April 2025 Office Technology by Business Technology Association

FEATURE ARTICLES

The Rise of AI

Dealers increasingly focused on this game changer by Brent Hoskins

Office Technology Magazine

Are you focused on the rise of artificial intelligence (AI)? If not, many would say you should be at this point. This article includes profiles of three BTA member dealerships focused on their strides with AI. Perhaps the insight and details they share will provide you with some welcome guidance.

Elevate & Spring Break

BTA hosts events March 6-8 in Orlando, Florida by Elizabeth Marvel

Office Technology Magazine

The Business Technology Association’s (BTA’s) first event of 2025, Spring Break, was held March 7-8 at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in Orlando, Florida. In conjunction, BTA hosted e-automate Elevate: A BTA Dealers Helping Dealers Best Practices Event on March 6.

Big Results, Small Budget

The smart way to invest in marketing by Jenna Miller Emerald Strategic Marketing

AI INSIGHT

22 Artificial Intelligence Policies

They create a blueprint for success by Christina Catenacci & Tommy Cooke voyAIge strategy Inc.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is at the forefront of innovation and opportunity. In fact, it is projected that AI will have an estimated 21% net increase on the United States’ GDP by 2030. For technology vendors, this presents both a massive opportunity and a significant risk.

The Demand Letter

A commonly used tool to resolve business disputes by Greg Goldberg

BTA General Counsel

This month, Legal Perspective examines a legal tool that may be the first or last step in resolving a business dispute: the demand letter.

DEALERS HELPING DEALERS

CEO Juice & Staff Recognition What reports do dealers use & how do they reward?

Compiled by Elizabeth Marvel Office Technology Magazine

This feature includes two questions submitted by dealer members and many of the answers received.

PRINCIPAL ISSUES

‘Foundation for Growth’ Sharp hosts series of dealer road shows by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

In a series of 2025 Sharp Dealer Road Shows, Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America hosted dealers from across the country.

‘High Performance’ Xerox hosts 2025 Global Partner Summit by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

At the Xerox Global Partner Summit 2025, held March 10-12 in Las Vegas, Nevada, the “reinvention” of Xerox was a predominant message.

Less Hassle. More Hustle.

The New WorkForce® Enterprise AM Series.

Powered by PrecisionCore®, this marvel has less imaging parts than typical laser printers which can result in fewer slowdowns, breakdowns, and office meltdowns.

OEMs Discuss Issues With Off-Lease MFPs

AExecutive Director/BTA Editor/Office Technology

Brent Hoskins brent@bta.org (816) 303-4040

Associate Editor

Elizabeth Marvel elizabeth@bta.org (816) 303-4060

Contributing Writers

Christina Catenacci, voyAIge strategy Inc. www.voyaigestrategy.com

s noted in this space in the October 2024 issue of Office Technology, there is a growing challenge that, if not properly addressed, could result in the MFP and single-function printer remarketing industry no longer being sustainable. The problem is likely to be faced in the next five to seven years. That could result in leasing companies and dealers scrambling to find new ways to manage the disposal of MFPs and printers once leases end/at end of life.

I first shared this following the Lease Equipment Return Summit, hosted by the Business Technology Association (BTA), Sept. 23, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas. I attended, along with former BTA general counsel, now BTA ambassador, Bob Goldberg, and 2024-25 BTA President Adam Gregory. Also present were representatives of five leading office equipment leasing companies, as well as a representative of an MFP remarketer.

The conversation continues. On March 6, a second Lease Equipment Return Summit was held, this time in Orlando, Florida. I attended along with Bob and Adam, the MFP remarketer representative and one of the leasing company representatives present at the first meeting. This time, however, the primary group of attendees were representatives of seven MFP OEMs.

The remarketer told attendees that there was a day when only 1% to 1.5% of all returned MFPs and printers were sent to a recycler. “It will be 50% or more within the next five years,” he said. “Today, 85% of A4s are recycled. Only 15% are resold.” He also noted that leasing companies have increased commissions to remarketers and “that helps some, but we need to think about five years from now. This is more about planning for

the future than avoiding a current crisis.”

The problem is multifaceted, but largely has to do with the significant rise of A4 MFPs in the workplace and the resulting ever-increasing quantity of A4s coming off lease. Coupled with that, the remarketer stated, is the important reality that “at the end of lease, A4s are at the end of life.”

Adam told the group that at his dealership, a very high percentage of A4s coming off lease have no value.

At the first summit, it was suggested that it may become necessary to charge an additional fee on leases upfront in order to pay remarketers a fixed fee (rather than just a commission on the sale value) to cover the costs associated with recycling, and everincreasing warehousing and labor costs.

At the second summit, there was some pushback on the idea. As one OEM put it: “For those out there today trying to sell a box, I’m not sure we want to charge another fee.” Another OEM stated: “I don’t think one thing is going to be the solution. It’s going to be a bunch of things.”

Whatever the ultimate outcome, the OEMs have a role to play. Bob asked of the attendees: “OEMs put these [A4s] into distribution; don’t they have an obligation at the end, too?” While no definitive solutions were determined at the summit, the OEM attendees agreed that it is a matter that needs to be addressed and resolved. They indicated that they would escalate the dialog by way of furthering the discussion within their individual companies.

“The issue of equipment facing end of life and no clear disposal track is of great concern,” Bob said to attendees in an email following the summit. “Clearly, the industry recognizes the issue.” BTA has plans to host a third summit, inviting additional interested parties. Stay tuned. n

— Brent Hoskins

Tommy Cooke, voyAIge strategy Inc. www.voyaigestrategy.com

Greg Goldberg, BTA General Counsel Business Technology Association

Jenna Miller, Emerald Strategic Marketing www.emeraldstrategicmarketing.com

Business Technology Association 12411 Wornall Road Kansas City, MO 64145 (816) 941-3100 www.bta.org

Member Services: (800) 505-2821 BTA Legal Hotline: (847) 922-0945

Valerie Briseno Marketing Director valerie@bta.org

Brian Smith Membership Sales Representative brian@bta.org

Brooke Barker Administrative Assistant brooke@bta.org

Photo Credits: Adobe Stock. Cover created by Bruce Quade, Brand X Studio. ©2025 by the Business Technology Association. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the publisher. Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of published material. However, the publisher assumes no liability for errors in articles nor are opinions expressed necessarily those of the publisher.

FLASHBACK

The association’s magazine cover 49 years ago this month — the NOMDA Spokesman, April 1976.

Join BTA at its 2025 National Conference

T2024-2025 Board of Directors

President

Adam Gregory Advanced Business Solutions LLC St. Augustine, Florida adam@goabsinc.com

President-Elect

Debra Dennis CopyPro Inc. Greenville, North Carolina ddennis@copypro.net

Vice President

he Business Technology Association’s (BTA’s) biggest event of the year, the 2025 BTA National Conference, will be held June 17-19 at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort & Spa in Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico (near Albuquerque). The futureforward event will give attendees the opportunity to learn from two compelling keynoters, a panel of dealers discussing navigating industry shifts, two additional educational sessions, three breakout sessions and time with more than 40 exhibiting sponsors.

The national conference will also include an array of networking activities: an opening reception where attendees can soar to new heights with tethered hot-air balloon rides; an evening at a rodeo with a food truck feast on June 18; and the opportunity to tee off at the renowned Twin Warriors Golf Club on the afternoon of June 19.

The event will kick off on Tuesday, June 17, with the opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Be sure to join your fellow dealers for a fun evening of networking while enjoying hotair balloon rides, drinks and appetizers.

Breakfast begins at 7:30 a.m. the next morning, followed by opening comments and the first keynote address, “Lessons from the Gridiron: Emmitt Smith on Leadership & Success,” presented by Emmitt Smith, Pro Football Hall of Fame running back, speaker and entrepreneur. After Emmitt’s keynote, there will be time to visit with the exhibiting sponsors and the first round of breakout sessions. The breakouts: “Beyond the Traditional: Expanding Strategies for Evolving Sales Organizations,” with Jon Dunkelberger of Ricoh USA Inc.; “Sell Smarter, Not Harder: Focusing on Business Impact in Tech Sales,” with Samuel Mascato

of Sandler; and “Your Go-to-Market Plan: The Key to Strategic Revenue Growth,” with Dominic Pontrelli of Pontrelli Marketing. Lunch will follow the breakouts.

After lunch, the second keynote address will be held. John Bruno, president and COO of Xerox Corp., will present, “Xerox’s Reinvention: Pioneering a New Growth Chapter,” sharing how Xerox is expanding beyond traditional print and investing in cutting-edge technologies. After the keynote, attendees will have more time to visit with the exhibitors, followed by a second round of the breakout sessions from 3 to 4 p.m. To wrap up the educational portion of the day, the dealer panel will be held from 4:15 to 5:15 p.m. BTA General Counsel Greg Goldberg will moderate “Thriving Amidst Disruption: How Dealers Are Navigating Industry Shifts.” From 6 to 9 p.m., attendees will ride into the sunset as they enjoy dinner and dessert from food trucks, and a rodeo at The Stables at Tamaya.

The final day of the conference will begin at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 19, with breakfast, followed by exhibit time and the first educational session: “Expanding Into Vertical Markets: Unlocking Growth With Tailored Solutions,” with Anne Valaitis of Keypoint Intelligence. Additional exhibit time will follow. After the break, Jocelyn Gorman of Document Solutions Inc. (DSI) will present the final educational session, “Building a Stronger Team Today & for the Future by Trusting Data, Not Just Gut Instinct.” The event will wrap up with closing comments and prize drawings. That afternoon, attendees can play a round of golf at Twin Warriors for an extra fee.

Don’t forget that BTA member dealers get two-for-one registration for only $199! See the ad on pages two and three, or visit www. bta.org/National25 for more information or to register. n

— Adam Gregory

Mike Boyle BASE Technologies Inc. Bethel, Connecticut mboyle@baseinc.com

Immediate Past President

Don Risser DCS Technologies Corp. Franklin, Ohio don.risser@dcs-tech.com

BTA East Joe Dellaposta Doing Better Business Hagerstown, Maryland jvd@doingbetterbusiness.com

Chip Denlinger DCS Technologies Corp. Franklin, Ohio chip.denlinger@dcs-tech.com

BTA Mid-America

Greg Quirk JQ Office Equipment Omaha, Nebraska gquirk@jqoffice.com

Brett Blake Corporate Business Systems LLC Madison, Wisconsin bblake@corpbussystems.com

BTA Southeast Mike Hicks

Electronic Business Machines Inc. Lexington, Kentucky mhicks@ebmky.com

Blake Renegar Kelly Office Solutions Winston-Salem, North Carolina tbrenegar@kellyofficesolutions.com

BTA West Kevin Marshall Copy Link Inc. Chula Vista, California kevin@copylink.net

Scott Reynolds Imagine Technology Group LLC Chandler, Arizona sreynolds@itgarizona.com

Ex-Officio/General Counsel

Greg Goldberg

Barta | Goldberg West Hollywood, California ggoldberg@bartagoldberg.com

The Rise of AI

Dealers increasingly focused on this game changer

by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

Are you focused on the rise of artificial intelligence (AI)? If not, many would say you should be at this point. Following are profiles of three BTA member dealerships focused on their strides with AI. Perhaps the insight and details they share will provide you with some welcome guidance.

Automated Business Technologies

While only a few AI-driven tasks are now underway at Centennial, Colorado-based Automated Business Technologies (ABT), it is seen as a tool that will ultimately be a game changer for the Canon, HP, Kyocera and Xerox dealership. “It is going to impact everything; it’s difficult for me to imagine that it will not,” says CEO Mike Piche. “I think it is as big of a transformation as the internet, if not bigger.”

The day will come that the use of AI will be embraced throughout ABT, Piche says. “I think everyone will use it daily in one way, shape or form,” he says. “That will include ‘hiring AI’ and not a person the next time you think you need to hire somebody. I think managers will be asking themselves, ‘I have this requirement. Do we hire somebody or do we deploy some sort of AI tool to do whatever needs to be done?’”

Referring to AI as essentially “the next industrial evolution,” it was about two years ago that “we started looking at AI throughout the company, even if it was just noticing it was coming,” says Wendy Campbell, director of marketing. “With the introduction of ChatGPT, it was a matter of, ‘OK, this is going to start evolving. Where do we want to step into this and how can we one day use this throughout the organization?’”

Today, Campbell relies on AI in her role using HubSpot, (providing such AI tools as ChapSpot.ai), ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot. In addition, she says, increasingly, ABT’s sales team members are using Einstein GPT, the generative AI tool for the Salesforce CRM solution. “It is just me in marketing here at ABT, so AI gives me an extra set of hands to help come up with different ideas,” she says. “Typically, I tap into AI about once a day. Maybe I’ve written something and I want to see if there is a better way to say it. Or, am I forgetting

something? Is there more information that I may want to add?”

AI has evolved enough “where I can now take an old marketing campaign and say to AI, ‘This is my old campaign. I want to rework this to really look toward the future,’” Campbell says. “I also use it to evaluate different pieces of content and to create blog images that directly speak to our content. AI is not brilliant, however, when it comes to image creation. Sometimes, you may see something like a third foot. Plus, hands are really difficult for AI.”

With AI solidly in use for marketing tasks at ABT, leadership is investigating other areas where it can be implemented. “We’re currently looking at it for some administrative processes that we think would not be that difficult to automate through AI,” Piche says. He notes that research is also now underway to automate the process of uploading price books into Salesforce. “Can we just train AI to log in to Salesforce, plug in price books and know where everything is like a human would? Can we do that? We don’t know yet, so we are trying to figure out if that is possible. Wendy is the person who has been primarily responsible for that task. Automating it with AI would save her hours and hours.”

Piche says ABT is also looking at AI as a source of new revenues. “Can we resell some AI products to our customer base?” he asks. “We have a task force looking at that, seeing where there are revenue opportunities ... Because of the nature of the industry, we’re losing a percent or so a year in aftermarket clicks. The task force is looking to find other sources of recurring revenue and, so, is looking at AI to see if there is a way to monetize that.”

While Piche says AI will remove the burden of performing certain tasks, he does not see AI technology as a means to reduce an employee’s workload. Consider the technology of the cell phone and how it “just made you more accessible every day, resulting in more work, right?” he explains. “Once AI is doing something, you’re just going to end up doing more of the things AI can’t do. Everyone will be like, ‘Oh, now I have more time. I’m going to use that time to work on

Success in Partnership Program

No jumping through hoops.

We are ﬂexible in doing business the way that works for you!

Front-End Support

Sales team training & engagement

Proposal support / deal review

Aggressive OEM conversion pricing

Introduction to service partners if needed (On-site / Depot International)

Sustainability impact & customizable marketing assets

Federal Government & SLED bid support

Implementation

Stage, conﬁgure & deliver hardware

Initial setup including setting up DCAs, load asset IDs, register warranties, asset tags, set up ASM

Ongoing Management & Maintenance

Monitoring & fulﬁllment of supplies including parts

Provide full CPP management of A4 devices

Collection options & data to support initial proposal

Comprehensive Support Throughout the Entire Sales Cycle

my competitive advantage in the marketplace.’ If everyone is doing that, no one will ever decrease the amount of work they are doing.”

Connected Office Technologies

For Tom Mitchell, president of Connected Office Technologies, a Brother and Sharp dealership based in Portland, Maine, the AI journey began in earnest the day he joined his service manager in the field on several service calls. That day, he witnessed the difficulty the manager had setting up scanning capabilities to an accounting firm’s new software program via the control panel of a Sharp MFP. “I would put him up against any technician in the country,” he says, emphasizing the skill set of the manager. “But trying to get the software logo on the MFP control panel was difficult. We had to call Sharp to get that done.”

“Once AI is doing something, you’re just going to end up doing more of the things AI can’t do ... If everyone is doing that, no one will ever decrease the amount of work they are doing.“

— Mike Piche Automated Business Technologies

about sending the tech on his first call [without the AI resource] and he finds that he doesn’t have the information he needs. What does he do? What does that do to him? He’s thinking, ‘This job stinks. I have to drive all the way back, find that folder they told me about and flip through a manual and read 10 pages.’”

The use of AI will not be limited to the service team at Connected Office. “The next step [for AI] is install,” Mitchell says. “How can we make MFP installation smoother across the board when interfacing with customers? The print drivers can be placed in that AI middleware and, so, accessed and loaded lightning fast. The installer doesn’t have to dig around in an Excel file or some Microsoft folder.”

That experience was Mitchell’s “starting point” with AI, he says. “I thought, maybe we could compile all of the service help information we have into one place, making it easily accessible to our techs by way of their iPads,” he says. “Tom [the service manager] was really struggling trying to get the information. How can we use AI to help him?”

While it is a work in progress, Mitchell is using middleware and ChatGPT to build the new AI resource. “We’re just building the prompts now,” he says. In addition to service information from Brother and Sharp, the new resource is accessing information contained in Microsoft folders at Connected Office. “We have [service] videos that we’ve done for years. If someone was learning something new, Tom would film himself doing it. ‘Oh, if you don’t know how to do that, you can find it by searching the folders’ ... Now, with AI, the tech in the field can say, ‘Show me the video on how to put a fuser together for a BP-70C31’ or whatever — poof, there it is.”

For accessing the middleware, “we can program ChatGPT for permissions, prompts and frequently asked questions,” Mitchell says. “Plus, we are asking our techs: ‘If you are looking for information [on something in particular], how would you phrase the question?’ ChatGPT is then taught the phrasing and tested to confirm the common phrasing of the question leads to the right information.”

Mitchell shares another benefit of the tech’s instant access to service information that AI provides. “If you have that AI humming, you can onboard a technician so quickly versus the standard practice of having the tech taking courses, etc.” he says. “This will also provide stress relief. Think

Meanwhile, Connected Office is using Microsoft Copilot to provide sales reps with AI-generated data. “Say you work hard to get an appointment with ABC Company in Augusta, Maine, and it’s an hour and half from your house,” Mitchell explains. “You want to know what else is going to be nearby, because you want to make the trip efficient, right? So, you use AI and simply say: ‘Show me 10 of the largest companies around the area where I am right now.’ It will geolocate you. You can pull the locations up in Google Maps and actually download them into your CRM ... So, you have an efficient trip. After you’re done with your appointment, you can call on 10 other places in the same area.”

As the examples of the usage of AI at Connected Office illustrate, “AI does not replace a human being,” Mitchell says. “It’s not meant to. It’s just a way to eliminate some of the knowledge deficit, and it puts us all on an equal playing field, which I love.”

Fraser Advanced Information Systems

In the early 2000s, Justin Drabouski worked for a valueadded reseller (VAR) focused on project engineering work for the enterprise market, selling hardware but primarily implementing solutions. “I was part of the original group that began to transition that market to managed services,” he says. Ultimately, the focus became: “Businesses can access software from a remote data center. They don’t have to install software in their office locations. That was the beginning of the cloud model.”

What does this have to do with AI? “That experience for the VAR community was transformative, right?” Drabouski asks, given that cloud-based computing is now the standard.

QUALITY BEGINS WITH KNOWLEDGE

“This is the same impact AI will have on the dealer community and the rest of the services industry. It will be transformative. In 10 years, we’ll be looking back saying: ‘I don’t even remember how we did it before.’ That’s how I view AI’s overall impact on the industry — equally as transformative as the transformation of the entire IT support industry of the early 2000s.”

“If you have that AI humming, you can onboard a technician so quickly versus the standard practice of having the tech taking courses, etc. This will also provide stress relief.”

— Tom Mitchell

Connected Office Technologies

Today, Drabouski serves as vice president of technology and security at Fraser Advanced Information Systems, a Sharp, Canon, Lexmark and HP dealership based in Reading, Pennsylvania. He is a part of a team at Fraser focused on AI. Early on, he says, it became apparent that it would be necessary to address the culture challenge (“getting department managers to think in terms of ... use cases for AI” outside of the traditional industry model) and the

systems challenge (given that the commonly used softwarebased systems in the industry are “very proprietary, not easy to work with, and the data can be siloed and contained.”)

To help address the two challenges, “we decided to invest in the learning side,” Drabouski says. “About three years ago, during an executive leadership meeting, it was decided to allocate a certain amount of money into [AI] education and exploration. There were no defined outcomes. We weren’t putting KPIs in place. We were not saying that at the end of six months we want to have a product that we can take to the market and sell ... We just said that we know AI will be important and when the OEMs and the software gets to the right point, we want to make sure we have the right skill sets on staff.”

“You need to incorporate this into your hiring process. You need to bring people into your organization ... who have behavioral characteristics that would support using AI technology.”

— Justin Drabouski Fraser Advanced Information Systems

The result was the establishment of Fraser’s AI Lab, “an investment in curiosity and exploration,” Drabouski says. The team includes key technical people, the dealership’s marketing person, an employee from HR and two new hires. “We brought on a Python developer,” he says (Python is a programming language commonly used in AI). “We also brought on a data analyst.”

Fraser’s primary vendor partner, Sharp, will soon be announcing new AI-driven capabilities and “we want to be ready when these technologies hit the market,” Drabouski says. That, along with the understanding that AI will be integrated into Fraser’s different business units “in snippets of AI capability,” led to the mission in 2025 “to circle the wagons around a core platform for the company. We wanted to select something that is low-hanging fruit in terms of customization, but easy to implement and manage, and for our team members to understand.”

The wagons are now circled around Microsoft’s Copilot and the use of Azure AI Studio. “The nice thing is that Microsoft has been working over the past few years to integrate Copilot into just about all of its products,” Drabouski says. “It’s really just a matter of licensing it and turning it on.”

The AI Lab at Fraser has come far, Drabouski says. “Today, we are implementing Copilot across the organization,” he says. “We are customizing it for different business units for specific requirements. Plus, we have an adoption measure plan in place, and we are now looking at KPIs.”

Drabouski advises other dealers to likewise establish a focus on AI with a mindset of being prepared for what’s next. “You need to incorporate this into your hiring process,” he says. “You need to bring people into your organization ... who have behavioral characteristics that would support using AI technology.” n Brent Hoskins, executive director of the Business Technology Association, is editor of Office Technology magazine. He can be reached at (816) 303-4040 or brent@bta.org.

Elevate & Spring Break BTA hosts events March 6-8 in Orlando, Florida

by: Elizabeth Marvel, Office Technology Magazine

Spring Break kicked off on March 7 with the keynote address, “Lessons From the Ledge,” presented by Alison Levine, a leadership expert, polar explorer and mountaineer. The additional main stage sessions included: “Sales Team Improvement,” with Kate Kingston, Kingston Training Group; “Dealers & the Profit Dilemma — How to Get Help From Your Manufacturers,” with Laura Blackmer, Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. Inc.; and a dealer panel, “Cracking the Code: Successfully Selling Workflow Solutions,” moderated by Patricia Ames, BPO Media. The breakout sessions were: “Sales Performance Solutions,” with Nate Berkhoudt, PathShare HR Services; “The Road Map to Service Success,” with Jack Duncan, Jack Duncan Consulting, and Richie Creech, CopyPro Inc.; and “Review, Realign & Recap,” with John Eckstrom, former president of Carolina Business Equipment Inc., now a Novatech company.

The event sponsors: ACDI, AgentDealer, Avision, Brother, ConnectWise, Crexendo, Distribution Management, DXone, ECI Software Solutions, ecoprintQ, eGoldFax, ELATEC, Epson, FP, GreatAmerica, HP (breakfast sponsor), Hytec, IBPI, Image Star, Impression Solutions, Intermedia, Katun, Keypoint Intelligence, Konica Minolta, LEAF, National / AZON, NA Trading, Noetics, Quench, Sharp (keynote sponsor), Static Control, TAG (breaks sponsor), TD SYNNEX, The 20, Toshiba, Xerox and Zultys (lunch sponsor).

BTA’s next event, the 2025 BTA National Conference, will be held June 17-19 at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort & Spa in Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico. For more information, see the ad on pages two and three and visit www.bta. org/National25 to register. n

Elizabeth Marvel is associate editor of Office Technology magazine. She can be reached at elizabeth@bta.org or (816) 303-4060.

Clockwise from top left: Levine presents the keynote address; 2024-25 BTA Southeast President Blake Renegar serves as an emcee on March 7; the Spring Break event featured a keynote address, two additional main stage sessions, a dealer panel, three breakout sessions, time to visit with peers and exhibiting sponsors, and a reception and dinner on the first evening; Blackmer presents her main stage session; attendees visit with 37 exhibiting sponsors during a break between sessions; and Kingston presents her main stage session.

Above: Ames (right) moderates the dealer panel with panelists (left to right) Zak Danison of Modern Office Methods, Cincinnati, Ohio; Alan Peters of DOCUmation, San Antonio, Texas; and Brent Wesler, Vital Records Control, Hooksett, New Hampshire.

breakout sessions were presented by (clockwise from top

Berkhoudt; Eckstrom; Duncan; and Creech.

Far left photo (left to right): Tim and Jean Slopsema of Indiana Business Solutions, Indianapolis, Indiana, visit with Marvin Salganov of Quench during a break. Near left photo: 2024-25 BTA East President-Elect Tim Seeley Jr. (left) draws a name during the prize drawings at the end of the event with the assistance of Noel O’Dwyer of Intermedia.

e-automate Elevate — A BTA Best Practices Event

The BTA Dealers Helping Dealers Best Practices Event, e-automate Elevate, was held March 6 ahead of Spring Break. The goal of the event was to bring a broad range of e-automate users together to learn about the software and its functionality, to address common concerns and share troubleshooting best practices. Elevate featured breakout sessions in seven tracks (Accounting, CEO Juice, Contracts, Inventory, Order Processing, Service and System Admin) and

Above left photo: 2024-25 BTA National President Adam Gregory kicks off e-automate Elevate. Above right photos: Guyla Wrens-Armstead (top) and Jim Coniglio of Xerox, one of the sponsors, present at the beginning of the event.

wrapped up with an Ask the Experts session where all of the speakers answered questions from the attendees.

The speakers included Barbara Bragger, president of B&B Professional Consulting LLC; Creech; Duncan; Adam Jones, system administrator at CopyPro Inc.; and Mike Kirkpatrick and Gary Lavin, partners at CEO Juice. The event was sponsored by CEO Juice, ECI Software Solutions (lunch sponsor) and Xerox. n

Above: 2024-25 BTA National President-Elect Debra Dennis (far left) moderates the Q&A with presenters (left to right) Bragger, Duncan, Jones, Kirkpatrick and Lavin. Left: Kirkpatrick (standing) and Lavin present one of their breakout sessions.

The

left)

Big Results, Small Budget

The smart way to invest in marketing

by: Jenna Miller, Emerald Strategic Marketing

When budgets are tight, marketing is often one of the first areas to get cut. But smart marketing does not always require a massive budget — it requires the right strategy and reasonable expectations. Prioritizing marketing efforts based on their impact and costeffectiveness can help businesses maximize growth without overspending. Here is how to strategically allocate your marketing budget for maximum impact and efficiency.

Define Your Company & Growth Goals

Before allocating your budget, it is crucial to clarify your company’s short- and long-term goals in detail. Are you aiming for brand awareness, lead generation or customer retention? While answering these questions, do not forget to keep your goals reasonable and in check. You cannot expect marketing on a budget to yield the same results as companies with seemingly unlimited budgets. Understanding your realistic objectives will help you prioritize marketing efforts that align with your growth strategy and ensure your spending is effective.

Understanding the Customer Journey & Tracking It

To invest wisely, you must understand where your customers typically come from and how they interact with your brand. A robust customer relationship management (CRM) system helps track leads, conversions and customer interactions, making evaluating which marketing efforts are paying off easier.

Another simple yet effective tactic is to ask customers “How did you hear about us?” in both digital and physical forms, which can help pinpoint the most successful marketing channels. You can also take it one step further and ask two questions on these forms: “(1) How did you first hear about us?” and “(2) Where have you seen our content?” This allows you to see where their first impressions came from, but also where they actively see your ongoing efforts. Furthermore, tracking tools such as Google Analytics, UTM parameters and CRM integrations allow businesses to measure engagement and conversions with better accuracy.

Low-Cost, High-Impact Marketing Strategies

Once you know where you want to go and how current customers have arrived there in the past, it is time to talk strategy. Marketing does not have to be expensive to be effective. Some of the highest-ROI strategies come with relatively low costs.

Email marketing, for instance, is one of the most costeffective channels, generating an average return of $36 for every $1 spent and up to $40 per $1 spent for software and tech companies. To get the most out of email marketing, businesses should focus on building an engaged list rather than just purchasing contacts. Yes, this is easier said than done, but it is worth the effort. Then, by providing valuable, educational content and personalized messaging, you will foster stronger connections with recipients.

Another valuable strategy is search engine optimization (SEO). SEO and website optimization are long-term investments that yield substantial returns. Results typically take six to 12 months to become visible, with peak performance

A WINNING PORTFOLIO

occurring in years two and three. A strong SEO strategy begins with keyword research to identify relevant search terms and is complemented by high-quality copywriting that establishes thought leadership and authority. And do not forget — optimizing landing pages with your SEO strategy can improve conversion rates while helping you to capitalize on existing traffic.

Marketing is vital to brand awareness, community relations and bringing in qualified leads. Just remember that most ... marketing efforts should be evaluated ... on ROI.

Often lower on the B2B marketing totem pole is social media. Social media marketing can be an effective way to engage audiences and drive conversions. Businesses can see an average return of $3 for every $1 spent on social media advertising. Companies can maximize efficiency and avoid unnecessary content production costs by focusing on high-engagement content and repurposing existing material.

Reuse & Repurpose Content

Creating fresh content constantly is resource-intensive, but as I just mentioned, repurposing existing material extends its lifespan and reach. Evergreen content remains relevant over time and continues to drive traffic, making it a valuable asset. Businesses can also repurpose content across multiple platforms to maximize impact. A blog post, for example, can be transformed into an email or adapted into bite-sized social media posts. Likewise, webinars and video content can be broken down into a blog series or short-form social content, ensuring that valuable insights reach a wider audience without additional content creation expenses.

Leverage Partnerships & Collaborations

Partnering with complementary businesses can help stretch your marketing budget. Co-hosting webinars, exchanging guest blog posts or running joint promotions can expand your reach without exorbitant additional costs. Networking within industry groups and engaging in strategic alliances can also bring new business opportunities.

Utilize Free & Low-Cost Marketing Tools

There are plenty of free and affordable tools available for marketing automation, content creation and analytics. Platforms like Canva for design, Mailchimp for email marketing and Google Analytics for performance tracking can help streamline efforts without extra costs.

Community & Referral Marketing

Word-of-mouth and referrals remain some of the most cost-effective ways to generate leads. Encourage satisfied

customers to share their experiences through testimonials and case studies. Having a positive Google Review and star rating can go far in the SEO world. Remember, better-rated companies are more likely to be recommended by Google. Also try offering referral incentives or loyalty programs to turn your existing customers into brand advocates without requiring a large financial investment.

Invest in Personal Branding & Thought Leadership

For smaller businesses or startups, building the personal brands of the founder or key team members can be a powerful, low-cost marketing strategy. Writing LinkedIn posts, contributing guest articles and speaking at industry events can position you as a thought leader and build trust with potential customers.

Test Before Scaling

You can avoid wasting your budget by testing strategies on a small scale before committing large resources. Running A/B tests for emails, advertisements and landing pages help determine which approaches perform best before expanding efforts. This data-driven method ensures that marketing resources are allocated efficiently, maximizing return on investment.

So, Is Marketing Worth the Money?

Yes! Marketing is vital to brand awareness, community relations and bringing in qualified leads. Just remember that most marketing efforts should be evaluated based on ROI. Tracking expenses and measuring performance against established goals helps businesses ensure their budgets are being spent effectively. But, like with most things, there is a caveat. While some aspects of marketing are easy to track and report on, elements like brand awareness and authority can be more difficult. So, keep in mind that the unseen value of a company “being out there” and “being seen” also needs to have some weight in the decision-making process. But by focusing on high-ROI tactics, tracking performance and repurposing content, businesses can achieve sustainable growth without overspending. n Jenna Miller is the CEO of Emerald Strategic Marketing, a digital marketing agency based in Navarre, Florida, that delivers custom solutions like SEO, social media management and other marketing services tailored to each client’s unique brand story. She can be reached at info@emeraldstrategicmarketing.com. Visit www.emeraldstrategicmarketing.com.

Artificial Intelligence Policies

They create a blueprint for success

To thrive in this new AI-driven economy, businesses need more than just powerful algorithms — they need clear plans. AI policies are the blueprints that ensure AI is leveraged effectively, securely and profitably. Think of AI policies as playing both offense and defense for your company: they drive growth and innovation while protecting the company from legal, reputational and operational risks.

AI policies are about much more than managing risk. They give companies a competitive edge. For example, imagine two competing software sales companies: Company A allows employees to use AI freely without guidelines or restrictions. Sales teams are using AI to draft client emails, generate customer insights and analyze market data. But without clear AI policies in place, sensitive customer data is sometimes exposed and AI-generated sales reports are often misleading.

Company B has a defined AI policy that outlines how AI can be used in sales, including guidelines on data privacy, customer interaction and report generation. Sales teams not only have clear instructions on how to and how not to use AI, but they are working in lockstep — everyone is performing within the rules, creating efficient, consistent workflows that leaders trust will work.

Which company would you trust to handle your business data and provide accurate sales insights? Clear AI policies allow businesses to align AI use with business goals, improve customer confidence and avoid disruptions. They give companies a tactical advantage, allowing them to innovate while maintaining control.

AI can also introduce complex risks, such as data privacy breaches, copyright violations, algorithmic bias and reputational damage. Without clear guidelines, minor mistakes can lead to major financial and legal consequences. This means that AI policies serve as a defensive shield by establishing clear rules and expectations for how AI is used across the organization. They define what is and is not an acceptable use.

For instance, let’s consider an HR manager who is drafting an AI policy to prevent copyright infringement in AI-generated content. By defining AI inputs, setting content review standards and explaining consequences, the company can avoid legal action while encouraging the creative use of AI.

Another defensive feature of AI policies is that they generate

by: Christina Catenacci & Tommy Cooke, voyAIge strategy Inc.

alignment with the law. Certain states currently have their own comprehensive AI laws; for example, California, Utah, Colorado and Virginia have led the way. Also, many states have data privacy laws that relate to how AI can be used. AI policies aligned with evolving legal requirements ensure compliance, reduce liability and position the company to adapt quickly to new regulations, turning legal alignment into a competitive edge.

AI policies do not slow down business — they empower companies to innovate within a safe, trust-building framework. When employees understand the rules, they make smarter decisions because they have confidence in knowing what is expected of them and they know what not to do.

Many companies try to take shortcuts with AI policies by buying, copying and scraping together bits and pieces of existing templates — or even using their competitors’ templates — to generate rules and guidelines. Throughout the last couple of years, it has also become commonplace for businesses to generate AI policies using chatbots like ChatGPT. This often leads to the production of generic guidelines that overlook your company’s specific shape and size, including legal and operational requirements, exposing you to compliance gaps and liabilities. While these approaches are fast and cheap, they introduce considerable risk.

Creating an AI policy is not a box-checking exercise. It is a strategic decision. A one-size-fits-all policy can leave dangerous gaps that expose the business to compliance failures, security breaches and even customer dissatisfaction. An effective AI policy requires a human in the loop: a person with experienced judgment who can tailor an AI policy’s rules, expectations and guidelines to ensure alignment with the company’s business model, values and industry-specific risks.

Creating an effective AI policy starts with an analysis of the company’s business model, market position and existing policies. The first step is to analyze the current situation. What are your existing policies? What are your business goals? What are the best scenarios or use cases for AI in your organization? The answers you come up with dictate what kind of AI policy you require — and what needs to go into it. The idea here is that you are actively taking inventory of the opportunities and risks to use AI successfully and safely.

AI policies are more than just legal documents ... They empower companies to innovate confidently, avoid costly mistakes and build trust with customers.

The next step is to initiate policy design. If you have a talented HR leader who is well-versed in the law, privacy and compliance components of AI, work with him (or her) to begin translating your opportunities and risks into rules and expectations around, for example, acceptable use, data handling or employee responsibilities. If you do not have this capability, outsourcing to experts will save you significant time and cost due to the risks of inexperienced policy design.

It is important to provide reasonable notice to employees

about the upcoming changes. This can be accomplished by notifying employees that there is a new policy (or update) and the date that it takes effect. From there, your staff will need training on the new AI policy. Depending on jurisdiction, the law, compliance bodies and insurers require that employees are trained and subsequently sign off on the new policies.

Last, but not least, are two additional important steps. First, companies are recommended to continuously monitor and enforce their new AI policies. AI systems change all of the time and so do laws. AI policies can become antiquated rather quickly. Stay on top of changes to keep your organization’s use of AI healthy.

Second, communicate with your stakeholders. Let them know you are using AI, or are planning to onboard it. Listen to your employees. Ask for feedback. Hear their concerns. The more you share your plans and visions, the easier it is to both adopt and manage AI thereafter.

AI policies are more than just legal documents. They are strategic assets. They empower companies to innovate confidently, avoid costly mistakes and build trust with customers. In a market where AI adoption is accelerating, the companies with clear AI policies are the ones that lead. AI is powerful, but only if you have the right blueprint to harness it. n

Christina Catenacci, BA, LLB, LLM, Ph.D., is a co-founder of voyAIge strategy Inc. and a member of the Law Society of Ontario.

She is a legal expert in privacy, AI, surveillance and ethics, with experience as a law professor, senior policy advisor and consultant. Her work has appeared in the Montreal AI Ethics Institute’s AI Brief, the IAPP’s Privacy Advisor, Tech Policy Press and Slaw. Catenacci specializes in privacy laws across Canada, the United States and the European Union, helping organizations develop ethical, tech-driven solutions. She can be reached at christina@voyaigestrategy.com.

Tommy Cooke is a professor, researcher and policy expert specializing in privacy, AI and ethical technology. He earned his Ph.D. in communication and culture in 2017, followed by research fellowships in Germany and at Queen’s University, where he won the Wicked Ideas Award. Cooke leads the multinational ADITLOM research team on smartphone data privacy and has worked as a policy advisor at the office of Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner and as a senior analyst on Deloitte Canada’s Trustworthy AI team. He has published widely on privacy and AI and has taught political science, sociology and engineering. Cooke can be reached at tommy@voyaigestrategy.com. Visit www.voyaigestrategy.com.

The Demand Letter

A commonly used tool to resolve business disputes

What do you do when a customer falls behind on lease payments or, worse yet, defaults? What if a rogue sales rep runs off with your customer list or recruits half of your sales team to work for a competitor? What if a vendor or a strategic partner does not deliver on a contractual obligation? Chances are you fire off an email to your local attorney or (shameless plug alert!) place a call to the BTA Legal Hotline to inquire about your legal options.

In the most extreme cases, the threat to your business may be so severe that you are left with no choice but to file a lawsuit immediately. Oftentimes, however, launching into full-scale litigation does not make sense under a basic cost-benefit analysis. The amount of money in controversy may be too small to justify the financial burden of steep attorneys’ fees. The likelihood of receiving compensation from an individual with limited assets or a business with insecure financials may be too remote. The disputed language in a contract may be too vague or too ambiguous to ensure a favorable outcome in court. In those cases, or in others where the threat to your business is not existential, a more measured approach is advisable. This month, Legal Perspective examines a commonly used legal tool that, depending on the circumstances, may be the first or last step in resolving a business dispute: the demand letter.

A demand letter is a formal communication that places the recipient on notice of a potential legal claim. The claim may arise from a variety of sources, such as breach of contract, employee misconduct or violation of a law. A demand letter does far more than just make a request or express a grievance. It communicates a seriousness of purpose, informing the recipient of the nature of the dispute, detailing the legal rights of the sender and proposing a remedy to resolve the situation. The recipient should always be reminded that ignoring a demand letter is a risky choice. Even if a demand letter does not result in a resolution, it may become important evidence demonstrating to a court that the sender tried, but failed, to reach an out-ofcourt settlement in good faith. A demand letter is most likely to succeed when it satisfies four criteria.

First, a demand letter should be steadfast, making it clear to the recipient that the sender is prepared to file a lawsuit and is confident it can achieve a victory in court. A recitation of

by: Greg Goldberg, BTA General Counsel

the applicable language from a contract or a statute, followed by a description of the violation, can be highly persuasive.

Second, a demand letter should inform the recipient that working to resolve an issue is always less costly than a legal fight. The prospect of paying for attorneys’ fees or even for an insurance deductible can serve as an effective deterrent against mounting a full legal defense.

Third, a demand letter should be emotionless. The language should be clear and literal, favoring strong nouns and verbs over colorful or inflammatory rhetoric.

Fourth, a demand letter should illustrate how the recipient can solve the problem. It may include a call to cease and desist offensive conduct, propose a payment plan to settle a debt or a course of performance to comply with an obligation.

Although there is no requirement that a demand letter be written by an attorney, it is highly recommended for purposes of effectiveness and persuasion. Receiving a letter written on an attorney’s letterhead sends a strong message to the recipient that the sender is invested in the problem. An attorney will outline arguments in a linear fashion and identify the full extent of the consequences the recipient may be facing. For example, an attorney will point out whether the sender is entitled to attorneys’ fees or other relief that might influence the recipient’s response. An attorney will also strike an appropriate tone, taking care not to inject inappropriate or irrelevant information.

There is no guarantee that sending a demand letter will be the last word in a dispute. In fact, depending on the recipient, a demand letter may yield the opposite result, raising tensions or escalating a conflict. But, in any case, setting out to prepare a demand letter is a worthwhile exercise. At a minimum, going through the process of reviewing pertinent documents, researching applicable law and honing arguments will stress test a potential legal claim, helping to set expectations for a business owner before making a consequential decision. I encourage all BTA members to reach out with any questions about asserting their legal rights. n

Greg Goldberg, partner at Barta | Goldberg, is general counsel for the Business Technology Association. He can be reached at ggoldberg@bartagoldberg.com or (847) 922-0945.

BTA HIGHLIGHTS

BTA would like to welcome the following new members to the association:

Dealer Members

Document Technologies/Managed IT Services, Tempe, AZ

Miller Imaging & Digital Solutions, Austin, TX

TUI Total Solutions, Edgewater, FL

WM Imaging Solutions Inc., Fort Wayne, IN

Vendor Members

ELATEC Inc., Palm City, FL

Evolved Office LLC, Davie, FL

Oberon NextGen, Naples, FL

For full contact information of this new member, visit www.bta.org.

ProFinance 3.0’s industry model will help you and your team achieve double-digit operating income. John Hey and Todd Johnson of Strategic Business Associates will share their knowledge from building some of the largest dealerships in North America and their experience advising many of the most successful companies in the industry. This hands-on training will give you and your company the competitive edge that is so vital in today’s marketplace. BTA dealer members receive discounted tuition and can use their $150 or $250 educational discount received with membership toward the workshop.

For more information, visit www.bta.org/ProFinance.

For information on BTA member benefits, visit www.bta.org/MemberBenefits.

For the benefit of its dealer members, each month BTA features two of its vendor members.

Evolved Office provides sales and marketing enablement for MSPs and office technology dealers, and through channel marketing tools for tech brands. Its platform includes expertly crafted campaigns on topics like cybersecurity, managed IT and VoIP, with SmartBrand technology to personalize content. Automation tools make it easy to send branded emails, social media posts and video messages, while AI-powered features like eoScribe, CRM integrations and analytics help drive business growth. Evolved Office also offers website development and complete managed marketing services.

https://evolvedoffice.com/bta

Oberon NextGen is a pioneer in the technology industry. Its comprehensive expertise encompasses cloud-based platforms tailored for a wide spectrum of technologies and business systems, empowering organizations to meet the dual goals of cost reduction and business expansion. The company’s visionary approach integrates the diversity of the internet of things (IoT), AI, customizable e-commerce and powerful cloud computing within the framework of IoT, ushering in a profound transformation in the world of business.

https://oberonnextgen.com

A full list of BTA vendor members can be found online at www.bta.org.

DEALERS HELPING DEALERS

CEO Juice & Staff Recognition

What reports do dealers use & how do they reward?

Compiled by: Elizabeth Marvel, Office Technology Magazine

Following are two questions submitted by dealer members as part of BTA’s Dealers Helping Dealers resource and many of the answers received. These answers and others can be found in the members-only section of the BTA website. Visit www.bta. org/DealersHelpingDealers. You will need your username and password to access this member resource.

What are the top reports you use from CEO Juice? Why?

“ID215 Possible Duplicate Toner Order, ID218 Purchase Orders Still Open, ID316 Toner Items Missing Copy Yields or Usage Limit Meter Types and ID75 Stale Inventory. The list varies based on the current focus. Don’t be afraid to subscribe for a few weeks and see what works. (They are only as good as the information provided.)”

Shaun Easter, service operations manager

Seminole Office Solutions, Longwood, Florida

“ID621 Cash Deposits & Payments Overview for daily looks at cash flow. ID768 Biggest Problem Contracts Without a Plan for looking at service issues. ID235 Technician Profitability Report for the month to look at tech efficiency. ID72 Technician Car Stock All Inventory for inventory control at a glance. ID560 Low Profit Contract Up for Renewal/Escalation for lowprofit contracts renewing.”

Jeffrey Taylor, president

Kingsport Imaging Systems Inc., Kingsport, Tennessee

“ID587 Contracts Lost & Won, ID203 Service Contract Overages Still in Billing Queue, ID768 Biggest Problem Contracts Without a Plan and ID315 Excessive Toner Orders.”

Lynn Pickford, president

Precision Copy Products Inc., Clairton, Pennsylvania

How do you recognize high-performing employees in various departments, including sales, service and administration?

“Trips and cash incentives. We do this for every employee.”

Chip Miceli, CEO

Pulse Technology, Schaumburg, Illinois

“We use Visa gift cards in cases of outstanding effort or customer service. We also have an Excellence in Service Award; we select a recipient each quarter who receives a check for $250.”

Wayne Piskin, vice president CCP Solutions, Farmingdale, New York

“It’s easy for sales — we have a great comp plan that highly rewards [getting] a new customer with a service agreement, not as high if it’s an existing customer with a service agreement, and very little if there’s no service agreement.”

Dennis McGalliard, owner Western Business Products, Redding, California

“We use the EOS Operating System. Everything starts with core values. We GWC [the EOS tool Get It, Want It, Capacity] every employee quarterly. We use metrics of activities for sales and metrics for service.”

Stephen Valenta, president Offix, Gainesville, Virginia

“We do awards once a year and have biweekly recognition for daily tasks. There is an employee appreciation event once a month for either birthdays or anniversaries.”

Shaun Easter, service operations manager Seminole Office Solutions, Longwood, Florida

“Money! Career bonuses can top $10,000 to $15,000 annually — on top of normal commissions — for sales reps. We have quarterly or monthly bonuses for technicians for various incentives (e.g., Google Reviews, tip leads, etc.) And, of course, we celebrate milestone anniversaries and give annual raises to all staff members.”

Christina Dargis, vice president of operations Copy Concepts Inc., Fort Myers, Florida

“The sales department has the President’s Trip. We don’t really have anything in place for service/admin.”

Lynn Pickford, president Precision Copy Products Inc., Clairton, Pennsylvania n Elizabeth Marvel is associate editor of Office Technology magazine. She can be reached at (816) 303-4060 or elizabeth@bta.org.

PRINCIPAL ISSUES

‘Foundation for Growth’ Sharp hosts series of dealer road shows

by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

In a series of 2025 Sharp Dealer Road Shows, Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America (SIICA) recently hosted dealers from across the country on a regional basis. Themed “Foundation for Growth,” Sharp promoted the gatherings as “all about connecting, innovating and discovering new ways to grow together.” The road shows were held in: Teaneck, New Jersey; Naperville, Illinois; Anaheim, California; and Atlanta, Georgia.

John Sheehan

At the road show in Anaheim, held Feb. 24-25, representatives of approximately 50 dealerships were present. John Sheehan, executive vice president of channel sales for SIICA, opened the event with “Adapting to New Market Realities,” his general session presentation.

“The purpose of this road show is, obviously, [to address] where the industry is going and what Sharp is doing,” Sheehan said. “The people here in this room — from corporate, from the field — all want to talk to you. They all want to tell you the message of Sharp; what we are doing to be successful. You have some decisions to make ... and there are tons of decisions on the table right now. You have to look at your partners, you have to look at your products and, obviously, you have to progress.”

Sheehan made the case for Sharp being a particularly good fit for dealers seeking to diversify their product portfolios, citing the company’s laptop and display monitor offerings [from its acquisition of Toshiba’s laptop business and joint venture combining NEC Display Solutions with Sharp], beyond its traditional imaging product lineup. However, he also emphasized that whatever the source of products, dealers need to diversify.

“If you sell our Dynabooks [laptops] or monitors, we’re happy; that’s great,” Sheehan said. “But we want you to diversify for the stability of your business ... There are tons of different opportunities to diversify [including such avenues as water systems, office furniture, unified communications and managed IT services as examples]. We really want to get that message across.”

One way Sheehan got “that message across” was by way of sharing a slide that compared Sharp dealerships that have diversified their product and services offerings to those that have not, and how the diversified dealerships garnered new

opportunities to sell more imaging devices. “What we’re seeing during this time frame [2019 to 2024] is that the companies that diversified grew 12% in their copier business,” he said, noting that by leveraging their product diversification, those dealerships closed more imaging device deals. “The dealerships that did not [diversify] were down 19% [in their imaging business]. Ironically, the 19% is exactly the same as the decline in the print market during that time. So, they rode the market. That’s a choice. You can ride the market and hope for the best ... But I am saying we have proof ... that at least in diversification, there’s opportunity to grow — and we see that [among Sharp dealerships] that have diversified.”

Although he emphasized the diversification message, Sheehan assured dealers that Sharp remains focused on imaging devices, citing A3 MFPs as the “core products” for the company. “A3 will always to be the foundation for us,” he said, later adding that “we continue to invest in A4 products ... We know that the market is going there. So, we feel confident in what we have moving forward and continue to invest in A4.”

While acknowledging that print is declining, it is “definitely not going away,” Sheehan said. “We are optimistic ... that the market will stabilize and that we will get back to normalcy in the print market. If you look at the companies out there that are starting to bring people back to the workplace, that’s one of the signs that we see as a very positive part of this. And we do think the market will improve. It’s not a growth business. Print is going down. But it’s a business that will stabilize.”

Sheehan also reminded dealers of the power of having Foxconn as Sharp’s parent company, noting in particular the advantage of its procurement capability. “That’s where Foxconn really puts Sharp above the others,” he said. “The procurement capability of Foxconn is bigger than everyone else combined.”

Likewise, Foxconn’s magnitude also provides an advantage to Sharp in such areas as AI, given the value of being in meetings with experts at Foxconn “who see AI five years out,” Sheehan said. “You hear [about] the changes in AI, and it’s fluid. You want to be with a company that is going to be in front of that and has the capabilities to understand what’s coming. That’s another advantage that Foxconn brings to us.” n Brent Hoskins, executive director of the Business Technology Association, is editor of Office Technology magazine. He can be reached at brent@bta.org or (816) 303-4040.

PRINCIPAL ISSUES

‘High Performance’

Xerox hosts 2025 Global Partner Summit

by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

At the Xerox Global Partner Summit 2025, themed “High Performance — Ultimate Returns,” held March 10-12 in Las Vegas, Nevada, the “reinvention” of Xerox was a predominant message — particularly in the opening general session. “Why ‘reinvention’ and not ‘transformation’?” asked Xerox President and COO John Bruno in his presentation. “Because we’re not trying to transform into something we are not. We are just trying to ensure we are fit for purpose at the right time and dealing with the world the way the world is, not the way that we want or the way it had been over time.”

Many of the “structural impediments” that had been built into Xerox were built on a “foundation of decades of success,” Bruno said. “[Xerox was once] a company that was significantly larger [but] was sideswiped with the rest of the industry as the hybrid workplace and the distributed workforce changed our core business.” The necessity to rethink the structure of the company and how it could be made easier to do business with became clear, he said. “We understood that the impediment structurally to our business required us to disassemble and reassemble our business.”

Part of the reassembling of Xerox includes the 2022 arrival of Bruno at the company. He previously held senior leadership positions with NCR Corporation, United Parcel Service, Cisco Systems, Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs, among others. “John brings decades of business technology and operations experience at Fortune 500 companies across a wide range of industries that are applicable to the direction we’re taking at Xerox,” said Xerox CEO Steve Bandrowczak, at the time of Bruno’s arrival at the company. Bandrowczak himself is relatively new to Xerox. He joined the company in 2018 as president and COO; he was appointed CEO in 2022. Prior to Xerox, he held senior leadership positions for various multibillion-dollar global companies, including Avaya, Nortel, Lenovo, DHL and Avnet.

“Here we are together,” Bandrowczak said in his presentation at the summit, regarding he and Bruno working alongside one another, emphasizing their shared expertise in driving change for large companies. “We’ve done this before and we’ve

got the pattern recognition in terms of what we need to do, but more importantly ... we don’t fear anything, and that’s important,” he said. “Why? Because as you go through these changes and ... these challenges ... it is really difficult. It is not easy.”

Bandrowczak explained how one of his first orders of business as CEO was to transform the Xerox Board of Directors, recalling his viewpoint in 2022 as the task got underway. “I want to reinvent the company; I want to reinvest back into the company,” he said. “But I don’t have a board that wants to reinvest or add back to the company. I have [board members who want] to get their money back out.”

In 2023, “we bought out Carl Icahn (for $540 million),” Bandrowczak said. “Incredibly important ... Why? Because that [allowed Xerox to make] the investments that we needed to make ... into the company,” he said. “[It was] a big pivotal moment.” From there, Xerox “brought on a new board,” he explained. “Take a look at the board makeup in terms of who we are — the CTO of Dell, CTO of Mastercard, number two at Verizon ... [It is] an incredible board. That is not only important in terms of supporting us, but in having the vision and capabilities that help us with technology directions.”

Xerox is now able to invest back into the company, Bandrowczak said, noting that since May of 2024, new investments at Xerox have “unleashed everything we wanted to do from a reinvention standpoint.” That included the announcement of two major acquisitions. “What you saw at the end of Q4 last year in terms of the ITsavvy acquisition (a provider of integrated IT products and associated services) and the Lexmark acquisition wasn’t by accident (in December 2024, Xerox agreed to acquire Lexmark from Ninestar in a deal valued at $1.5 billion),” he said. “It was part of a strategy that says we are going to reinvent this company, and we are going to be stronger ... than ever.”

Regarding the Lexmark acquisition, “we do expect this transaction to close sometime in the second half,” Bandrowzcak said. “We’re enthusiastic about that because the sooner we can, the better off we’ll be. We would love to have the companies fully integrated as we go through the 2026 planning cycle.” He had earlier noted that more than 400 people were at the summit. “Next year, when we bring on our friends at Lexmark, we’re going to double that.” n

Brent Hoskins, executive director of the Business Technology Association, is editor of Office Technology magazine. He can be reached at brent@bta.org or (816) 303-4040.

Steve Bandrowczak

John Bruno

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13 • Static Control

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