2022 Document Imaging Industry Highlights

Vendors across all segments of the office technology industry share their big wins from the past year.

To recap 2022, we asked dozens of companies to share their highlights. As you’ll see from their responses, this is an industry with no failure to innovate and one that remains as strong and vibrant as ever. To see additional highlights we received after our deadline, please visit www.thecannatareport .com.

ACDI

For ACDI, 2022 has been a year to celebrate, and we’re grateful for our valued solutions partners and the dealers and resellers that trust us to continually add value to their deliverables. We’ve been hyper-focused on helping dealers to grow and continue evolving their solutions offerings. Here are some of the accomplishments and initiatives we’re celebrating:

• PaperCut Sustainability and Growth – Papercut continues to help lead the market in print management, and we have been proud to work with them to launch the PaperCut Grows reforestation program. Additionally, our Papercut Hive installs have continued to grow, resulting in a more than 185% increase from 2021. We plan to build on this with exciting news about what PaperCut is bringing to market in 2023. More to come.
• EV Charging – We successfully launched our Terra Energy Services early adopter program. More than just making noise, several of the largest resellers in the imaging channel are now selling, installing, and supporting EV charging stations at customer locations. The exciting part is that we’re just getting started.
• Digital Workflow – As remote work and evolving tech have accelerated the move from paper-based processes to digital, we partnered with Scanshare to launch their digital workflow software in the U.S. As a device-agnostic software, Scanshare transforms scanning into full-data capture and connects to many platforms to provide seamless data sharing.
• KPAX Growth and Ecosystem – KPAX 3.0 has added new partners to its already robust ecosystem in TD/Synnex and Cartos Suite. This provides even more flexibility for dealers. From a development perspective, it’s been a productive year in that KPAX introduced the capability to monitor and manage Zebra printers and also customize processes and workflows in the KPAX UI to make the software user experience even more flexible and efficient.
• International Growth – This has been our largest year in sales outside the U.S. to date. Our Latin America and Canada teams sold solutions to 179 resellers in 26 countries and drove 28% growth.
• Business Analytics – We formally launched our Storyboard Analytics this year in collaboration with Intuitive Business Intelligence to help users have more insight into the solutions they depend upon.
• Banner Year – Finally, our team has been recognized for their exceptional work and expertise with the following awards:
  • PaperCut Pinnacle Award
  • The Frank Award from The Cannata Report for Best Print Management Software Provider (With PaperCut)
  • Managed Print Services Association Award for Best MPS Professional Services Provider
  • Elatec Premier Partner Award

Brother U.S.A.

In 2022, the workplace remained decentralized, distributed, and a hybrid work environment. We learned that resilience and flexibility navigated us through 2022, with full transparency in the communications with our channels and customers.

To answer the market trend of an “everything-as-a service” mindset, we focused on providing dealers with a unique solutions team for individualized technical support. We also felt this was the perfect opportunity to show the industry all of the accommodations for working at home and in-office that Brother can provide. In addition, we introduced the Brother Value Subscription Program (VSP), an all-inclusive subscription program that offers an easy print management solution ideal for businesses looking to eliminate the complexity of managed print services. For a flat monthly fee, customers receive printers, supplies, and services without worrying about downtime when service is needed.

From a product perspective, earlier in the year, we launched a line of high-speed desktop scanners ideal for small office and home office professionals, including the ADS-3100 and the ADS-3300W and three scanners – the ADS-4300N, ADS-4700W, and ADS-4900W – for corporate offices.

We are also excited to have recently introduced our fastest, boldest, and most secure Brother Enterprise Color Laser Printers built for how work now works. Addressing the new demands of enterprise‐level document management, these printers are an essential component of an optimized fleet, offering enterprise-class performance, advanced security features, and a range of functionality while ensuring cost-effective ways to meet the evolving needs of today’s printer fleets. Targeted to mid- to large-sized workgroups, these user-friendly, high-performance models provide offices with streamlined workflow, workforce flexibility, advanced workflow, enterprise-grade security, and low total cost of ownership and secure document protection.

The new models include the HL-L9410CDN and MFC-L9610CDN, which are available to all Brother authorized partners, the HL‐L9430CDN, HL‐L9470CDN, MFC‐L9630CDN, and MFC‐L9670CDN, and two new Brother Workhorse models for select Brother Gold partners, HL‐EX470W and MFC‐EX670W, the HL‐L9430CDN, HL‐L9470CDN, MFC‐L9630CDN, and MFC‐L9670CDN. In addition, two models, the HL‐EX470W and MFC‐EX670W, are available for select Brother Gold partners.

As we look ahead into 2023, we see positive aspects in store as supply chain concerns continue to subside, as well as the return of more strategic and customer-centric discussions at the core of most companies. We know hybrid work, decentralized office, cloud computing, big data, digitalization, and sustainability will continue to be driving forces in 2023.

Canon U.S.A.

• The AMLOS (Activate My Line of Sight) solution is a software-and-camera product suite designed to support modern hybrid meetings. Designed to help hybrid-work teams stay engaged with one another and well connected despite being in different locations, AMLOS has been an attractive option for those in the technology space, education sector, creative agencies and the entertainment industry.
• Whiz by SoftBank Robotics, a commercial robot vacuum built on an artificial intelligence (AI) platform designed to deliver a high-quality and clean workplace, helped initiate a new focus for Canon and its customers on commercial robotics and integrated automation. The commercial cobotic (collaborative robotic) vacuum works alongside people to increase building cleanliness, and overall occupant confidence in cleanliness across major office complexes, connected campuses, leading healthcare systems, landmark hotels, and technology-forward senior living communities.
• uniFLOW Online, which helps businesses utilize an extensive collection of output management features while benefitting from the ability to employ secure printing features and device authentication, recently won a Gold award from American Security Today in the Best Access Control and Authentication System category and is a four-time Pick Award-winner for Outstanding Cloud Output Management Solutions from Keypoint Intelligence. The solution helps make it easy for users to be productive at home and in the office when printing and scanning, providing simple workflows and a consistent user interface across its print environment, as well as centralized management for maintaining visibility and control of print and scan activity. It continues to be updated and enhanced to evolve along with changing needs of work environments.

CIT Business Capital, a Division of First Citizens Bank

 CIT’s office imaging team rang in the 2022 New Year as CIT Business Capital but quickly pivoted as the entire company merged with First Citizens Bank. The merger created a Top 20 U.S. financial institution and the largest family-controlled bank in the United States.

Our new scope and scale are vitally important as we continue doing all we can to support our OEM clients and vendor partners as they wrestle with continuing supply chain issues, interest rate increases, and economic uncertainty.

One important move we’ve undertaken is combining our office imaging and technology groups into a single Technology & Office Imaging organization. These market sectors have been converging for a long time. By covering them both with the same finance organization, we can give our clients and vendor partners better service, more options, and greater flexibility going forward.

In addition, throughout 2022 we continued to grow our API library, recognizing that technological integration remains an important path for the industry’s future. Every technological efficiency we can find is a benefit to our customers.

ConnectWise

In the face of economic uncertainty and a rapidly evolving cyberthreat landscape, ConnectWise has continued to expand and enhance its offerings to prioritize its partners’ security, growth, and success. This year, ConnectWise acquired Wise-Sync, an integration that allows TSPs (technology service providers) to improve cash flow, remove complex billing and payment errors, and enable businesses to scale. ConnectWise also launched its new Cyber Research Unit and announced an updated version of its Modes Theory (aka Modes) methodology that helps partners identify and operationalize their businesses in alignment with their unique objectives.

ConnectWise announced several strategic partnerships throughout the year, most recently with Exium, which will offer deeper protection across end-user devices, and Arrow Electronics, which will help simplify the digital supply chain, drive innovation, and improve profitability for TSPs. ConnectWise also joined CompTIA to launch Ticket to Tech, a new career training initiative for job seekers with an interest in working in technology.

Crawford Technologies

Crawford Technologies spent 2022 focusing on services that would help our customers the most. Specifically, we released a brandable, secure cloud solution called cSimpl. With this tool, dealers can create a massive new workflow revenue stream.

Many dealers are sinking under the pressure of poorly created PDF files, and cSimpl is an easy way to solve most of these problems. Use it to quickly fix font issues or compression incompatibility, or to restructure PDF or other print stream files.

cSimpl enables dealers to:

• Master workflows and solve customer workflow problems;
• Resolve printing challenges; and
• Install new equipment faster.

Dealers can use cSimpl to solve production workflow problems for variable data printing (VDP) and transactional printing. Since it’s a fully branded solution, it enables dealers to deliver workflow services for their clients while expanding their own brand.

What does this mean for dealers?

cSimpl is a lucrative new revenue opportunity for dealers who want to deliver workflow and data enhancement services. This tool lets users fix bad print files and expand technical workflow solutions like:

• Adding 2D barcodes / removing OMR marks;
• Adding mail tracking barcodes;
• Replacing pre-printed forms with inline inkjet forms;
• Mail inserter integration files (MRDF/ICF);
• Mail and postal software;
• Splitting;
• Sorting;
• Segmenting;
• Accounting;
• Reprints; and more.

In addition to our exciting new offerings, Crawford Technologies remains the leading provider of document re-engineering and post composition solutions. With more than 25 years of technology and expertise, we empower dealers to become workflow solution providers (practically overnight).

directprint.io

The year 2022 has been incredible for directprint.io. Highlights include several platform enhancements, building additional support for Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365, and forging several new partnerships.

We have invested heavily to bring all the benefits of our deep integration with Google to the Microsoft ecosystem. directprint.io now has a consistent look and feel across all three major operating systems— Windows, Chromebooks, and Mac—supports the two major cloud productivity suite providers, Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, and is available via the Azure Marketplace.

Platform enhancements include a new user interface (UI) designed to ensure a more intuitive, seamless, and straightforward customer experience (CX). In April, we launched Edge Print for Microsoft Azure. With Edge Print, end-users can print on their Windows PC, Chromebook, or Mac device—whether at home, on a guest network, or even between different office locations.

We also released Device Radar, an innovative new tool that turbo-charges the printing device onboarding process. Device Radar utilizes mDNS and SNMP protocols to search for and identify all printers on a customer’s network. Network-connected devices are automatically onboarded to the directprint.io platform, and the Device Radar tool leverages AI to set individual devices’ best-known configuration and enable advanced finishing features where available.

Strategic partnerships with OEMs, resellers, and distributors are a key part of our strategy, and we were delighted to receive full validation as a Sharp Compatible software product and join Sharp’s partner program earlier this year. In October, we built on that relationship further by partnering with Sharp Vietnam, which now offers directprint.io to their direct and indirect customer base. We also announced a global partnership with technology services provider Pro Cloud SaaS, as well as appointing ASG Africa as sole distributor in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries.

Distribution Management

This has been a milestone year for us. We celebrated our 50th year in business and rebranded our wholesale print division (Supplies Network) and our third-party fulfillment division (DM Fulfillment Services) under our parent company name—Distribution Management. The rebrand aligns with our long-term growth goals; however, our dedication to the reseller channel and the print brands we represent remains unchanged.

In addition to celebrating our anniversary and rebranding, we’ve focused heavily on product expansion.

• Thermal and barcoding: We continue to scale our offering by expanding product categories including ribbons, labels, printheads and printers among new product manufacturers. These additions help enhance our thermal MPS program—Barcode Select.
• Copier supplies: We’re aggressively expanding our inventory working directly with several of the leading A3 OEM manufacturers. This allows us to aggregate orders across multiple brands consolidating shipments and reducing delivery costs.

When we seek product and service expansions, our goal is to listen to market demands and needs of our resellers. In doing so, our A3 distribution and thermal/barcode expansion help address several of the reseller concerns identified in The Cannata Report’s Annual Dealer Survey.

DocuWare

It’s been an eventful year for us. Our partner base continues to grow and we continue to expand DocuWare to more countries around the world. Our own team is growing, too, with new colleagues across the U.S. and Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific (EMEA) region. Here are some activities that made us proud in 2022:

1. Sponsored free STEM-based classes in underserved communities.
2. Supported partners’ fund-raising activities for well-deserving charities.
3. Completed our long-awaited new office in Beacon, New York. This will be the home of our U.S. headquarters.
4. Introduced iPaaS connectors to our portfolio—a valuable addition for every business using accounting software like Intuit QuickBooks, Xero, Lexoffice, Bexio, or ERPs from Microsoft or SAP.
5. Voted Best ECM/Document Management Provider, as determined by dealers in The Cannata Report’s 37th Annual Dealer Survey in the U.S.
6. Voted Workflow/BPM Product of the Year at the DM Awards in the U.K.

ecoprintQ

ecoprintQ is ready to edify premier partners with the return of the ecoprintQ Summit taking place in early 2023. The ecoprintQ yearly summit focuses on roadmap discussions with key players from our ecoPartner network.

• ecoprintQ received the Enterprise Excellence Award and was inducted into the Double-Digit Growth Club. The honors were presented at PaperCut World Conference 2022 in Barcelona, Spain.
• Coming soon for 2023, ecoprintQ is finalizing a customized online portal for our ecoprintQ Elite & Engaged ecoPartners that will give them access to cobranded marketing and sales collateral.
• We continue to support our ecoPartners with our Quoting Tool providing real-time end-user quotes instantly.
• We launched the Passport to Success Program enabling ecoPartners to succeed with our solutions.
• We rolled out and managed the implementation of PaperCut MF globally for Google, which positively impacted the company’s printing experience and increased sustainability.
• Hosted the first in-person Healthcare Training Camp with plans for more in the future. Topics included:
• Positioning PaperCut products in the healthcare vertical; and
• Large scale health care implementations and future strategies.
• ecoprintQ took our existing green initiative further by purchasing trees through PaperCut Grows Program. We included our ecoPartners, which chose the locations for reforestation. The trees will be planted at the Forest Fire Recovery in Oregon and British Columbia, as well as in Iceland.
• Partnering with an OEM ecoPartner and associated reseller, we began the deployment of PaperCut MF for the Chicago Public School system, minimizing waste at one of the largest school districts in the U.S.

EFI

EFI began 2022 with a realignment, including spinning off its MIS/ERP business to fully focus on print’s analog-to-digital transformation. In January, MLB Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera kicked off an initiative between EFI, the Mariano Rivera Foundation, and additional partners that provides underserved minority youth hands-on-training – including Fiery Professional Certification – for a direct route into print careers. June saw the launch of a significant new partnership to develop Fiery digital front ends (DFEs) for Fujifilm Business Innovation’s Revoria digital presses in APAC and in most of Europe. Two summertime deals bolstered EFI’s digital leadership: The Fiery business expanded into digital DTF, DTG, engraving and vehicle graphics workflows with the acquisition of CADlink; and EFI’s Reggiani business bought leading textile RIP developer Inèdit.

The year also saw the industry’s most advanced DFE platform, the Fiery FS500 Pro, incorporated into important digital press debuts, including solutions for Konica Minolta’s AccurioPress and Canon imagePRESS V Series systems. Fiery added a sixth “C” – “Conformance” ­– to the traditional five Cs of color management (Consistency, Calibration, Characterization, Conversion, and Control), launching a service for print businesses to achieve Ghent PDF Output Suite 5.0 Conformance Certification in just a few clicks.

The return of conferences and events spurred activity for EFI’s extensive display graphics inkjet portfolio, and EFI’s technology reached new levels of productivity, efficiency, and automation across its signage, textile, building materials, and corrugated packaging printers. Corrugated, where EFI’s Nozomi single-pass inkjet technology leads the field, was particularly active with the launch of the faster, more compact Nozomi 14000 LED press and many placements, including the first Nozomi presses in Brazil, Turkey, and the Caribbean.

Epson America

The office imaging industry has evolved tremendously over the past year. Some of the biggest obstacles that businesses faced two years ago are still prevalent, though the industry is also maneuvering a different set of challenges because of ongoing global supply chain disruptions spurred by the pandemic. The circumstances have made it extremely difficult for many businesses to thrive. Epson America is most proud of its role in helping to guide partners to keep an eye on the future and identify opportunities to proactively expand avenues for growth and profitability through partner support and future-proof printing and complementary solutions.

Epson America takes pride in the recognition its printing solutions engineered with PrecisionCore Heat-Free technology have earned over the past year, including the DataMaster Lab’s GREEN Award and the BLI Security Validation Seal from Keypoint Intelligence for its WorkForce Enterprise portfolio.

GreatAmerica Financial Services

• E-commerce Integrations and Education: We’ve doubled down on our focus on e-commerce to provide education and tools to support the implementation of e-commerce strategies within the imaging channel. Collaboration with Keypoint Intelligence included a two-part webinar series, featuring dealer implementations of the UVERCE ecommerce solution, as well as the launch of a financing program to make acquisition of the UVERCE platform less cost prohibitive for dealers. Additionally, a Predictive InSight collaboration resulted in a joint award courtesy of the Managed Print Services Association (MPSA) for Best Industry Collaboration.
• Resurgence of IT Financing, Billing, and Integrations: As equipment inventory has become more available, we’ve continued to provide support and innovation related to diversification and IT technology. There has been pent-up demand, and it’s been exciting to see solutions providers returning to growth mode. We’ve focused on driving awareness about our IT-focused financing programs and integrations that accommodate the unique billing needs for “as-a-service” offerings like AV, VoIP, and even physical security solutions.
• Adoption of our 1nVOICE Solution: As more dealers evolve into total solution providers, they’ve realized the importance of a single invoice solution to streamline the customer experience. Our 1nVOICE solution makes bundling and billing solutions and services like VoIP, security, IT, etc., simple. As a result, we’ve seen a high level of adoption since launching the 1nVOICE solution in 2021.
• The GreatAmerica Digital Transformation: Our digital transformation efforts at GreatAmerica have been well underway for years, including our integrations with the systems our customers use most. In 2022, we executed some great foundational work that sets us up for greater success in the future. The way we service our customers today is evolving with their needs. This ensures the personal, human touch our customers have come to expect from us will remain, yet it provides an efficient digital experience for interfacing with GreatAmerica when a customer prefers it.
• Best Leasing Company Frank Award: Honored to have accepted the Frank Award for Best Leasing Company in 2022, as rated by dealers, courtesy of The Cannata Report’s 37th Annual Dealer Survey.

HP Inc.

Some of our company’s biggest highlights in 2022 revolved around the substantial progress made with the HP Amplify Impact program, an industry-first partner assessment, resource, and training program to drive our and our partner’s shared sustainability goals. This year, we announced that in our company’s fiscal year 2021, Sustainable Impact helped HP win more than $3.5 billion in new sales representing a more than three times annual increase year over year.

In the pivotal year of 2022, we helped our partners and customers successfully navigate the murky transition to long-term hybrid and return to in-person work models with the introduction of several new hardware and software solutions for the imaging industry.

• Introduced beautifully compact and intelligent scanners for re‐imagined hybrid workspaces with the new HP ScanJet Pro and Enterprise devices with HP’s most advanced and sophisticated workflow scanner software. New rollouts included the HP ScanJet Pro 2600 f1, ScanJet Pro 3600 f1, HP ScanJet Pro N4600 fnw1, and the HP ScanJet Enterprise Flow N6600 fnw1.
• Delivered effortless, secure and sustainable printing solutions designed for small businesses with the launch of HP Instant Ink for small business and the new LaserJet Pro with HP+ via the LaserJet Pro 3000 and 4000 series.
• Welcomed office workers back with an all-new stylish, intelligent printer line—the HP LaserJet Managed E800/E700 series.

Additionally, HP’s Amplify Data Insights, a platform that provides partners real-time access to personalized analytics that help them understand and anticipate customer needs, has seen massive growth across our partner ecosystems. Our
award-winning platform has identified opportunities for upgrades and renewals for over 30 million PCs and 10 million
printers, impacting organizations ranging in size from SMBs to large-scale enterprises.

As insights become personalized analytics that help them understand and anticipate customer needs, has seen massive growth across our partner ecosystems. Our award-winning platform has identified opportunities for upgrades and renewals for over 30 million PCs and 10 million printers, impacting organizations ranging in size from SMBs to large-scale enterprises.

Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A.

In 2022, Konica Minolta remained focused on digital innovation and the creation of sustainable corporate value. The company has made significant changes to better execute on its digital transformation (DX) strategies and align with global teams to accelerate growth across the entire organization. Konica Minolta also made bold moves to organize and optimize its direct sales model, and adopted a shared services approach, combining service functions in the U.S. and Canada to leverage resources and skill sets regardless of geographical boundaries. To support changing customer buying patterns, the company launched its eShop, creating a frictionless, digital buying experience for customers.

Konica Minolta continued to invest in its industrial and production print business, aligning with growth areas in the industry to launch the AccurioPrint 2100, AccurioPress 6272P, AccurioJet KM-1e HD, JETvarnish 52L, and AccurioShine 3600. The company unveiled the AccurioLabel 400—available early next year—which incorporates its IQ-520 technology and an optional fifth color station with white toner.

On the office side, the company introduced two new A4 devices designed to boost productivity in the home office. Keeping pace with customers’ evolving needs, the C3100i and C3120i were designed to be affordable, compact, and easy to set up in different working environments and support the intelligent connected workplace.

The company invested in new Managed Endpoint Detection and Response services, and expanded its strategic partnership with MOBOTIX in the U.S. to launch its FORXAI Video Security Solution. Konica Minolta also unveiled brand-new dealer performance and managed IT programs, and launched two certification programs for dealer sales teams in the health care and education verticals.

Kyocera Document Solutions America

Throughout 2022, the Kyocera team has “raised our fighting spirit,” as our philosophy has taught us, across several core areas, such as hardware security. One of the highlights came as Keypoint Intelligence certified the Kyocera Evolution Series for surpassing its rigorous BLI Security Validation testing, underlining Kyocera’s strong credentials in this space.

Additionally, our team was proud to become the first manufacturer to be named the winner of the Frank Award for Best A4 Manufacturer for the fifth year in a row. Following this outstanding achievement came the launch of the ECOSYS MA2100cwfx and PA2100cwx, adding to Kyocera’s range of A4 devices designed for hybrid working and further demonstrating Kyocera’s continued commitment to innovation.

In October, we were thrilled to return to industry events where the TASKalfa Pro 15000c made its debut at the 2022 PRINTING United Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. We also showcased the device’s new capabilities with the in-line Duplo Booklet Maker DBM-350, which made it stand out from the crowd as the future of the industry.

Above all, partnership continues to be at the core of everything Kyocera achieved this past year, which was reflected at the company’s REIMAGINE themed Dealer Conference in San Antonio, Texas. We have to thank over 850 attendees, including dealers, vendor partners, and industry media outlets, who joined us to “reimagine” a shared future with Kyocera through 2022 and beyond.

MPS Monitor

The year 2022 has been an incredible one for us at MPS Monitor. We had several milestones. MPS Monitor established a local presence in U.K. with a directly owned organization and a dedicated team of industry experts. We introduced our new Data Collection Agent (DCA4) with revolutionary IoT technology, PaperCut integration, and device web access. Dealers and customers now have instant connection to printers, access to devices’ internal web server, advanced troubleshooting capabilities, and an improved business intelligence experience.

Keypoint Intelligence validated the quality of MPS Monitor’s new DCA4 and honored it with a BLI Outstanding Achievement Award. The extensive testing and research on the new DCA revealed “ground-breaking features and security” from “a leading-edge data collection agent,” according to the independent analyst.

In September 2022, Valsoft Corporation Inc., a Montreal-based company specialized in the acquisition and development of software companies in vertical markets, announced the acquisitions of MPS Monitor and Denmark-based EuroForm A/S, two leading developers and providers of remote monitoring and management (RMM) and managed print services SaaS solutions for the print industry. For MPS Monitor, this is the best opportunity to scale up, to dramatically increase our global reach, and to compete head-to-head with the largest players.

MPS Monitor is a company founded and grown on a strong value proposition of innovation, integration, and security, and this has fueled the growth so far, but in the last year we realized that to reach our ultimate goal of bringing this value to all markets and win in all of them, our own resources might not be sufficient. Valsoft has the financial strength, the skills, and a proven methodology to transform a promising and growing niche player into a true market leader.

Nexera

Nexera was honored to support several dealer group meetings and local customer events in 2022. It was truly a pleasure to be able to enjoy meetings and social events in-person.  We continued our quest to improve our solutions, and further enhance our financial reporting and back-office admin offerings.

Nexera used our exclusive WorldStats database to provide valuable insights into what is happening in the print sector regarding equipment placements and page volumes, and it has proven to be one of the few reliable sources of actual data on the subject.

Dealers have had a number of hurdles to deal with post-COVID, including supply chain issues, finding reliable employees, and changes in customer print behavior. Through all this, service has continued to be the linchpin in a dealership’s profitability. This is why it is so important to ensure that dealers are extracting every penny possible in service profit. Doing so not only drives up the value of the company, but it also provides the needed cash to fund diversification strategies. Virtually every dealer we’ve performed our exclusive forensic audit on has uncovered opportunities to reduce excess cost and increase the bottom line, as well as improve their financial reporting.

PaperCut

We’re thrilled our partners have, by and large, come through the pandemic healthy and in a position to launch into our shared future. Here’s a few highlights we’ve enjoyed together in 2022:

• Our first-ever Partner Summit event, with over 5,000 registrations, making it the biggest event we’ve ever hosted.
• The launch of our PaperCut Grows program, which helps workplaces become Forest Positive by planting more trees than they consume through printing.
• Sharing wonderful customer stories from the likes of Google.
• Retaining IDC’s No. 1 market share position for print management software.

We’re expecting 2023 to be a big one, with an even bigger Partner Summit, new solutions, a maturing cloud portfolio, and bigger print management sales opportunities for our resellers.

Polek & Polek

In 2022 Polek & Polek successfully navigated the supply chain storm. We raised our inventory levels in 2022 by 75% versus 2021 to keep up with increased demand and longer lead times. Another storm Polek & Polek has helped navigate dealers through in 2022 is the fiercest inflation conditions we’ve seen in the 21st century, and we helped bring dealers $2.3 million more to their bottom line.

Most encouraging was to see a return of in-person events, which enabled Polek & Polek to help sponsor, and/or attend these events to be able to get out and engage with the dealer community in person. Here are the events Polek & Polek participated in this year:

• Executive Connection Summit
• IBPI Regional Meeting
• BTA Spring Break
• Jillian Fund Gala
• Ride for Jillian
• CDA Service Managers Meeting
• CDA Owners Meeting (July and October)
• The Cannata Report’s Annual Awards & Charities Gala

Ricoh USA

• Dealers that are closely attuned to customer needs are thriving, with many tapping into new routes to revenue and increased profit potential by expanding their reach and diversifying into adjacent, new, and growing areas. We have seen significant growth in e-commerce-enabled solutions, as well as increased support of customers in finance, health care, insurance, and government looking to streamline their operations through production.
• Ricoh’s Dealer Sales and Marketing Kits continued to increase dealer comfortability with horizontal and vertical markets and help them enable end-users to employ effective digital strategies and anticipate key trends in document management, workflows, security, cloud, in plant, hybrid work, and talent acquisition and retention.
• Ricoh remained focused on helping dealers evolve from technology providers to trusted services partners and position themselves and their customers for long-term sales growth. We continued to partner alongside dealers to deliver the hands-on training required to facilitate complex sales cycles and create high impact, ROI-generating solutions, as well as providing ongoing counsel and post-sale support.

RISO

It seemed like everywhere we turned in 2022, someone was using the “D” word. But diversification is not exclusive to our dealer community. Many commercial, as well as in-plant print, shops found diversification in 2022 by introducing a third level of pricing using production cut-sheet inkjet.

Print customers on tight budgets are walking into printshops with B/W jobs where color is being considered. They shop for color pricing but are often met with the reality that color toner is too expensive. Print managers saw the light in 2022 and turned that negative into an opportunity for a new revenue stream— mono toner in one corner, color toner in the other, and a new inkjet unit smack in the middle to round out the operation.

RISO launched several new devices in 2022 to help printshops that want to add this popular third level of pricing. We offered five new models from the FT Series, including a high-speed envelope solution. We also offered two new models in the GL Series, as well as the new single-engine Valezus that prints 160 letter-size pages per minute. It’s 2023, and print buyers still view color printing as a luxury. If that doesn’t scream “opportunity,” then nothing does.

Rochester Software Associates (RSA)

RSA specializes in advance workflow solutions that enable dealers to increase revenue and flexibility to place and retain printer placements, including wide format devices. Highlights for RSA are two new software releases and a pre-release preview.

• QDirect output management software release: Boosts the processing power of smaller multiple MFPs when processing large jobs by driving multiple devices as a single virtual device with the new destination printer “cluster” feature; mixes printer manufacturers and even color and B/W printers in one printer group cluster; and loads balance and group to a cluster or split jobs based on copy count and color and B/W pages. Any print facility with multiple production printers can increase efficiency and reduce costs with the new release.
• ReadyPrint universal prepress software: Provides the capability to print to any production printing device. Our new release features a new web-based PDF automation engine and an improved workflow builder that intelligently automates the production process. Jobs can be onboarded faster with fewer touches with make-ready and preflight enhancements. The release supports wide-format work in several ways, including output to the ONYX Thrive RIP and print workflow software.
• WebCRD wide format: At PRINTING United, a pre-release preview of new WebCRD Web to Print wide-format capabilities was demonstrated. The upcoming release increases the wide-format automation and flexibility already offered with custom-size ordering and pricing by square foot.

Sharp Imaging & Information Company of America

In 2022, we really bolstered our core MFP business with the launch of a completely new line of color and monochrome A3 MFPs. The new BP-Series Advanced and Essentials Document Systems not only look very different than previous models, but these models also offer features, such as robust security enhancements, including optional virus protection and up-to-date cloud services, that can help enable office workers to collaborate with colleagues, even when working outside of the office.

In our digital display business, we have continued integrating the Sharp and NEC branded products. We have also made inroads with showcasing our new Dynabook laptop line. The continued promotion of both categories to the Sharp portfolio allow us to provide a breadth of products for our dealers to help them diversify and set them on the road to becoming full-service office technology providers.

To communicate this diversification message, we invested heavily in a five-city U.S. channel road show. The road show brought together dealer owners, salespeople, and services professionals with the Sharp team to speed education, have open discussions, and deliver hands-on training. And to further enhance our dealers’ marketing arsenal, we launched the Sharp Brand Center, which allows dealers to co-brand video content, brochures, infographics, and much more.

Toshiba America Business Solutions

• Toshiba unveiled its cloud Encompass Managed Print as a Service subscription MPS program, enabling today’s distributed, mixed-fleet workforces to print more securely, sustainably, efficiently, and affordably.
• Toshiba introduced e-BRIDGE Global Print to help comprehensively simplify the printing process by leveraging the cloud to securely print and release to any Global Print-enabled Toshiba device. The software enables the modern anywhere workforce to print at any time and place.
• Toshiba launched 12 next-gen MFPs to assist today’s workforce in functioning more productively and securely while utilizing the cloud to do so.
• Toshiba continued its year-round sustainability initiatives to reduce carbon footprints for the company and its customers. The company’s eco-efforts include recycling 64.46 tons of used toner cartridges and replanting nearly 19,000 trees worldwide.
• Toshiba earned numerous awards, including the following:
  • Keypoint Intelligence acknowledged Toshiba as a premier logistics solutions provider by presenting the manufacturer the Buyers Lab 2023–2024 Pacesetter Award in Logistics.
  • Affirming its commitment to providing a stellar user experience, Toshiba’s e‑BRIDGE Global Print earned the 2022 Gold Merit Award for Technology.
  • Toshiba won the 2022 Bronze Stevie Award for Best Customer Experience for its eConnect TouchFree mobile app.
  • Keypoint Intelligence presented the Toshiba Workplace Productivity Bundle its Buyers Lab Gold rating.

U.S. Bank

It’s been another crazy year in the industry, and U.S. Bank continues to adapt to help clients succeed. Here are a few highlights:

• We have all been very excited to get back to a regular travel schedule, allowing us to see clients face to face at industry events and in their offices.
• Supply chain challenges required creative solutions to help both the dealer and customer when equipment deliveries were delayed.
• Interest rates rose much more quickly than anyone anticipated, requiring everyone to work together to give the customer the best possible solution at an affordable payment.
• Several system integrations with dealers continue to build efficiencies and facilitate new business growth.
• Portfolio performance remains strong on the heels of the pandemic and in the midst of economic uncertainty.
• U.S. Bank completed the acquisition of Union Bank, further strengthening our footprint in the western U.S.

Wells Fargo

In 2022, Wells Fargo crossed the finish line on several critical technology projects that allowed us to integrate with our partners more fully. We also expanded our appetite to finance non-print products, while improving our capabilities to bill various types of pass-through service for our independent dealer partners. We’ve streamlined several processes and invested in additional resources in critical areas to continue to increase our efficiency and expand the support we provide to our partners. At Wells Fargo, we are thankful for our dedicated employees and the many partnerships we have across the U.S. and Canada. We remain proudly committed to this industry, especially during these challenging economic times.

Predictions from Lexmark for 2023

As predicted for 2022, dealers are growing by offering value-added solutions such as cloud, remote print management and security solutions to their cache of capabilities and focusing on increasing A4 device footprints in hybrid work environments.

Cloud Services provides a more efficient and affordable path to print management success through a full suite of print-optimizing capabilities.  Key benefits of the cloud include:

• Improving the speed of paper-based processes
• Enabling easy conversion of hardcopy paper documents into a digital format
• Scanning documents directly into a cloud-based file-sharing system
• Easily sharing and adjusting documents remotely
• Sharing with complete security in the cloud

As the hybrid workplace evolves and the need for skilled technicians to manage complex customer environments continues to be a challenge, so does the need for remote print management. The cloud allows visibility into your printer fleet in real time so you can monitor conditions and alerts without having to be on premise.

Security is another area in which dealers will continue to see growth. Look for OEMs that provide security as an integral design and engineering component embedded into their products, tools and services and meet the most stringent industry and government security standards.

And last but not least, dealers will continue to see the need to place A4 devices across the organization.  As hybrid work office environments continue to dominate the work landscape, and A4 machines continue to match the print speeds, paper handling, finishing capabilities and security features of A3 devices, dealers will look to A4 devices to offer their customers the opportunities to drive cost reductions and reduce their environmental footprints.

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