Proficiency Profile

A Love Supreme

BASICS #1 reseller extends
lead with Toronto acquisition

31 Mar 11

Supreme BASICS,Canada’s leading OP reseller announced in January the acquisition of a fellow member of the BASICSdealer group. We caught up with  corporate marketing manager Brennan Thomsonin Vancouver in early March to discuss progress and plans

Proficiency Profile

ECi accelerate
marketing services

BREAKTHROUGH launch of new
OPS reseller software solutions

31 Mar 11 (Complete)

The industry's #1 software house ECi Solutions CEO, Ron Books(pic left)and COO Trevor Gruenewald, will be presenting at the BREAKTHROUGH Marketing Conference on 20 April’10 at Kempton Park, near London (UK). We caught up with Trevor to get his update on recent acquisition FMAuditand the strategic plans to inspire dealer development.

BREAKTHROUGH'11
Marketing Conference

Nearby Hotels

27 March 11 (Updated)

Here is a selection of local hotels within easy distance of Kempton Park, Sunbury on Thames, the venue of the BREAKTHROUGH Marketing Conference.on Wednesday 20th April 2011.

Arrivals and coffee from 0830; conference starts at 0900 through to 1610 including buffet lunch between 1230 and 1330.

ODGate - Special Report

Depot’s spin
doctor disaster

Palm Beach Post steadfast in
face of legal intimidation

26 Mar’11

Proficiency Post first broke the story that Office Depot’s legal and communications department pressured the Palm Beach Post to withdraw an editorial critical of the company published on March 18th and withdrawn on March 19th.

Office hoarders:

know no borders

Chronically disorganized offices a high performance workplace dream

By Lucy Jermyn,

25 Mar’11

When pens, Post-it Notes, staplers, tape, batteries, cleaning kits and tissues go missing, an office hoarder may be active in your office. Take the 6 point test to check your 'hoardability'...

How now V O W?

New Vasanta chief ready to roll

25 Mar’11

Ex-SpicersFD Robert Baldrey has been in place as Vasanta Group’sCEO for 10 months now. We called to get an update on his progress of wholesaling, contract supply and the etail divisions.

Best Buy: not
best performance

Weak TV demand cushioned

by strong smart phones/tablets

24 Mar’11

Best Buy, the world’s leading consumer electronics retailer, today reported disappointing sales and profits in Q4’11 ended 26 Feb’11.

Climate Week UK

Commercial
Sets Record

OPS’ top carbon cutter
announces 5^th CSR Day

22 Mar’10 (Complete)
This week is Climate Week in the UK, appealing to businesses to ‘grasp the green future’. Commercial Group is the OPS’ green leader in the UK. We spoke to CEO Arthur Hindmarch and green champion Simon Graham (pic below)about progress and plans.

Proficiency Index – User Research

Mind the G A P !

Are Amazon and Staples closer to user choosers than local dealers?

22 Mar’11 (Complete)

Personal local service is the recognized strength of dealers. Dealers generally focus on buyers of stationery and IT consumables or 40% of potential spend. Very few go beyond the buyer to the more valuable decision makers. Amazon do!

Proficiency Index

Hall of Shame

10 companies/characters
that have negatively impacted
the OPS marketplace

20 Mar'11 (Completed)

The greater Office Productivity Services (OPS) marketplace is one of the largest and fastest growing in the world. Most players are positive, but is worth reflecting on some of the negative forces that divert market focus.

Double-digit
D y n a m o s

Independents are go!
20 resellers to watch in 2011

16 Mar 11 (Completed 1800ET))

We ahave just completed a 12 city tour of US/Canada, meeting 100+ independent resellers. We highlight and profile 20 who will achieve double-digit sales growth in 2010/11

Proficiency Index Poll

Top 10 Innovators

Leading manufacturer, wholesaler and reseller nominations. Results ready

15 Mar’11

The OPS market’s Top 10

R e s e l l e r

Renegades 

Blazing a trail to deeper

customer relationships

12 Mar 11

What comes to mind when you hear the term “renegade?” Do you think rule-breaker or ground-breaker. We believe renegades have a positive impact on business development culture. We consider global examples and our nominations for the top 5 past and present within the OPS market.

Deceitful Depot
settles for $4.25m

Frequent fraudsters feed false
information again in San Francisco

11 Mar 11

San Francisco's mayor says the city has reached a $4.25 million settlement with Office Depot over allegations that the company overcharged for office supplies.

ODgate Scandal –
Exclusive Breaking News

Depot cheats on
Chicago children

Whistleblower reckons fraudulent
overcharges could be $5million+

5 Mar’11

Whistle-blower David Sherwin states that the Chicago Public Schoolsystem could have been over charged by as much as $5 million by Office Depot.