Tagged With "Innovation"
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Re: Are we Lying to Ourselves?
Absolutely true, Ray! The Life Cycle (of a product, a concept...) is a fundamental fact. There will be blood for those who do not react in time!
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New Players, New Rules, New Game.
One thing few in the Imaging Channel want to discuss is the innovative processes which will replace much of the old way’s deliverable. The glory days of selling print equipment and its services are just beginning for some innovative thinkers and ending for some others. All things do in-fact change. Even those who refuse, eventually are forced to change. No one can circumvent progress regardless of their marketing strategies or their hopes that current circumstances remain a little longer.
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Imaging Channel, Surveys can teach competitors a lot
I recently attended a webinar where the scariest thing was what was not said. The webinar was discussing the Imaging Channel; it included a recap of a survey given to dealer owners. The dealers answered the survey in a most disturbing way which no one is questioning, so I will. The survey determined that only 4% of dealers were concerned about A4 equipment which could easily replace the oversold A3's in 80-85% of the Imaging Channel's Customers. It appears the Imaging Channel is conceding...
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A Lack of Curiosity Kills Innovation
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Is "Tired of Trying" an Excuse Not to Innovate?
Is “Tired of Trying” an Excuse Not to Innovate? I was talking with a friend the other day and realized just how infectious complacency is within organizations that stifle ideas and squash team members’ enthusiasms. These organizations have pushed their best asset -- their people -- into what I call the “ Tired of Trying Zone.” It seems anymore that all organization large or small believe they are innovative, cutting edge or some other tired phrase. The reality is innovative organizations are...
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How is not the question which begins innovation - Why is
When we think about innovation we don’t start this thinking process in understanding how something can be better we focus on why something should be better. The why it’s needed - is our driving force. So if this is true why is it that so many organization get stuck in the how? I believe it’s because the easiest way to procrastinate moving forward is by bogging down your drive with the madness of needing absolutes. “When you stop looking for absolutes, is when you discover the excitement of...
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Are we Lying to Ourselves?
Do you ever wonder why, during a dying industry, or the collapse of a deliverable many continue selling themselves on their relevancy while their evacuating customers define them as irrelevant? Think about this. Innovative organizations understand the importance in selling relevant products, while dying organizations stay obsessed with selling the relevancy of their soon obsolete products’. Look at Sears, just one of the many brick and mortar retail organizations which continue the delusion...
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Are you Customer Centric or Product Centric?
Most in business would say “Of Course We Are a Customer Centric Business.” However with today’s rapid rate of disruption caused by organizations and Industries who continuously out innovate legacy organizations. I would say they are lying to themselves and here are my reasons for saying this. A company is built to sell a product which solves a problem. What happens when the problem the product solves is not an issue anymore? Or what happens when someone else circumvents your products...
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Forces of Change, or Forced to Change. Of Course, it’s about Finding the Money
Taking Control of Operating Cost has never been more critical to the future success of the Imaging Channel, providing the needed resources for budgeting their growth to continuous relevancy. Dealers who sell in the imaging Channel understand the need to diversify they understand continuing to sell and service print equipment based on old lease practices and old service billing models will surely find themselves circumvented by the new or re-invented Innovator. The Imaging Channel is not...
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Temporary Growth
Growth through acquisition will always underestimate the need for innovation, and participants will determine that growth by acquiring more of the past is time based, and never leads to the future. Over the last decade, most that pay attention to disruptions and the fallouts they cause will recognize a commonality. That commonality is: organizations of dying industries or deliverables believe acquisitions, over innovation, will save them. The fact is, acquisitions made during a market shift...
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Enabling Innovation is both Old and New
I'd like to introduce Mitch Filby as our guest blogger. I had the chance to catch up with Mitch at Itex 2019 in Las Vegas earlier this year. Mitch and I connected many years ago through this site and I've been asking if he would write a blog for us. Mitch is from Australia and is Managing Director of First Rock Consulting. Enabling Innovation is both Old and New Will divestment, organisational and structural splits, re-investment and a greater focus on core business help to save the office...
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The Birth of The Imaging Channel's New Competitors
"Innovators rarely have the skills of the industries they disrupt. Many times, the old way becomes overconfident that their abilities to perfecting what was, will defeat the innovator's skills in improving what it should be." Over the last 18 months, I have been on a bandwagon to educate the dealers on the importance of delivering customer-centric solutions. Unfortunately, Today many in the Imaging Channel, are still more focused on outdated processes and products then customers. My friends,...
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MSP & MSSP Industry Notes for December 8th 2019
December 8th MSP & MSSP Industry Notes Sponsored by Arcoa Group ARCOA Group is here to help you successfully manage your IT Asset Disposition process. We help you recover value from retired electronic equipment through responsible methods of reuse and recycling. We ensure proper handling of assets which may contain data, while being environment stewards for assets that have no reuse value and are headed for recycling. We’ve built a robust de-manufacturing process to offer additional...
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When Will The Imaging Channel's Customers' Run out of Trust?
It's is 2020 in less than 30 days. Yet some in the Imaging Channel still think its 2000. On the other hand, most of the channel's customers are excited about 2025 and will find vendor partners who can deliver 2025 today. "A company's customers won't be held hostage by those who serve them status quo; today's customers are presented or can find on their own replacements for what they deem obsolete." Customers are no longer at the mercy of those who currently serve them. The ability for an...
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Toys R Us, a victim of Memory Management
“Painting your vision of the future requires the ability to paint over your memories with the paint of your imagination.” I am sure many have decided, Toys R Us is just another example of outdated marketing strategies. Most have read much about how they refused to innovate. Well, Here’s my thinking. Toys R Us thought they were innovating. They based their marketing and their customer’s experiences on what they believed to be true instead of what the customer knew was true. The number of...
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Relationships, Change in a Pull-Economy
That is my explanation of the Push-Economy becoming the Pull-Economy.” RJS How will customer relationships change? Here’s my thinking. In the product pushing sales environment of the past, the customer was sought after, courted and the seller of the product based their customer acceptance on the relationship they created with the buyer. In a Pull-Economy the buyer becomes the hunter the buyer forms relationships based on their experience in acquiring what they desire. A Pull-Economy removes...
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We Need Continuous Relevancy Management; Change Management comes too late.
“Attention Legacy Companies! While you continuously fight to get buy-in for change your new competitor bought in for continuous improvement and bets on your complacency.” What do you mean you can’t get buy-in. Why are management teams so focused on the pacification of Buy-in Management? Too many organizations are losing the battle of their relevancy because they insist on focusing on Change Management over Relevancy Management. And yes I believe there is a difference. It seems that the...
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Before How is Why
“In a business creation or it’s reinvention, It’s the Why the customer buys it that starts the business plan.” Why should any company or industry reinvent themselves? A critical question for all businesses. Some will ask themselves this question long before others and create the answer for those competitors who waited. Too many waste time in the complacency of now, this complacency always demands justification on How something could be done different or modified and ignores the Why something...
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The Commuter Train
The Commuter Train runs the line, nothing different than the day before. Is your business like a Commuter Train? running down the track of sameness every day. Well, many businesses do just that. They ride the train to sameness as they say, they hate status quo, or how they will never be content by a false sense of security, all the while exclaiming - their business is greater than all their competitors. Here’s my thinking; So many businesses have already determined their destination, and...
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MSP Industry Notes for July 21, 2019
Each week we'll be giving you a round up of MSP activity. This is my first attempt and this and as time marches forward we'll expand and get better. Thus for the next month the content will be open for all to view, read and comment. PDF is available for Premium Members MSP Industry Notes July 15 th , 2019 CGI is awarded major managed and IT contract for Public Transportation Administration in Stockholm. The value of the contract is about 900 million Swedish Krona ($900 million US Dollars)...
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The Disruptor Breaks the Mold
“It is always from what we anticipate which leads to what we get. However, many anticipations are misaligned with realities, causing a surprise to what we get.” Everyone in business understands the importance of staying relevant. Yet nearly half of the companies on the Fortune 500 list in 2000 are gone. The reality is too many organizations fall victim to a lack of diversity, and an inability to pivot their deliverable to follow the direction of the market. It makes no difference what you...
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The Future of Equipment Finance is up for Renewal. The question is, Will the Dealers/Resellers and End-Users Renew?
Everything changes and sometimes the tenure of status quo can fool one into thinking that everything can last forever. The technology equipment finance business is heading for some major disruptions to their deliverable. This shift will be a result of key component changes in the delivery of hardware to end-users. Here’s my list of the impactful coming changes: The adaption to cloud based services is increasingly eliminating hardware needs. The end-users will increase in their...
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Re: Toys R Us, a victim of Memory Management
After Sears and Roebuck, the new fallen icon: Toy's R Us. And the move is not finished. It even accelerates. Did you hear the first crackings of Facebook as the young ones largely prefer Snapchat, Instagram or Bitmoji ?
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Re: It’s the End of the Day with Ray! Don’t wait for answers to start Innovation (Video)
Thanks for sharing Art the path to innovation is near and dear to me.
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Re: It’s the End of the Day with Ray! Don’t wait for answers to start Innovation (Video)
no problem Ray, thanx for being a consistent provider of content!
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Re: The Future of Equipment Finance is up for Renewal. The question is, Will the Dealers/Resellers and End-Users Renew?
"Hardware OEM’s will soon be selling their hardware direct to end-users in self-funded as a service models or DaaS Device as a Service. Some are already provide this model. The Print Equipment is one of the few technologies lacking behind in the DaaS model. However, soon more Print Equipment OEM’s will bring to market their versions of DaaS." This is probably the one that scares me the most! The only fly in the ointment is that most manufacturers still need dealers to service the devices.
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Re: How is not the question which begins innovation - Why is
Don’t know what you are talking about Im welsh me.
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Leading - Remote Workers Through The Glass - It's not about Hybrid
A few years ago, I began suggesting that the new business world and much of life’s activities would occur in what I described as “The intersection between the physical and digital worlds.” It is so imperative for all to embrace the realities of that intersection. It is now mandatory that all leaders understand how to lead from behind the glass in that intersection between the digital and physical worlds. Leaders must stop searching for a utopia where the old way takes power over creating the...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 5 Years Ago
This Week in the Copier Industry 5 Years Ago First Week of November 2016 Friday night I had the opportunity to record a "Better Call Art" with Kevin Hoverman and one of the talk tracks we engaged for a couple of minutes was about our tenure and what we go really good at besides copiers. My first thought was that I've become an expert at reading documents that are up side down. The ability to read up side down helped in closing many deals! What else did you get really good at besides being...
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Interview with a salesman
In this video, Rich Gigl, Sales Manager at National AZON shares his thoughts on market trends within large format scanning, Contex innovations, how to develop customer relationships, end users needs, and much more.
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MSP, MSSP & IT Industry Notes for July 10th, 2023
MSP, MSSP & IT Industry Notes Sponsored by July 10th, 2023 Arcoa Group Why partnering with ARCOA makes sense Electronics Recycling is an important and profitable part of the IT asset lifecycle, but it can be overwhelming with all you already do, varying state regulations, and the limited resources at hand. That’s where ARCOA comes in. When you partner with ARCOA, you get all the benefits of a big company without any of the capital investment. We’ve been doing this since 1989 and have the...
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Copier Innovations: Paving the Future Printscape in 2074
What could the copier industry look like in 2074? Yes, it's something that has crossed my mind even though I won't be around to see the changes. Fifty years is a long time, especially with technology advancing so quickly. The number of people making copies on our current devices is non existent. Our current copiers focus more on network printing and scanning in the office, with the addition of workflows for scanning paper documents. 1974 In 1974, Xerox was the dominant player in the...
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Re: Copier Innovations: Paving the Future Printscape in 2074
I think the idea of subscription technology is the most likely. 50 years from now paper will be very expensive, probably in short supply and everyone will prefer digital transactions. I do not think that neither SMB business nor email will go away. These businesses will still require a shared office device to manage the flow of information.
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Re: Copier Innovations: Paving the Future Printscape in 2074
ty for the comment. 50 years from now everything will be expensive! Agreed there will be more digital transactions, however I leaning for the evolution of copiers to be something greater.
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5 Ways CTOs Can Save Money While Improving Performance
In an era marked by rapid technological evolution, Chief Technology Officers ( CTOs ) continually seek innovative ways to bolster their companies’ bottom lines through smart, strategic decision-making. Navigating this digital transformation, CTOs are uniquely positioned to identify and implement cost-saving measures that optimize operations and drive future growth. From cloud computing to the democratization of app development, the avenues for achieving financial efficiency are diverse and...