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Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Hewlett Packard Signs as Platinum Sponser for MPS Conference


John Johasky, HP Vice-President to be Keynote Speaker at the Photizo MPS Conference in Amsterdam.

Photizo lands a big fish.
In San Antonio it was Xerox - for Amsterdam, HP.

Congrats go to Ed and the gang.

I will not be in Amsterdam, which is probably a good thing, for I have heard of many, different, odysseys one can experience in the dens of that strange land.

The Mad Dog in San Antonio was fun, one can only imagine the trouble I could get my colleagues into in Amsterdam.

The MPSA will have a strong presence and maybe a presentation or two.


Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The Teacher, The Photocopier and The Toner - This stuff can't be made up.


Some readers may notice my Blog Roll on the left and the more observant may scope a few blogs that are not specifically print or copy related - so it would seem.

I added one, "It's Not All Flowers and Sausages" few months back.

I don't remember why, except perhaps the enticing and mysterious title - but I am sure there was once a post about copying or some none sense along those lines.

But today, when a tile from that blog came across "The Photocopier Continues to Haunt(Taunt) me" I chuckled.

Not at the clever play on words, Haunt/Taunt, but - who uses "Photocopier" as a descriptor anymore?

Teachers, that's who. Those wonderful, whacked out, the "world is my classroom - why are you tardy", pontificaters of the useless, keepers of the children, molders of the future - that's who.

This just in - upon further research into the title, I have uncovered the fact that this blog is written by the author of a book, "It's Not All Flowers and Sausages. My Adventures in Second Grade". Mystery solved.


Anyway - the story here is about a seven year old copier, Staples and Kinkos and customized seat sacks - whatever in the hell those are.

Its a teachers story - here's a tid bit:

"...I mean, isn't it enough that for seven years SEVEN YEARS the photocopier was capable of sending me into a rage I still can't quite put into words? What IS it about the photocopier? It got so bad at one point that Grandpa Mimi offered to BUY ME a photocopier. BUY ME A PHOTOCOPIER!..."

She has many posts about how there is no money for paper or how toner never arrives and how the school's tech guy tells her she has to buy her own toner for a district's laser printer(WTF!).

Check it out, a slice in the life of our second grade teachers.




Monday, September 28, 2009

The Big are getting Bigger: Xerox 's Largest Acqusition Ever, Affiliated Computer Services: Who?

"We don’t see the world going paperless." Burns on CNBC.

Xerox announced, today, it will purchase Affiliated Computer Services creating a $22 billion global enterprise for document technology and business process management.

The deal is initially valued at $6.4 billion.

Affiliated Computer Services is what's called a "BPO" or "Business Process Outsourcing" provider.

ACS Started in 1988 as a provider to the banking industry. Today, ACS is 23rd on the VAR 500 and boasts recurring revenue of around $5 billion and 74,000 world-wide employees.

"Our recurring revenue model has allowed us to generate healthy growth. The growth potential with this deal will generate solid returns and provide employees the opportunities to expand their expertise," said Lynn Blodgett, president and CEO of ACS.

Indeed, Ursula stressed this new business group will bring "a significant boost to our profitable annuity stream".

The revenue Xerox generates from services will triple from $3.5 billion in 2008 to an estimated $10 billion in 2010.

ACS has nothing to do with copiers, printers, and output devices - it's all process outsourcing and resides in the
the realm of EDS and Perot Systems.

Xerox is moving from the Third stage, Enhancing the Business Process into the Fourth stage of MPS, Managing the entire Ecosystem.

Also, ACS has the largest position in MediCaid and health care field.

So now the field is complete - HP/EDS, DELL/Perot, Xerox/ACS and Ricoh/IBM.

There is a very good interview from CNBC, here. Check it out.




Sunday, September 27, 2009

Engage or Die? Managed Print Services Reaching Another Sea Change

In an article appearing in the MicroScope UK by Billy MacInnes, Ed from Photizo outlines a possible approaching tempest for the traditional resellers - KillSwitch Engage.

This is nothing new for we who have been engaged in MPS - evolution occurs in months, not years.

Last month it was "define MPS" today it "engage or die", next month it will be "channel competes with the manufactures" - again.

For us in the trenches, the glass will be either half-full or ...well...you get the point.

The large manufactures do not have the flexibility that the channel posses - the Channel may not have the Global coverage the manufacturers do - competing with manufacturer MPS, in the SMB should make your mouth water - and by SMB, don't we mean 100-1,000 employees?

That's at least 500 printers and possibly a few dozen copiers, right?

Enjoy the article:

Analysis: Resellers need to engage with print managed services

by Billy MacInnes
25 September 2009

IT resellers risk losing out if they fail to seriously engage with managed print services (MPS) opportunities within the next
five years.

The warning comes from Ed Crowley, CEO at specialist market research company Photizo Group. He suggests large numbers of resellers will not be able to break into the MPS space if they delay the move because rivals that make the leap to become what the company terms “hybrid dealers” will have so much more to offer.

“Firms that make the transition are so successful because it completely changes the customer dynamic and the customer relationship. Resellers will have a very difficult time competing once they come up against hybrid dealers,” Crowley says.

Levels of commitment

Photizo Group categorises IT resellers, office products dealers and office supplies resellers and remanufacturers as hybrid dealers, committed, testers or fence-sitters.

According to Crowley, less than 5% of IT resellers, office dealers and supplies remanufacturers/resellers have become hybrid dealers able to sell and support managed print services. A further 10% are committed to making the investment in people and technology to deliver MPS. Of the rest, around 25% are testers, which are not fully committed to MPS, and almost 50% are fence-sitters.

Photizo Group estimates that up to half of the latter two groups will not be able to break into the MPS market after 2014.

In the US, half of the hybrid dealers are from the office product space and a quarter each are IT resellers or office supplies resellers/remanufacturers.

Crowley says the IT channel has struggled with the MPS approach because it is so used to a box-selling mentality.

Channel role

He suggests the channel has a critical role to play as vendors seek to promote and sell MPS to SME customers in the wake of a dramatic fall in sales of printers, copiers and multifunction devices.

Until now, vendors have concentrated on selling MPS to enterprise customers, mainly on a direct basis, but their attention is beginning to shift to SMEs.

“A lot of the activity so far has been enterprise-centric,” Crowley says. “The vendors have not really approached the SME market yet. Some vendors may attack it directly, but for most it will be difficult to scale their systems.”

Reseller involvement

He adds that resellers should prepare for a blizzard of channel programmes from vendors in the coming months, pointing out that almost 18 schemes have been launched in a little over 12 months in the US.

“Europe is a little bit behind, but we see a very similar situation developing and an increase in the pace of the number of new programmes,” Crowley says.

He reveals that HP’s channel programmes in the US have not
been as successful as they needed to be with capturing office product resellers.

“It has been very successful with direct programmes to the enterprise, but the channel programmes are struggling a bit,” Crowley says.



Saturday, September 26, 2009

One "Big Copier" or a Small Fleet of MFP's? What say You?


Nathan over a Adventures of Office Imaging put up a nifty little comic.

Thought provoking. I found myself internally selling either option.

It's a classic and evolving story - I believe HP touts a statistic that for every "copier" in the field, there are 5-8 laser-based devices.

Seems to me that a mix of devices within the fleet is realistic.

Having a fleet of smaller devices, distributed though out an organization is not bad, it's the management of those assets/supplies/service that can get tricky.

Enjoy.

Joe and Zoe.



Friday, September 25, 2009

Good Things Start With A Pencil

Have a great weekend.






Contact Me

Greg Walters, Incorporated
greg@grwalters.com
262.370.4193