01732759725
it differs is that in SMEs the focus shifts
from pure cost-savings to cost avoidance.
In other words, ‘If I can avoid hiring an
IT person tomanage these devices, if I
can offload some of the time being spent
managing devices and doing internal
customer support frommy IT team to a
managed print service provider, then I can
shift IT resources to things that aremore
mission critical’.That’s huge in SMEs: it’s
muchmore about ‘Make it easy forme’
than aboutmaking huge savings.
PrintIT Reseller:
Naming your
conferenceTransform is a clear
statement ofwhat youbelieve the
channel must do to survive. Do end
users also need to transform toget
themost fromMPS and, if so, inwhat
ways?
Crowley:
They do.Weworkwith a lot
of end user organisations and often,
particularly in large enterprises, they start
off with the view that they have to put
this out toRFP at the lowest cost.Then,
when they start to look at it, they ask
‘What am I actually trying to accomplish
here? Is it about cost? Is it aboutmaking
myself more efficient? Is it about providing
better capabilities tomy end customers?’
And as they start sorting through those
requirements, the focus shifts. Cost is still
important – I don’t want tominimise that
– but it becomes a lotmore about ‘What
can you enableme to do?’, particularly
when it’smore than justmanaging a fleet
and actually implementingworkflow or
business process enhancement. ‘How
can you fundamentally helpmemakemy
business better? If we outsource this, how
will itmakeme be better at what I do?’
The focus shiftsmore towards adding value
and additional capabilities rather than just
reducing costs?This requires a change in
customer thinking.
PrintIT Reseller:
MPS vendors used
topride themselves on high contract
renewal rates. Is this still the case, or
is there nowmore customer churn?
Crowley:
We are definitely seeingmore
customer churn and it’s really being driven
by two things.More customers are saying
‘Look, I want you to offermore than
just fleetmanagement. I want advanced
document services as part of myMPS
contract. I’ll sign the first contract with
you, and that can really be about fleet
management, but the next contract has
to be about advanced document services’.
Vendors come in and sell their advanced
document service capabilities and everyone
is happy.Thenwhat happens is that at
the end of the first contract they say ‘Gee,
we’ve got the fleetmanaged but I’m
notmaking any progress on advanced
document services.We’re going to give
you another contract period to do this’.
When the vendor still doesn’t achieve
this, they say ‘Well, if all you are going to
do is reducemy costs then this is a pure
RFP procurement. I am going to put it in
anRFP and let purchasing handle it’, at
which point it becomes commoditised and
is all about the cost per page.At this point,
customers turn and say ‘If you can’tmove
me forward and it’s just aboutmanaging
the fleet, I can do that’.This creates churn
throughmissed expectations.
The other thing that causes churn is
summed up by something a vendor said
at one of our conferences: ‘If we really
understandwhat the customer is trying
to dowhenwewalk in first time andwe
executewell on that we have an almost
100% renewal rate. But whenwewalk
in andwe’re just pushing a programme
and don’t really understandwhat the
customer’s objectives are our renewal rates
fall down to 50%.’ Some vendors treat
MPS as a programme and don’t focus on
understandingwhat the customer needs.
These people don’t hang on to customers
because they never really knewwhat to
deliver in the first place.
PrintIT Reseller:
Who is spearheading
the drive tobusiness process
optimisation: the vendor, dealer,
customer or IT services provider?
Crowley:
I was having this conversation
with one of themajor OEMs and they said
‘Initially,we startedwith the concept of
let us help youmove into this advanced
document services space and customers
bought into it.Nowwe are finding the
more of that that we do, themore the
customers are driving us’. I think that's
reallywhat’s happening. Customers are
saying ‘I’ve heard all themarketing pitches,
now here’swhat I need' and they are
very focused on document solutions and
improving how their business operates. It’s
verymuch being driven by customers now.
PrintIT Reseller:
Are IT services
companies continuing tomove into
MPS? If so,what share of themarket
do you estimate they have now?And
what is their preferred approach
– developing anMPS capability
themselves, partneringwith an
MPS provider or acquiring anMPS
provider?
Print.ITReseller
18
q&a
Visit Kentucky, the
Land of Unbridled
Spirit, and find out
more aboutMPS
at PhotizoGroup's
TransformGlobal
MPS conference.
Photo credit:
kentuckytourism.
com
Join the big hitters at
Photizo'sTransform
Global MPS
conference on
June 2-4.
Photo credit:
kentuckytourism.com
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