Dare To Compare: Dealer Managed Print Programs

Ed and the gang at Photizo are conducting a free Webinar illustrating some of the current dealer programs - in a "compare and contrast" manner, I believe.

Should be good, general information for those looking to get into MPS, those who are just starting and for us who have been slammed in the head a few times, but keep on chuggin.

Register here.

Now IS The Time for Managed Print Services - Hardware Sales Down as Much as 30% by Year End

Focus shifts to print services as hardware shipments slump

by Billy MacInnes
20 August 2009

Pressure on vendors and channel partners to diversify into print managed services is expected to intensify in the wake of a huge slump in shipments of printer, copier and multifunction products (MFPs).


The steep fall in shipments has been thrown into stark relief with figures from Gartner showing the market for printer, copier and MFPs in EMEA dropped by almost a quarter in the first half of 2009.


Gartner’s numbers were supported by HP’s recent third quarter results which showed a 23% fall in overall printer unit shipments, including a massive 42% decline in commercial printer unit shipments.


Worse still, the market research company predicted shipments would continue to experience a double-digit decline in the second half of the year that could reach 30%.


Todd Prabhakar, senior analyst at Gartner said vendors were looking at areas such as managed print services and document-managed software to try and increase revenue in the face of customer reluctance to spend money on new equipment.


“Vendors must sell services to businesses that will help them better control costs, save on running costs, reduce cost-per-page issues and consolidate devices,” he argued.


Prabhakar’s comments are likely to be endorsed by vendors in the print and copier world as they have become increasingly interested in managed print services.

Back in March, HP IPG channel development manager Alan Hatfield revealed it was aiming for 60% growth across EMEA for managed print services and the UK would achieve 30%. Lexmark UK channel sales director Marcus Harvey agreed it was “a key area for us” and Martin Tierney, UK services director at Kyocera Mita, said managed print services was “definitely the way to go”.


According to Gartner, the vendors worst affected by the global recession were Hewlett-Packard and Canon, which suffered market share falls of 31.5% and 25.8% respectively.
-------

Original here.

A Mockery of the Copier Industry: NOT My Words

This photo is a creation of Steve Reisman.

Steve is a talented photographer and in the copier trade. I encourage you to check out his work here. And hopefully, I will use more of his work in the future.
---------------------------

Sarcasm out here is cyber-land is a difficult convey, the writer takes a leap of faith that his readers will recognize it.

Here at DOTC, I take many things to task, and believe it or not, I re-write articles DOZENS OF TIMES, stripping out and watering down what some soft, timid souls may consider to be vitriol and venom.

So, when I see mockery and sarcasm applied by others I take note - when the example hits home, right in my backyard, I like to share.

I stumbled upon a good example via a Twitter Tweet.

I am going to cut and paste, these are not my words; a customer took the time to document his experience as witness to an interaction between a copier tech and his service manager - on site.

Enjoy.

Friday Guest Mock: Dear Copier Repair Area Manager Doing A Performance Review Of Your Employee In My Copy Room

2009 August 21

by mockers

I know that in this era of fast, responsive, and agile service that you are doing your best to model 21st century “go-get-’em” business habits to your employees.

May I suggest that your showing up at my place of business to do *your* business of delivering a bad job performance review to a guy we’ve been waiting two days to see may not be the best use of putting your management training skills “on the road?”

May I further suggest that taking calls from your office while in the middle of passive aggressively calling your employee “lazy” and “unmotivated”… all while he had the innards of our multi-thousand dollar paper shredder spread around the copy room doesn’t give me much confidence in the work that has been, or was being, done?

May I continue? I can’t print anything right now anyways so I’ll just keep typing.

The part of the conversation that went like this:

Employee: “Well, how long did it take *you* to get promoted to supervisor?”

Supervisor: “Three years. How long have you been with us again?”

Employee: Silence

Employee: Silence

Employee: “Three years. I’m seriously disappointed to be receiving this news today.”

*sound of something snapping, either in the employee’s head or inside our only tool for producing printed material in the whole building.*

Supervisor: “I’m sure you are.”

Listen buddy, I know that your two years of community college puts you into some kind of elite squad of management gurus.

I also know that your getting to wear the long-sleeved oxford shirt with your company’s logo rather than the golf shirt your employee was wearing means you have some kind of one-up on him, and us evidently since we are now your version of the back-shed.

However, my “take-away” to use your cheesy, uncreative, and stupid business-speak was that you just gave me a half-hour crash course in how *not* to manage, or lead, a team.

Once I clear up this paper-jam I intend to print a copy of this letter to bring to your office while you are in the middle of trying to do your job.

Sincerely,
Glad I Work Here and Not There
---------------

Honestly, you can not make this stuff up!