Xerox & FX: A Good Old Fashion, American Scandal

Scandalous.

Hold me baby, hold me like you ain’t mine to hold

Oh kiss me baby kiss me, like you don’t care who knows

Oh love me baby love me like Kennedy and Monroe

Hushed smiles across the table, clandestine meetings.  There's something exhilarating about sharing a secret in front of the entire world.  Just the two of you. Food's better, the Sun warmer, nights longer.

But affairs have no future.

In the tightly bound world of third-party toner manufacturers, evaporating equipment placements, Monday morning sales meetings, earnings reports, tumbling clicks, and Sunday afternoon barbecues, the copier life is almost too much to bear.

Scandal and intrigue.

"I'd sell Xerox. That's a house of pain." - Cramer

The Xerox affair is a reflection of the industry; Mixed up, ruled by The house of Boys; Desperate.

"As Xerox goes, so goes the industry" or is it "As the industry goes, so go we all."?

• Remember when Ricoh bought Ikon?  Remember when Panasonic exited?
• How about when HP split?
• The assimilation of Muratec or the bifurcation of Xerox?
• Don't forget the Chinese purchase of Lexmark.
• And now, the Xerox, Fuji-Xerox, six billion dollar escapade.

X will fade.  The moniker might remain (Lanier, anyone?) but the greatness that was, will be no more.

"The new board - the majority now consisting of directors backed by Icahn and Deason - will begin evaluating strategic alternatives; Icahn and Deason have said XRX could be sold to a competitor or private-equity firm."

"Sold to a competitor..."  HP?
"...or private-equity firm..." Blue Horseshoe loves Anacott Steel?

So what will be the next shoe to drop? Will Ricoh succumb?

Will Sharp or Toshiba bail?  Can K/M survive? Canon?  Truly, everyone(except one) is circling the drain.

Those are negative operating profit figures.

For now, sit back and enjoy yet another, delicious scandal.

From one of many articles:

 -‘Sleepless Nights’ and 'Project Juice'

"... Dec. 7, 2017, letter written by Xerox director Cheryl Krongard to the company’s chairman Robert Keegan, titled “4 sleepless nights”. In that letter, Krongard called Jacobson a “rogue executive” who disobeyed the board to secretly negotiate a deal with Fujifilm.

In the letter -- purportedly sent less than two months before Xerox agreed to the deal -- Krongard also writes: “This board exhausted every ounce of patience and coaching to make our current CEO a success. We then decided, unanimously, for a variety of reasons, he was not the leader we need.” Krongard adds that the company had identified a CEO replacement who, she says, Keegan had said was “head and shoulders better than Jeff”.

The letter continues: “Jeff was told by you, as directed and supported by the board, that the board was disappointed by his performance and would likely look at outside talent. Additionally, you told him in no uncertain terms, that he was to discontinue any and all conversations with FX and F regarding Juice. He blatantly violated a clear directive”.

Project Juice was the code name given to deal discussions, while F and FX refer to Fujifilm and the Fuji-Xerox joint venture, respectively.

Latest Update, 5/13 -

Xerox (NYSE:XRX) says it has reached a settlement agreement with investors Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason and will end its merger deal with Fujifilm (OTCPK:FUJIF, OTCPK:FUJIY).

XRX says CEO Jeff Jacobson has resigned and John Visentin, a former tech executive who had been working with the activists, will become the new CEO.

XRX appointed five new members to the board, including Icahn Enterprises (NYSE:IEP) CEO Keith Cozza as Chairman, and five existing members resigned in addition to Jacobson.

The new board - the majority now consisting of directors backed by Icahn and Deason - will begin evaluating strategic alternatives; Icahn and Deason have said XRX could be sold to a competitor or private-equity firm.

A Decade of #TheDeathofTheCopier: Really?

Long ago, a decade seemed like forever; "1999" was a far-off party, and 2001 was so distant, that it was science fiction.

When I was young, I couldn't imagine where'd I be beyond 2008.  Today, decades fade away, "like tears in the rain..."

Ten revolutions around the Sun
120 Months
521.4 Weeks
3,650 Days
87,000 Hours

At its peak, The Death of the Copier was coveted; worth stealing. Not for the plain talk, but for the audience.

In 2008, we were busy back-slapping and congratulating ourselves for selling machines like popcorn.  The future was bright; it was never going to end.

• Ikon was a huge channel of 'independent' dealers.
• Xerox was like Kleenex.
• Ricoh and Canon punched it out for the second and third position.
• HP was on the edge with Edgeline.
• The rest of the pack was just that, a pack.

Today, I spoke with an MpS God - she was just fired. #managedprintservices #sales

I’ve said it many times, “ the path to MpS nirvana is littered with the skeleton frames of burnt out MpS Managers, Directors and Sales People”.

No sour grapes -

I’m sure there are dozens of good reasons for termination and every separation has at least two stories.  In the past decade I've been a Practice Manager, advisor and support specialist. I’ve thrived, struggled and witnessed good people churned under the seven step, "xerographic process".

And that’s exactly what I mean - the copier niche can destroy vision, creativity, and dumb down every business solution into 30 day segments.  Managed print Services is the latest victim, with managed IT services right behind.

Some of our industry leaders are no more than box movers - they confuse ‘applications’ with business solutions and project hubris as wisdom.  Take a trip through the LinkedIN community and notice how many times we compliment each other or brag about the latest sale, certification, trip or baseball team we're associated.

It is one big, circle-jerk.

These are observations not complaints. We all get what we deserve and this industry deserves its decent into obscurity.

But not just yet.

I've seen this before, from above and below and can list cautionary red-flags for the folks still selling MpS.

Here are some signs indicating you should give my friend Steve Spencer(MpS recruiter) a call:

• lie
• lack of vision
• too many rules
• change the rules
• filter out all creativity
• do not see beyond 30 day cycles
• incentivize for equipment sales only
• promote month/qtr/year end specials
• narrow-minded C-Level management
• put MpS under the service department
• dependent on hardware/service revenue
• refuse to integrate MpS and Managed IT services
• bad, complicated or non-existent compensation plans
• a corporate culture centered around past copier success
• focus on leasing and linking equipment inside MpS deals
• install a C-level executive with little or no experience beyond the box
• enforce identical activity expectations for support specialists and down the street copier sales people
• say "X is a major part of the business", yet majority of revenue is copier generated
• utilize a foggy compensation plan & do not enforce gates on sales teams

Here's a big one: Does your leadership yell? Do your C-Level meetings include loud voices, hands slapping desks and belligerent attitudes?

“You’ve got to be tough out there”
“This industry isn’t for the thin skinned”
“If you can’t take this, you’ll never make it in sales”

I’m no snowflake. This type of behavior says leagues about the yeller and the enabling organization.  At the very least this is unprofessional - would management slam desks or scream at prospects?

When people communicate in this manner, the organization is:

Insecure
Afraid
Negative

This is not normal behavior - Leave. Now.  Call Steve.

Not every organization operates like this, I bet not many at all.  But if you're in one, in any industry, consider your self-worth and get the hell out.  It's a big world. No matter your current skill set or personal/professional goals, there are companies and positions out here for you.

You're Notbroken.