HP gets Smart with its pay-per-use printing

Hewlett-Packard unveils new service, including hardware support, management and maintenance

Hewlett Packard (HP) is currently piloting a pay-per-use service for its range of printers, which it has claimed will enable its channel partners to make more margin in the print space and get closer to SME customers.

Geoff Hogg, HP’s enterprise marketing manager for imaging and printing, said: “We’ve been using pay-per-use for years, which has proved very successful. We decided to revamp it to offer pay-per-use services that our channel partners can easily sell in the SME space. We’ve called it HP Smart Printing Services and are piloting it with seven partners at the moment.”

HP Smart Printing Services provides SMEs with a full service package, including HP hardware support, management and maintenance services and HP Supplies. The services are available through a monthly contract.

“In the past, our channel partners didn’t want to deliver the whole thing; with Smart Printing Services, we’ve designed it so the reseller can choose whether to just provide the printer and let us do the financing, or to sell the hardware, the financing and the maintenance. Whatever elements the reseller sells, it will get a margin on. If it recommends HP for the financing or maintenance it will receive commission,” Hogg said.

Jason Harcourt, senior analyst at Context, said: “Although a lot of printer vendors have launched these pay-per-use type services, the majority of IT resellers aren’t interested. They want to stick to selling the hardware and consumables. However, if HP is saying that resellers don’t have to sell the whole package, and that if they pass the financing or maintenance onto HP they will receive commission, then it could be a better incentive for resellers.”