MPS: A Tool for Building Relationships Over the course of the last couple of years, it’s become quite clear that we’re living through a unique economic period in history. In this tough business environment, the most important and valuable opportunity for office technology dealers is taking the time to truly understand the customer and solve their business needs with simplified systems, greater convenience and cost savings, so they can successfully accomplish more with less. About seven years ago, Toshiba was the first to develop a Managed Print Services (MPS) system –Encompass™ 1.0. Encompass was designed to be more than just another sales tool that helps dealers deliver outstanding products. It provided a solution to meet customers’ needs for process improvement and reduced expenses. At the time, this business model was a new idea, not immediately replicated by others and not quickly adopted by dealers. Not long after the development of Encompass MPS, the economy began to falter and businesses found it more and more difficult to keep their doors open and employees on the books. With fewer resources and tighter budgets, customers began looking “outside the box” for new and innovative ways to reduce expenses and streamline their ever-more-demanding workday. Dealer implementation of MPS slowly increased with adoption by more and more forward-thinking dealers. Participating MPS customers received the new program well, and found themselves saving as much as 40 percent on their printing expenses virtually overnight. With rising unemployment rates over the last two years, office technology dealers saw page volumes decrease. As a result, dealers who had not previously adopted a MPS strategy were now open to considering new ways to recover that lost revenue. They, like everyone else, were forced to change the way they did business in order to survive, and hopefully thrive. By offering MPS, dealers could provide customers with exactly what they needed, and at the same time increase their revenue and grow their own businesses. One good thing to come from our down economy is that demand for MPS has skyrocketed. There is not a copier manufacturer in existence today that doesn’t claim to have an MPS program of some kind; however, because many of them are still in the early stages of development and implementation, there continues to be a fair amount of variance between program features. In fact, the definition of MPS even seems to vary depending on who you’re talking to. Toshiba, having begun this journey more than half a decade ago, has found itself ideally positioned to confidently deliver a proven-successful and fully-integrated MPS solution. Toshiba defines MPS as managing a customer’s existing fleet of imaging devices. That means it doesn’t matter if they are non-Toshiba products – if they work for the customer and are necessary in an optimized fleet – Toshiba will service and support them. That’s a differentiator for Toshiba. What you won’t see us do is try to remove non-Toshiba products and replace them with our own without a solid, optimization-centered reason. We focus exclusively on what’s best for the customer. We are taking the brand-agnostic approach and charging the same cost per page, regardless of device. Over the years, we’ve found that this approach results in good things for our dealers: incremental revenue, increased presence in the print environment, complete account control, and the ability to create opportunities for new equipment sales through right-sizing. Launched last summer, Encompass MPS 3.0 allows dealers to purchase services from Toshiba at three levels, from basic to advanced, as cost-per-copy (CPC). Other enhancements include: • Automated toner notification and replenishment • The addition of the Printer Parts Optimization Program, which gives dealers the opportunity for one-stop shopping of all Toshiba and non-Toshiba new and refurbished printer parts with added online technical support • A national customer service dispatch for all devices with a single point of contact for dealers and customers and simplified billing directly from Toshiba • An integrated Encompass Green Report, which accurately measures energy consumption, carbon emissions, paper usage and solid waste, to provide a customized analysis that pinpoints opportunities for reducing environmental impact while also reducing costs. • An integrated SecureMFP program which helps dealers identify a customer’s security risks and outline a strategy to cost-effectively fortify document management. Big MPS program differentiators for Toshiba also include the SecureMFP/Encompass Security Vulnerability Report and Encompass Green Report. Often people think MPS and they think convenience, simplicity and cost-savings, but they don’t automatically think about environmental sustainability or security. We do. These are arguably two of the most important issues related to a company’s overall document management. Each business has their own environmental goals, and oftentimes, meeting those goals is essential for bringing in new business, so it’s only natural for us to support them in that initiative. At the same time, security is a necessary part of business life for companies of all sizes and ensuring that our customers’ sensitive business or personnel data is secure is of the utmost importance to us. It thus made perfect sense to us to incorporate an Encompass Security Vulnerability Assessment into our process when analyzing and optimizing a customer’s imaging fleet. In our opinion, a fleet is not optimized if it lacks the required, or desired, security level of the business. Toshiba has chosen to take the turn-key, brand-agnostic MPS program route, but there are other manufacturers out there who prefer the “build-your-own” model. Regardless of which MPS model one prefers, it’s pretty clear that we’ve reached a turning point in our industry, where MPS is no longer an optional revenue stream, but rather a necessary one. The best advice for dealers who haven’t yet implemented a MPS program is to closely and honestly examine their own business, identifying their strengths and their weaknesses. Then review and evaluate the various manufacturer offerings to determine which provides the most comprehensive, demonstrated MPS program, products, services and support. Finally, they should select the system that best suits their unique business needs and is most easily integrated into their business – strengthening their strengths and filling in the gaps where they have weaknesses – for even greater business growth. In the end, there is one simple key to success for any business across all industries: the customer relationship. While technology continues to rapidly speed ahead and companies like Toshiba continue to develop new innovations in the industry, one thing has remained the same, and will maintain consistency despite technological advances: a desire for relationships. It’s our human nature. It’s built into our DNA. Dealers, through MPS, have a unique opportunity to dig deeper and truly commit to fostering a greater understanding of their customers’ needs and concerns, and thus, developing stronger customer relationships. For Toshiba, the dealer is our customer, and as such, we are committed to the dealer's success, which means helping them to better serve the needs of their customers. Look at your business, look at your customers' businesses, and embrace MPS as the tool that can benefit both, for long-term customer relationship building and overall business success. Bill Melo is Vice President, Marketing and Enterprise Services and Solutions of Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc.