{"id":39813,"date":"2020-04-09T10:37:06","date_gmt":"2020-04-09T17:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=39813"},"modified":"2020-04-09T10:37:09","modified_gmt":"2020-04-09T17:37:09","slug":"xaas-and-dealers-weighing-the-pros-and-cons-of-monthly-subscriptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/the-week-in-imaging-twii\/editors-blog\/2020\/04\/xaas-and-dealers-weighing-the-pros-and-cons-of-monthly-subscriptions\/","title":{"rendered":"XaaS and Dealers: Weighing the Pros and Cons of Monthly Subscriptions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It is easy to say that the movement toward bundled services\nunder a flat-rate, monthly subscription model is a factor of the millennial\ngeneration taking a bigger role in customer buying decisions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is true that millennials have now grown in size and demographic representation, and now wield greater influence in the business community than they did five years ago. But putting the movement squarely on their shoulders ignores the other factors at play. It also resists the call to mobilize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
West McDonald, West McDonald Co.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDealers want the easy button,\u201d noted West McDonald, founder of West McDonald Co. and the industry\u2019s resident seat-based billing evangelist. \u201cPrograms that are approaching flat rate from a device perspective are easier for dealers \u2013 they don\u2019t have to do any work. That\u2019s probably a good way to get started, but as I always caution, the same problem with managed print right now is we didn\u2019t take it far enough. MPS is much more than taking meter readings and billing customers, but that\u2019s not really managing as you would think of it in the managed services world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDealers can start with a flat-rate model, use those great\nnumbers provided by BEI Services (NEXERA) and make sure that they\u2019re\ncontracting simply and profitably, but have an eye on stage two. How can we get\nsome of those other services that we\u2019re doing into the contract?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Kim Louden, GreatAmerica<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Dealers who embrace flat-rate billing, or are gradually\nmoving in that direction, need to be cognizant of how it might impact their\nbusiness from an internal perspective. Kim Louden, vice president of sales,\nOffice Equipment Group for GreatAmerica Financial Services, notes dealers\nshould consider the impact on their sales compensation program. Other\nconsiderations include benchmarks and escalations within the contract;\ninclusion could bump up the service rate, or be kept flat for the life of the\npact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another scenario some dealers have pondered is implementing a flat rate for the entire imaging solution. \u201cDo you try to do just a flat rate for the printers, the way dealers do MPS for printers only?\u201d she posed. \u201cA printer-only flat rate, with the larger A3 machines still on the standard cost-per contract. You can say any A4 device is going to be a flat rate for the month and not worry about non-networking devices or getting the meter readings from every printer in the office. Dealers could check on meters quarterly or semi-annually to make sure pricing is still in line.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Jeff Dotzler, Gordon Flesch Co.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

While Jeff Dotzler, vice president of professional services\nfor Gordon Flesch Co., sees a certain comfort level among millennials as it\npertains to the subscription era of products and services, the appeal to embracing\na subscription as opposed to other billing structures for labor, supplies and\nmaterial will ultimately win the day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more of an operational mindset to do certain things,\nand when you think about technology and how quickly it\u2019s changing, it\u2019s kind of\nbecome more of a requirement,\u201d Dotzler said. \u201cI don\u2019t think people look at\nMicrosoft licensing anymore and say \u2018I\u2019m just going to own it.\u2019 With the\nsecurity threats and the advancement of technology, it\u2019s really important that\nyou have a more current version of the software, and the subscription provides\nthe easiest and fastest path to that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Doug Pitassi, Pacific Office Automation<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Subscription software has taken a bite out of the larger\nup-front sales, notes Pacific Office Automation President Doug Pitassi. But\nultimately, he sees more positives in the subscription model for the dealer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not as fun to not get the big hardware deal up front,\nbut I think the expectation of subscription services is where we\u2019re already at\nand our industry needs to get on board with it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re used to\ngetting a $50,000 sell of software, where on a subscription basis you lose the\nup-front sell, but you can sell the membership over time. If you don\u2019t start\nselling clients the subscription software, someone else will.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is easy to say that the movement toward bundled services under a flat-rate, monthly subscription model is a factor of the millennial generation taking a bigger role in customer buying decisions. It is true that millennials have now grown in size and demographic representation, and now wield greater influence in the business community than they did five years ago. But putting the movement squarely on their shoulders ignores the other factors at play. It also resists the call to mobilize. \u201cDealers want the easy button,\u201d noted West McDonald, founder of West McDonald Co. and the industry\u2019s resident seat-based billing evangelist. \u201cPrograms that are approaching flat rate from a device perspective are easier for dealers \u2013 they don\u2019t have to do any work. That\u2019s probably a good way to get started, but as I always caution, the same problem with managed print right now is we didn\u2019t take it far enough. MPS is much more than taking meter readings and billing customers, but that\u2019s not really managing as you would think of it in the managed services world. \u201cDealers can start with a flat-rate model, use those great numbers provided by BEI Services (NEXERA) and make sure that they\u2019re contracting simply and profitably, but have an eye on stage two. How can we get some of those other services that we\u2019re doing into the contract?\u201d Dealers who embrace flat-rate billing, or are gradually moving in that direction, need to be cognizant of how it might impact their business from an internal perspective. Kim Louden, vice president of sales, Office Equipment Group for GreatAmerica Financial Services, notes dealers should consider the impact on their sales compensation program. Other considerations include benchmarks and escalations within the contract; inclusion could bump up the service rate, or be kept flat for the life of the pact. Another scenario some dealers have pondered is implementing a flat rate for the entire imaging solution. \u201cDo you try to do just a flat rate for the printers, the way dealers do MPS for printers only?\u201d she posed. \u201cA printer-only flat rate, with the larger A3 machines still on the standard cost-per contract. You can say any A4 device is going to be a flat rate for the month and not worry about non-networking devices or getting the meter readings from every printer in the office. Dealers could check on meters quarterly or semi-annually to make sure pricing is still in line.\u201d While Jeff Dotzler, vice president of professional services for Gordon Flesch Co., sees a certain comfort level among millennials as it pertains to the subscription era of products and services, the appeal to embracing a subscription as opposed to other billing structures for labor, supplies and material will ultimately win the day. \u201cIt\u2019s more of an operational mindset to do certain things, and when you think about technology and how quickly it\u2019s changing, it\u2019s kind of become more of a requirement,\u201d Dotzler said. \u201cI don\u2019t think people look at Microsoft licensing anymore and say \u2018I\u2019m just going to own it.\u2019 With the security threats and the advancement of technology, it\u2019s really important that you have a more current version of the software, and the subscription provides the easiest and fastest path to that.\u201d Subscription software has taken a bite out of the larger up-front sales, notes Pacific Office Automation President Doug Pitassi. But ultimately, he sees more positives in the subscription model for the dealer. \u201cIt\u2019s not as fun to not get the big hardware deal up front, but I think the expectation of subscription services is where we\u2019re already at and our industry needs to get on board with it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re used to getting a $50,000 sell of software, where on a subscription basis you lose the up-front sell, but you can sell the membership over time. If you don\u2019t start selling clients the subscription software, someone else will.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":39814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[80,1650,82,1638],"tags":[2023,197,1010,3810],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39813"}],"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\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39813"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39815,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39813\/revisions\/39815"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}