MpS: The Unifying Theory & Convergence

Originally posted, 7/11/11

Oh, what could have been.  Reading these words today is more than nostalgic.  How can an article written in 2011 have relevance, if not foretell the future, today?

Enjoy.

Just over three years ago (four now), when I started writing about copiers, MpS, technology, selling, and pole dancing, I was one of three. Back then, if one were to Google “managed print services,” the dozen or so returns would’ve consisted of wedding invitation printers and “full-serve” print advertising providers.

There were a few fleet monitoring alternatives and fewer proactive supply management solutions. Hardly anyone mentioned cost reduction, business process, fleet optimization, or phases. And nobody championed reducing costs by reducing prints, copies, or printers and copiers.

This isn’t to say nobody serviced printers or supplied toner. Yes, some were “optimizing” fleets, shifting volume, addressing document workflow and business processes, or managing hundreds of devices, but we inhabited our own little silo.

Xerox, IKON, Canon, Océ, and Pitney Bowes all had their FM division – each conducting site surveys and usage analysis as well as working with colored dots and floor plans.

Silo 1.
The bane of OEMs, third-party cartridge manufacturers, lived their existence in the dark on the periphery of the ecosystem, struggling from legality to legitimacy.

Silo 2.
Liberty, Kofax, and other software companies were conducting user interviews, charting document flows, developing Statements of Work, and evangelizing paper to digital.

Silo 3.
Copier reps walking the streets were suggesting ROI, lower lease costs, TCO, and the benefits of color to purchasing agents and church deacons alike. They were churning, flexing, and otherwise landing gear, giving “more for less” and pitching scan-once-print-many (keyword being “many”).

Silo 4.
The OEMs were flush – seemingly changing models every 90 days. Corporate marketing departments were shoving quotas down the channel, and the channel responded obediently, floor-planning and filling show floors.

Silo 5.
Back then, VARs were executing thousands of transactions a day – servers, desktops, laptops, networks, data centers – and yes, tens of thousands of printers flew off the dock into waiting cubicles.

Silo 6.
I am simplifying by stating only six silos. We may have discovered as many as 11 silos or dimensions over the past two decades inside what can be called the imaging/technology industry.

The number doesn’t matter. Mere acknowledgment is important. Always there, unobserved until now. You see, even though these functions and organizations existed and thrived, there was never a recognized commonality. There was no unifying factor.

Until now.

If you envision these silos standing individually, what could be the common ground? More aptly, what would be the white spaces between the columns?

Managed print Services, the M-theory – that’s what.

Think about it. As we move through the stages of MpS into MS, the “P” fades and other factors, the other columns, illuminate – from third-party toner to scan-to-file, storage, mobility, and EDM – once unique and isolated, now pulled together as one overarching system.

The players haven’t changed, but the game is all different. Those of us who can now ”see” the ecosystem will thrive.
There’s more.

This point in history is unique. This is a time of technological convergence, time compression, and shifting control from a central authority to the individual. MpS is a vehicle for change at this moment. Again, not everyone will see the opportunities or the pitfalls; it takes a wider perspective and pure intent, but those who stay could be champions.


Posted by Greg Walters on 07/11/2011

"I shall call him, Mini-Pad and His Big Sister shall be Maxi -" #Apple

Originally posted 7/9/12

Kindle, schmindle, I want a PC in the form of an iPAD!

I want the comfort of Windows 1.0 and enough ports to plug in my optical mouse AND trackball- while you're at it, throw in parallel port to boot.

And I want it to print to any and every printer in the world. Dare I say, an Epson LQ-2550 and an IBM 4019 Laser printer.

Yeah, print to those, you goofy, goof-ball.

Those Win8, hockey pucks won't print.Not because they can't, because NOBODY WILL WANT TO PRINT.

Will Win8 be a bust?  Will it lock up, like every other Windows version? Has there been a history of new interfaces confusing the hell out of everyone? Whatever.

Pascal's Triangle & The Digitization of the Office - 1/3/2014

2014

In the Beginning -

The workplace has been evolving since the beginning of time. We've moved from farms to churches to castles, to high-rise office buildings and mega-cities. As communication shifted from handwritten documents to print to electronic, so too, did the office and the way we conduct day-to-day business.

Some consider the process started sometime in the 90s - while others imagine true digitization kicked off with the advent of the IPad. 

My observations and research reveal the shift has been occurring since the late 1600s starting with a device invented and built by an 18-year-old, French kid. The mechanism performed addition, subtraction, and multiplication through the manipulation of gears and dials. The teen was helping his father calculate bigger numbers when performing French tax accounting. 

Who is The World's Best Managed Print Services...in the World

I love the phrase, "It ain't bragging if its true..." - my high school football coach used it often.

I've noticed a trend over the past few months in our little niche: Robo-Boasting.

Self-promotion is great.  I get that and if you're proud of your MpS, I say get that story out there.  But don't do it through a robotic channel.

Bragging -

So many software, OEMs, dealers, toner pirates, distributors, consultants and analysts either claim to be or report to know the best Managed Print Services something-or-other.  The twitter-feed is chock-full of MPS robo-brags and self-promotion, it is blinding.  Observed from the outside it looks like one huge Love-fest. (I was going to use 'circle-jerk' but that might seem offensive)

Toner For Tablets - March, 2012 "The New #iPad Will Kill Printed Documents"

Originally posted, March 4, 2012

"One of the iPad's biggest competitors has been paper," said Nick Bilton, a tech columnist at The New York Times, "and now this is better than paper."

So many books and so little printing-

I was somewhat dismayed to learn Britannica is no longer going to print its encyclopedia.

I was a bit vexed when I read that printed,  pulp-erotica isn't as hot as it once was.

My confusion cleared upon discovering the hottest thing on  E*Readers is ladies' romance/erotica - women and their dirty little Nook's. This makes perfect sense; nobody can tell what you're reading while sucking a caramel macchiato, head down on a Kindle.  Poor Fabio.

Even Conde Nest is moving out of print and into the online subscription business.

Half of YOU will Be A #Freelancer - And Won't Print #paperless

Getting up early to fight the traffic.  Fast food lunches, office politics, 'walk around management', empty Monday morning meetings, and equally nauseating, re-cap meetings Friday at 4:00 PM.

Ah, the modern, cube-rat life. Sick of it? You're not the only one.

There is good news - studies suggest by 2020, 50% of us will be freelancers.  All of us, not just writers and out-of-work salespeople will either be or know somebody who is an independent, hired gun, freelancer.  Everyone from CEO to Controller will have the opportunity to work 24/7, from anywhere in the solar system.

Before you say, "I couldn't concentrate at home..." I'm not just talking physically at home.  Besides, you can concentrate anywhere.    Consider the monthly costs your employer carries to put a roof over your head, phone in your hand, and connect you to the interweb.

For Five Six years this U2 video has played.  Seems like it happened yesterday.

2014

2013

#Apple September 9, 2014 #IOS8, #AppleWatch #APPL

It was about the A8. It was about calls shifting from wireless to cell, seamlessly.

It was a bigger phone with more Sensors, new gyroscope better camera.

NFC - Pay without Cash
Pay at McDonalds, Disney, Apple, etc.

Apple Pay 
"Will forever change the way we pay for things.  Online Transactions - Pay with a Finger"

Target, Uber, Open Table and more.  Pay online with your fingerprint and keep all your credit card information in the palm of your hand or on your wrist.

There Are No SEO Experts - #SToPiT!

#managedprintservices, #gregwalters, #mps, #sales, #seo, #searchengineoptimization, #traffic, #mysterymeansmargin, #pleasegoviral, #keywordsorcontent. #mysteryinSEO, #theSEOConspiracy, #UrNotReadinThis

I know this is going to ruffle some feathers, but my latest foray into the world that is the interweb has lead me to the above conclusion. Let me be even more precise: There is no such thing as an SEO expert in our industry. That’s going to hurt the few who claim to be guru’s and pundits - sorry.

It has been, and still is my belief that pure content is the best way to attract an audience. Google agrees. Their search algorithm seeks out fresh, organic content.

Traveling the world of content marketing and marketing content, I see parallels between this realm and the early days of managed print services.(MpS)

In the beginning, nobody really knew what MpS was or how to sell and support a profitable program - some still don't. Back then, there was a great deal of mystery in MpS so anyone who had the slightest insight vaulted to the rank of 'expert' - take it from me. Back then, one needed to have a few weeks more experience than everyone else.

Why No Experts, Greg?

How Cloud Computing Will Change Your Business in the Future

From Workintelligent.ly, Aug 27, 2014.

As we know, the cloud is a platform that allows you to store and process data away from your personal device. The resulting information can then be presented to that or other devices.

This is not a new concept. It’s the way computing originated. Programs originally ran on mainframes, mirroring sessions to terminals throughout an organization. But these were expensive options. In the very early days of personal computing, businesses could only afford to provide CFO’s and controllers with spreadsheet applications and $10,000 PCs.

How to Get Better at Managed Print Services Assessments: 3 Points

Here's a quickie...

For decades, MPS assessments have been a cornerstone to almost every engagement. Even when a 30-Second assessment is popped off, as light as it its, its still an assessment.

Indeed, every sales rep assesses the situation upon entering into a conversation - its only natural. You're measuring the opportunity to be embarrassed or rejected in the first seven seconds. Think back to 7th grade and asking 'whats-her-name' to dance. Or is it just me?

Good Workflow Kills Paper - The Once and Future Managed Print Services

From The Imaging Channel.

Passing notes in class used to result in a disciplinary action. Back then, the most efficient method of conveying information or querying a prospect was to scratch a simple question on a scrap of paper and ask your neighbor pass it along. “Do you like me? Do you want to be my friend? Check yes or no." In the early days of business, like those notes in third grade, sales orders were hand written on paper with a pen.

As time went by, more advanced order-entry processes developed around carbon and carbonless paper and forms. One instance of data entry, writing information down on the order, would create three or four copies, which you’d just peel apart and forward a copy to the appropriate department — original into daily sales, yellow to the warehouse, goldenrod over to accounting as an open order, and the pink gets thrown away. (As an aside, do you remember how challenging it was for some copiers to make a copy of a yellow background, carbonless form? That’s right, we were making copies of copies.)