Managed print Services Tunnel Vision - Are You Focusing On One Thing

Yeah, that's me.  'ballin it up and rockin the Leopard.

"An informational silo is a management system incapable of reciprocal operation with other, related management systems..."

So says the Wiki.

A closer example is your accounts payable department never talking to your accounts receivable department.

Resulting in the invoices you receive from a supplier not coinciding with the ones sent to your customers.

Or an accounts payable department that simply pays Xerox 700 times a month, for overages, but never cross references back to each department - no oversight.

And then there's an industry cliche ; Sales makes the promises Service has to keep.

Silo's lead to  less communication. Then to stress. And then breakdowns.

Inside these silos, knowledge workers, and decision makers concentrate on a specific set of functions designed to support the goals of the organization;  they Focus.

Necessary and dangerous, just ask Sony. ( a reference to the failure of the Walkman)

A Bridge Too Far...

Memorial Day - Remember...just for a second...or 12...

This video is from Rolling Thunder, 2010.

The annual motorcycle ride into D.C., honoring the Fallen.

This Marine, this Lone Marine stood at attention, for the entire parade.

There were reportedly, 250,000 bikes...the parade lasts for hours. You can see it on his face, in his salute and his tears.

At the end, at the end of the clip, This Marine mouths out, "...OORAH..."

And what the Hell are you doing this weekend? Like me, going to wash down some dogs with a cold Bud.


Find a vet, and say thanks...

No Matter Where you sleep tonight or how Far You Run...She's the One...

Xerox/NewFieldIT - HP/Printillegent...Cloak and Dagger Information

DOTC Operatives stationed in Orlando, NYC, Portland, Imperial, California and elsewhere are reporting in.

By carrier pigeon, encrypted satellite transmission and smoke signals, a solid shape is taking form.

Big interest in the HP/Printellegent arena:

Is HP buying a channel?  If so, who is next?

Will the devoted and committed, remaining OPS partners find themselves competing with a bigger, broader, potent HP/Printellegent with a global footprint?

Xerox/NewFieldIT:

What will happen with NewField's current customer list?
How does this effect PagePack? Does it at all?
Will the tool be scaled up? Down?

...interesting...

Ricoh Announces Purchase of White Castle - Strengthen Channel with "Bags of Sliders"

What can only be described as "Unbelievably Mind blowing", Ricoh announced their purchase of 400,000 White Castle locations.

"As part of our $300,000,000.00 investment in MDS program, this acquisition puts us even further ahead by strengthening our ability to deliver services and solutions through our channel partners to SMB customers,” said an unknown Ricoh source.

“We’re reinforcing our commitment to our channel partners by bringing them a level of grease-technology and 2:30 AM experience that is unprecedented in the industry.”

Managed print Services - As The World Turns: First HP/Printelligent today Xerox/Newfield

Whose Next?

WOW!

A few of my acquaintances, wait they are more than people I simply know, two close, MPS Pioneers, have now become part of the Machine. In a good way.

Congrats to Robert and his team at NewfieldIt and congrats to Greg, Rob, Lawton and the entire crew at Printelligent.

Well done, well deserved - good luck.

Okay - Now What? This is almost as exciting as when Ricoh bought Ikon.

Questions, questions...

Nature moves in 3's, is there a third shoe to drop?

HP Buys Printelligent - Whadda Think 'bout THAT?

From an article on CRN -

"Founded in 1988, Printelligent was an early mover in the managed print space, launching its first MPS solution in 1993. Once the deal closes, Printelligent’s work force and technology assets will become part of the LaserJet and Enterprise Solutions unit within HP's Imaging and Printing Group."

This makes it sound like the integration will be at the enterprise level...but then...

"This acquisition puts us even further ahead by strengthening our ability to deliver services and solutions through our channel partners to SMB customers,” said Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president of HP's Imaging and Printing Group, in a statement.

Joshi makes it look like this is a channel move.

WTF?

You Know Who You Are - You're Not Alone.

What in the hell does this have to do with MpS/Copier Sales?

Nothing...Everything...

DOTC, TheDeathOfTheChannel - More From 2011 Global MPS Conference

Can you read the writing on the wall...er...foot?

I am  a big fan of those ad-hoc meetings around the watering hole, in the lounge or on the bus to Harley Davidson.

You never know who may end up sitting next to on the bus ride over.

This year some of the offline talk revolved around the OEMs - indeed, we had Xerox, HP, Ricoh, and Canon all on one stage fielding questions.  I don't think this has ever happened before.

One conversation that struck me was about 'control' or better yet, the lack of control the OEMs have relative to just 2 years ago.  Control over the industry, over the channel, over the customer.

I detected a bit of anxiety, bitterness.  Granted, the relationship between dealer and OEM has always been strained, right?  And over the years, we've all heard the common complaints, the same gripes  -

• "manufacturers quotas are unrealistic and they keep changing"
• "they are shifting their warehousing cost to us"
• "why is your service rate so high"
• "how can I compete when your toner pricing is so high?"
• "CBS vs. the Canon dealer"
• "RBS vs. the Ricoh dealer"
• "direct vs. the dealer'
• "Are they redefining an Enterprise Level Account, again?"
• "thank goodness for back-end and MDF..."

But this time it was different.  This time, as I listened, waftng through the angst was something different.  A bad smell.

Difficult to pinpoint. But then it hit me. It was the stench of fear.

You see, these self-proclaimed 'independents', were not simply complaining, they were scared.  For a second, I felt badly as they seemed to prefer ignorance over fear.

In the end, all I felt was pity.

What Does Harley Sell? "...The ability of a 40 year old accountant to drive through a small town, and scare people..."

MWAi/Intel Reception from Misty Hamel on Vimeo.

"And then, right there, he lit the Harley up..."

"See you in Berlin..."

Pictures and everything....

Another DOTC Leopard: 2011 MPSA MPS Leadership Award Winner, Kevin DeYoung, QualPath

Kevin 'burned the ships in the bay' a few years back, jumping headlong into MPS.

I have had many lively conversations with Kevin.

He is an MPS Evangelist, an MPS Purist, a true believer and his team at QualPath deserve the MPSA Leadership Award.

We here at DOTC are honored to have Kevin contribute as a guest writer, joining the 'Spotted ranks'.

Enjoy.

You Think its Just About Printed Documents, Toner Hitting Paper? Wrong..."One Word, kid...Content"

I have no idea who she is...

Get ready for a "new" term: "Content".

And all the eyes at AIIM roll.

Another broad DOTC stroke here - MpS, is loosing the "P".

Because the P is diminishing, just ask Xerox, and the C(ontent) is starting to come into focus.

Oh...you didn't know that? You didn't get the memo? What, you're still selling MPS as toner and service on your single and multi-function devices?

Stuck in S1 and 2? And you're happy, may I suggest in a state of bliss?  Stop looking at her and listen.

What are you going to sell when your clients don't need to print?

How do you think they will feel the moment they discover you don't want them to stop printing?

When they wake up and recognizing they are simply part of your 'revenue stream'? When their level of consciousness sees the bogus truth of  'mobile printing'. That's right, bogus.

Most important, how are you going to fend off somebody like me who comes into your 'secure' account blathering on about MIF reduction, vitalization, Unified Communication, Content, CISCO, Help Desk and the NOC ?

All this under a vision of  MOS: The Optimization of EVERYTHING...no, really everything...

Ferocious, ain't I? Does your head hurt yet? I understand this occurs right before it explodes.

Ok, let's simplify and start with a single word before we take on the Dark Galactic Rift.

One word: Content.

"The Things We Think And Do Not Say. The Future of Our Business...", Managed Optimization Services

"I began writing what's known as a Mission Statement...Fewer Clients, Less Money..."

During the 2011 MPS Conference, at the end of the MPS Expert Panel session titled, The Best MPS Program, I gave a little bit of what I like to call, the Jerry MaGuire Experience.

Some of these panels end up being all 'doom and gloom'. You know, people get to say "I did it this way, so you should too" and "change or die", "the sky is falling".

Ken was wrapping up, the urge was there, I couldn't help it.

I wanted - no,  I felt, words were needed. Good words, positive energy let out for the world.

I have no idea if anybody heard what I said or if anyone remembers - and that's okay.  It was about the moment, a chance criss cross of time and place.

An opportunity like that doesn't come along very often. I seized it.

Bright as Day, Black as Night, No Evil...

MPS InsightPro - I'm a Pro, You Should be Too...

There was a time when the only MPS information one could find, was is supplied by direct marketing firms with content referring to advertising print jobs.

Then, slowly, the trainers got involved, starting to pitch MPS as nothing more than CPC in different garb.  Releasing loosely disguised marketing pieces as white papers.

InfoTrends wasn't there.

Gartner, didn't care.

CompTIA was years away from getting in.

There was no PagePack, Twitter or FaceBook

Back then, if you 'googled' Managed Print Services, nothing came back.

But one day, a few returns started to populate the Google alert you set up for "Managed Print Services"(ok, I know I was the first one ever to do this, back in the day)

And somehow, a complete Managed Print Services article appeared.  The brainchild of some firm whose name you didn't know how to pronounce.

You 'googled' φωτίζω and saw the light.

"Managed Print Services" is dying. Let's Kill it Together...

The 2011 Global MPS Conference is part of history.

My third application, I have a unique view of both the evolution of the show and our industry.

It goes a bit like this:

-Year One, 2009: What the hell is this thing called MPS?

-Year Two, 2010: I've made so many mistakes. How in the heck do we make the change?

-Year Three, 2011: Now what? There has got to be more.

So, as a proponent of MPS, as one of the first evangelists.  As a fully engaged, MPS Practice Manager.  As a  "thought leader", somebody who has spoken at each MPS Conference, sat on panels of experts, queried the  titans, investigated every single MPS package, program and type; as a dangerous, True Believer -

How can I possibly, in good faith, call for the destruction of Managed Print Services?

How?

Well, welcome back my friends to the show that never ends, step inside...

"Managed Print Services" is dying.

Let's Kill it Together...

The juice is in the white spaces.

MPS can stitch together the Columns as the Green Box.

Once this is done, the Columns have no further need for MPS.

The only path to rebirth, renewing, is through Death.

Ed is going to flip.

Fire. Walk With Me.

Through the darkness of future past,

the magician longs to see,

one chants out between two worlds,

fire walk with me.

- Lynch

Transformers 3 Dark of the Moon

Click to email me.

What the Hell?

It's just for fun...

OMG, HUSH! Jennifer Love is Singing! By All The Gods of Music, How did I Miss This One?

This is good enough to listen to...muted...

Managed Print Services Stuck in Stage 1&2 - And I Know Why...

I bet the folks at AIIM know why too, if they even care.

Stage 1 - Control

As you know, S1 includes establishing a baseline cost, fulfilling service and supplies on the fleet(usually everything but the copiers) and billing on a cost per image basis.

Stage 2 - Optimize

Again, simple. Optimize the existing fleet in terms of age, function, work load, document flow, on and on.

Both stage 1 & 2 are supported by a continuous revenue streams - as long as the fleet keeps printing, even when volume decreases, meter reads are traded for invoices.

With this in mind, it is no surprise how easy it is to stay right there.  

Much like a deer in the headlights...

Tonight...

The MPS Con starts in the morning...tonight is not for show prep...

Managed Print Services - I Swear, You Learn More from a 3 Minute Record...

If DOTC has an anthem, there are two:

Running With the Devil, Van Halen

and

No Retreat, No Surrender...Bruce

"...I'm ready to grow young...again..."