Loyalties...

HP is looking for a few good VARs and continued Loyalty from their existing VARs. The challenge seems to be converting resellers with IT Service mentality into a “copier-type” mentality. Additionally, converting “copier-centric” resellers into HP minded, analytical partners, is a severe mind-shift.

In this space, HP has become all too familiar to forwarding leads to the “copier” guys and having the lead mysteriously converted into a Canon or Ricoh sale – or even worse, standing with a reseller in a Managed Print Service deal and watching the supplies orders dwindle to nothing as the reseller converts their customer from OEM supplies to third party.

Supplies – the “Holy of Holies” for HP is the Untouchable Goose – and HP needs those Golden Eggs to keep dropping.

And as much as this is an economical, sales and marketing issue it all seems to boil down to loyalty with HP. A bit naive? Yes and reality.

Quote:

"We need quality partners," Hurd said. "If we have partners that can't get it done, I don't want them helping us. I don't need bad partners. I need good ones. I need great ones. I need ones that will help us slay some dragons. I want some that can go help us compete. I want some that are willing to put skin in the game and willing to be just as consistent, just as simple, just as excited, just as fired up as we are. And if they're not, they should go partner with 'insert name here,' some of our competitors, and mess them up.

"And if all they want to do is whine about channel compensation, and they want to do the same thing they did 10 years ago and get paid more for it, go find some other place to partner with," Hurd continued. "If you want to get on the cutting edge and kick some butt and go get something done, then come hang around with us."

If you're a channel partner with anyone, even HP, read that again - do you feel the tone? This guy turned HP around in 3 years. He has the legitimacy to say this, to mean this and to not care what people think about it.

APC- Vegas

Hurd also said regarding the Americas Partner Conference:

"I didn't want to miss this because you are so important to us," said Hurd, who spoke in a hoarse voice. "You are an extension of Hewlett Packard. Being here is a big deal to me and I want to make sure you knew that."

We were there. We believe we are an extension and loyalty goes both ways.

the Color Copier

I can not tell you how many times I have walked into an account that uses a high-end, color copier to hear that prospect gripe about how long “it takes to print on this 30 thousand dollar machine and I print the same job in minutes on my HP color laser.”

I have seen this with my own eyes. K/M’s with all the bells, rips, memory etc etc – absolutely choke on .PDFs and the little HP chugs it out with no problems. Why is this?

Even after so many years of color, color copiers are still cumbersome. Color copiers with RIPs are still complicated and can be inconsistent – or worse, color copiers with RIPs and hardware and memory upgrades once configed and working with an application are now static. As long as nothing changes with the applications, or the operating environment all will be well.

But if the customer needs change, or a new software application is added or an existing application is upgraded – all bets are off. And this is a moving target for both the customer and the vendor. Copier hardware changes nearly every six months and the copier guys are going to talk about, sell, and support what is hot currently – they are not all that motivated to help upgrade or solve problems on a 2 year old color system. “All you need to do is go to the Canon site and upgrade the driver or flash the copier that’s all" - what kind of support is that ?!!

Committing service and support resources to the newest color system with the newest drivers and RIPs and ROMs and the minutia of details involved with supporting this specialized segment is daunting and expensive and unfortunately, well over the comprehension of most hardware tech's. Throw in shrinking profit margins and volume purchase commitments and monthly hardware forecasts and it becomes so much easier to just "sell the box".

Meanwhile, the HP 9500 color laser is spitting out 11x17 proofs.

Committing service and support resources to the newest color system with the newest drivers and RIPs and ROMs and the minutia of details involved with supporting this specialized segment is daunting and expensive and unfortunately, well over the comprehension of most hardware tech's. Throw in shrinking profit margins and volume purchase commitments and monthly hardware forecasts and it becomes so much easier to just "sell the box".

By the way, I hear that there is an Edgeline in some super-secret bunker outside of Boise churning out color at over 120 pages per minute. I also hear that an external RIP may be in the future for Edgeline.

And the I.T guys love this Edgeline thing.

Clients, Edgeline vs Xerography...

I had breakfast with a very important client today and he asked, "could you tell me what the difference is between Edgeline and all the other copiers? I mean, how does the toner get to the paper?" This is a large company headquartered locally with locations and plants across the country and over 1500 printing assets.

Well, he tossed me a slow pitch, hanging, softball and all I had to do was smack it out of the park - and I did.

And as I was explaining the process I started to relize, once again, how very evolutionary this period in time has become.

I was harkened back to the "good ole days" - when I saw the very first color VGA monitor, or the very first NEC MultiSync color monitor. The very first laptop I used was the Compaq SLT - the "lunch box" was worlds ahead of the "sewing machine".

Liquid Crystal Displays, the first IBM ThinkPad, and I remember the very first time I ran an Epson LQ-something next to the HP LaserJet II WOWZIE!!! And here I am nearly 20 years later feeling those same feelings - "THIS IS BIG, THIS WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING"

As my conversation filled with "negative static, latent images, fuser oil, melting toner, corona wires..." I had to slow down, my passion was getting ahead of me - I actually took out a napkin and drew a diagram of the "zero-graphic" process ( you know of course Compaq Computer started on a napkin over lunch somewhere).

Explaining the Edgeline technology can be a great deal less complicated and I guess less sexy, “the machine squirts ink on the paper…really fast”

The excitement is there, the time seems to be now and I closed my discussion with,” let me ask you this, do you have a black and white TV? Do you remember when black and white TV’s were manufactured and sold and everybody had one? Have you seen a NEW black and white TV lately? There was a time when people just took black and white for granted in their TVs and color TV’s were too expensive”. – Interesting.

Paperless Offices, Killer Toner , Carbon Offset - "A World Without Sin"

7/2008

Read the email, print the email, throw the email away, print it again, write on the email, send a response, throw it away - again" - yeah, that's how WE roll...

I stumbled onto this article from N.C. and it's illustrative of the next generation gap, and brushes up on the social reasons there are still newspapers being printed all over the world - and why we still cut down Ka-jillions of trees each year. And I really like it because the author uses the phrase "post-coital". One would usually need to go to a bowling alley to read something of this caliber.

The Killer Office - Dunder Miflin meets Resident Evil

I got this off of an article regarding "special" air filters -

"It has been indisputably proven by various international studies that ultra-fine particles are emitted by laser printers, fax machines, and copiers. In 2005, the University of Giessen in Germany initiated a "Toner Pilot Project" on behalf of the Bundesinstituts für Risikobewertung (BfR) to assess the effect of laser printers and copy machines on the quality of interior air.

The final report published on 08.01.08 stated that emissions by toner-based office appliances significantly increased the number of ultra-fine particles in interior air. According to the study, the increase in the concentration of fine dust can be assessed as being quantitatively alarming from a hygiene standpoint and may also be regarded as being questionable from the point of view of health." Based on this current knowledge and seen from the standpoint of precautionary aspects, the FIRA advocates preventative measures in this case."

Just another reason not to be a cube-rat: killer toner and TPS reports.

Managed Print Services - That "Hot, New, Thing..."

2/2008

It seems over the past sixty days, we have been approached by all sorts of "consultants" willing to teach our team (SIGMAnet -MPS) how to perform a detailed Managed Print Service study.

It seems everybody wants to get on this bandwagon, the "I use to sell copiers, but now I sell this service to help you save more money - as long as we are at the beginning of the month..." bandwagon.

Okidata, Lexmark, Konica Minolta, Xerox, Toshiba, and Ricoh, can you see the pattern, trend, and characteristics of this new wave? These folks are all Copier Companies. So the problem with obtaining a true, honest, real-world Managed Print Services program is something I like to call "Hardware Agnostic and Partnering with High Intent". 

It is true that HP is the leader when it comes to getting "marks on paper", but how many companies have 100% HP devices - for printing and copying? Or all Okidata, Lexmark, or Toshiba? You can see my point.

With companies searching out every way to cut costs, printing and the reduction of costs associated with printing are becoming sexy and attracting all sorts of "flim-flam" and "snake-oil" experts. Managed Print Services isn't Brain Surgery, it's Rocket Science!

A copier salesperson does not directly translate into an MPS specialist. 

Nor does an IT Services salesperson translate into an MPS Specialist. It takes both IT experience and copier experience and a great deal of general, C-level, business experience. That holy grail of Professional Selling, "Business Acumen".  Someone with the "Big Picture" insight and manage the details of a solution.

- Edgeline -

2/22/2008

No Drum
No Toner Emissions
Low Heat
Nearly Silent
No Fuser
No Fuser Oil
No Static Charge...

This is impossible...and yet after 1.4 billion dollars of R&D, that is exactly what we have today; the HP CM8060 with Edgeline Technology.

If your looking for a color system you most likely will not hear anything regarding HP from the traditional Copier Dealers – there are roughly only 30 or so Edgeline Authorized HP dealers in the country today – this will change. HP has added some 2,000 new sales rep’s in the field and HP is attempting to utilize their extensive channel of IT VAR’s in helping move product.

On that subject – if you know anything about HP you know that as an American engineering company they are second to non, yet as a marketing force, not so good. So now you have a machine that can revolutionize the way every single business prints, and only 30 RESELLERS to “get the word out” and start evangelizing the opportunities.

HP is not a dumb company – they are going to go at this market directly and with their most trusted and experienced resellers. (Danka excluded, for another post)

How about a little background on the HP/Edgeline/Copier vs. Laser/go to market strategy?

HP has their sights directly focused on a segment of the business world that traditionally is ruled by the big copier companies – Xerox, Canon and Ricoh. Nobody knows more about copying then the copy companies and nobody knows more about printing then HP. With the convergence of these two functions resulting in the volume of copies made falling behind the volume of prints, a new dynamic is coming to light. Copier machines are connected and working as printers and printers now are scanning and copying. This issue is worth it’s own post – “To Print on a copier or to copy on a printer?” (later)

Anyway, when looking back at the relationship with HP and IKON (yes, there once was a bright and shinny future in that relationship) – HP seemed to be “testing the waters” in the copier market. Looking at distribution channels and establishing partnerships with “leading edge, technology partners”. HP tried and IKON pretty much kicked them to the curb without a kiss or dinner or anything.

The idea was great on paper yet in practice at the field level, copier sales reps tend to take leads generated for HP and “switch” to a more profitable line (i.e. Ricoh, Canon). And even more egregious, some sales reps set-up managed print accounts with original HP supplies, only to switch them out after a period of time, increasing personal and corporate profit. (Please note here and now, profit is good) So as the years past, just about three years, the IKON/HP relationship cooled, and then froze.

Meanwhile, just over a year ago, HP was rumored to have been in negotiations with one of IKON’s smaller competitors, Global Imaging. HP and Global were negotiating a purchase or merger of some sort. HP had at the time, this new technology code named “Condor” and wanted a channel – Global seemed perfect, HP had the cash and Global had the dealer network. Just about the only other company with more cash and as big a reason to expand its channel was the big “X”. Lo and behold, at the 12^th hour, Xerox came in and scooped Global right out from under HP.

Nearly overnight, HP had a significant and expensive product with no way to bring to market – after TWO attempts to work within the copier industry, HP was spurned. (Big-time)

When times call for action, look to what you know best – and HP looked at their existing channel of IT VARs. And that is where the channel resides right now. I am sure there will be changes and additions in the near future. (Danka and HP)

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