Last autumn, we published the very first DOTC MpS Rising Stars: Constellation 1.
A collection of interesting MpS players who brought something good to the Ecosystem.
I chose individuals or companies who in my opinion, contributed to the MpS cause in a positive manner. For instance, last year, Constellation 1 included MT Business Technologies, Ken Stewart, Robert Newry, and Photizo.
So how did these stars fare over the past 12 months?
Ken Stewart, as Senior Consultant with Photizo, is helping build audacious projects global in scope and transformative in results.
Robert Newry/Newfield IT - Being purchased by Xerox sure has its financial benefits. The doubters and old -skool sayers of nay, express how X will stifle the free expression of ideas. Yet, Robert continues to promote the art of assessments for 8everyone, for all in the MpS ecosystem.
Photizo's - Ed and the Gang's reputation continues to grow, around the globe, as THE MpS consultancy. They are moving from a consultancy to a transformation company.
MT Business Technologies - Still plugging along, slugging it out in the trenches and barnyards of MpS/SmB in the state that starts with an "O" and ends with an "O".
Who will make it this year, and where will the be 12 months from now?
Intriguing.
I introduce to you, Constellation 2 - The Rising MpS Stars of 2011.
For the last 30 days, I have kept output from a Xerox ColorCube, both 8.5x11 and 11x17, on the dash of the LandRover.
It sat in the Ontario(California, not Canada) extended stay parking lot, for a week.
The interior temps exceeded 100 degrees.
Happy to report, no runs, no drips, no errors. As a matter of fact, the cracking along the fold closely resembles what happens when color toner is folded.
I anticipate installing an evaluation unit into one of my most important and discerning clients, within the next 30 days.
I know, I know, MpS has nothing to do with hardware - I got that.
Still, the entire story is delicious - I could write a book titled, "The Evolution of Edgeline: From ink, to Oblivion, to Wax..."
I know, I know...somebody filled my beer bong with HP-Blue KoolAid at last week's OPS Elite conference. I can't see who exactly is holding the funnel up - pretty sure it's not my MES rep. Could be my PBM. Huh..
The HP OPS Elite resellers. You know these guys. That one-time very exclusive collection of core IPG channel players who jumped through hoops to earn the opportunity of a lifetime - selling Edgelines.
Yeah, that was us - I guess things have changed.
Today, if you are a Global/Xerox dealer and you have a pulse, 'little blue' will authorize you for OPS.
Today, if you have a retail door, hang MpS on a peg board next to the paperclips and white out, kick down a pulse, 'little blue' will authorize you for OPS.
Right, I busted my ass to install 79 Edgelines - all still in the field. Today, 'little blue' doesn't even have the Edgeline SKU in their system. (okay, that might be extreme, but you get my point. TouchPad anyone?)
The propeller heads over in PSG are whining over a little shift? Give me a break. Those of us tied into IPG have been surfing the whirlwind of "scratch your head" logic since the MoPIER.
Remember those?
As easy as it is to throw poop at mother blue, I ain't going to, I'm done. The last 90 days may be remembered as just another bump in the dark as it appeared mother blue is trying to commit suicide, shooting every foot in sight - this isn't about all that.
HP is the biggest gorilla in the house. Actually, HP is a great, big, humongous, blue gorilla in your bed. She can roll over, squish you, and not even lose a wink. Talk about a 'walk of shame'.
Last year was in Phoenix - this year in Orlando. Last year the presentations were old-skool and it seemed mother blue couldn't spell 'MpS'.
The 23rd of September, fall equinox, was the last day of summer up here in the northern hemisphere.
The Spring Equinox seems like decades ago. Remembering the Turn that was Summer 2011 one can barely imagine what the next 3 months will bring.
What about the next 12 months?
Unemployment is still up.
Gold is way up. HP down.
Since 2007, that will be five years ago pretty soon, the only aspect of our world that has steadily increased is the use of technology. Our technology has forced the growth of content faster and faster.
There isn't today and there never will be, a paperless office - Less paper, but never paperless.
The social networks carry more and more. Netflix is chewing up bandwidth, FB has become mundane. Tablets shipping everywhere, $99.
The Apple store at Fashion Island was packed on a Tuesday afternoon.
Droid, Win8, HP is out, no their in, no their out, wait...we don't know, iPad 2, iPhone 5, thin client, zero client - and the cloud.
That always growing, ever changing "cloud" - Google, Salesforce, Box, on and on.
What about managed print Services(MpS) or selling copiers? With all this cool stuff going on, you're selling copiers?
I was reminded today by Jennifer Shutwell, (Leopard and Senior Consultant at Photizo) about "the HP Way". A set of norms and values HP, the company, lived by and extolled.
I decided to learn more.
Wandering around the 'net, hunting down the HP that was, I found myself a bit morose and feeling bad for today's HP employees, the HP'rs who have been there for more then 5 years.
The ones who bought into the HP ideals - respect, achievement, contribution, integrity, teamwork, flexibility and innovation.
Those who didn't believe in product launches, silo'd divisions, marketing-by-chaos, press leaks, bribes, spying on employees, questionable expense accounts, revolving door leadership, pompous, aloof executives shouting "ka-ching" on stage or the decimation of every channel birthed.
No. Right now, I see ten's of thousands of HP employees feeling betrayed, alone and broken.
I mean, where do you go after HP?
If a company, an American Company, one that was built out of a garage on a foundation of hard work, failure and recovery, American ingenuity and honesty can let you down, who can you trust?
Who can you believe in? General Motors? General Electric? Boeing?
I wonder how many really, great employees scrambled away or where turned out by HP over the past decade? How many opportunities were missed, squandered, thrown away, because the HP board appointed oh so many wrong CEO's.
How often do you think innovation was squashed, hidden and digested within the bowls of that once great ship?
HP stock is up 7% today based on a rumor that Leo is Leaving?
As if we haven't had enough transformation this past summer, it seems rumors are flying around Wall Street and the internet regarding HP's board thinking about letting Leo go.
Oh, it gets better.
Seems the board is thinking about getting Meg Whitman of EBay fame to lead Mother Blue.
Today, I found myself in a Bank of America, finishing up what I figured would be a 15 minute job.
Sixty minutes later, I was out the door; a new signature card in the system, an additional account added to the DOTC one, new BoA online user account, second ATM card secured and activated, checks ordered.
While completing a wire transfer, all my personal information was set up so I would rarely, if ever, need to step foot into another branch again.
Taping out on the Droid, registration completed and passage confirmed for the upcoming Preo/HP event in Seattle, DOA procedures outlined and initiated for one of lastweeks installs(I was told that HP's never arrived dead, I was misinformed), client confirmation of delivery and invoicing for 3 Edgelines.
What do you say we finish this year out in Australia? Eh?
I spent 2 days and 5 nights in Vegas last week, for my very first Muratec dealer conference.
It was awful nice being invited, on account, I just signed up 30 days ago and haven't sold a single box.
The venue could be called small and intimate relative to the bigger shows, like Photizo, or the other OEM's - I liked it.
A little bit of background.
When I first got into selling technology, there was IBM PS/2's and Compaq desktops; the MicroChannel versus EISA architecture - #1 and #2. The Compaq folks were more willing, more attentive, and more fun - their events rocked.
IBM? Unless you're Mike Stramaglio, how much fun can you have in a pinstripe suit at 12:30 AM?
When I served time in IKON, there was Canon at #1 with Ricoh a very close #2. Again, the Ricoh folks, tried harder, worked with us, and were a hell of a lot more fun, especially in Vegas, at the Wynn.(Jus sayin, I've seen them in action)
Just like Compaq, Ricoh knew their place as well, at number 2. They knew. They didn't pretend to be the largest or most installed. They didn't have big laser beams and fog machines at the national conference.
Point is this, #2 always tries harder - so wouldn't an admitted "third tier" player try even harder?
HP recently announced a slew of new machines, MpS enabled aimed directly at the small business niche.
Oki - is bundling scanning options built for Quickbooks, integrated with hardware, under their MpS, for around $800.00.
And I swear, I can almost hear Samsung slowing down through re-entry, landing in the water and waiting to come ashore en mass, with cheap, bundled MpS devices.
The Sky Shall Shatter the Heavens into Stars -
The great double-dip recession of 2008-20xx is recognized by layoffs, jobless figures, the California exodus, the Detroit melt-down and the not so stark difference between government-created jobs and government jobs. (Think about it...wait for it...wait....there.)
As corporations are reducing headcount and squeezing every ounce of productivity from the zombie-like survivors, home offices are sprouting up like poppies in Afghanistan.
HP is getting out of PC's because they see less value for their shareholders in PC's - and as the PC goes, so too, goes the printer.
Downstream.
All these laid-off executives, managers, and cube rats are going to find their way in the world, most won't simply lie there, on the couch, collecting "Obama-bucks" forever.
The new Aquarian Workforce will be mobile, they will work simultaneously for multiple employers, and be based at home - printing. All those individual stars falling out of the sky, landing and thriving - on smartphones and tablets; no more brick and mortar.
But wait, there is more.
As the corporate world shrinks, and the need to print fades to white, smaller, cheaper, and MpS Bundled devices will be the norm; if by "MpS Bundled" I mean S1/S2, which I do.
Machines talking to machines, toner automatically delivered, directly from the OEM.
Service you ask? Really? How about the OEM's go and design devices as reliable as your flat screen? How often have you called for service on that one?
From B2B to M2M to B2C and NOTHING in Between.
You feeling that?
That's my L.A. - How many times does L.A. need to get blowed up by aliens?
You could say that. Transformationis the new convergence, the new change.
Was the HP decision to let go it's PSG division, one of the Triad, Wall Street driven or some emotional knee-jerk reaction to dismal TouchPad sales?
The answer is 'Yes'. And HP is genius. Mother Blue see's a future without desktops.
It's a crazy world, upside down, inside out - we'll make sense of this over the next 18 months - rationalize or remember.
And we'll hear everything from "business is proceeding as usual, you will experience little impact", the typical HP Edgeline, Mopier, 9065 talk track to "see, we told you HP has no loyalty to you, why should you to them?" Dell, Lenovo, Samsung, PC dejour...
We'll read industry pundits explain how 'so and so' will take HP's $42billion company on, re-label and grow.
IPG - Supplies, are big. Sustainable?
Meanwhile, 10,000+ HP employees squirm, VARs scramble, 'loyal' HP Enterprise customers call emergency CIO driven IT meetings, evaluating their 5 year technology refresh plans.
General panic smolders just below the surface and MotherBlue stays the course. She's just too damn big to ignore, she can do absolutely anything she wants...
And this is just the beginning. This is the first in a sequence - tell me, if the largest PC company in the world can get out of PC's, how difficult is it to see the worlds largest printer company, get out of PRINTING?
IPG is 21%(Q1/2011) of HP total revenue - ten years ago, IPG accounted for 43% of revenues.
Guess how much PSG, the division HP is remembering to let go, contributed to total revenues...31%.
Do you see what I see? The biggest question is, who can afford to swallow IPG? Xerox? Ricoh? Cannon? Lexi? Nobody. What about spinning IPG off, all on its lonesome, eh?
Someday...
CONTENT, CONTENT, CONTENT.
PC's are dying, the focus, the singular focus, is not the machine, it's the stuff going through the machines - bits, data, thoughts, ideas, conversations, expressions, information - CONTENT.
Look to the content, not the machine - maybe, just maybe, HP has this all white boarded out, because they look hellbent on shedding their hardware pedigree and heading to the cloud.
Let's put this in context. Remember when every employee had a PC at their desk? For every new hire, IT had to set up credentials, order up a PC, secure network drops, and LOAD PRINT DRIVERS. Because every PC sold had a printer with it. Free Dells anyone?
Perhaps, quite soon, it won't matter how well the OPS partners are fairing, if the HP MpS program supports the channel or MES.
Maybe, someday soon, I won't be required to report how many third party toners I sold last year. Because, as goes the PC, so goes the printer.
It isn't that we are not familiar with tough business decisions. We all know somebody who has been a victim of such acts.
HP's announced decision to let die WebOS and TouchPad - a product that lived just 49 days - in and of itself is stupendous.
Spinning off their PCs may seem surprising unless you once sold IBM ThinkPads and remember selling IBM printers.
Go back to IBM, heck go back to the Mopier, the HP9065, and Edgeline; is it really a surprise that after investing a billion, shifting leadership, HP drops and adds?
There is more, much more here, and it is not all Dark.
Call it the "MacGyver Cloud"; duct tape, paperclips, hope, and a prayer - whatever it takes, string it together.
In this cloud, give away 6-month subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal, HBR, LeopardONE, MPSInsightsPro, LuLu, TMZ, on and on.
Bundle all of it in. Free.
Hook up with Verizon and get on their network, into their stores. Hell, buy Verizon.
Get every remaining print publisher on the phone, in a Halo room, or to the West Coast and offer up an advanced conduit to 1 million customers, through MacGyver. Negotiate for a percentage and target Amazon/Borders; the Nook and the Kindle.
Spark up the TouchPad plants. Rationalize, re-calibrate and reorganize PSG around generations of TouchPad. Get this new team out there selling MacGyver and giving away TouchPads through every channel. EVERY CHANNEL. Sell it at 99 bucks - through Walmart.
Call the second model, "TheNext" and release a Leopard print version.
Buy a f*cking advertising agency, not another technological oddity.
I don't even know you, but you seem to know a great deal about me.
So Steve, thank you for my Droid X.
Thanks for forcing Microsoft to integrate a mouse, even if it was on DOS 4.0.
Thank you for getting IBM to utilize 'preemptive multi-threading in OS/2 even though it was a doomed OS.
Thanks for pushing the 3.5" floppy. Thanks for letting all the peripherals that attach to the Lisa automatically connect.
Thanks for AppleTalk.
Thank you for seeing I really only wanted three or four songs from an album.
Thank you for disrupting the music industry - giving us Lady Gaga and incredible, mind-blowing live shows. (figure it out)
Thanks for recognizing a dwindling need and not allowing the iPad to print.
You beat the PS/2 and helped IBM find a new way.
You destroyed the music industry and helped them find a new way, giving us immediate access to the music and artists we, the people, wanted to hear, at 99 cents a pop.
Sony, because of you, experienced the stink of defeat, the folly of internal business silo and they found a new way.
"Autonomy is the market leader in the provision of software that automates the analysis of unstructured data, whether in the form of text, audio, images or video." - UBS, July 2008
The other day, I sat in on a webinar. The fine folks at Lyra were presenting "Printing supplies market trends MPS" - yeah, I know, who the hell would sit in on one of these?
MpS Geeks, that's who.
Of course, the data presented has been fodder for DOTC for the past year; we will never get back the placement levels of 2008, A3 devices are dying(ahem), any recovery will be linked directly to the surviving dealership's ability to focus on workflow, not the box. We know this, correct?
Then a funny thing came up - OEMs are "rationalizing" their fleet offerings. They are narrowing down the number of models.
Years ago, software like PrintAudit, FMAudit, PrintFleet, and even the most expensive 'free' software you will ever own, WebJet Admin, was the cat's meow.
We assessed everything we could see, solving the problems our industry created and nurtured for decades. It was like hunting big game, with a TriCorder.
DCA's, servers, pie charts, security concerns, volume and fleet analysis, proactive service and desk-side toner delivery, automated meter reads, remote monitoring, and Quarterly Reviews were all considered "new and innovative".
And then, suddenly, we all had a DCA: copier dudettes, VARs, office furniture salespeople, the OEMs, STAPLES, etc. - Hell, who DOESN'T sell MpS?
Today, all those super-duper, whiz-bang, features are table-stakes; either you got them, or you're a provider of little substance.
For those of us who do, now what?
It's getting crowded in here and we're all starting to sound the same. How can we temporarily separate from the pack and keep our eye on the future?
How about our run-of-the-mill BTA guy, who finally figured out how to bill for Lexmark, HP, Brother, MICR, Oki, both connected and local, color and black/white, coverage from 3% to 80% - profitably?
Is the next stop Business Process Management -head to head with IBM or EDS? Methinks not.
The answer? "One-word kid, BeMod...BeMod" - is that even a word...??
It's the infamous, IKON iceberg. Won't this thing EVER melt?
When the MPSA struggled for months to determine the definition of MpS we stumbled and bumbled our way in the dark.
Each of us had different views and perspectives: OEM's, Independent dealers, toner reman's, parts suppliers, consultants, and end users. Oh, and ONE VAR.(Jus sayin)
I was impatient - we needed something NOW and I had a definition ready to go.
My version did not include reference to hardware, but the MPSA had to include 'devices'.
I didn't want the word 'print' but quickly acquiesced agreeing that 'print' allowed the concept to be easily identifiable.
Here is what we, the MPSA came up with:
"Managed print services is the active management and optimization of document output devices and related business processes." - MPSA, July, 2010
"...the act of managing components and processes associated with moving, saving and presenting information in the form of documents..." - DOTC, March, 2010
And here is my current definition of MOS(MpS):
"...the act of managing the optimization of resources and processes associated with information ..." - GRW, 5/9/2011
Why would I be so insistent about leaving 'hardware' out of the equation? I don't want to be pigeon-holed, I don't think real MpS has anything to do with hardware or even PRINT.
Most importantly, I didn't want those who felt like I, to find this weakness and project above the MPSA definition.
