014: Are Assessments Real?

Originally posted, 3/14

"Wait...you want to stick your USB, in my what? I don't know where that thing has been!"

"Oh, okay, so I simply download a zip file, unzip and follow the installation procedure. Then off it goes, traipsing through my firewalls and jumping networks, reporting up to your cloud.  Do I have that right?"

"Yes, I will install your DCA.  And yes, I will indulge you by reviewing your proposal. I have just a few questions:"

"How long will you need to interview my end users?  Oh, you don't interview anybody?  But you said you know the workflow."

"How long will you be observing the way we do business?  Oh, you don't look at our existing processes?  But you said you were going to compare current and future states."

"How much will my costs relate to printing decrease year, over year, over, year? Oh, you can't guess?  But you said you conduct quarterly reviews.  What are we going to discuss during these meetings?" 

Why shouldn’t you allow your print/copier vendor to do assessments? Because their assessments are not for you, the customer - their assessments are for them, the providers.

Having performed assessments, in one fashion or another, from the network, storage, workflow, print, data, and systems analysis perspectives for over 25 years,  we’ve seen an awful lot of environments and know clients (end users, not providers) who roll their eyes as soon as they hear the word “assessment” - it's pavlovian.

How many times do those on the provider side conduct assessments with the intent to sell more stuff, gain more ’share of wallet’, and increase margin? Often.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that - but let us be very clear: intent is everything and the true intent is sustainable - performing assessments to land more equipment is short-cycled (30 days) and disingenuous.

NOT EVERYONE PERFORMS ASSESSMENTS TO THIS END.

But here are some common styles of assessments:

Assessments coming from mal-intent - 

Once a vendor knows your toner volume, they know what flexibility they have in terms of profit.  Everybody has the opportunity to turn a profit, it's part and parcel of this free enterprise experiment.  But to the "Trojan Horse" one's way into a prospect's kingdom is malevolent.

Shallow assessments - 

Again, when a vendor simply counts "clicks" and the number of devices over a certain age, hunting for upgrades and new placements, they do you a disservice and contribute to the not-so-stellar reputation the niche seems to wallow. (see toner pirate and flexing leases)

I've implemented software to look at the fleet in as deep a fashion as possible, contributing to a holistic approach to managed services, not automatically generating a stock proposal or price sheet.

Assessments that are nothing more than a sales tool - 

In the olden days, I evangelized the data collection agent (DCA) as a qualification tool: if a prospect was unwilling to install my DCA, he or she was not qualified to be one of my clients - I moved on. But that was because I was looking beyond the toner and service delivery and could not afford to invest time into a ‘transactional’ relationship - I was looking to move across the WS Relationship Spectrum ©, becoming a 'partner' not a vendor.

Today, getting a piece of software installed or inquiring about the number of toner cartridges you purchase each month is like reading your dates diary the night before Prom. Wait for it...wait...there!

Bottom line, just as it was in 2009, the idea of an ‘assessment’ is not flawed, camouflaging simple sales techniques as an ‘impartial assessment of your print environment is insidious.

Beware, dear reader, there be skullduggery about.

Purchasing Managed print Services from a copier dealer? Three Things To Consider in Your Agreement

There was a time in my life when I provided managed print services to customers ranging in size from as few as 10 devices to as many as 1,100.  The MpS practice was one of five different practices within a VAR.  Managed print services was not a focus - indeed, some of my engagements generated revenue that was a fraction of the rebates generated on one transaction from HP or CISCO deals.

But after crashing and burning two times, ultimately, we became profitable, cohesive and well run, if I do say so myself.

Along the way, I added years of experience to an already varied past and volumes of seemingly disparate knowledge.  Today, working with end-users more than providers, I find many of the techniques I once thought gone and forgotten, implemented with abandon.

Here's a list of three such tactics to look out for when buying managed print services.  There are many more we'll address as the days flow through 2014.

1. Price escalations - why would you agree to allow anyone to arbitrarily raise your price?
2. No 30 day out - things change and real managed print services programs are designed to manage the naturally occurring reduction in the number of devices and prints.  A thirty day out is not much to demand.
3. Capital investments tied to a service agreement - Never combine a service agreement with a hardware lease/rental. 

Why are these considerations typical? Just for fun, let's look at these five points from the providers vantage point, shall we?  What does a provider expect:

1. Price escalations - This doesn't require the firing of too many neurons.  Bid a low cost per page and get the margin back in 12 months, after the price increase.
2. 30 day out - Again, it isn't too much of a strain to see why a provider would want to "lock you into an extended agreement.  You represent a guaranteed revenue stream
3. Capital investments tied to a service agreement - The mother of all facts is this: you can never get out of a lease early, without paying for the remainder of term. Yes, there are provisions for government-type accounts, but for commercial businesses, getting out of any lease is near impossible. So if I, as a provider, can attach or 'roll' service charges into a equipment lease, that stream is guaranteed for the life of the lease.  No matter what.

Not every MpS practitioner utilizes these techniques and is some cases, any one of the above stipulations may make sense.  The point is to see it coming.

My MpS practice was successful and sustainable - we didn't use entrapment, we implemented real managed print services at times under a Master Service Agreement that could include RMM and Unified Communications (UC) - that was in 2009.

Not "managed toner delivery" or "CPI invoicing on printers" or simply "managed print".  

MpS Purity.  Demand it.

This is not a plant stand.  It is an optimized device from an MpS engagement.

This is Why MSPs (and their customers) Don't Like MpS

Originally posted, 3/2014

A while back  I was with an MSP/IT specialist at one of our clients.  He knew us as the "printing consultants" hired to help them with their print policy, cost reduction processes, etc., and was our guide for the day.  For him, we did not fit into the salesperson model and he was unaware of our copier heritage - in other words, he was candid and open about his feelings around printers and copiers - from the IT side of the yard.

Well, as with most conversations, we started talking about service calls, toner delivery, managing user behavior, and his observations of the decreasing need for print.

I ask if he's ever looked at managed print services.

Without hesitation, he groaned,

"Everybody is trying to force MPS into the MSP environment.  The guys from Kaseya and Connectwise are always pushing MpS and to tell you the truth, the biggest reason we don't want to get into MpS is the pushy salespeople.  We don't conduct business like that with our clients.  We're not salesy like those copier guys and our clients don't want to be sold."

Okay then.

Know this, we did not coax him into a response nor did we agree or disagree until he was done venting.  He confirmed printing and printers really aren't all that important or carry that much interest in the eyes of most IT people - nobody likes copiers - and besides, "they are all going away anyway."

Yikes.

Look at it a different way:  this client is currently working with two major OEMs - there are thousands of devices and hundreds of sku's.   Both OEMs have formidable managed print services offerings and vertical industry solutions: the account generates millions of dollars in revenue for both, yet the customer holds each in only the slightest regard.

"...and our clients don't like to be sold..."

The imaging industry is known for its sales prowess.  For whatever it's worth, copier folks are defter at managing the selling cycle than managing services.  The ability to bury cost in the lease, lock the customer, increase the share of wallet and automatically increase pricing has been part and parcel of the industry's selling playbook. Thousands of copier zombies inhabit the landscape regurgitating the "same cost, better, faster, newer technology" value proposition.

Yet given enough time, one's strengths evolve into weaknesses: IBM was the mightiest server manufacturer at one time, no longer; Microsoft determined the world's desktop computing experience, not anymore; HP's printer division was the cash cow, now it's an anchor.

So perhaps this is where we are today.  The talents of yesterday align more with the needs of our masters, and less with those of our clients.  You are paid to move a box, NOT solve a problem.  Customers want solutions to their problems.

Unfortunately, customers understand copiers don't solve all that many business problems anymore if they ever did.

Think about that...

A Perfect Example of Terrible Managed Print Services Content -

Mold

Social Media Campaign

As I travel the back roads of internet marketing, recording experiences shared by copier dealers, MPS providers and the like, many things become clear:

What are "SEO Experts" -
Content is the art, SEO is relevant until the algorithm is changed.  The mystery of getting to the top of google results is just that - a mystery.  Sure, everybody has a plan and can show you how to get to the top, but is there an ROI?

There are more flim-flam artists in internet marketing than there are toner-pirates in our realm -
Business owners don't know the first thing about web-marketing because we spend our time working OEM rebate, warranty programs and employee issues.  Sometimes you sell.

Either way, getting to know what you need to know about your web-presence is a full time job and trusting those who have the answers is daunting.

All of our websites suck - 
Visually, most of the websites LOOK fine - indeed, some are downright attractive.  But beyond the pretty wrappers, a lot of websites are glorified product brochures with hollow content.

Your web-presence should not be a glorified yellow pages advertisement or deep dive, company resume.

Those are pretty broad observations, so let me boil it down to the latest affront.

I found this in my twit-stream, "Managed Print Services" - see the two screen-caps - the SM expert floods the stream with pictures of ...well.. alluring women.  I know a thing or two about utilizing this imagery, beyond that, the link reveals a most egregious example of click-bait and revolting content.

I don't claim to be a perfect writer, speller or grammar-ist, I know I've forgotten a comma or two and misspelled plenty, but never have I written such drivel - nor have I read a narrative so void.

Submitted for your review, the tip of the iceberg - incoherent content:

"Many organizations are coming up today. 

Many of them are facing problems when it comes to production of many paper copies. The machines are quite expensive, it is also expensive to have a technical team for the services. Many managers are hence opting to outsource the MPS services. You would save a lot of money if engaged with the right services providers. If you would like a professional team, you need to have the contacts of name redacted to protect the innocent.

There are things that you need to consider getting the right service providers since many people have joined the industry, and most of them are providing poor overhaul..."

"Poor Overhaul"?  What in God's, green, Earth is THAT?

This type of content is more prevalent than you think - don't let your social media/website/marketing company do this to you.

Better yet, call us -  I've put together a group of experts, Bright Stars, of internet marketing/sales and transformation and we provide a total solution portfolio of services:

• WebCasts
• Reputation Management
• Website Monitoring and Security
• PodCasts
• Video
• Salesforce and engagement management
• ...and much, much more...

The sad thing is, somebody, somewhere is paying for this content.







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2014: The Year in Review - BORING.

Tis the season to be jolly and reflect on the past 12 months.  It is safe to say, technology in general expanded more and more at an accelerating pace - Moore's Law on nano-bio-bot-steroids.

But the managed print services, copiers, printers, and even managed services niche was, in a word, a mundane, tedious, dull, monotonous, repetitive, unrelieved, unvaried, unimaginative, uneventful period.

B-O-R-I-N-G.

"InterStellar" and The Printed Word

We just saw Interstellar. By far one of the best movies, let alone Sci-Fi movies, of the year - if you stretch your mind, you may consider it the thinking person's Guardians of the Galaxy.

There is balance in the universe.

Spoiler alert - sorta.

I could probably explain every scene I remember and NOT give away anything.  This is one of those movies that can't be spoiled.  I love viewing versions of future life, looking for the little details like how often the characters make copies or print.  It's a curse.

Perhaps it happens to a lot of people, we start seeing the same themes and images repeated in movies and TV shows - the older we get, the more often we see.

Interstellar, for all its original imagery and story-lines, paid homage to works of the past.

Here are a few:


Planet of the Apes - Charlton Heston version

The nose of the lifting body space craft can be seen poking out of water.  They crash land into a lake.

Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind -

Machines mystically return home, books fly off shelves and coordinates to a secret, government liar are revealed via morse code, leading our hero to the rings of Saturn.

2001 - A Space Odyssey -

Obvious reference as one of the robots discusses its 'sense of humor' setting.  The spinning ship and lights reflecting off of visors offers inescapable comparison.

For me, the master compare occurs when Cooper ejects and is alone in space.  Much like the ending scenes of Odyssey, man is alone.

The Perfect Storm -

Haven't seen a wave that big since Clooney and clan.

Batman & Inception -

Snow, rock and Ice.  Nolan loves those things.



Totally New Images -

Swinging seats in the Ranger spacecraft.  I don't know the exact functionality of a swing-chair cockpit - it all depends on Gravity.

Robot - fail.

I like the boxy, humorous robots except for one pivotal scene; when Cooper needs to get his craft spinning at the same rate as the out of control vessel, he recruits the robot, which in turn, extends an appendage to physically take hold of the stick.

No.  Like R2D2 on the Death Star, futuristic robots simply connect, digitally.  Hello, M2M folks.

References to print:

1.  A book at school.  It seems that missions to the moon are so not politically correct, "federally approved history books" explain the Apollo program never happened and the moon missions were all fake.  Another movie reference; Capricorn One, starring OJ Simpson.

Of course, Cooper's daughter brings in a pre-history-changing version and gets suspended for her efforts.  Cooper, an ex-NASA pilot, is not pleased with society or the evil education system, and explains how MRI machines are a direct result of those 'fictitious' trips to the moon.

2.  A Lab Book.  Notes are carefully jotted down by pencil into a common lab book.  A professor is also seen using a bank of chalk boards.

3.  Perhaps the best utilization of paper - explaining the wormhole.

In one scene, a scientist explains why the hole is a sphere by drawing on a slip of paper, bending it and sticking a pencil through.  It is a two dimensional circular hole.  In three dimensions, a circle represents what shape?

A sphere - physics lesson over, beer time.

Enjoy the movie.

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Did ECi Just Hoodwink An Industry?

Describe for me your system for collecting data in MPS assessments.

Does it go something like this?

"The system comprises a local network including several printing devices provided with a diagnostic unit collecting various device working data’s and at least a connecting device connecting a plurality of printing devices,where by the connecting device is adapted for collecting data’s from a plurality of printing devices and for storing said data’s in a digital repository,where by said digital repository is in a form readable by a process or comprising instructions for treating at least some data’s of the digital repository."

If you were to draw it out, workflow, would it resemble this:

One last question - are you utilizing FM-Audit as your DCA?  If so, you're good, if not - do you think you might be in violation of a patent?

ECi has been awarded a patent for:

The “Status Monitoring System and Method” invention is in the field of data collection and digital repositories for printing and imaging devices. The method provides end users with the ability to click a link or download the application from a portable external storage device (USB key) and aggregate data such as meters, toner and ink levels that is collected from both network and local copiers and printers. The patent covers much of the technology found throughout today’s FMAudit suite of products, including Central, Onsite, WebAudit, and Agent."

Its probably nothing, just a way to keep anyone else from stealing FM-Audit's unique method of collecting printer data.  I'm sure intentions are pure and motivation is customer centric.

Time will tell.

Get the patent documentation, here.



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The Magic Quadrant: Reflection of MPS or Marketing Budgets?

"The New Matrix is here!  The New Matrix is here!"

So, yeah...

the Magical Matrix came out last month showing just about everybody - Xerox, Ricoh, Canon, Lexmark, HP, Konica - in the "Leaders" sector for Managed Print Services.

Kyocera and Toshiba end up as "Visionaries" - I guess an erasable copier can be considered visionary - and ARC looks to be the only "Niche Player".  I've always wondered if there is a correlation between the amount of money folks spend with Gartner and their placement in the upper right. Probably not.  Either way, the square looks skewed.

Reflect with me now and consider for a second the definition of managed print services:

"...The active management and optimization of document output devices and related business processes..."

If I had "Greg's MPS Almanac", this is how I would stack the pile:

1.  Xerox - Next Generation MPS
2.  Ricoh - The New Way of WorkIntelligent.ly

3.  ARC

4.  Canon - Fragmented but becoming clear

5.  Lexmark - Verticals, F500, transactional
6.  HP - Who? Except in LA
7.  Konica - Why sell anything but copiers with landed margins like that!

See, There's This Thing Called MIF and Apparently, It Needs Scrubbing...

One of the strongest arguments in MPS is lowering cost through the reduction of the number of devices.(Optimization).  This single leverage point is difficult for an OEM to reconcile as long as there are plants building machines.

I'm not saying players won't shrink MIF - Global loves shrinking Ricoh's MIF; Ricoh and Canon exchange MIF as often as Clinton flip-flopped and HP is out there reducing her own MIF.(Something to do with Ink vs. Toner and what-not)

In this year's Mystical Matrix, everybody except one, operates manufacturing plants and the one player is presented in the lower left.

Not to me.

ARC is different. Specialized and tasked with REMOVING DEVICES FROM EVERYBODY'S MIF, they're about as close to MPS Purity as possible.

Check out the progression:

And the Point?

Millions of dollars are spent by purchasers every year based on who is placed where and I don't think the Mystical Matrix has an once of relevancy in MPS.  The fact that ARC is placed in a lower quadrant tells me that Gartner's definition orbits machines in the field or images captured/under contract.  Which is a losing argument not for the future.

The companies mentioned aren't at fault - HP has a good MPS program, Xerox's is better; Ricoh has a solid MPS program, Xerox's is better.  But the comparison is on a GLOBAL scale. How many of you are selling to Fortune 500?

If anything, the ranking shows how similar ALL the programs have become. They're painting with the same set of colors - or worse - only one.  It would be as if Van Gough painted Starry Night with a single color.

Blah.

We've gotten to the point where all MPS programs look, act, feel, and taste the same.  Where touting the number of collected awards is part of a value proposition . In a world that increasingly regards 'expert research' as rear-view-mirror forecasting, why do we listen?

"No, Really, What's Your Point, Greg."

In a past life, one of my value-props started with, "You know mister prospect, all devices are the same."  I did this for two reasons:

1.  Neutralize competitors selling speeds and feeds
2.  I could sell five different lines

The latest slew of awards and accolades proves my point - all machines are the same.  Here's the kicker, this isn't simply my, personal view - more than likely, your prospects think the same way.  They don't care about BLI or Gartner - they barely think about print - the care about how you empathize and help them solve problems.

Simple.

The best to be done with any of these studies is to ignore and move on.



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I Have Seen The Future of Our Business and it is #Samsung. No. No it isn't. What?

This is what is known as an "Adobe Upgrade"

Dateline, 2014

Do I make fun of the tablet 'duct taped' to the side of a copier?  Yes.

Do I think end users will do whatever they can to avoid standing in front of a copier? Yes.  Even if we attache Netflix or Clash of Clans?  Yes.

Did Tod Pike sell AGAINST A4 devices just four, short years ago?  Well, did Samsung profits just drop like a 1951 era MIG-15?(good lord, google it) Yes.

"Oh, Greg.  Who are you pissing off now?"

Samsung -

Here's the challenges I see with the new user interface:

Reason One - Nobody wants to spend more time in front of a copier.

In all my years of working with clients helping them determine requirements for print and content management, I have never had a client say to me, "I wish I could find another reason to stand in front of the copier."  Well, except for government and education, but let's not get political.

Reason Two - 'Droid isn't a great platform

But what else is Samsung going to use, Yosemite?

Reason Three - The visual stinks.

Honestly, the unit looks like an engineer velcro'd the tablet to the side of a copier.  IKON'a DocSend - now that looked cool.

Hold Your Venom!

I know there are folks ready to fire off a terse comment or email my way, please don't hit 'submit' just yet.  Here are my reasons we should recognize this move as powerful genius.

Tod Pike has been able to get two divisions within one of the largest technology manufacturer's in the world, to come together and bring a combined package to market - in what? Two years?

I see the future of our business with fewer silo's and faster innovation to market - SPEED.

Think about your world: How easy is it for you to get Sales and Service talking?  Right.

How long did HP 'think' about Edgeline before hitting the streets? HP 3D? 2016ish. What train wrecks occurred whenever IPG was inside a PSG account - with a dealer and VAR?

In some organizations, speed to market is measured in 20 quarter cycles.  Our traditional OEMs have one gear to innovation. S L O W.   In this case, it looks like Pike was able to jump the curve.

Maybe there is a back-story and I am giving too much credit, it doesn't matter because Tod isn't stopping here.  He's working with Technology United, integrating Forza AT THE MACHINE LEVEL which would be a gargantuan undertaking for many, but apparently not Tod.

From the outside, it looks logical for a manufacturer of copiers, tablets and phones, to integrate products into a single package.  An example would be Toshiba integrating nuclear reactors inside their erasable copier.  But that's not going to happen.

Remember when HP printers and computers went together like,"...rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong..." (props to Olivia Nutron Bomb).

In a time when MPS messaging gets garbled from the board room to the trenches, seeing a company slap one department on the side of another and bring a product to market, is both refreshing and significant.

Cheers to the process.

####  UPDATE 12/23/2014  ####

Tod Pike as decided to move on, leaving Samsung in early 2015.  What can be gleaned by this turn?

I am not sure.

I can tell you this, the 'droid-tablet-copier will not land more units and if the consolidation of divisions says anything, its that they're shrinking and focusing on equipment based, transactional selling.  Box moving.

Now...let me tell you about a Intellinetics and their 'little box of wonders..."

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Was the 2014 Executive Connection Summit "The Best Show Ever"? Really?

Well, well, well...40 years of evolution, and look where we are today.  

Scottsdale, AZ under the watchful gaze of one of the true gentlemen on the planet - Mike Stramaglio.  

Mike and I first met at a Lyra show and have had many conversations about the sluggish acceptance of the 'connected world' by our industry.  Mike's world has always been about new technology, M2M, P2P, and business engagements blooming into personal relationships.

He not only talked 'Star Trek' stuff but integrated our corner of the world into his talk track, discussing how "...imaging devices and other business equipment are inherently included in  'things'  'people', 'process,' and 'data' - the four components of the Internet of Everything"

Managed Print Services Was Here: Big Data Business Intelligence

From imaging to content to the cloud to Big Data to Business Intelligence to Mobile Business Intelligence.

May 2012-

We're moving from marks on paper to the clouds, all the data is moving off the paper files.

But the data is just data, unusable.

In the old days, we would 'crunch' the numbers either manually or on a spreadsheet.

Today, there is an app for that; instead of the numbers getting crunched on paper, it's being presented on a screen.

Typewriters and impact printers - are gone. Carbon paper, white-out - gone.

Add cubicles, office furniture, water coolers, uniform rental programs, IT departments, factory floors, inventory shelving, hi-los, truck docks, and pallets to that list.

Then take away the roads, parking lots, air conditioning units, and tons of paper.

And all those useless meetings. Gone like a freight train. Gone.

How so?

The answer is in the palm of your eleven-year-olds hand...

It's this new thing called Business Intelligence (BI) and BI's up-and-coming younger brother, Mobile Business Intelligence (MBI).

What is mobile business intelligence?

Here's the short version:

Mobile business intelligence is a set of tools that allows data from multiple databases to be connected, sliced and diced, and presented on your PADD, iPad, Android, or iPhone.

The data is live, sync'd, and in the cloud.

Your information is represented in pretty, colorful dots, bars, and graphs on a single pane.

For a decade the "remote" or "mobile" workforce has referred to the corporate sales team.

Executive management was still chained to the machine: Mainframe, Mini, Micro, PC, Laptop, or Notebook.

The C-levels were tied to devices because that's how they kept in touch with corporate data (JD Edwards, SAP, etc); converting that data to information and the information into intelligence.  Business intelligence is why they got paid the big bucks and the corner office with all the trappings.

Enter MBI.

Today, not only can the executives open and send emails, read magazines, and check spreadsheets they can look at live inventory levels, orders entered, web traffic, and conversions - from any spot on the planet, even at 37,000 feet.

Without teams of number-crunchers, accountants, middle managers, or MBAs.

But wait, there is so much more.

Big data. "Big" like we in the soon-to-be-defunct imagining industry have never seen.

Big as in every single page that has been generated from every single device ever sold. Big as in every single book, magazine, newspaper, blog, website, status, invoice, check, financial report, inventory sheet, delivery receipt, and email ever generated - BI taps into that and mobile BI lets me do it from the beach.

In Bali.

Don't think this only affects the imagining/copying/printing function - no, this reflects the changes in everything.

Because the growth of Big Data is not going to rely on humans entering the data - machines will talk to machines on the intake side of the process and machines will talk to machines during the data-crunch stages - ultimately presenting an intelligent and relevant representation to a person.

The human.  Yes, we're still part of the process, we've just shifted the 'grunt' work to the machines in the cloud, while we toil away on the beach.

Untethered In North Carolina - 2014

Lake Norman, NC. October 2014 -

I’ve been a digital nomad since 2007 as both an employee and a business owner.  In the early days, I remember feeling a bit self-conscious when I first used my laptop in a restaurant.  Those days are long gone.  Today, more people are ‘working remote’ than ever before.

Today, we’ll talk about two establishments worthy of your patronage.

I’ve quantified as much as possible, my criteria based on personal feelings and experiences culminating in a non-scientific rating system called “Mad Max Hours”(MMH) - a homage to the original Road Warrior, Max. The best is five, zero being the worst.  When I feel the establishment is a good place to work remotely, I give it higher hours - as in I’ll feel comfortable staying there for four hours and so on.

Today we look at watering holes with WiFi: Davidson Beverage Company and Carrburritos.