Canon sent out a letter to all of it’s Authorized Canon Dealers to confirm that Canon has ceased to provide all technical support. The letter goes on to say:

“,,,we are aware that certain materials circulated by IKON state that “…Canon has agreed that Ikon may contract with authorized Canon service providers to enable us to continue to provide any support needed for firmware upgrades, patches and access to technical support.” This sentence misconstrues the terms of the October 30, 2008 confidential agreement between Canon USA and IKON.” (Red font & bold type are mine)

It seems like the Questions to ask IKON about their Canon Service posted on this blog finally got to the truth. In response to these question IKON sent out a letter that apparently misstated their capabilities to service and support their customer’s Canon equipment. So in response to that letter Canon sent out their own letter (121\2009) to clarify their relationship (or lack their of) with IKON (a wholly owned subsidiary of Ricoh).

And if you read the letter it makes it perfectly clear to both IKON and all the Authorized Canon Dealers that neither IKON nor an Authorized Canon Dealer are permitted to enter into a “behind the scenes” agreement to service Canon equipment in partnership with IKON. Apparently that was an IKON pipe dream.

So now all the cards are on the table IKON can not get firmware, patches, updates, technical publications, or Canon tech support on any of the Canons that they service or support. The last spin IKON will likely make is that they have “all that stuff’ for the Canon machines that they use to be authorized to sell & support. While that was true a year ago, Canon like all manufacturers continue to send out new firmware, & patches, etc for equipment that is currently in the field. I believe that each manufacturer is required to support a product for a minimum of 7 years after it ceases production. So if you have Canon equipment being serviced by IKON you likely do not have anything that Canon has released for it in the last year. That is one of the main reasons that a Canon customer chooses an Authorized Canon Dealer to service their Canon equipment.

A final thought to those Customers who have and like their Canon ImageRUNNNER equipment. If you like your Canon ImageRUNNER you are going to love the Canon ImageRUNNER-Advance!!! The new line is unbelievable.  You should call an Authorized Canon Dealer to see it, especially if IKON is trying to push you into Ricoh equipment. At the very least come see a demo so you can see what you are going to be missing.

That’s my $0.02
Vince McHugh
vince.mchugh@necs.biz
WWW.NECS.BIZ

About 3 Months ago we installed a Canon uniFLOW solution at a prestigious International business school in the Boston area. We had tried to provide a solution that would meet the needs of their very diverse network using a number of different technologies but each fell short, until we proposed and installed Canon’s UniFLOW.

So what was so unique about their network? Here are some of the challenges that we faced.

The School is looking to track their students (~250/year) copy & print on three Canon MFDs. The following criteria need to be met:

1. There is no Active Directory Login for the Students – Local Authentication. This caused several “solutions” to be non-starters. In the spirit of full disclosure their actually is an Active Directory, but the students are NOT forced to login to it before printing.

2. The system needs to track prints & copies (faxes or scans are optional). It also came to light during the install that only the students would be charged, the faculty & staff would not be charged, but they did want to still track their print & copy usage. No Problem with Canon’s UniFLOW.

3. Student bring their own Computers with a wide variety of (OS) Operating Systems (several Flavors of, XP, Vista, Home & Pro, MAC  OS  X.4 & 5, both 32 & 64 bit systems) The Home versions of XP & Vista caused a couple of Solutions to drop out of the running.
4. Minimal prep work should be done to the students Computers. – Good documentation was the key! Screen shots and simple instructions allowed the diverse student population to set themselves up with minimal support from the IT Dept.
5.  Students should have an initial level of access (dollar amount or clicks) across all 3 Canon MFDs. We (NECS) were the first Canon uniFLOW install in the USA to integrate with PAYPAL! This allowed the school to give the students an initial printing allowance, and then the students could replenish their printing budget as needed with little to no IT involvement.
6. Students should be able to go to a specific staff member to add value to their account and have the staff member reactivate their account or add value to an active account. UniFLOW \ PAYPAL integration made it unnecessary for the staff to be involved in this process. Causing significantly lower support overhead for the school. this was a HUGE benefit to the school.
7. The Canon MFDs currently have eCopy SSOP embedded. There should be no conflict with this app. Because there was a sensitivity to cost, the initial implementation met this criteria but we did NOT integrate the two apps. This has been proposed as a future enhancement so that UniFLOW will pass forward the student or staff login credntials to the embedded eCopy SSOP app. This would allow the students \ staff to login to BOTH UniFLOW & eCopy SSOP when they tap their school security card on the MFD proximity card reader.
8. There are 6 Lab PCs that will need a Pop Up type of authentication so that multiple students may use it while still billing their prints to their accounts. This knocked out another solution we looked at. We loaded the Canon UniFLOW client with a pop up on the Public PCs in the Lab so that each student would get a pop up for their credentials each time that they printed.

9. It would be nice if the solution would provide true follow me type of Printing. Where a student could use a universal print driver and pull down the job at any Canon they chose to use. Canon UniFLOW allows Students & Staff to simply login to any Canon MFD running the UniFLOW MEAP app. by tapping their school issued security card on a proximity reader attached to the Canon MFD. The first time they tap their prox card it asks them to login to the UniFLOW system which will import their user info from the Schools Active Directory. They NEVER need to login again unless their AD pasword changes. Once they login in to ANY Canon MFD running the UniFLOW MEAP app they can then release their print jobs. Thus the print jobs “follow” the student(s) to whatever Canon MFD that they choose to login to.

This was a tall order from a good customer, after trying a couple of “solutions” that failed to meet all the requirements, Canon UniFLOW tamed the wild west (of networks). It was a true “solution” for this school. We combined Software, Hardware & Know How to solve the school’s business problem!

That’s my $0.02
Vince McHugh
vince.mchugh@necs.biz
WWW.NECS.BIZ

Xerox has been touting its new color cube pricing model.

On paper it sounds great! It sounds like you could print some color documents for little more than the price of a black & white page. The Xerox sales force has been showing off three sample pages and giving the following costs per page

.0089 -(under a penny) for a B&W page with just a small color logo
.029  -for a page with a little more color
.059 -their highest rate for a color page. (BTW, both Canon & Konica Minolta have a lower per page color price)

The .0089 seems unbelievable to the Customer, they can now do color for the price of black & white (so says Xerox). In fact, at this cost why would anyone even care if their end users print everything in color? And THAT IS WHAT XEROX IS HOPING FOR!

Because if Xerox can get the customer (and especially the CFO) to not care if their end users print color then they WILL print color, and the cost will rise, and Xerox will make more money, because their customers will spend more money.

How you ask? Let’s look at how we set up most of our customers now. When one of our customers buys a Color MFD we default BOTH the Copier and all the Print Drivers to B&W. We set it up in such a way that when an End User copies or prints without thinking it comes out in B&W. If they want color they must choose color. They must actually make an effort to switch from the B&W default to Color when they copy or when they print. And guess what? That keeps the price EVEN LOWER than the lowest color price of the Xerox Color Cube.

And if that is not enough we will lock down the color capabilities so that only certain end users can do color at all. If certain end user’s jobs don’t require them to print or copy in the color then they don’t get the ability to do so. While other end user’s jobs do need this ability. So we give them the codes to do so. This strategy works to keep the cost of color printing truly low for our customers.

Xerox is trying to remove these safe guards, but I believe that Customers who do allow their End Users to print everything in color will find that these amazing savings that Xerox is promising will be as illusive as “free health care”.

That’s My $0.02
Vince McHugh
vince.mchugh@necs.biz
WWW.NECS.BIZ

It has begun to happen! eCopy, Ricoh, and others have begun to lay off or “let go” people, talented people. Some of them I know personally, many I respect.

What does this mean to your organization? If you are a direct Branch, or a large Independent Dealer, or even a “Mom and Pop” you can get some real talented people to fill key roles in your organization for a bargin.

Yes you will likely pay less for them then they made at their previous job, but be careful! Don’t get greedy. Don’t take advantage of the really talented people. They are NOT in the bargain bin, they simply got caught standing when the music stopped. It could of been you, or me, but it was them. And you may be able to pay them less than they are really worth, but if you succumb to this temptation you do it at your own peril.

If you do you will pick up some key talent for your organization BUT YOU WON’T KEEP THEM. Is that what you really want??? To temporarily fill a position? I don’t think so! So be reasonable, yes you will not pay them what they were making, but think about what they are worth and NOT just what you can get them for.

Why? (Are you really asking why?) Because (please forgive the CAPS) THE PRIMARY JOB OF MANAGEMENT IS TO GET AND KEEP GOOD PEOPLE (TALENT), IF WE DO THIS, THE COMPANY WILL RUN WELL. The part of this formula that the “bargain bin” recruiting fails to consider is “KEEPING” the talent you hire. Isn’t that what we all really want? A long term addition to your team?

Do you want them to be loyal, and stay after the crisis has past? Then the ball is in your court. Be reasonable in your offer and they in turn they will be loyal to you and your company. Resist the baser instinct to cheap out on your offer, in the long run you (and your company) will be glad you did.

That’s my $0.02
Vince McHugh
vince.mchugh@necs.biz
WWW.NECS.BIZ

Xerox has been talking about their NEW Color Cube as if it was the second coming. There has also been a lot of negative feedback on the web about this product (some of it untrue – for instance I had heard early on that the Xerox Color Cube could NOT do PC faxing, but we had a customer tell us that this is no longer true, even though BLI said it was).

I have been dying to get my hands on some Color Cube sample output so I could see for myself what the hub-bub is all about. And today one of my sales guys came back with a full color sample. Honestly, I was not impressed by the quality. The Canon ImagePRESS series blow this output away. it is not even close.

This is my first hand account of what I see when I look at and handle a Color sample off of the Xerox Color Cube. First of all it feels cheap, waxy. I am the son of a butcher, so I know what wax paper feels like. It has a crayola crayon feel to it. When I LIGHTLY scratched it the colored wax came off with little effort. Can you imagine printing up a million dollar proposal and then putting it your bag to fly to another city only to find the not to gentle baggage handler on the airline damaged your delicate wax based proposal? I will stick to color prints that are a little more durable thank you very much!

After the Xerox Color Cube failed the scratch test, I figured I would fold it and see how it held up. One fold and the Wax based toner cracked. I now have a nice white line running through my full color print. We were also told (though I have not yet personally confirmed this) that you can not laminate these prints because the heat of the laminater will melt the wax based toner. That makes sense, but you should ask your Xerox rep if you can laminate the output form the Xerox Color Cube. And lastly I have been told that the Wax based toner does not like coated paper. The person I spoke to said the Wax does not stick well to coated paper. You should test this for yourself before you buy one.

So to recap the Xerox Color Cube is great (not), just so long as your don’t:

1) Scratch it

2) fold it

3) Laminate it

4) or try to put it on coated paper stock

Other than that the color is “just OK”. Truthfully, I think Xerox is trying to pull a fast one on all of us. This sure looks to me like the output of their old Phaser (wax based) Technology. I guess because Xerox owns this technology (and no one else seems interested in using it) that they feel it gives them something to talk about. Around here the Xerox sales force has clearly “drunk the kool aid” and our hyping this up as must have technology. Now that we are actually kicking the tires it seems like there is a lot more bad than good. but don’t take my word for it put it through the scratch test for yourself! Just make sure that you have something with you to clean the wax out from under your finger nails.

That’s my $0.02
Vince McHugh
vince.mchugh@necs.biz
WWW.NECS.BIZ

Here is the link so you can read it for yourself. Congratulations Ed & Crew!

The first thing that came to my mind is finally eCopy will get a better OCR engine. It’s no secret that I have NOT been a fan of the ReadIRIS OCR capabilities. And the “answer” has always been that you can use OmniPage if you want, the problem has always been the cost to upgrade. Now that Nuance owns both OmniPage & eCopy I am hoping that the default OCR engine will be greatly improved. I am not sure that they will have a choice, because from what I am hearing ReadIRIS dropped eCopy (like Canon droped Ikon) once their chief rival bought them. Go figure?

There has been increasing pressure on eCopy to separate their offerings from what the MFD Manufacturers now include in their own embedded scanning solutions. There have also been a lot of other companies nipping at eCopy’s heals with similar Scan stations (like EFI’s SendMe).

eCopy’s strengths are their extensive connector catalog for their SSOP  product (over 250) and now an emerging connector catalog for their Desktop\PaperWorks product. Their other strength is a unified End User Scanning interface across platforms. For dual line dealers (for instance we sell & support Canon & Konica Minolta) this can be a powerful arguement to lead with an embedded eCopy solution. Now with Nuamce strengthening their OCR engine, as well as possibly other Nuance technology making its way into the eCopy product line this could help them stay relevant even as the manufactures close the gap on their own scanning solutions.

One thing that I would like to see added to both eCopy’s SSOP and their Paperworks product is Nuance’s Dragon Naturallyspeaking voice recognition capabilities for Indexing!!! If it worked as advertised that could revolutionize indexing documents before committing them to a document Management system. Indexing, adding the meta data to the scanned image, is the key to making a Document Management System work. But everyone is always trying to make indexing easier (read less typing). Voice recognition (if it works well) could be a quantum leap in document indexing, both in speed and ease of use.

I really love it when two solid technologies come together in a previously unconsidered use to solve a real business problem. Sir Isaac Newton said “If I have seen father than other men, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.” Nuance & eCopy, You have a real opportunity here, I hope that you have the vision to make it work. Good luck!

That’s my $0.02
Vince McHugh
vince.mchugh@necs.biz
WWW.NECS.BIZ

PS: The only sad note, for me personally, is since I turned down that job offer from eCopy a few years back, I won’t be cashing in on any stock options, I hear that there are some happy folks over at eCopy tonight. Good for you!

I went to Las Vegas last week to see the official unveiling of Canon’s new smart MFDs called ImageRUNNER Advanced. I was impressed with what I saw. Here are a few of the highlights. I have received some info to correct some of my observations. I have posted these corrections in PURPLE.

The new line of ImageRUNNER-Advanced will have: the product name is actually imageRUNNER ADVANCE

The availability for an optional USB Keyboard that will either sit right in the middle of the MFD or on its own mount.

Large Full Color Touch Screens – The Operations Panel (UI) is very customizable. There is a Main Menu and a Quick Key Menu (where you can program complex tasks into one button workflows)  It’s hard to believe but Canon made their new Op Panel even easier for end users than their current Canon Op Panel.
The new line is more eco friendly (both in how they were manufactured, and how they run)
Advanced Box (A-Box) which will be a type of File Server on the MFD for collaboration
Access Management System (AMS) – which will allow you to limit what functions each user can do on the MFD
All of the new line have (optional) Security card authorization built in to the front of the MFD.
Scan to USB Thumb Drive (This can be disabled by an Authorized Canon Technician for high security environments)

Print From USB Thumb Drive
Suspend on Mismatch (print around functionality) – If a Print job can’t print because it doesn’t have the correct paper loaded, the jobs behind it will continue to print.

All of the line has two separate processors, Even  faster response from MEAP Apps (like UniFLOW or Authorized Send)
There is a new Print Driver Customization Utility being released. It will allow us to customize a Canon PCL 5 or PCL 6 driver. CORRECTION – Canon Driver Configuration Tool:  The CDCT will allow for customizing PCL 6, PCL 6, PostScript, and UFR II drivers for Canon controllers, vs. just PCL 5/6 That’s great news!

So you could REMOVE the option for color, or make double sided mandatory BEFORE you push it out from your Print Server to their end users. Both Network Admins and CFOs will love the ability that this will give them to enforce the Corporate policies on cost savings and “Green Initiatives”.
All ‘I” series in the new line will come with “Canon Essentials” which will include: ImageRUNNER ADVANCE Essentials:  The three components of Essentials are imageRUNNER ADVANCE Desktop, Tracker, and Workflow Composer with 3 standard WFC Connectors (SMB, FTP, and SMB Index Connectors).  imageWARE Document Server (not Document Manager Server) is a separate option which uses imageRUNNER ADVANCE Desktop as a front end.

• A 5 user license of the Canon Desktop Software (similar to eCopy Desktop)
• Tracker – replaces ImageWARE Accounting Manager for MEAP  (helps track who is doing what on each MFD)
• WorkFLOW composer to set up those complex tasks into one button workflows on the quick men
• Document Manager Server
• Dashboard – which allows you to see the MFDs screen remotely (on a PC) – good for training or remote troubleshooting. The “Dashboard” referred to is actually the Remote Operation Kit, and is also a separate option as well.

There will be a couple of new Universal Send options:

• Reader Extensions (for PDFs) – allows a basic Acrobat Reader to mark up a PDF created with this option
• Office Open XML format (OOXML) – Scans in this format can be opened and edited in Powerpoint

There will be an optional Document Scan Lock & Tracking that will embed an almost invisible 3D bar code on the Document that can make it not possible to copy it unless you are the owner.
Canon is the only MFD manufacturer currently to have a connector that ties directly into Adobe LiveCycle Server. This Server allows you to apply security policies to scanned PDFs right from the new Canon IR-Advanced. So you might not allow anyone to print this PDF, or only a certain group of people. It can also have a PDF “time out” so that it no longer opens after a certain date . I spoke to the Adobe Rep at the show and he tells me that Adobe LiveCycle is very big in government circles. Adobe:  LiveCycle is a fairly large platform that’s modular in nature. The integration with the Rights Management module of Adobe LiveCycle ES.   Good description on what it does, though. It’s also big in finance areas, both finance companies and finance-related sections of businesses.
There also a new MS Office plugin for the ImageProGraph Wide Format Printers. It adds a nice tab to MS Office apps (like Word, Excel, Powerpoint) that provides easy to use wizards so the end user can easily print posters from these MS Office apps. I believe that this can be downloaded now.

Overall there is a lot to like on the new Canon ImageRUNNER Advanced line of MFDs.

That’s My $0.02
Vince McHugh
vince.mchugh@necs.biz
WWW.NECS.BIZ

Apparently the eight questions to ask Ikon regarding Canon service has made an impact. Ikon has recently sent out a letter (dated August 2009) that states “Ikon may contract with authorized Canon service providers to enable us to continue to provide any support needed for firmware upgrades, patches, and access to technical support”

So if we apply a little deductive reasoning (ALA Sherlock Holmes) we can conclude what we have long suspected that Ikon does  NOT have access to these things on there own. So some of the smoke (screen) has begun to clear. And it has also become even more apparent just how much the Ikon customers lost when Ikon lost their status as an authorized Canon service provider.

According to their recent letter they lost their ability to directly obtain firmware, patches, or technical support from Canon. But they can hire an Authorized Canon dealers to do all these things for them. REALLY? What Authorized Canon dealer is going to do this for Ikon? Do you really think that an Authorized Canon dealer will help Ikon service Canon MFDs until Ricoh \ Ikon can replace them with Ricoh MFDs? Who would that be? It smells like more smoke to me! They could try and pull a fast one on some customers and bring in a “C-Level” Canon Dealer. A Canon dealer who is not full line authorized, but is only Authorized on the lower end Canon MFDs. But they could say that they have an Authorized dealer under contract, and that would be technically correct. But that would be misleading their loyal Canon customers and Ikon would never do that, would they?

Even if they do pay some full line Canon dealer enough to want to do this for them, how will that work? Well for starters Ikon will likely only bring in an Authorized Canon Dealer as a last resort, because it will be costly? So this will delay the customer from getting their needed firmware, patches, or Canon technical support. And since there will be an added layer of support it will cost more. It will have to just to cover the cost that Ricoh \ Ikon will have to pay to get an authorized Canon Dealer to show up. Once the call does go out, how high of a priority do you think it will be for an authorized Canon dealer to respond to Ricoh \ Ikon’s service request? It’s not like they will have a lot of other options to get authorized Canon service support.

So it’s really not much of a response, but I guess Ikon had to say something? Had to give some response because they got tired of their Canon customers pushing them for the truth about what they no longer had when they lost their authorized status. Customer’s aren’t stupid! They saw right through the last Ikon smoke screen, the one where they said nothing is different, and nothing will change. Since that line of bull didn’t work, they now have moved to the second level of smoke screen. They say that they “MAY” hire an authorized Canon service provider to do for their Canon customer what they can no longer do themselves. Really? Ask them “who”? And get it in writing on Ikon letterhead.

Let’s stop the spin! Even if they actually do hire some mercenary Canon Dealer it will be more expensive, and it will take longer to deliver the Canon service that these customers have paid for. After all when they bought their Canon MFDs and entered in to a service agreement with Ikon they WERE Authorized Canon service providers, and now they are not. So they lost real value when Ikon was purchased by Ricoh. This is no longer in question. The only question I have now is what will Ikon’s Canon customers do about it?

By the Way, the original Canon Ikon letter said that Ikon would receive certain technical support from Canon for at least one year. That letter was dated 10-31-2008, that One year will be up in about a month. Hummm?

That’s my $0.02
Vince McHugh
vince.mchugh@necs.biz
WWW.NECS.BIZ

Canon to provide MFDs to HP

Here is the Reuters Link, so that you can read the story for yourself. This is a move that a number of industry analysts predicted after Ricoh bought Ikon. No one expected Canon to sit on their hands and not try to take back the market share that Ikon provided to Canon.

HP & Canon are two of the biggest and most respected names, each in their own space. This agreement could have interesting effects on the market place. HP has long desired to enter the MFD space. They have had several of less than successful attempts with the Mopier, and more recently their Edgeline MFD products. But this deal will help HP overcome one of their two major hurdles. It will provide HP with a great product line of MFDs to sell. A product line that is well established and well respected. Initially labeled as Canon MFDs, but eventually HP will put their own label on these MFDs.

But there still remains one other significant hurdle that HP will need to address if they are going to be successful in this space, and that is service. I am talking about MFD service, not traditional printer service. There is a difference between the two. End users have come to expect a 4 hour or less response time for their MFDs. MFDs are typically a little too big to have one in your trunk so you can swap it out, and then repair the printer\MFD when you get a round to it. That won’t work in this space.

Maybe they will take a page out of their Mopier play book. When the Mopier was first introduced HP invited a number of large Independent Canon Dealers to come out to Boise, Idaho and take a look at it. They were looking to put together a ready made service department for their new product. I was one of the people invited by HP to look over the product. Unfortunately the Mopier did not get picked up by a large number of dealers, and those that did pick it up did not have great success. This was a brilliant  move by HP, they just didn’t have a product that would really shine in the MFD market space.

But now they do have a great, proven product line (The full line of Canon MFD products). There are also a number of very large regional independant Canon Dealers that HP could approach to solve their service issue. It could be an interesting discussion for both HP and the large independent Canon dealers. They were smart enough to do it once, but maybe they were just ahead of their time.

That’s my $0.02
Vince McHugh
vince.mchugh@necs.biz
WWW.NECS.BIZ

As of March 2009, only 20,000 of the Canon’s that IKON had in its MIF (Machines in field) had been replaced by Ricoh product.

IKON still has 300,000 Canon machines in its MIF (a target rich environment for Authorized Canon Dealers)

I think that this illustrates that while it is easy for Ikon to SAY that a Ricoh is just as good as, or better than a Canon, Their customers are not buying it. At least that is what the numbers are saying.

Some will stay with Ikon because they like their Sales Rep, or they like their technician. Or maybe Ikon has spent a lot of money taking that Purchasing Agent to their Luxury Box at a ball game, or on a Golf Trip, and that Purchasing Agent likes the way they are treated. OK, I get that, but what happens when their End Users first see the Ricoh MFDs that they are getting to replace their Canons? We have seen some significant push back from loyal Canon customers. They can make the Purchasing Agents life “hell”! But the initial End User acceptance, or not, of the Ricoh MFDs is only the first hurdle for Ricoh \Ikon. But apparently that is a hurdle that Ikon is struggling with since they have replaced less than 7% of the Canon MIF (as of March 09).

The next big hurdle for Ricoh \ Ikon will be when the first Ricoh equipment lease comes up for renewal. Its easy to flip a lease of a customer that likes you, and likes your product. you can even use the good will that you have built up over the years to get them to trust you when you say “The Ricoh is just as good as the Canon”. But If your Ikon Sales person  is smart they will try to write these leases for 60 or 63 months the first time. Because the further out they go the less the End Users will remember the good old days when they had reliable and easy to use Canon MFDs. That would be good for the Ikon Rep but definitely not for the Purchasing Agent, who will have to live with their hostile end users until the lease is up. When I worked at _BS I was involved in bringing over a couple of good Canon customers to Ricoh. We have recently gotten them back after their first lease expired and they would not even consider renewing with Ricoh equipment. Ricoh was not even invited to bid. That’s how much these customers hated the Ricoh products.

The Authorized Canon Dealers are seeing an influx of loyal Canon customers who previously got their Canon equipment from Ikon. But there have been some (less than 7% according to the numbers above) that have been loyal to Ikon and that’s OK. The Authorized Canon Dealers can afford to be patient, we’ll see you when your first Ricoh \ Ikon lease is over, or has 9 months left. It is amazing the effect a unhappy group of end users can have an a Purchasing Agent. When the End User community “ain’t happy” they tend to make sure that the Purchasing Agent “aint happy either”. We shall see!

That’s my $0.02
Vince McHugh
vince.mchugh@necs.biz
WWW.NECS.BIZ