Frankly, I’ve been surprised (shocked?) by the slow/bumpy transition to managed print services. Companies like Xerox seem to start — then stop — their MSP education efforts. There’s no continuity. There’s no call to action. But then I read about a Synnex/PrintSolv event to help resellers become managed print services experts. And I realized: Managed print services are an unavoidable destiny.
You’ll find a great recap of the Synnex/PrintSolv event on a blog called Death of the Copier (I love the blog’s name, by the way). Apparently, 60 resellers spent two days with Synnex and PrintSolv, learning about the managed print services market.
The blog recap lists all the traditional excuses/barriers to successful managed print services. But one thing is clear: Resellers can either make the move to managed print services and profitable applications like document management, or they can go out of business as their hardware margins get squeezed.
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I realize some portions of the managed services market are hyped. But managed print services seems like a no-brainer opportunity, especially since so many printer and copier customers already lease the hardware. Moving those customers from a lease relationship to a hardware as a service (HaaS) relationship sounds logical to me… but many vendors and resellers still haven’t gotten the message.
Memo to Xerox, Hewlett-Packard and the rest of the printer market: Start educating your resellers about managed print services, or watch your reseller channel suffocate.
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Posted In: Software as a Service and Hardware as a Service
Tags: Hardware as a Service | Hewlett-Packard Managed Print Services | managed print services | PagePack | PrintSolv | Synnex | Xerox PagePack
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Joe, I could not agree with you more. This obvious opportunity has been slow to gain traction, and I think the reason is that people are focused on management of the technology. The real secret sauce here is in the long term supplies and consumables contracts that this business model makes possible.
If I can not only lock down the management of a printer infrastructure for a number of years, but also link the purchase of all of the parts, paper, toner, ink, etc for those printers over the life of the contract and deliver it all seamlessly, well I’ve changed the way my end client will view my value. This is where solution providers need to be focused. The margin is in the service and the consumables – not the printer hardware.
We are having a half-day managed print seminar the day before our Seismic Parnter Conference in Dallas on Monday, May 4th. For further details readers can visit http://www.ingrammicro.com/seismic.
Justin: I think there’s an opportunity in the SMB space as well. I have two broken printers in our office. I hate dealing with ink refills and repairs. And I’m tired of buying commodity products that break down all the time and don’t use ink efficiently.
If somebody could manage our company’s printers/scanners for a flat monthly fee … including hardware as a service to eliminate up-front purchasing costs … I’d be willing to listen.
And I bet thousands of SMBs are thinking the way I am…
Justin,
Good comments. And our firm actually specializes in research and consulting just for Managed Print Services. The vendors and channel are struggling to make the transition from a ‘hardware centric’ to a ‘services centric’ business model which is required for MPS. That is one of the reasons for the bumpy transition. However, our tracking studies show significant momentum in the last twelve months, and clients are clearly focusing on this area.
In fact, there is even a Managed Print Services conference being held this year in San Antonio Texas, on April 26-28. You can learn more at http://www.managed-print-services.com. You can also download a number of resources and white papers on the subject from this site.
So, let’s draw a conclusion here: VARs/MSPs located in Texas have no excuse for ignoring the managed print services market — since there are two educational events just around the corner. I’m not endorsing the events, but I am endorsing ongoing education and an urgent need for the industry to retire the old copier sales model.
I agree with the fact that Managed Print Services is a very viable offering for resellers to get into. You can deliver printers on a payment model, include supplies, maintenance, and etc. all within the same contract What a great way to differ yourself from the crowd.
So here is a question?
Where is the Tornado of resellers signing up?
Managed Print Services has been around for a long time. I remember the Print Advantage Program HP offered in 2000.
My answer:
Most resellers are looking for a program that delivers technology to their respective clients, that they can make a profit from without feeling as if they are at risk of competing with the program provider for profit and client turf.
Yes – I am a big fan of HaaS because it allows the reseller to deliver a core set of solution(s) on payment while controlling the process and the long-term relationship.
It is my opinion that most of the payment-based Managed Solution programs that offer Hardware as part of the solution fail because of several reasons.
1- Branding
2- Client Relationship
3- Process Control
4- Funding
5- Transparency
Once you solve these items, then you start to gain traction within the reseller community. I agree with the wave of something coming but I am not sure it will be Managed Print unless the programs begin to solve those issues.
Some will adopt but it is my belief that most of the resellers focused on Managed Print now are dedicated to the print management arena where more than 60% of their business comes from print based sales.
Ramsey: I think all of your points are on target, but I still believe most resellers don’t even know their printer/copier suppliers offer HaaS/managed print services programs that they can evaluate.
I agree but think about this and remember I really like SYNNEX…..
To spend that much money , have that much advertising in developing a program that started almost 2 years ago and only have 60 resellers show up for a 2 day training show. I know we could debate the 60 but as polished as the MSP offerinfg should be why does CONNECTWISE drive over 400 hundred participants and Vendors banging downthe doors to be there? My Answer: CONTROL…. The reseller can control what they offer and how they offer it.
Zenith offered a BDR Rental program and with-in months skyrocketed sales. Yes they had a good solution too but they offered a model that resellers could control the process and deliver the product. They in my opinion nailed the 5 key ingredients.
Sorry you got into my Soap-Box.
If you ever really want to know what I think… read my blog. I get heated up there all the time.
http://www.mspondemand.blogspot.com
Ramsey
I think Joe is right on about the lack of awareness. I have one vendor who I work with where I work with 4 or 5 reps here in the Atlanta ofc and they are a huge reseller of Canon and Ricoh copiers. Now granted, I’m not their target market as I’m there to put in a funding program to help them close more deals but I didn’t even know they offered a managed print service until I saw a piece of a presentation that one of my reps made to a prospect. Then I asked him about it and he told me about it. I would not have even known and that was referral business from me that they were missing out on.
Stu
http://www.southernlendingsolutions.com