Channelling managed print solutions

Fernandes: Strike out for the MPS market

Printer and copier resellers may struggle to sell hardware as businesses are under pressure to reduce capital expenditure. A ray of sunshine for resellers, though, may exist in the form of managed print services (MPS).

MPS enables customers to shift from capital to operational expenditure, and benefit from fixed and predictable pricing on a monthly or quarterly basis.

The reality is that few organisations know how much they spend on printing, due to the lack of centralised print management.

This can lead to underused devices, device downtime, security risks and escalating costs in relation to consumables, resulting in low user satisfaction and poor control over service quality.

MPS can help alleviate these issues. Through a diligent assessment of the print environment, organisations can gain visibility into costs – what is being printed, by whom and on which device.

Subsequent rationalisation can maximise the use of assets such as high-performance multifunction peripherals (MFPs), lower running costs, and increase user satisfaction through higher device uptime.

The MPS market is nebulous due to manufacturers’ varying approaches – which range from entry-level services wrapping up hardware sales with supplies and maintenance, typically on a cost-per-page contract, to fully outsourced deals that manage all aspects of the print infrastructure.

In a flat hardware market characterised by falling prices and shrinking margins, printer manufacturers view MPS as key to growth.

Achieving this for the SMB market is challenging due to the disparate nature of the printer and copier reseller channel. While copier resellers have been selling contracts based on pages or "clicks", many IT resellers are unused to selling these types of contracts.

However, convergence has created hybrid resellers that offer such contracts backed by IT expertise.

Consequently, manufacturers are trying to simplify their channel propositions to make MPS more accessible for resellers so they do not need to invest in costly infrastructure.

In effect, instead of building their own service infrastructure, they can resell an MPS as a white-label service provided by a manufacturer.

Examples include HP Smart Printing Services (SPS), Kyocera UK’s KYOprint Pack, Lexmark Value Print and Ricoh’s @Remote programme.

One MPS programme that stands out in relation to its range of training and support for resellers to manage multi-vendor environments for SMBs is Xerox Printing Services (XPS).

It has packaged its enterprise tools to provide partners with a portfolio of services to assess, design, implement and manage their customers’ print environments.

XPS is a hosted service enabling accredited resellers to deliver and execute their MPS based on their capabilities.

At one level, resellers can use XPS for basic cost-per-page contracts across a mixed fleet or they can extend it to provide their own branded MPS based on the XPS technology platform.

While services such as XPS are a good start in terms of making MPS more accessible to more resellers, resellers must still make the transition from selling hardware to selling services.

They need to be able to educate customers on the benefits of moving to MPS and demonstrate return on investment.

With cost reduction high on the agenda for most businesses, MPS provides an opportunity for organisations of all sizes to gain the visibility they need into print costs and enables resellers to develop long-term and profitable customer relationships.

The vendor programmes outlined above lower barriers to entry such as cost and complexity – and there is no better time for resellers to add value to their services with MPS.

Louella Fernandes is principal analyst at Quocirca