I've been a party to a few discussions regarding the consolidation currently underway in our little niche and the mention of Managed Print Services surprised me. Specifically, how MPS is so attractive when it comes to outside money and the future.
HP mentioned MPS as a foundational pillar in their future - as a matter of fact - HP is looking to transition transactional supplies into contractual relationships; Managed Print Services.(Who woulda thunk?)
Staples undoubtedly understands the value of acquiring an entity transformed from transactional to contractual.
Makes sense, doesn't it?
Office Depot, HP, and Staples are large players in a shrinking pool of opportunity. They are experiencing extreme pressures on the downside of the demand curve. Unfortunately, nobody is creating more clicks or images - print/copy demand is submerging but they've got to fight on. Slugging each other for fewer and fewer images.
What about outside niches? What other industries are trying to climb out of the product-centric mindset, just now realizing remote monitoring/connectivity helps shift from product to service? Are these industries looking at our MPS as a model? Does the imaging industry's journey from box-moving to 'as-a-service' stand as an example?
What do you know about "Edge Computing"?
What if I could show you a "DCA" that sees employees as they walk to and from the copier or use a conference room? In real-time? Imagine the impact of knowing how many times employees stop at the water cooler or collect faxes. Or how often an expensive conference room is not used or tracking newborn movements within a hospital. It is far and away from print, but not much removed from a print DCA.
To think all this cool stuff comes from the humble managed print services philosophy -
Managed Print Services is:
"The active management and optimization of document output devices and associated business processes." http://yourmpsa.org/
This definition is genius. Substitute, any type of hardware for "document output". Get it?
It works for coffee, water, telehealth, elevators, facility management, data centers, energy management, lighting, and the list goes on forever, this is the triumph and tragedy of managed print services. Triumphant for those very few who adopted MPS, easily rolling into adjacent XaaS. Tragic for all the folks who did not embrace the future or quit after one try.
The time to get into MPS was 2011 - if you hurry, you might catch the last train out.
* I've helped many dealerships make the transition from boxes to services. It is not easy to require complete buy-in from your entire team but just might give you a competitive edge and attract the right outside influence.
Need help, call me.
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