Lexmark steers resellers to MPS as print market slows

As end users are wanting more than just print from a printer, Lexmark helps resellers enhance their offerings

Lexmark has identified document management as the next area of growth in managed print services (MPS) and wants to educate its partners on how to stay afloat in a declining print market.

The US-based vendor – which provides businesses with printers and printer software – has said that it has noticed a market decline in terms of the number of printers being shipped, and number of documents going through devices already in place.

To combat this decline Lexmark’s channel sales director, Martin Fairman, told CRN he understands that the company needs to help resellers shift their approach to customers.

A managed document offering would see those resellers help customers store, manage and track all documents within their business - providing easier control and improved security of sensitive files and data.

“The conversation we are having with our global clients is one around document management and how we can enhance what they have got. But we are starting off with baby steps as it were,” Fairman said.

“We recognise that our market is in decline, so we have got to help our resellers evolve their business by putting the right devices into the client, and figuring out how we then talk to them about document management and streamlining their business processes.”

Resellers are wary about investing in developing an MPS solution according to Fairman, who argued that manufacturers need to really define the meaning of MPS, and promote the savings opportunities it offers.

“A lot of resellers are unsure about investing in the infrastructure needed, from data collection tools, to people going out and doing a site audit. There is a lot of education that we as manufacturers need to offer the market to really lock down what MPS is.

“There is great savings to be made from it in all areas. The benefit for resellers is that MPS locks them into their customers, which is what we are all trying to do.”

Scanned images are being talked up by analysts such as IDC as the next big area of growth for the managed print market, Fairman said. But he said it will be a challenge going forward to start charging customers for this service, since it has been part of existing solutions to date.

"Going forward, we need to educate our resellers on how to start charging for scanned images. We [Lexmark] have been giving away scanned images as part of managed print for too long now and this has real tangible value.”