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This
Month's Spectrum Summary:
(The
following is an excerpt from the May 2006 issue of Spectrum,
a
proprietary monthly briefing published exclusively for the
clients of I.T. Strategies, Inc. © 2006)
Watch
Out!!
Here Comes Another Tornado;
Get Ready to Build on the Fall-Out
This month we sit down with Marco Boer
to explore how we can profit from the fall-out from today's
and tomorrow's "tornadoes" of commoditization. The winds of
change need not be feared. They can bring in windows of opportunity.
We look back, considering how both business and hardware models
have evolved in accelerating cycles. Selling hardware has
given way to leasing. Color became standard for consumer printers
years ago and now the office is upgrading with desktop color
laser printers and MFPs.
But marketing printers has become tougher
over the past few years. There are limits to how far machine
performance upgrades can go. And users are finding more and
more ways to cut back on print volume and finding that lower
priced models can meet their needs. Selling is harder because,
due to security concerns, cold calls are difficult. The current
hot application is variable data printing. This is also difficult
for a number of reasons. The up side is that as long as it's
difficult, it will be profitable. But as it gets easier, it
will evolve into a commodity.
There's continuing need to rework our
business models. It is said in the print-for-pay and commercial
printing industry that to remain competitive, a given model
is good for only around three years. The strategy needs to
be: avoid tornadoes by developing smaller areas with the potential
to grow big. Marco discusses four of these development areas:
cross selling, addressing more vertical markets, business
model changes, and, finally another business model too new
to name.
This last example is tentatively termed
"business process efficiency." Examples today are shops where
new levels of business efficiency have been attained and are
dedicated to helping their customers become much more efficient
with their printing.
Business today is seen as enjoying
satisfactory growth, but there will surely be new tornadoes
out of which will fall these kinds of opportunities for new
growth. On the show circuit, there now seems to be a new level
of optimism so it looks like a good time to be fielding new
solutions.
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