2025 End Of The Day With Ray - Accountability Top 5 List

by ray stasieczko December 29, 2024

As we head into 2025, I wanted to share some thoughts regarding the top five things needing immediate accountability within the Print Industry!

1) Industry Media Accountability: The industry media must be accountable for addressing facts and stop all the whitewashing. Attention Media! Along with all the happy news the industry also has bad news, and avoiding bad news in fear of sponsorships is detrimental to helping the industry's actors navigate challenges based on reality.

I would suggest to the industry media, look for sponsors who are based in reality and are not fearful of their truths or the truths of the industry. All organizations on the path to remain relevant understand fully the need for critics and accountability along this path.

Unfortunately, not all sponsors are concerned with having their reality exposed and are very eager to compensate the industry’s media and analyst willing to help them distract the marketplace from those realities. This continuous unaccountable business model of media appeasement will stifle the conversations for the industry's needed transition.

2) Analyst Firms Accountability: Listening to Keypoint Intelligence calling themselves an unbiased analytical firm is beyond reasonable as we head into 2025. Keypoint Intelligence the largest analytical firm in the industry and they should have accountability.

This platform has become an awards grocery store for OEMs. Should the industry take Keypoint Intelligence seriously enough to whatever they claim is credible?

Keypoint Intelligence expanded into eCommerce, Cyber Security, and their latest buzzword, deliverable AI, which is a testament to their goal of using awards as currency to lure more revenue from dealers and OEMs.

What exactly is the deliverable of Keypoint Intelligence? Should we expect Keypoint Intelligence to be kicking off a new A3 copy machine in 2025? If they do I would imagine it will be award winning even if it's not.

The once creditable BLI platform provided the industry with information to help navigate among competitors. Unfortunately, it's apparent the OEM awards benefit Keypoint Intelligence private equity owners Atar Capital more. The industry's actors should demand more from BLI than paid for trophies.

The fact that Keypoint Intelligence does not publish the OEM rebranding anymore or the fact that Keypoint Intelligence completely avoided delivering the needed information regarding Ninestar's supply chain and its manufacturing ties to Lexmark. Validating my thinking that Keypoint Intelligence is merely an Awards Grocery Store with zero value in helping dealers or OEMs navigate through realites based in credible research.

3) Industry Peer Group Accountability: Has the time come for dealers to ante up the amount of dues they pay to belong to their peer groups? Over the last decades, we have seen these organizations become more sponsor-driven venues over venues for needed education to create information-based knowledge for change.

We all understand the importance of major sponsorships for these organizations meetings and events; however, it's evident from the lack of conflict or accountability on the stages at these venues that sponsors control too much of the narrative.

The lesson the industry witnessed in late 2023 with the panel discussion regarding Lexmark and their owners, Ninestar, moderated by a BTA board member who also served as legal counsel to BTA dealer members. In reality, the legal counsel to the dealers should have been on the panel, not its moderator.

It was evident that the intent of the panel discussion regarding Lexmark's owners Ninestar the banned PRC by DHS over the UFLPA was to create a discussion based on comfort and complacency instead of any form of accountability on the most significant challenges related to geopolitics in our industry's history.

The issue regarding Lexmark's owner, Ninestar, required debate; instead, the panel discussion was useless talking points designed to distract the industry from the ban's realities. It consumed an hour and accomplished nothing, as since the panel discussion in 2023 and all through 2024, the BTA had zero follow-ups. This example is only one which gives me great fear for the BTA to remain as the industry’s oldest peer group.

My fear of the demise of the BTA organization and other industry peer groups is based in the thoughts as dealers increase the diversification of their deliverables, they will be introduced to new groups that are more focused on reality over appeasement.

To prevent this I believe the BTA and other groups must embrace the younger generation and consider governance restructuring. The time for change is now!

4) Accountability To The Industry’s Disasters: The industry will never improve if what's known to be not working is never held accountable. As example, over the last couple of years, the mega dealer Visual Edge IT has been proven financially nonperforming, as we have all seen the 10Q and 10K of its BDC Lender Ares Capital.

Yet Visual Edge IT has had zero scrutiny from the industry's media. Some of the industry’s media has actually sold Visual Edge IT interview spots affording the Visual Edge IT CEO and his rank and file managers to propagate how successful Visual Edge IT is.

All the while, the BDC lender to Visual Edge IT writes off tens of millions in losses and takes a preferred position on this financially non performing investment.

The industry's actors must hold accountable by challenging those who knowingly exaggerate their realities. That is actually what the industry's media should be doing. Instead, they do the opposite.

During all industry disruptions, its actors will have many, unrealistic optimists, some may even call charlatans, coming to aid them with untested unproven remedies for the cure to the disruption aliments.

The Latin term "Caveat Emptor," meaning Let the Buyer Beware – should become the industry's motto.

When the industry's actors witness a product as vaporware or any leader knowingly exaggerating, they should not ignore that reality regardless of any temporary beneficial outcomes these distractions of the truth provide.

5) Accolade Accountability and Credibility: All industries have their award ceremonies, and there is a place for them. However, when these accolades begin driving behaviors based on a winner's false sense of accomplishment, it actually stifles improvement.

It creates environments where achievements are commoditized, thereby bringing no value to pursuing the hard work involved in real accomplishments. Environments of Fake Achievement will soon become clubs based in delusion. Never allow delusion to become your vision for the future.

My friends, 2025 will not miraculously bring new relevance to a disrupted industry. Relevance is pursued continuously, and those on that journey must remain vigilant to the realities of their path. Vigilant to where their feet currently are on the path, vigilant to the lessons learned on the path already walked over behind them, and vigilant not to become unrealistically optimistic as they travel towards the path horizon. Most importantly, be aware of the distractions along the path. As all paths towards relevance are full of rest stops welcoming the weary travelers' insecure of their place in the future. Don't stop!

Ray Stasieczko

Host of the YouTube Series, The End Of The Day With Ray!

I welcome all to subscribe.

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