The Cloud, the Cylons, and the Return of the Server Room

Ai is consuming business software, rewriting the economics of subscriptions, and raising a question we thought we’d settled thirty years ago: Who should own the computer?

Think about it.

We’ve spent three decades moving our businesses into someone else’s computers. We called it the cloud, celebrated the freedom from server rooms, and gradually accepted monthly subscriptions as the cost of doing business.

Keypoint Puts Robotics Questions on the Table. The Continuum Has the Answers.

Another great article reflecting the growing opportunity for robots in office technology.

David Sweetnam asks the right questions about how our little niche might take advantage of robotics to increase revenue, reduce costs, grow profits, attract great talent, and secure the legacy. Five of many planks in The Continuum Platform.

They are questions The Cricket Continuum started addressing almost two years ago.

From the article:

Robotics Is Repeating the MPS Playbook

I’ve said it a million times, “the office ready robot category is just like the early days copier/office technology”, especially Managed print Services, albeit 17 years later.

Very similar to, but not identical with, the way we sell, manage and service fleets of output devices.

Office ready robots are like copiers that move around - usage, supplies, consumables and service SLA’s are part of the model not easily fulfilled by existing OEM ecosystems. That’s our wheelhouse.

Ask Us Anything CXXVII

End-of-quarter sales pain, robots, Epson, remote surgery, drones and Eddie Van Halen.

Pretty much a normal Friday on Ask Us Anything.

Art Post and I started with something every salesperson recognizes: a deal you did everything right on can still get pulled upstairs to corporate and disappear into somebody else’s purchasing process.

📠 Congratulations, You Got the Order. Now Start Worrying.

There is a wonderful moment in sales when the customer finally signs the order. You have been prospecting, presenting, demonstrating, revising proposals, answering questions, changing lease terms and following up without becoming the person whose phone number the customer blocks. 

Then it happens. The signature arrives. ✍️🎉

9/11/2026 and 250 Years

Since 2012, I've posted this video on DOTC and whatever platform de jour -

It was the song, written for America well before 911, it was the Super Bowl, it was the people, it was the time, and it was the flag on the inside of his jacket.

What Breaks When Office Technology Dealers Acquire Each Other

Nearly half of office technology dealers say they plan to buy another dealership or service company. The purchase agreement is not the hard part. The hard part starts about 90 days after close: two customer files, two serial histories, two dispatch boards, and two item masters are still running while customers expect the same technician tomorrow.

Not the least of these challenges is the daunting task of integrating two businesses’ systems into a single management point of truth, efficiency, and execution. But there are other obstacles along the way that even the most discerning business executive may overlook.