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www.printit
reseller
.co.uk
Print.IT Reseller 13
copier contracts
We have
a highly
capable
Business
Development
Manager
located in
the UK...
been very good for MSE. These players
need a lower cost cartridge in order to
compete against the vendors going direct
and to deliver sensible margins for them to
sustain and reinvest.
Of course, the risks are huge because
if the wrong cartridge vendor is selected,
activity-based costs can sky-rocket pushing
a deal that looks profitable on paper into
the red when the real costs kick in. In this
situation, MSE is able to demonstrate true
OEM equivalence but with a significant
price advantage. It is this competitive
advantage that is driving MSE's growth in
the MPS space.
PIR:
How does MSE address the
UK market?
MD:
For those players that wish to stock
and take care of their own logistics, we are
able to supply pallet quantities from our
central distribution hub in The Netherlands.
We have a highly capable Business
Development Manager located in the UK
and we have UK nationals in our back
office in The Netherlands.
For players that require drop shipping,
we have inventory on the ground in Corby,
Northants with a third party logistics
provider and can drop ship to individual
users. Our web ordering capability is now
on-line and we will happily engage with
our customers to achieve connection
between their ERP systems and ours so
that toner alerts from monitoring software
feed right through to purchase orders in
our ERP system.
More information about MSE can be found at
www.mse.com
Mark Dawson can be reached at
markd1@mse.com
Julie McGrattan can be reached at
juliem@mse.com
and on mobile number
07825 068500
Established in January, the National
Association of Photocopier and
Printer Suppliers (NAPPS) aims to
prevent mis-representation and
sub-standard service by holding
its members to a code of practice
covering ethical business practices
and customer service.
NAPPS director Aaron Warham told
PrintIT Reseller
: “The reputation of the
channel has been blighted by a small
number of companies doing dubious
things. Some of the contractual practices
that supposedly went away in the ‘80s
have been around for a few years.
Awareness of that seems to be growing
so we are building a community of
document companies that consumers can
have confidence in.”
In order to become a member, a
converged reseller, VAR or MFD (Multi
Functional Device) dealer must go
through an accreditation process backed
by the UK Accreditation Service (UKAS)
and sign the NAPPS Code of Practice.
“It’s not just a case of paying a
membership fee,”Warham explained. “The
accreditation process is very in-depth. We
have 120 points of evidence to show how
members deal with customers. We look at
service KPIs (average call out times, first
time fixes etc.); and we look at process-
driven things like training, the install
process and quality management systems.”
Warham said that NAPPS currently
has 50 channel members from all over
the country who are benefiting from what
NAPPS is trying to achieve. “At this stage
our members are using their accreditation
as a main differentiator in the market.
Eveyone is moving towards services and
competing around MPS and document
management services, so competition is
just as strong as when they were shifting
boxes. Our members are using NAPPS
as a differentiator: they are pushing it to
people when they are prospecting or are
at the proposal stage.“
NAPPS is also engaging with
manufacturers through a partnership
programme. “Long-term we would
A mark of trust
PrintIT Reseller
hears how a new Association that aims
to raise standards in the print industry is giving its
members a competitive advantage.
like NAPPS to cover the whole
industry so we need to work with all
major organisations. At the moment
we work with Xerox and Adobe as
partners and are speaking to Canon,
Ricoh, Konica Minolta and other Tier
1 and 2 manufacturers. We have also
spoken to a number of Tier 1 lenders,
the BAPC (the British Association for
Print and Communications) and the
National Association of School Business
Management.”
As well as giving buyers confidence
in the values of its members, Warham
said that NAPPS would provide a forum
for complaints. “If a customer has a
problem with a member or non-member
they can report it to us or ask for
advice,” he said.
NAPPS, as it is currently constituted,
cannot force members to redress a
wrong, but it does have the ultimate
sanction of expulsion, which Warham
believes will be enough to maintain
standards.
“We have a disciplinary process to
deal with complaints. It may not be to
the level where we can offer redress
or financial reimbursement, but we do
have the power to expel people from
the Association. We are taking a moral
position in the industry and we have to
maintain that. The big comfort for end
users is that if people are expelled, word
will start to spread,” he said.
www.napps.org
Aaron Warham, Director, NAPPS