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Showing posts with label All Managed Print Services. Show all posts
Showing posts with label All Managed Print Services. Show all posts

Thursday, January 4, 2024

The Resurgence of Managed Print Services: A New Dawn?


I've been asking this for over a year now, "Is MpS is back?"

Surprisingly, dealers and salespeople have been telling me their Prospects are asking for managed print services. Prospects have a definition of managed print services, see a need and are actively seeking out providers.  

Not like the old days.

MPS is not merely surviving; it's thriving and adapting in ways that promise a brighter, more efficient future for businesses worldwide.

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

The Prints of Life: A week on the road in the world of Managed Print Services 2008

 

On the road again,
Deals to close, clients to meet,
Thrill of the chase lives.
__________


It's another day on the road, 


another week in the wild world of managed print services. I hit the gas on my beat-up Chevy and head towards Victorville, California, where a room full of copier salesmen are all vying for a piece of the action at an RFQ meeting. I can already feel the whiskey burning in my veins and the adrenaline pumping through my body. 

The drive there is a trip, let me tell you. Past the Rose Bowl, the site of many a Michigan defeat, and onto the Pacific Coast Highway. The ocean is a sight to behold, especially after a cold Michigan winter. Up to the client's office, where the C-level execs are waiting for me to inventory their fleet...

This is my element, baby.

Saturday, February 24, 2018

Today, I spoke with an MpS God - she was just fired. #managedprintservices #sales


I’ve said it many times, “ the path to MpS nirvana is littered with the skeleton frames of burnt out MpS Managers, Directors and Sales People”.

No sour grapes -

I’m sure there are dozens of good reasons for termination and every separation has at least two stories.  In the past decade I've been a Practice Manager, advisor and support specialist. I’ve thrived, struggled and witnessed good people churned under the seven step, "xerographic process".

And that’s exactly what I mean - the copier niche can destroy vision, creativity, and dumb down every business solution into 30 day segments.  Managed print Services is the latest victim, with managed IT services right behind.

Some of our industry leaders are no more than box movers - they confuse ‘applications’ with business solutions and project hubris as wisdom.  Take a trip through the LinkedIN community and notice how many times we compliment each other or brag about the latest sale, certification, trip or baseball team we're associated.

It is one big, circle-jerk.

These are observations not complaints. We all get what we deserve and this industry deserves its decent into obscurity.

But not just yet.

I've seen this before, from above and below and can list cautionary red-flags for the folks still selling MpS.

Here are some signs indicating you should give my friend Steve Spencer(MpS recruiter) a call:
  • lie
  • lack of vision
  • too many rules
  • change the rules
  • filter out all creativity
  • do not see beyond 30 day cycles
  • incentivize for equipment sales only
  • promote month/qtr/year end specials
  • narrow-minded C-Level management
  • put MpS under the service department
  • dependent on hardware/service revenue
  • refuse to integrate MpS and Managed IT services
  • bad, complicated or non-existent compensation plans
  • a corporate culture centered around past copier success
  • focus on leasing and linking equipment inside MpS deals
  • install a C-level executive with little or no experience beyond the box
  • enforce identical activity expectations for support specialists and down the street copier sales people
  • say "X is a major part of the business", yet majority of revenue is copier generated
  • utilize a foggy compensation plan & do not enforce gates on sales teams
Here's a big one: Does your leadership yell? Do your C-Level meetings include loud voices, hands slapping desks and belligerent attitudes?
“You’ve got to be tough out there”
“This industry isn’t for the thin skinned”
“If you can’t take this, you’ll never make it in sales”
I’m no snowflake. This type of behavior says leagues about the yeller and the enabling organization.  At the very least this is unprofessional - would management slam desks or scream at prospects?

When people communicate in this manner, the organization is:
Insecure
Afraid
Negative
This is not normal behavior - Leave. Now.  Call Steve.

Not every organization operates like this, I bet not many at all.  But if you're in one, in any industry, consider your self-worth and get the hell out.  It's a big world. No matter your current skill set or personal/professional goals, there are companies and positions out here for you.

You're Notbroken.


Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Xerox: It Was a Heck of a Ride...


1/2018

NORWALK, Conn. and TOKYO — 
  • Xerox shareholders to receive a $2.5 billion special cash dividend, or approximately $9.80 per share1, and 49.9% of the combined company; Fujifilm to own 50.1%
  • Combined company to deliver at least $1.7 billion in total cost savings, with $1.2 billion to be achieved by 2020
  • Accelerates path to revenue growth through global reach, industry-leading scale and enhanced innovation capabilities
  • Well-positioned to lead in growing business areas such as high-speed inkjet, industrial print and workplace solutions, while leveraging Fujifilm's extensive technologies
  • Combined company will have enhanced financial flexibility for future growth investments and capital returns
  • Combined company will have dual headquarters in Norwalk, CT, U.S. and Minato, Tokyo, Japan, and will maintain the iconic “Xerox” and “Fuji Xerox” brands within its respective operating regions
FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation (“Fujifilm”) (TSE: 4901) and Xerox Corporation (“Xerox”) (NYSE: XRX) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement to combine Xerox and their longstanding Fuji Xerox joint venture.

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Who Helps You Reduce Costs? Copier sales people, managed IT folks, or Advisors?

Who will give you a leg up?


"You will never print another document ever again.”

I know you still have printers and copiers. But I know you’re not printing or copying like you had three years ago. If you’ve made business process optimization an initiative, then you know what I mean. I’ve also found that companies with no ‘green’ or digitization plan, have naturally reduced print. Some telling me, ‘we just don’t print anymore’. I also know players like Xerox, Ricoh, and Lexmark are experiencing great consolidation, and paper plants have shuttered across country. Indeed, from the WSJ, 1/2018-

"One of Xerox’s problems is that it has been broken into two pieces. A year ago, Conduent Inc. (NYSE: CNDT) was spun out. It describes itself as a “business process services” company, which makes it more of a consultancy than a seller of hardware. Xerox retained the hardware business, which sells products that may have been useful to businesses a decade ago but are no longer.”

Customers around the world, are organically reducing devices, copies and prints needed to conduct business- this has been going on for years. For companies like Xerox and Ricoh, whose primary revenue stream is generated with each sheet of marked paper, this is a formidable challenge. And like every shrinking industry before it, the copier niche is not going quietly into the night. For those of you left looking for a copier, it might the best time to work your provider for better pricing - just wait until the 25th of the month - everyone is scrambling and competing for a slice of a shrinking pie.

In the face of this turbulence, photocopier manufacturers and independent dealers are responding in one of three ways -

1. Selling themselves as a "document consultant” and trusted advisor, promising to help you manage your decreased reliance on print.
2. Selling to a larger dealer or manufacturer in an effort to cash out and retire.
3. Shifting away from copiers and printers to markets like IT services, water or energy management.

As you explore new ways to eliminate cost, you may fall within one of these stages:

1. You’ve implemented cost reduction program successfully and want to expand
2. You’ve implemented a failed program
3. You have no visibility into total costs

In each case, starting a study, correcting a misaligned program or continuing to reduce costs, you have three sources of partners:

1. IT providers(including your internal IT)- primarily supporting IT infrastructure
2. Copier/Print supplier & MpS Providers - hardware and software vendor within the copier/printer industry either through direct or indirect channels
3. Professional IT advisors - organizations who derive revenue through sharing subject matter expertise and managing change

No matter who you choose to partner, you should consider three important aspects of each:

* Agenda vs. intent
* Knowledge vs. Wisdom
* Neutrality vs. Bias

Let’s take a look at each:

IT Provider -

Agenda: To support organizational technology infrastructure
Intent: To transform with as little negative impact to end user environment

Knowledge: Deep ‘specification’ knowledge.
Wisdom: Experience and a varied history of supporting IT infrastructure in different types of organizations may give rise to wisdom or business acumen, but this is rare.

Neutrality: Not very. Comfortable with manufacturers they have a history with; CISCO, IBM, DELL and HP, etc.
Bias: To what’s been proven in the past or passes a proof-of-concept.

Copier/Printer supplier -

Agenda: to move opportunities to a close and their intent is to sell more devices/clicks.
Intent: Transform with as little negative impact to end user environment.

Knowledge: Deep ‘specification/machine’ knowledge. May posses basic scanning and onboard application knowledge.
Wisdom: Very little business acumen. Fresh sales professionals lack experience in varied customer, business models. Seasoned profess

Neutrality: Claimed yet impossible, therefore a lie.
Bias: Toward a solution that include's hardware sold.

Professional Advisor -

Agenda: Help client achieve business goals.
Intent: Establish an ongoing relationship.

Knowledge: Business acumen and technical prowess beyond the scope of the project.
Wisdom: Experience over time with many environments and business models.

Neutrality: Completely neutral and open to continuous evaluation of new solutions.
Bias: Toward a solution that supports the client business goals.

Conclusion -

Economic pressures on providers of equipment is severe. Machines are becoming more self-sufficient and easier to manage remotely, business requirements are changing from paper flow to digital flow. Even if your printing less than 500 images a week, you are a prime prospect for the remaining copier vendors - your company is guaranteed to be on some copier rep’s cold call list. There is no shortage of cost reducing value propositions, white papers and marketing material.

Continuously reducing costs associated with output is an internal function - asking teams of folks motivated to sell more devices to help you reduce the number of devices is counter intuitive - a provider with show rooms full of equipment pitching themselves as an “agnostic, trusted advisor” is disingenuous.

So who do you turn to? There are a thousand copier dealerships, hundreds of MSP’s and maybe a dozen proven, reliable and seasoned advisors. Of course, if you can find a good advisor, with an open calendar, I recommend engaging - but the odds are forever in the copier companies favor - it is simply math.

Here’s a quick recommendation:

If you currently support 1-20 devices, copier dealer and MSP
If you currently support 50-100 devices, MSP with Advisor
If you currently support over 100 devices, exclusively work with an Advisor who manages an optimized portfolio of suppliers and software providers.

Sunday, November 26, 2017

The #LastCopierSold


11/26/2017
Everything dies, baby that's a fact, but just because something doesn't last forever, doesn't mean it wasn't perfect.  Proclaimed back in 2011, the fading of managed print services continues.  Don't believe me?  

Ask your customers/prospects and you'll hear the truth. Whispers from the Abyss:

  • "We've really cut back on the number of printers and copiers we use."
  • "We don't print as much."
  • "We once had a copier on every floor and printers at each desk.  We don't anymore."
I could go on - hell, if you're in the field and honest, YOU can add to the above list.

So here it is - what follows is a list of industry influencers and players with reflections and status according to DOTC.

The year is 2017; just about 10 years after managed print services arrived on the scene. Much has changed.

Contact Me

Greg Walters, Incorporated
greg@grwalters.com
262.370.4193