Is Your Service Provider Asking The Right Managed Print Services Questions?

Managed Print Services (MPS) always starts with an engagement process of asking questions. If your calling on a customer for the first time, make sure that you begin by asking the right questions - on the front end; ones that will let them see that you’re focus is to understand their current print environment. But do more with these questions. Suggest that their current Service Provider, if their doing their job and acting in the best interest of their customers, should be able to answer these questions. Suggest that if they have not been helping to identify the answers to these questions, they are probably not worthy of your continued patronage. 

These should be core questions, some more detailed, some a little broader in scope. Nevertheless, all designed to get the customer thinking and engaged; realizing that basic information that they should already know. Information that is vital to making good business decision about their print environment moving forward. By asking these questions, and others, you will begin to define your organization as one that seeks understanding and knowledge of existing environments. Make sure that you are clear in your approach; that good decisions are based on good information; that you would never propose changes to existing environment until you had a detailed understanding about the environment and the current business processes of how print is being address – today!

When Does It Make Sense To Introduce A Managed Print Services Solution To My Customer?

Actually, the sooner you begin crafting and communicating your message, the better. The market is shifting and you need to be proactive and positioned. Managed Print Services is what you should be discussing with your customers and the direction you should be taking your business. It can be the greatest differentiator between you and your competitors, and will help to solidify your customer base - long term.

Managed Print Services gives you greater efficiencies and abilities to manage your cost per print (whether your selling a CPP model or not), solidify and grow your current business relationships and opportunities, and improve your margins. Remember, at the end of the day, you have to understand your internal cost of managing a document; your own per page cost of toner, parts, and labor, at the least. Until you understand your costs, you can’t measure improved processes. You must have a baseline to quantify the impact of your changes? When does it make sense to sell a Managed Print Services Solution? It always makes sense; today – right now!

It’s the direction of the market and you need to be prepared to lead the way. Managed Print Services is customer driven; it’s not a “one size fits all” solution. It must be designed with flexibility and can range from “strategic” to “more strategic.” Just be sure you’re talking to your customers first about the most strategic approaches to managed print and all you have to offer; and then….listen. Hear what they want and how you can engage. Just make sure that you’re not blind‐sided by an unexpected competitor. Remember that everyone’s customer is someone else’s prospect. Get as strategic with your customer as you can, while you can.

How Should You Differentiate Your Managed Print Services Solution From Traditional CPP Offerings?

While many Managed Print Services (Cost Management) Solutions are billed on a Cost-Per-Page (CPP) or Cost-Per-Copy (CPC) basis, you should explain to your customer that these are billing methods and not necessarily synonymous with a Strategic MPS Solutions; you need to get proficient at communicating these differences to your corporate clients.  Many times, CPP and CPC programs are nothing more than a billing approach to traditional repair and maintenance services with the customer simply being sold equipment, service and supplies, on a cost per page basis. The reality is that many Print Management companies who offer MPS solutions are not generating the kind of meaningful data necessary for the effective manage of a print environment, data that would enable them to reduce and avoid costs.

Obviously, these companies are not managing print as a business process. In fact, many of them are still very traditional in nature with a traditional mindset and therefore have little incentive to improve processes and lower costs. Educate your customer; let them know that the cost to print a document not only includes the cost of hardware, toner and repairs, but also includes preventative maintenance, inventory carrying costs, delivery expenses, IT support, help desk support, electric, administrative and transaction costs, among others. Ask the following opening questions:

What is Cost Management (MPS) and why would I want to provide it to my customer?

More than ever, products are being commoditized and marginalized, forcing you to compete solely on price – a game you can’t really win. In this kind of environment your margins fall, and competition becomes more intense. The only way you can overcome such demanding challenges to your business is to reinvent yourself; create new business paradigms that provides your customers with greater value – value that very few of your competitors can provide or are too lazy and complacent to provide – value that can generate higher profit margins for you while eliminating much of your competition. This is Cost Management, more commonly referred to today as Managed Print Services (MPS). More than anything, it is a means for you to change the value proposition you bring to market. Unlike a commodity, Cost Management is a strategic solution that can’t be marginalized!

Cost Management is an outsourcing service by which you take on full responsibility for a company’s print environment, including the maintenance, support, and acquisition of all print devices and consumables. You accept full financial responsibility for maintaining, protecting, utilizing and deploying assets in a way that will create the greatest efficiency of operation and return on investment for both you and your customer. Such services are a true shifting of financial responsibility and accountability. Cost Management is about continuous process improvement and cost savings.

Managed Print Services - Dressed Up and Ready to Compete - What Do You Think? Part VII

PART VII - What Do You Think? How Will You Respond?

In this series, “Dressed Up and Ready to Compete - What Do You Think?” we'll look at some "MPS" indicators and market directions so that we can address the questions... or at least be aware of what's taking place.

Just one more sign that the OEM's continue to move into the "Direct Channel"

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., May 17, 2010 – Working to expand its support for businesses and provide greater levels of service in the North and South Carolina regions, Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in advanced digital imaging and software solutions, today announced the acquisition of the assets of Tereck Office Solutions, Inc., based in Durham, North Carolina. It will now be a new, wholly-owned subsidiary of Canon U.S.A....Read More.....

http://www.mpsconnect.com/articles/76217/canon-usa-acquires-north-carolina-based-tereck-off/

Selecting The Right Managed Print Solution - PART THREE

This series discusses some of the key factors in selecting the right MPS solution for your organization. As an independent, time is precious. Having fewer resources than national service organizations and the OEM's, you need to quickly assess your options, make your selection and implement! Hopefully, the questions we are posing help you in this process.

Part Two highlighted that the solution you select must be flexible enough to grow and change as your business needs change. Moving, on, our next factor is:

Is the DCA (Data Collection Agent) software or hardware based?Are you using a key? Although they are great for capturing snapshots, they do not aid you in gathering data in real time or giving you the ability to proactively respond to toner and service needs in your customers' environments. Therefore, we will exclude them from this discussion.

There's no doubt that software can be easily deployed and implemented. Simply send a link to your customer and they do the rest. We, like most in our space, offer a software DCA option that has been met with great market acceptance. However, software delivery isn't always the best direction and can certainly be met with resistance. Some customers will refuse to download outside software onto their network, particularly one that is sending data out. Others have complex network security settings that can make it difficult if not impossible for data to be transmitted. And if the IT staff encounters a problem on their network, guess which program they will blame and remove; you’re DCA. Then you must convince the customer that your software isn't the problem and try to get it reinstalled. This can take days or weeks, meaning that you are unable to monitor and be proactive in the environment. This approach could also close the door on the opportunity all together. You must have options that can meet their most security centric IT Groups. Theirs also a lot to be said about the on-going maintenance software residing on someone’s equipment vs. a solid state network appliance that racks in their data center and runs unobstructed doing one function and one function only; managing print environments and blinking with nice colored lights as a visual reminder that you are always monitoring all your customers operational needs.

Managed Print Services - Dressed Up and Ready to Compete - What Do You Think? Part VI

PART VI - What Do You Think? How Will You Respond?


In this series, “Dressed Up and Ready to Compete - What Do You Think?” we'll look at some "MPS" indicators and market directions so that we can address the questions... or at least be aware of what's taking place.

Just one more sign that the OEM's are pushing down stream. 

"Xerox Exec: Our Managed Print Margins Beat HP's"

"Xerox (NYSE:XRX) North America President Russell Peacock said VARs that partner with Xerox can make better margins on managed print services than those that partner with HP. And despite HP's market dominance in printing and imaging, he said, Xerox is the one leading the way on managed print services and the software and annuity models that will define the market going forward.........." Read More

http://www.crn.com/managed-services/224700858