on disclosure

By Brian Meyer and Jay Rey

Buffalo officials are trying to figure out why police information was left on the hard drives of two of the department’s old copy machines, which have turned up as part of an investigation by CBS News.

CBS, which this week telecast a report about the resale of used digital photocopiers, purchased four at New Jersey warehouse. Two of them had been leased by the Buffalo Police Department.

Stored on one of the hard drives were details involving domestic-violence complaints along with a list of wanted sex offenders.

Read the complete story here  or View the CBS Investigates Report here
 
I don't know about you, but this revelation would be concerning to me if I were a C-level executive at any company.  Considering the number of high-tech, medical, financial & legal organizations in Plano, Frisco, Carrollton & the surrounding areas, my first thought is that there is a LOT of sensitive material floating around in the warehouse of every copier distributor in the metroplex, & to a much larger & worse extent, copier wholesalers that either re-sell or strip for parts once a machine comes off lease. 
 
This is actually a concern that recently came up with one of my clients in the banking business, and we are in the process of working on a few things for them.  One of the options is to add the DOSS (Data Overwrite Security System) to all of their Ricoh & Lanier copiers & mfp's.  This feature is an extremely affordable option for the peace of mind in knowing that their confidential information will not be compromised.  Some models also offer a removeable hard drive option, but the only way to ensure that this data is not compromised is to purchase the hard drives at the end of the lease & either clean them or keep them into perpetuity. 
 
But, what about the Konica Minolta, Xerox & Canon products that we are replacing at some of their branches?  This one is a little tricky, which is why it is a work in progress.  We are in the process of  exploring partnerships with a few different companies that specialize in data security and hard drive cleansing so that we can offer this as a pre-return option to our clients.  Obviously, there are a number of moving pieces in finding an ideal solution for this, because leasing companies want the machine either back in their hands or in the warehouse of the wholesaler that they sold the machine to for a low, pre-negotiated price within a specific time window.
 
Since I understand that this is a concern to so many businesses in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex, I am actually having a meeting to discuss this very topic with the owner of my company next week, and I hope to be able to share some updated information with my current & future clients in the near future.

Ricoh closing Irving, TX office

Full Story courtesy of the Dallas Business Journal

I saw this story this evening, and it hit me that things are not going well with the direct operations of Ricoh America's Corp, manufacturer of Ricoh, Lanier & Savin printers, fax machines & multifunction copiers.  Since making the transition to Oracle several years ago, Ricoh Business Solutions (their direct sales operation) has had an atrocious reputation as it relates to their billing processes.  Conveniently enough, the office that is closing is the Administration & Billing office that serves the Coppell & Plano sales branches.

Considering that Ricoh acquired IKON Office Solutions in 2009 & the fact that the majority of the senior managers at Ricoh America's received the boot last week only to be replaced by their IKON counterparts, I am 95% certain that IKON will take over the administrative & billing functions that were previously served by this office.  That being said, considering that the sales offices supported by this office accounted for nearly $50 million in annual revenue and the fact that it does not appear that IKON will be adding additional support personnel in the near future, I can image that these key departments at IKON Dallas will be extremely overworked & overwhelmed.  On top of being overworked & overwhelmed, the employees tasked with servicing this base of customers will most likely be bombarded with calls from for RBS (Ricoh Business Solutions) customers that have questions or comments regarding potentially botched invoices.

Only time will tell, but times like this are when I am proud & thrilled about the fact that I am part of the ASI Business Solutions team.  Everyone has their hiccups every now & then, & I will be the first to admit that.  The important thing is that as a company that is not too large or too small, we are able to address the occassional issues in a personal, reasonable & timely manner. 

If you are sick & tired of the way that your monthly invoices are handled with Ricoh Business Solutions, IKON or any other vendor, please do not hesitate to Contact me, & I will work with my team to customize a solution that meets your unique needs.  To be completely frank, I may not be able to do anything now, but I can at least provide you with a realistic timeline for when you can stop experiencing the same nightmare month after month.

I hope to hear from you in the near future.

The First Quarter was quite eventful...

How is it that today is really April 7th 2010? It seems like just yesterday I was scrambling to close out 2009 strong and wondering what the first quarter of 2010 had in store for me. In the past, the first quarter has either been a fantastically productive quarter or a total disappointment. The beginning of FY'10 was eventful in a number of ways:


1. Texas Back Institute trusts ASI with their entire output fleet

After nearly 2 years of work, I finally had the opportunity to help Plano-based Texas Back Institute reduce the costs associated with their printing & copying fleet by over 51%. The solution included a mixed platform of A3 Lanier MFP's & A4 Lexmark desktop MFP's, along with a Managed Print Services contract to cover all of their HP LaserJet printers. Every inkjet device was removed, & all locally-connected laser printers were removed from staff members' offices. Additionally, ASI Central constantly monitors every device in order provide proactive service alerts & consumable inventory. TBI now utilizes the Locked Print function on their Lanier systems to ensure that documents subject to HIPAA regulations are not put at risk. I am extremely excited to work with them in the coming years to help them keep costs low as they implement Electronic Medical Records and continue to advance technologically.


2. ASI becomes a Lexmark Business Solutions Dealer

Until recently, I had only one product line to offer my clients, that being the Ricoh manufactured products from Lanier. We occassionally sold HP systems, but there was not a high demand due to their technological shortcomings. At the beginning of 2010, we brought on the full lineup of Lexmark MFP's and single-function printers. These products are extremely exciting to me, because they have a user-friendly control panel similar to what my clients are used to seeing on their Lanier systems, but they offer a less-expensive alternative for areas that need an MFP solution that does not warrant a full-blown Lanier MFP, including a laser printer (not MFP) with a Java-enabled touch screen. These new Lexmark systems have been flying off the shelves at break-neck speed, so they are obviously filling a need that we previously could not meet with our Lanier products. It feels good to be the single-source for my client's office technology needs.



3. ASI helps Rise Energy Partners get off the ground

Thanks to a referral from a long-time ASI client, I am thrilled to welcome Irving-based Rise Energy Partners to the ASI family. A startup oil & gas company that has strategically acquired assets of now bankrupt companies, Rise is poised to double its staff by the end of 2010. As a result, they needed robust, fully-loaded equipment that will support their business during their growth. I look forward to growing with them in 2010 & beyond.

In summary, 2009 was difficult to say the least, but 2010 looks promisting thus far. I have a feeling that change is bound to show her lovely face, and i look forward to the challenge & to help my clients optimize their print & document workflow processes.

http://www.nathanmaust.com/
www.twitter.com/planocopiers
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What is this A4 everyone is talking about?

Since I started in the office technology business in 2004, 99% of the copiers & printers I have sold had the ability to do 11 x 17 copying, printing & scanning. Needless to say, I was surprised when I read a study from an industry publication that stated that a mere 3% of all documents printed in the world are printed on 11 x 17 (A3) sized paper. Now that I think of it, that makes sense. The majority of the printing I generate is for orders or proposals, and nearly all of those are printed on 8 1/2 x 11 (Letter) sized paper.

Then I started to think to myself, "When do I actually print on 11 x 17?" The answer: Only when I have need to show a client a very large amount of information on one sheet of paper. Many of the spreadsheets I create to present data to my clients are printed on 8 1/2 x 14 (A4) paper.

Now, you may ask, "Why does it matter what size paper I print on?" Here's why: a traditional 50ppm Lanier A3 multifunction copier will typically hit the street for around $12-$15,000, while a Lexmark A4 55ppm multifunction printer will go out the door for LESS THAN $6,000. Did that get your attention? Yes, you can get a faster machine with all of the same features (minus certain finishing options) for less than half of what a traditional A3 machine would cost.

Is this too good to be true? Yes, and no. For the general office environment that generates most of its output via printing, does only occassional copying & does not need to print on 11 x 17, an A4 product is a PERFECT fit. For a Plano private school that runs mostly copies, I would recommend a Lanier MFP 1000% of the time. The traditional copier-based MFPs simply have faster, higher quality, more robust document feeders than the A4 printer-based systems. Additionally, if your office needs to only do basic black & white or color scanning, and the quality of the image does not have to be outstanding, a Lexmark A4 MFP would be a great fit. On the other hand, if your office needs to scan photographs & business documents that present a professional image to your clients, a Lanier MFP is the only way to go.

The key is give & take. If your priority is to be able to perform the most basic of business functions from your MFP, either product will work out fine for you, so I would recommend a Lexmark A4 MFP due to the lower Total Cost of Ownership & the fact that you can get everything you need & more for less.

If you have any questions about which product might be right for you, please Contact Me, and I will do my best to recommend the correct solution for you, even if it means pointing you in the direction of my competition.