I keep hearing over and over again that MPS has become a commodity. I’ve been hearing it so much lately I’m starting to believe it. But what do others in the industry think? Earlier this week I asked Doug Johnson, senior vice president, Supplies Network, if MPS has become a commodity. Here’s what he had to say.
Doug Johnson
“Depending on how it’s sold, it’s true. The challenge is every environment is unique and no two companies alike, and the most valid ways to solve the customer issues is to take the time to understand the company and their workflows and not push a pre-prescribed solution on them. A lot of resellers try to make this a cookie-cutter type strategy and put in some new A3 multifunction devices.
“They’ve got a prescription almost independent of what symptoms the customer is having. It’s almost like a doctor that prescribes the same pills every time regardless of the patient’s symptoms. That’s what often commoditizes it because the resellers aren’t doing the job to understand the workflow.
“Once you start blending in software that improves their overall workflow to where you monetize the relationship independent of whether a page is produced or not by looking at how their workflow works, you’re helping them be more effective and efficient. A lot of resellers are still trying to sell managed print in a transactional model. You need to move to a solutions selling mentality where you recognize or embrace the idea that every customer is unique and your value is in prescribing [a solution] based on that unique set of circumstances and that there are multiple ways in which you can solve the problem. If you end up in that four decimal bout competing with some other guy down the road with the same approach you are and have no unique value add, the solution is commoditized.”
