{"id":16801,"date":"2016-03-03T19:53:05","date_gmt":"2016-03-04T03:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=16801"},"modified":"2016-09-15T09:24:27","modified_gmt":"2016-09-15T16:24:27","slug":"has-the-mps-ship-sailed-if-youre-not-already-offering-mps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/the-week-in-imaging-twii\/sales-and-service\/2016\/03\/has-the-mps-ship-sailed-if-youre-not-already-offering-mps\/","title":{"rendered":"Has the MPS Ship Sailed If You\u2019re Not Already Offering MPS?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is it too late to get into the MPS game if you\u2019re not in it already?<\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s a question that never seems to go away no matter how often the industry talks and talks and talks about MPS. You would think that everybody is in it already, but that\u2019s not true at all. There are plenty of dealers still waiting and watching. If you\u2019re one of those, there are plenty of successful MPS dealers and MPS advocates who are more than happy to give you a little push in the right direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it ever too late to do the right thing for your customer?\u201d asks Bill Melo, chief marketing executive, Toshiba America Business Solutions\/Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions. \u201cIf you\u2019re not well underway now, you have catching up to do, but still I\u2019d rather be catching up and doing the right thing than not. If you\u2019re going to be in the industry this is a big part of the industry and I don\u2019t see how dealers grow without getting into MPS and other solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MPS-BOAT\"\u201cMy question would first be, \u2018How are you planning on approaching it?\u2019\u201d asks Nathan Maust, major account executive with ASI Business Solutions in Dallas, TX. \u201cIf they\u2019re going to come in and approach managed print from the traditional Stage 1 Managed Print with auto supply fulfillment, break-fix, toner inclusive, and a cost per page agreement, I\u2019d say don\u2019t waste your time. That being said, if someone were starting fresh with a managed print provider not tied to any manufacturer with all the quotas that you\u2019re very well aware of, where dealers try to transition from a services-based to a transactional model, and they don\u2019t have those things and want to leap Stage 1 and Stage 2 of managed print and move into intelligent print management, enterprise content management, taking the focus away from devices and pages and more to the content, and that\u2019s how they\u2019re going to approach it, I\u2019d say the market is ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely not,\u201d says Lindsay Bohon, vice president sales, GreatAmerica Financial Services Corp. \u201cIn fact 12 percent of our annual dealer study respondents say they\u2019re planning on getting into MPS. There are \u00a0a lot of successful dealers you can learn from and we are here and would welcome the opportunity to help you grow as well. The economy has normalized over the past three years with the hiring of more people we\u2019re not feeling that decline in print today. MPS gives you that additional opportunity to help grow your base.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes and no,\u201d responds Mitchell Filby, managing director, First Rock Consulting. \u201cFirstly, new entrants can always come into a market and do well for a period [of time]. It’s how they continue to build their business that\u2019s key. If a new entrant came into MPS and just did what everyone else was doing I think that would be a bad decision. Unless you are creating new value or providing something better than your competitors, you won’t survive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is however still a fantastic opportunity for a provider to get into MPS if they approach it purely as a services outcome rather than a box-enabled business. MPS is still an attractive proposition for end customers – so while this is there – there is always an opportunity to get into MPS. The last point is that many, many MPS providers are still getting it wrong\u2014and are still making potentially good money.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Kevin Morris, president of OneDOC Managed Print Services and a board member of the Managed Print Services Association, it\u2019s not too late to get into MPS, especially in the SMB space.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re going to try and get into it from an enterprise perspective, you\u2019re a little late to the game,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m not saying you couldn\u2019t do it, but you\u2019d have the cards stacked against you whereas in the SMB space there\u2019s still opportunity out there. We still go into accounts almost weekly where they don\u2019t have anything in place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re starting with a cost per page program, I\u2019d say yes [it\u2019s too late],\u201d says West McDonald, vice president of business development, Print Audit. \u201cThe customer is sophisticated enough where they\u2019ve taken cost per page programs and look at them the same way they did a toner cartridge 15 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds that if you\u2019re trying to emulate what other people are doing in managed print, it\u2019s definitely too late.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn other hand, that you\u2019re trying to do something that goes beyond just the printer and start your program looking more at business process optimization, document workflow, document management, and user-based control, and look at it from that perspective today, there\u2019s very few people that do that well so you still have a huge opportunity. Anyone looking to get into MPS today is going to have to offer a more sophisticated version of it to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s never too late to start just like it\u2019s never too late to become an electrician,\u201d adds Ken Stewart an analyst with Photizo Group. \u201cYou just have to understand there are lots of other electricians out there and understand what your value proposition is and what you\u2019re going to be doing to solve your customer\u2019s problems. Just because you want some extra bucks in your pocket, doesn\u2019t mean your customers want to give you those bucks so you have to figure out how to help them part with those bucks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it is [too late],\u201d observes Sarah Custer, director of service and solutions sales for Supplies Network. \u201cIt\u2019s becoming more mainstream and end users are much more educated so you need to do your research and do it right to get into the game. There is plenty of opportunity, but it\u2019s not going to happen by chance. If you find the right partners and engage your sales team in the right way there\u2019s room for more players to enter the market for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course not,\u201d says Devon Thompson, manager customer experience at PrintFleet. \u201cWith how far the industry has come it\u2019s the perfect time for others to join. You\u2019re walking into an industry with so many others that have gone through trial and error to determine what works. Learn from other\u2019s success and from PrintFleet whose had an opportunity to see the good bad an ugly with MPS and how the technology enables it. Whether you\u2019re an office equipment dealer or VAR there is always an opportunity to show the industry the value you can provide with a unique program or service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christian Pepper, director of marketing and business intelligence at LMI Solutions, doesn\u2019t think the ship has sailed on MPS just yet. \u201cThe reason being the vast majority of pages are not under management today. I don\u2019t think MPS has become as ubiquitous in our industry as a lot of people thought it would be. MPS has not achieved high penetration in the small to medium size business marketplace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is it too late to get into the MPS game if you\u2019re not in it already? That\u2019s a question that never seems to go away no matter how often the industry talks and talks and talks about MPS. You would think that everybody is in it already, but that\u2019s not true at all. There are plenty of dealers still waiting and watching. If you\u2019re one of those, there are plenty of successful MPS dealers and MPS advocates who are more than happy to give you a little push in the right direction. \u201cIs it ever too late to do the right thing for your customer?\u201d asks Bill Melo, chief marketing executive, Toshiba America Business Solutions\/Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions. \u201cIf you\u2019re not well underway now, you have catching up to do, but still I\u2019d rather be catching up and doing the right thing than not. If you\u2019re going to be in the industry this is a big part of the industry and I don\u2019t see how dealers grow without getting into MPS and other solutions.\u201d \u201cMy question would first be, \u2018How are you planning on approaching it?\u2019\u201d asks Nathan Maust, major account executive with ASI Business Solutions in Dallas, TX. \u201cIf they\u2019re going to come in and approach managed print from the traditional Stage 1 Managed Print with auto supply fulfillment, break-fix, toner inclusive, and a cost per page agreement, I\u2019d say don\u2019t waste your time. That being said, if someone were starting fresh with a managed print provider not tied to any manufacturer with all the quotas that you\u2019re very well aware of, where dealers try to transition from a services-based to a transactional model, and they don\u2019t have those things and want to leap Stage 1 and Stage 2 of managed print and move into intelligent print management, enterprise content management, taking the focus away from devices and pages and more to the content, and that\u2019s how they\u2019re going to approach it, I\u2019d say the market is ready.\u201d \u201cAbsolutely not,\u201d says Lindsay Bohon, vice president sales, GreatAmerica Financial Services Corp. \u201cIn fact 12 percent of our annual dealer study respondents say they\u2019re planning on getting into MPS. There are \u00a0a lot of successful dealers you can learn from and we are here and would welcome the opportunity to help you grow as well. The economy has normalized over the past three years with the hiring of more people we\u2019re not feeling that decline in print today. MPS gives you that additional opportunity to help grow your base.\u201d \u201cYes and no,\u201d responds Mitchell Filby, managing director, First Rock Consulting. \u201cFirstly, new entrants can always come into a market and do well for a period [of time]. It’s how they continue to build their business that\u2019s key. If a new entrant came into MPS and just did what everyone else was doing I think that would be a bad decision. Unless you are creating new value or providing something better than your competitors, you won’t survive. \u201cThere is however still a fantastic opportunity for a provider to get into MPS if they approach it purely as a services outcome rather than a box-enabled business. MPS is still an attractive proposition for end customers – so while this is there – there is always an opportunity to get into MPS. The last point is that many, many MPS providers are still getting it wrong\u2014and are still making potentially good money.\u201d For Kevin Morris, president of OneDOC Managed Print Services and a board member of the Managed Print Services Association, it\u2019s not too late to get into MPS, especially in the SMB space. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to try and get into it from an enterprise perspective, you\u2019re a little late to the game,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m not saying you couldn\u2019t do it, but you\u2019d have the cards stacked against you whereas in the SMB space there\u2019s still opportunity out there. We still go into accounts almost weekly where they don\u2019t have anything in place.\u201d \u201cIf you\u2019re starting with a cost per page program, I\u2019d say yes [it\u2019s too late],\u201d says West McDonald, vice president of business development, Print Audit. \u201cThe customer is sophisticated enough where they\u2019ve taken cost per page programs and look at them the same way they did a toner cartridge 15 years ago.\u201d He adds that if you\u2019re trying to emulate what other people are doing in managed print, it\u2019s definitely too late. \u201cOn other hand, that you\u2019re trying to do something that goes beyond just the printer and start your program looking more at business process optimization, document workflow, document management, and user-based control, and look at it from that perspective today, there\u2019s very few people that do that well so you still have a huge opportunity. Anyone looking to get into MPS today is going to have to offer a more sophisticated version of it to succeed.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s never too late to start just like it\u2019s never too late to become an electrician,\u201d adds Ken Stewart an analyst with Photizo Group. \u201cYou just have to understand there are lots of other electricians out there and understand what your value proposition is and what you\u2019re going to be doing to solve your customer\u2019s problems. Just because you want some extra bucks in your pocket, doesn\u2019t mean your customers want to give you those bucks so you have to figure out how to help them part with those bucks.\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t think it is [too late],\u201d observes Sarah Custer, director of service and solutions sales for Supplies Network. \u201cIt\u2019s becoming more mainstream and end users are much more educated so you need to do your research and do it right to get into the game. There is plenty of opportunity, but it\u2019s not going to happen by chance. If you find the right partners and engage your sales team in the right way there\u2019s room for more players to enter the market for sure.\u201d \u201cOf course not,\u201d says Devon Thompson, manager customer experience at PrintFleet. \u201cWith how far the industry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16801"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16801"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16850,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16801\/revisions\/16850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}