ITEX 2015: "Mount Gay"

The best conversations occur after the show, around a bar, cold, adult beverage in hand.  This year, the drink of choice, pour moi, was the historic Mojito.

The best Mojito's were made with Mount Gay rum - and yes, when ordering, "Mount Gay" should be said with gusto.  Mucho Gusto, my friend.

"I may not always drink rum, but when I do, its Mount Gay..." - B.R.

What copier-goodness conversations flowed as we climbed Mount Gay?

Plenty.

Print servers -
I've been ringing this bell for a while now:  Mps should include all the devices and process involved with moving information within and between organizations regardless of medium.

Print servers have long been the bane of many IT Directors - so why don't we help them control, managed and optimize their print server fleet?

I know a great company that has a very lucrative dealer program.  Contact me and I will get you connected.

Decreasing toner sales, cores and companies -  Dive a million dumpsters and you'll surface empty handed.  Cores are hard to find.  Are you surprised or simply choosing to ignore another sign?

True to every other evaporating industry, consolidation of the largest players foretell the end. That's what we talked about - the big toner remans getting together, colliding cultures, marketing talk tracks and managed print services programs.  Big Bang.

The passing of an niche - 
Around the bar, we all agreed that managed print services as it was and as it once was to be, is dead. The reasons are too many but paramount in its demise are the OEMs and their disingenuous talk tracks about savings and optimization.

We all see customers reducing the number of devices, both A3 and A4, as more optimize 'in-house' without manufactures.

As Itex 2015 fades in the rearview, I think the lesson taken home is more about smaller, focused, dealerships than big, broad, hardware mass marketing.

To be celebrated, not feared.

Eight Characteristics of a Growing Managed Print Services Practice

2015

After five years of managed print services, one would imagine a standard set of MPS rules would rise out of the fog.  And yet there is still debate over what exactly MPS stands for — not the acronym, but the vision and real value of managed print services.

I remember the great device-to-technician-ratio discussion of 2008.

The Stealth Sale: Print Server Elimination. Why don't you understand?

Managed print services was suppose to be about helping clients reduce the number devices and printed documents, saving them "30%".

Although clients are indeed reducing their numbers, it's had little to do with our hardware quotas; their reducing all by themselves.

1. Eliminate headache and costs - ask your IT how much time they spend managing print servers.  I dare you.  I can tell you, they hate it.
2. Acquire end-user, print behavior patterns - DCA's collect machine data, server elimination software organically collects user data.  Figure it out.
3. Raise the level of conversation - stop talking about toner, but if you must discuss hardware, why not discuss print servers.

Like 'plastics' in the 50's and 60's, print server elimination is the next big thing. But like our stealth bomber few see it coming.

Can you?  Need help?  Reach out to me.

The B2 flying towards the Rose Bowl, 2015

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If I Had a Heart: Drop the "Print" from Managed print services. The World According to Greg

March 2015 

Heartbreak and glory - the times are changing universally. One turn in my personal metamorphosis is stepping down as President of the Managed Print Services Association.

My involvement with the MPSA started at the very beginning, back when a room full of folks voted to form the association at  Photizo 1.  I am honored to have served and proud of all the accomplishments we've achieved - it has been a great time.

Congratulations to the new Managed Print Services Associations executive board:

President: Kevin DeYoung, Qualpath - owner, managed print services visionary, leader
Vice President: Doug Bies, Canon USA - new, passionate, cutting edge philosophy
Secretary: Sarah Henderson, West Point Products/Clover Technologies - stalwart, foundational, dedicated
Treasurer: Lou Stricklin, Muratec America - solid, fresh, tactician

Today, as I exit the Oval Office,  relegated to a Board of Director, I am free from the yoke of compliance, broken are the shackles of other's stunted and spun opinion, open to express my opinions based on observed behavior, not Survey Monkey or the corporate drawer statement.

I am unencumbered by concerns about how a potential sponsor or customer might feel. 

Free to ignore conversations geared around the ROI of donating $10,000.00 for a corporate membership.  

We were not lying when we said your ROI is measured by your contribution to the industry, not shelf space, or tossing our membership into your sales funnel.

The shackles of self-censorship have fallen away...

UNLEASHED...

My managed print services observations or better yet:

The World According to Greg

Managed print services is Dead and the OEMs killed it -

That's what I said.  

It was called 'managed print services' not 'managing printers & service'.  Leveraging the 'services' model to increase MIF is disingenuous and prospects see right through the scam.

Customers do not care -

Speaking of customers, they don't give a rip about the toner remanufacturing process.  They don't care about the seven steps of xerography, and their eyes gloss when you speak of ink vs. toner; color vs. B/W, or mobile print.  Stop doing that.

Find something else to talk about - say business-oriented, like employee morale, the impact of BYOD, and managing print servers.

My advice to the incoming MPSA Executive Board - 

1. Change the definition of managed print services and the direction of the MPSA.  Move away from toner, printer, and hardware - to a "Managed Services Association".  Expand the horizons, and blow the minds of millions.
2. Do not fall victim to the procedure, meeting paralysis, Roberts Rules of Order planning on how to do something without ever doing anything.
3. Once a member proclaims, "...that's not the way I operate..." they've volunteered.  The association, like our industry, is at a crossroads.  Like times in the past, both glory and ruination await.

Ideas are bulletproof -

Not only is the world on a path to less paper, but the new world will be populated with self-healing devices - no need for as many service technicians.

Managing services for your clients is the future.  This core idea is unflappable in a turbulent sea of rhetoric, incorrect research, and marketing talk.

The world of MPS, like life,  holds promise and doom - fortune, glory, and tragedy.  False promises? Yes.  Self-interest? Of course.

When haven't we experienced both?

To make a move, a real move, we've got to take that leap of faith...again and again, and again.  Heartbreak, then Glory.  Glory, then heartbreak.

Always.  All ways.

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"Managed Print Services? Never heard of it. I sell machines and disaster recovery..."

pariah |pəˈrīə|
noun
1 an outcast: they were treated as social pariahs.
2 historical a member of a low caste in southern India.

It wasn't long ago, the darling of the dance, managed print services, was filled with wonder and promise. Like Carrie's senior prom, that bucket of toner came crashing down spoiling mood and prom dress alike.

Yes, it is true - managed print services has become the industry pariah - oh how the mighty have fallen. Supplanted by help desk, email, and disaster recovery the lowly printer has left the stage.

Managed print services has ended up meaning little more than service and toner delivery leveraged to lock customers in, expand shelf space and drop more machines in field. But that wasn't what MPS should have been.

It had the potential for so, so much more but we couldn't handle it.  True mps is huge, expansive and all inclusive; a concept including printers and wireless routers, scanning, digital workflow, and the paperless life.

Too Big for Most People's Mind -

They invited managed print to the prom, put her on stage. Then, in a pre-planned scheme, they attempted to shame and belittle.  Unlike Carrie's story, the devious ones here understood the overwhelming power of a new business model.  Instead of simply embarrassing the concept, the sought to destroy it.  They've succeeded.

Self-centered.

"...And the raven was called sin..."

The prom is over.  But there is always another dance, another Carrie.

Let's try something that isn't tied to OEM hardware. Indeed, let's start proposing and selling ideas that ROMOVE hardware from the equation(one possibility derived from mps). The scary truth is your prospects and customers are doing it right now, with or without you.

Would you like to learn more about how your business could move away from OEM driven quotas?

Reach out to me.