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<\/p>\nI doubt that many would argue that two of the hottest trends sweeping the office technology industry of late are mobility and the cloud. Little wonder because they go hand in hand.<\/p>\n
The two big questions circulating through the dealer community about selling cloud-based solutions and services is how to make money off the cloud, and to a lesser extent, what exactly is being sold here?<\/p>\n
The response to the latter might depend on whom you ask. One may say it\u2019s a component of Managed IT Services, another may label it as a cloud-based document management or workflow solution such as those offered by a DocuWare, Protected Trust (formerly DocuLex), or Square 9, or even Sharp\u2019s new cloud offering. Then there\u2019s power protection companies such as Innovolt with its Innovolt-as-a-Service electronics management solution. The thing is, they\u2019re all right because the cloud has become increasingly pervasive and we\u2019re likely barely scraping the surface with these examples.<\/p>\n
Right or wrong, not everybody in the dealer community is gung ho about the cloud, mostly because it\u2019s new, unproven, and the rewards still somewhat unclear. Last month, Darren Metz, CEO of NovaCopy mentioned in ENX\u2019s Dealer Spotlight interview about the cloud computing company he founded in 1997. \u201cIt was a failure and I lost a fortune on it,\u201d recalls Metz who acknowledges that the cloud is definitely having more of an impact today. \u201cThe question becomes how do I make money and how am I relevant to it?\u201d<\/p>\n
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At Woodhull, LLC in Springboro, OH, President Susie Woodhull has found the concept of mobility and the cloud increasingly relevant within her organization, at least as a topic of general discussion. \u201cIt seems like it\u2019s going to be very important. When we have sales meetings our reps are always talking about this free app that allows you to print from mobile devices.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a Ricoh dealer, Woodhull references Ricoh\u2019s Integrated Cloud Environment (ICE), an interface that connects mobile workers to cloud services for document storage, management, and printing using Ricoh MFPs. ICE offers connectors for 16 cloud services, including Google Drive, Ricoh DocumentMall, Dropbox, and Evernote. One might argue that an app like this is more of a value add as opposed to a revenue generator. Either or we\u2019re still talking about the cloud.<\/p>\n
Konica Minolta\u2019s All Covered network sits squarely at the forefront of what\u2019s happening in the cloud from an IT Services perspective. Nick Pegley, VP of marketing for All Covered, feels what\u2019s happening in the customer environment, particularly SMB, is a harbinger of a bright future for cloud-based solutions. Let\u2019s look at a couple of his reasons why SMBs, a sweet spot for the average office technology dealer, might find the cloud attractive.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can get out of the game of having to justify a lot of hardware to run your business,\u201d explains Pegley. \u201cEvery three or four years SMBs have to buy new servers for their company and these are expensive and require a lot of maintenance. If you go to a cloud-based service, that becomes a monthly cost for your business and is also flexible. As your business grows or shrinks, you can adjust, something you can\u2019t do with your own hardware. That\u2019s one of the main reasons clients are looking at the cloud.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another reason for the cloud\u2019s appeal to SMBs is the protection and security they receive from business data being stored in the cloud as opposed to being on a server where someone might forget to run a backup or neglect to store the backup in a safe place off site.<\/p>\n
With interest in the cloud gaining momentum, All Covered has been helping Konica Minolta dealers bring their clients into the cloud.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve built a cloud environment around some high end data centers and equipment and packaged them at an SMB type price point,\u201d states Pegley. \u201cThe capabilities are there for the dealer to resell that monthly recurring cloud service without having to build the infrastructure and provide support for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about the margins from selling cloud-based services, he feels the margins are good, particularly when one considers the All Covered approach doesn\u2019t require a capital investment. \u201cIt\u2019s just straight resale,\u201d says Pegley. \u201cI don\u2019t have exact numbers, but when you look at the cost of getting into this business, it\u2019s low. We\u2019re providing infrastructure and support and they\u2019re able to represent and sell those solutions to their customers and package it with other things. A typical cloud deployment for an SMB is going to be somewhere between $1,000 and $2,000 a month.\u201d<\/p>\n
Plus every month the dealer is going to enjoy that recurring revenue. \u201cMultiply that by 12 months a year over four or five years and that\u2019s a significant uptick in revenue,\u201d says Pegley. \u201cAnd that\u2019s just one client; imagine if you had 50 clients.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you ask Vince Janelli, associate director, applications & partners for Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America, about how a dealership can leverage the cloud, he\u2019ll talk about Sharp\u2019s Cloud Portal Office, a new software solution designed for mobile workers where companies need to share information while maintaining control and security over their documents.<\/p>\n
A simpler way of describing it is that it\u2019s a combination document management and collaboration application. \u201cIt allows the dealer to provide a multifaceted value package, if you will, to their customers,\u201d explains Janelli. \u201cWe built this for the channel, a channel that sells to businesses so it\u2019s really built for B2B.\u201d<\/p>\n
What makes Cloud Portal different from other cloud-based solutions according to Janelli is its versatility. It allows users to add hard copy documents into the same repository as electronic data, providing them with the same benefits, collaboration for instance, as if working with electronic data.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a front end via OSA that\u2019s hosted in the cloud and you can scan in or pull print from the device, and there\u2019s a capability to add meta data or an index field to the document, which is the basics of document storage,\u201d explains Janelli.<\/p>\n
Another difference from other cloud-based solutions is Cloud Portal\u2019s integration with Sharp\u2019s Aquos boards. \u201cOur Aquos board connector allows someone to walk into a meeting room and not have to worry about bringing a laptop; they can access their information directly from the cloud,\u201d states Janelli.<\/p>\n
This is the first service of a broader cloud strategy for Sharp, which also includes Cloud Portal license manager, which is designed to support multiple services. Cloud Portal Office is sold by dealers via term licenses, which are more like a monthly subscription. There\u2019s a dealer price and an estimated street price, which is approximately $9.95. There are price breaks when adding more users. In the basic version, each user receives 10GB of storage. There\u2019s also 10GB and a 50GB upgrade options at $4.99 and $14.99, respectively.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just the large OEMs who are taking the cloud seriously. Even smaller players such as Muratec and Lexmark are looking at ways to help their dealers leverage the cloud. Besides being a DocuWare partner on the enterprise side of document management and cloud storage, Muratec entered into a partnership with Intellinetics earlier this year to sell a cloud-based document management solution for SMBs to its dealer channel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey may have software today that addresses the enterprise or larger businesses; however, the price point of that software is too high for a lot of customers and they\u2019ve had to walk away from business,\u201d observes Lou Stricklin, vice president of marketing. \u201cWe see opportunities on the cloud side where you don\u2019t have the infrastructure requirements of a dedicated server and licenses. The ability to offer a virtual solution for document management can bring the cost down and make it a solution that dealers can target 90 percent of their customer base with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if dealers can realize decent margins by selling a cloud solution, Stricklin says, \u201cAbsolutely. The beauty of the Intellinetics solution is that it fits the dealer\u2019s traditional business model.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is a small device that sits in the customer\u2019s facility and communicates between the customer\u2019s network and the cloud.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s preconfigured, the dealer sells it and installs it, and it\u2019s a one-time payment,\u201d says Stricklin. \u201cLet\u2019s say they sell it for $3,000, it\u2019s sold like a finisher or an option; it\u2019s a checkbox that can be bundled into a lease. The sales rep can make money up front and the dealer makes a little profit. Then, the actual document storage in the cloud is sold as a consumable so for every gigabyte of space the customer uses they\u2019re going to be paying a monthly fee for that storage. It\u2019s almost like you have your cost every time you hit the file print, now every time you scan your document and it goes up into the cloud, it\u2019s eating up some of the storage and there\u2019s a cost associated with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Meanwhile, Lexmark views the cloud as an enabling platform for partners driving a higher-value set of solutions to its customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cCloud-based solutions will provide partners with a more efficient deployment and customer maintenance experience, by significantly reducing or eliminating the premise-based implementation aspects of installation and setup,\u201d notes Doug Frazier, manager, solutions engagement, North American Channel, Lexmark International, Inc. \u201cThis efficiency allows opportunities for partners to drive more placements at a lower cost basis, resulting in higher overall margin all while further strengthening the strategic relationships with their customers.”<\/p>\n
From his perspective, Frazier thinks small and mid-size customers view cloud solutions as a path to \u2018hands-off\u2019 or simple to keep up with; translating in less resources needed to accomplish a specific goal or resolve a workflow issue.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s next?<\/strong><\/p>\n Even though much of the dealer channel is still looking to gain a foothold in the cloud, Stricklin has no doubt that it is gaining momentum in the channel. He likens it to MPS and Managed IT, which have taken time and are still taking time for dealers to embrace. \u201cBased on initial conversations with dealers, the feedback is very positive,\u201d says an optimistic Stricklin.<\/p>\n All Covered\u2019s Pegley is equally optimistic. \u201cIt\u2019s going to grow quickly this year as it did last summer when it moved from being a discussion topic with clients to something they\u2019re ready to engage around. A year from now, it\u2019s no longer [going to be considered] leading edge, it will be mainstream for general business.\u201d<\/p>\n He foresees other changes too. \u201cThe next level of sophistication is going to be around a broader range of services in the cloud, in particular vertical specializations,\u201d predicts Pegley. \u201cMoving to the cloud is a little different if you\u2019re a doctor\u2019s practice, a law firm, or a manufacturing company. Right now people are looking at it fairly generically, but we know there are dealers that specialize in certain verticals and we\u2019re doing more of that in the core part of our business. In a year\u2019s time there will be people specializing in cloud environments for particular verticals. That will be the next big phase.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I doubt that many would argue that two of the hottest trends sweeping the office technology industry of late are mobility and the cloud. Little wonder because they go hand in hand. The two big questions circulating through the dealer community about selling cloud-based solutions and services is how to make money off the cloud, and to a lesser extent, what exactly is being sold here? The response to the latter might depend on whom you ask. One may say it\u2019s a component of Managed IT Services, another may label it as a cloud-based document management or workflow solution such as those offered by a DocuWare, Protected Trust (formerly DocuLex), or Square 9, or even Sharp\u2019s new cloud offering. Then there\u2019s power protection companies such as Innovolt with its Innovolt-as-a-Service electronics management solution. The thing is, they\u2019re all right because the cloud has become increasingly pervasive and we\u2019re likely barely scraping the surface with these examples. Right or wrong, not everybody in the dealer community is gung ho about the cloud, mostly because it\u2019s new, unproven, and the rewards still somewhat unclear. Last month, Darren Metz, CEO of NovaCopy mentioned in ENX\u2019s Dealer Spotlight interview about the cloud computing company he founded in 1997. \u201cIt was a failure and I lost a fortune on it,\u201d recalls Metz who acknowledges that the cloud is definitely having more of an impact today. \u201cThe question becomes how do I make money and how am I relevant to it?\u201d At Woodhull, LLC in Springboro, OH, President Susie Woodhull has found the concept of mobility and the cloud increasingly relevant within her organization, at least as a topic of general discussion. \u201cIt seems like it\u2019s going to be very important. When we have sales meetings our reps are always talking about this free app that allows you to print from mobile devices.\u201d As a Ricoh dealer, Woodhull references Ricoh\u2019s Integrated Cloud Environment (ICE), an interface that connects mobile workers to cloud services for document storage, management, and printing using Ricoh MFPs. ICE offers connectors for 16 cloud services, including Google Drive, Ricoh DocumentMall, Dropbox, and Evernote. One might argue that an app like this is more of a value add as opposed to a revenue generator. Either or we\u2019re still talking about the cloud. Konica Minolta\u2019s All Covered network sits squarely at the forefront of what\u2019s happening in the cloud from an IT Services perspective. Nick Pegley, VP of marketing for All Covered, feels what\u2019s happening in the customer environment, particularly SMB, is a harbinger of a bright future for cloud-based solutions. Let\u2019s look at a couple of his reasons why SMBs, a sweet spot for the average office technology dealer, might find the cloud attractive. \u201cYou can get out of the game of having to justify a lot of hardware to run your business,\u201d explains Pegley. \u201cEvery three or four years SMBs have to buy new servers for their company and these are expensive and require a lot of maintenance. If you go to a cloud-based service, that becomes a monthly cost for your business and is also flexible. As your business grows or shrinks, you can adjust, something you can\u2019t do with your own hardware. That\u2019s one of the main reasons clients are looking at the cloud.\u201d Another reason for the cloud\u2019s appeal to SMBs is the protection and security they receive from business data being stored in the cloud as opposed to being on a server where someone might forget to run a backup or neglect to store the backup in a safe place off site. With interest in the cloud gaining momentum, All Covered has been helping Konica Minolta dealers bring their clients into the cloud. \u201cWe\u2019ve built a cloud environment around some high end data centers and equipment and packaged them at an SMB type price point,\u201d states Pegley. \u201cThe capabilities are there for the dealer to resell that monthly recurring cloud service without having to build the infrastructure and provide support for it.\u201d Asked about the margins from selling cloud-based services, he feels the margins are good, particularly when one considers the All Covered approach doesn\u2019t require a capital investment. \u201cIt\u2019s just straight resale,\u201d says Pegley. \u201cI don\u2019t have exact numbers, but when you look at the cost of getting into this business, it\u2019s low. We\u2019re providing infrastructure and support and they\u2019re able to represent and sell those solutions to their customers and package it with other things. A typical cloud deployment for an SMB is going to be somewhere between $1,000 and $2,000 a month.\u201d Plus every month the dealer is going to enjoy that recurring revenue. \u201cMultiply that by 12 months a year over four or five years and that\u2019s a significant uptick in revenue,\u201d says Pegley. \u201cAnd that\u2019s just one client; imagine if you had 50 clients.\u201d If you ask Vince Janelli, associate director, applications & partners for Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America, about how a dealership can leverage the cloud, he\u2019ll talk about Sharp\u2019s Cloud Portal Office, a new software solution designed for mobile workers where companies need to share information while maintaining control and security over their documents. A simpler way of describing it is that it\u2019s a combination document management and collaboration application. \u201cIt allows the dealer to provide a multifaceted value package, if you will, to their customers,\u201d explains Janelli. \u201cWe built this for the channel, a channel that sells to businesses so it\u2019s really built for B2B.\u201d What makes Cloud Portal different from other cloud-based solutions according to Janelli is its versatility. It allows users to add hard copy documents into the same repository as electronic data, providing them with the same benefits, collaboration for instance, as if working with electronic data. \u201cWe have a front end via OSA that\u2019s hosted in the cloud and you can scan in or pull print from the device, and there\u2019s a capability to add meta data or an index field to the document, which is the basics of document storage,\u201d explains Janelli. 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