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22 Print.IT Reseller
01732 759725
review
The PPX 2055 notebook projector is
pocket sized. It simply connects to
a PC or Mac via the dual USB cable
included. This provides both power
and content so it’s always ready for
business!
The PPX 2450 multimedia projector
is a lightweight, powerful projector
with versatile connectivity. Perfect
for mobile and impromptu business
meetings, training, demonstrations and
proposals, this model shown weighs
only 115g and measures 10x10x3.2cm.
Business is competitive so creating a good impression
and gaining an edge becomes more important every day.
Philips PicoPix pocket projectors let you share
your business ideas, designs, pictures and videos
whenever and wherever you want! Small,
handy and powerful, these projectors are
perfect pocket companions for business
trips and meetings. All PicoPix projectors
offer top quality imaging using advanced
LED technology. Enhanced brightness and
contrast give your pictures and videos a
piercingly sharp and vivid projection.
Small projectors,
Big impact.
PicoPix 2055
...continued
management systems that let you generate
and email reports of all devices at a client’s
site including those you don’t have under
contract; and automated assessment and
proposal generators that make it easier to
design a future state for the customer’s fleet.
He argued that these tools made MPS
profitable even in small businesses, but
estimated that currently just 3-4% of dealers
were going after SMEs with MPS.
A number of audience members
highlighted the limitations of existing
solutions, for example the difficulty in
accommodating three-tier billing and an
inability to manage the complexity of change.
One said: “SMB reports don’t take into
account managed change processes: if a
client is running 50 HPs and you switch to
4 MFPs, you create massive change for the
client. It looks good on paper but you are
creating a massive conflict for the client.”
In the cloud
The accompanying exhibition gave evidence
of a rapidly expanding MPS ecosystem, with
a full range of MPS tools on display, from
auditing software and fleet management
solutions to Follow Me printing and toner-
saving software.
The combination of cloud-based
services and smartphones/tablets was a
particular trend with obvious benefits for
sales people. Printanalyze from Tregona, for
example, allows a consultant to maximise
the impact of a sales visit by producing a
proposal on-site. The cloud app running
on an Android smartphone (with iOS and
Windows 8 versions in the offing) allows
someone to make an inventory of local and
network devices; retrieve meter readings;
estimate monthly volumes (if a printer’s
installation date is known); work out the cost
of each installed device using an embedded
database of 15,000 consumables products;
design a new fleet by clicking on printers
within a list; and request a report showing
the current and proposed printer estate – all
on a smartphone. The server will send a
complete PDF report to the user within three
minutes.
Making sense of data
Another challenge for MPS providers is
how to make sense of all the information
provided by printer management solutions.
CompleteView is one possible answer.
Developed by Newfield IT, CompleteView
harnesses information from a variety of
sources e.g. print auditing tools, such as
Asset dB; device management software
(Netaphor, PrintFleet); and service
management systems (Xerox Service
Management System and Navision).
Unlike many MPS solutions, it presents
data in a clear, colourful fashion via large
dials that use red, amber or green colour
coding to show how a printer estate is
performing across various measurements.
The dashboard lets a reseller drill down into
data and run what-if scenarios to see what
impact certain actions will have on print
costs.
The ability to view information from
multiple sources in one place lets a service
provider answer any question a client might
ask and identify opportunities for business
process optimisation. It also creates trust:
in a separate context but supporting this
observation, Printfleet’s David Morrow
said: “When I was at Xerox we used to say
‘where there is mystery, there is margin’, but
today transparency is critical.”
A choice of approach
With an abundance of software available,
resellers can develop an MPS capability
themselves, using solutions from one or
...how do you
make sense
of all the
information
provided
by printer
management
solutions?