Ken Stewart
For those of you who still believe cost-per-copy with break-fix and toner service is the end all be all of managed print services, brace yourself. I’m about to go to a place that only a select few, tried and true, seriously successful MPS providers have been.
To understand this place, you first have to understand what managed print services was always meant to be. As it is defined by the Managed Print Services Association, “Managed print services is the active management and optimization of document output devices and related business processes.”
The “P” in MPS is where most dealers stop. Far too often, I talk with dealers who are a little too preoccupied with a focus on printing as the end-all-be-all. Unfortunately, this can come at the expense of other lucrative opportunities in a customer’s business. Photizo Group aligns its view of MPS more with the MPSA, and I spend a great deal of my time talking about the last three words in their definition, ‘related business processes’. If the printer were like your car, its function would be to convey its passenger (important business information) to a certain destination. When thinking of it like that, what’s the point of getting in your car if you don’t know where you are driving?
The MPS landscape continues to rapidly change and evolve, driven by advances from technology and program providers as well as escalating customer expectations. Several years ago, Photizo recognized a looming convergence of the traditional office technology dealer and the IT systems integrators. This blending of best practices and approaches to market would create a superior organization with a focus on services-led delivery and fulfillment known as the Hybrid Provider.
Hybrid Providers possess the entrepreneurial spirit and document-centric expertise of traditional office technology dealers as well as the rigorous process-mindset and technological savvy of information technology system integrators. When combined with a services-centric go-to-market strategy, Hybrid Providers are agile in responding to customer need while demonstrating core expertise in delivery of managed print services.
It is important to understand that a services-centered business looks beyond traditional product-centered offerings, such as break/fix hardware contracts alone. Photizo asserts that the Hybrid Providers must offer services beyond typical Stage 1 (Control) and Stage 2 (Optimize). Offering Stage 3 (Enhance) services is a key differentiator for Hybrid Providers.
According to Photizo Group’s Hybrid Provider Index Report, these premier providers are as well equipped to control and optimize a customer’s output device fleet as they are print and document management software solutions. In my years at an independent provider, I often used these niche applications to deepen my value and influence with customers.
Even more potent was tapping right into the workflow itself. By helping my customers streamline their processes it often led to great boosts in employee morale and customer satisfaction — not to mention quickening their time to cash (and mine in the process). Not surprisingly, 60 percent of the Hybrid Provider Index provided more advanced workflow solutions.
Perhaps most telling is that 40 percent of Hybrid Providers offer managed network services (MNS) or IT services (ITS) in their portfolio. When asked, these provider executives stated that it was only natural to expand in to adjacent lines of business.
Even though I’ve spent a good bit of time talking about revenue opportunities ‘beyond print’, it’s certainly important to acknowledge that Hybrid Providers certainly don’t miss the “P” in MPS either.
The service and supplies revenue is the profit engine of the traditional imaging industry. This is no different in Hybrid Providers. What is key to point out is service and supplies revenue contributions are reported to be significantly higher than more traditional transactions. This trend will continue to place downward pricing pressure on those firms that heavily rely on hardware to generate revenue, but those that can adapt to this new formula should enjoy greater revenues.
In the Hybrid Provider, it’s clear that executive leadership is sharply focused on a services-led approach to market, and do not limit themselves to a single line of services revenues. To expand your own opportunity, get serious about where your driving too. The window of opportunity still exists, and by expanding your view of MPS, you have an excellent opportunity to expand the story you are telling your customers, eventually resulting in increased revenues and profits.
To hear more from Ken Stewart, checkout his presentation “Measures of Success: A Candid Look Inside Champion Hybrid Providers” at Photizo’s Transform 2012 in Orlando, FL. This session provides a clear understanding of best-in-class benchmarks and practical tips for side stepping costly landmines in going to market with MPS. Learn more at www.photizogroup.com/transform2012.
To learn more about the Hybrid Provider Index Report mentioned in this article visit http://photizogroup.com/hpi.
