Features

If you want to get forecasting correctly, you need to know the short-term history of our industry. The best tool we have for our 2023 forecast is our Annual Dealer Survey. In our 37th Annual Dealer…

If you want an update on the supplies and consumables market, look no further than Charlie Brewer, president of Actionable Intelligence, a research firm that tracks the…

Office technology trends and document imaging industry trends to watch in 2023.

To recap 2022, we asked dozens of companies to share their highlights from the 12 months. As you’ll see from their responses, this is an industry with no failure to innovate…

Being sarcastic by nature and skeptical by experience, I rarely take seriously claims made by anyone about their products, especially software, which I consider the archangel of delusion…

Scott Schnabel is a man on a mission. A 27-year document imaging industry veteran, he joined Frontier Business Products a year and a half ago. Frontier recruited Schnabel because the owners…

We’re thrilled to end our 40th Anniversary year on a high note by setting a record for the most funds we’ve ever raised through our Annual Awards & Charities Gala…

According to online resources and dictionaries, “Shake It Up,” the theme for our 37th Annual Awards & Charities Gala, among other things, means: To do something different from one’s normal routine…

A highlight of this year’s Awards and Charities Gala was an auction of signed vintage record albums from 1982. Each album included a certificate of authenticity, validating that the signatures…

Following an evening of celebration at The Cannata Report’s Awards & Charities Gala, industry women gathered on Friday morning, November 11, for the 7th Annual Women Influencers Brunch…

Welcome back to another installment of our 37th Annual Dealer Survey. In this issue, you’ll learn about dealers’ biggest challenges and how…

Connectivity among devices is paramount as the company expands its product offerings. Above: Ted Kawamura speaks to dealers during Sharp’s 2019 dealer…

Above: Eager attendees pick up their badges and wait in line to register prior to the doors opening on the first day…

Above: Frank’s panel of OEM executives captured the attention of CDA dealers. Left to right: Jennifer Amatucci of Hytec Dealer Services, Carol…

The company ushers in the new wave of POP production. Toshiba TEC, which develops, manufactures, and sells Toshiba-branded e-STUDIO color MFPs, has…

The elephant is in the room and reading a personalized direct mail. The elephant, of course, is customer communication. During the past…

The company has been meeting dealers’ supply needs for nearly 50 years. The amazing thing about being active in this industry for…

This is the second year we have been gauging the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the independent dealer channel. Last year’s Survey, particularly in the revenue portion, was pretty much what we expected based on our conversations throughout the year with dealers and OEMs. Annual revenue experienced the biggest year-over-year decline in the history of the Survey.

Executive Summary (Part II of II) The three most pressing concerns within the entire dealer universe comprising our Survey are declining clicks (54%), maintaining profitability (40%), and hiring and retention (35%).

Exhibits 2.1-2.11 Dealers have many concerns, and our Survey historically illuminates those concerns. After expanding the number of concerns to 13 last…

Exhibits 2.12-2.19 Each year, we ask dealers to rate their primary A3 MFP suppliers as “Excellent,” “Very Good,” “Good,” “Fair,” or “Poor.”…

Exhibits 2.20-2.25 This has not been a good Survey year based on dealer ratings of their A4 providers. Except for Lexmark whose…

Exhibit 2.26 In Part 1 of our Survey in the October issue, production print was identified by 46% of dealers as a…

Exhibits 2.27-2.34 If there is one thing you can consistently count on in our Annual Dealer Survey for the past five years,…

Exhibits 2.35-2.36 For the past nine years, we have asked dealers to identify the companies that provide them with the software and…