MWAi and
Intel joined together as co-sponsors and “partners” for what I
expected to be a typically well conceived and planned program.
Thankfully the Photizo Group did a fantastic job once again of
pulling together a prestigious list of partners, sponsors,
OEM’s, developers and resellers. It was impressive to
recognize a notable list of exhibitors led by Xerox, Sharp,
Ricoh, HP, Intel, NewField IT, Safecom and others such as
PrintFleet and yours truly, MWA Intelligence. This is just the
short list of some very impressive companies!
The Managed Print Services marketplace continues to experience
explosive growth. It is expected Europe will actually overtake
the United States marketplace by the year 2013, driven by the
winning combination of MPS Vendors, Hybrid Dealers and end
users.
I was also pleased to see a robust list of MPS end user
clients attend as both participants as well as speakers. One
track I found particularly interesting and beneficial was
“Introducing MPS at a UK University with a speaker from John
Moores University.” This was a unique end user view of the
Managed Print Services migration path and an indication of how
significant it is that a client went from 0 to 60 in the MPS
market within 18 months. This was an amazing story!
This was the second European Conference I attended, the first
one being in Amsterdam 2009. Both events were well run and
highly informative, but this year it was very clear to see
that the enthusiasm of the audience and the expectations for
all attendees had gone significantly up.
We all understand that MPS is no longer an idea or a strategy
but rather an “imperative” for all parties involved in the
distribution chain. A few things jumped out at me during this
conference, and one of them was the fact that the independent
software developers have all taken bold steps to improve the
security, feature sets and performance of their MPS solution
suite. I am CEO of MWAi and I have deep appreciation for the
amount of money, patience and support required for the
adoption of new products in a channel that does not easily
embrace change. But this year I was very pleased to see the
improvement in attitude and spirit!
One of the other areas I found interesting is the obvious
challenges the OEM’s face as they created new and improved
products, business methods and processes that will allow them
to adapt to this new and demanding MPS marketplace.
Having managed at the COO level of a major OEM, I am sensitive
to the significant challenges every OEM faces in managing the
changing face of a hardware provider as they morph into an MPS
provider.
This is not very easy and we should all pay a high level of
respect and appreciation for the many benefits they provide
for the entire industry. I feel the need to cite this as a
real issue for everyone involved in the MPS community.
Especially given the fact that MPS by its very nature means
that the hardware brand name is not helpful. In fact if not
managed properly, it is a liability!
The good news is that the European MPS Conference actually
provides a number of venues for all parties to create and or
validate existing customer and channel requirements, thus
allowing for a better decision-making process.
MWAi has participated as a sponsor at the past two American
Conferences in San Antonio and we have also joined the
Amsterdam and Barcelona MPS programs. Our involvement has
provided me with what is literally a worldwide view of the MPS
marketplace and I am pleased to report, generally speaking the
marketplace needs are the same. The end user client
requirements are in a similar state of change and, more
importantly, a MPS customer in New York is expecting his needs
to be serviced in a like fashion to someone in London. This is
a formidable change in the customer’s expectations and it has
certainly resonated with a great deal of focus within the
distribution.
MPS continues to move forward, and with its growth will come
further migration and greater customer expectations.
Mike
Stramaglio has a long history of leadership in the Office
Equipment industry. Over his nearly 30-year career, Mike has
served as President and COO of Hitachi Koki Imaging Solutions,
Inc., and held senior management positions with Minolta
Corporation and Ricoh Corporation. Under his stewardship,
Hitachi earned the prestigious Most Innovative Manufacturer of
the Year award for two consecutive years. He was also formerly
CEO of Imaging Portals, Inc., and a two-time winner of the
Executive of the Year award, presented by Marketing Research
Consultants, Inc. Mike joined Electronics For Imaging as
General Manager of EFI's Service Automation division in 2003.
In this role, Mike was responsible for Automated Dispatch
Systems and the Intelligent Device Management solution set,
bringing them together under a new name: Managing Workforce &
Assets. In acknowledgment of his experience and expertise, M2M
Magazine elected Michael T. Stramaglio as M2M Technology
Advisor (Imaging) in early 2007.
