Managed Print Services, Blind Men & Elephants

After being involved in managed print services for nine years I notice one constant; confusion as to what this opportunity is! Titles such as fleet management, print management and managed print services are used interchangeably and tossed about as synonyms: but should they be?

Much like the story of the blind men and the elephant, MPS is confidently defined by vendors with products that touch a single part of it. Since “managed print services” arose primarily from the printer and compatible cartridge industries, most of its focus is on the service and support of the network print output fleet, or fleet management.

Let me get to the point of this posting: MPS provides revenue opportunities for vendors to help their clients manage document production and printed output, not just the network devices. If you consider that reputable industry analysts project printed output represents only 10 percent of the total cost of document production, it becomes obvious that there is considerable potential outside of simply managing output devices.

MPS is a collection of related service offerings, all of which provide revenue opportunities for the provider. If we continue to let vendors define and promote managed print services offerings based on their individual interests the providers will miss out on significant portions of the revenue opportunity.

With the advent of digital multifunction devices hardware vendors promoted hiring of technology support specialists to promote sales of hardware. In spite of the significant added value provided by their investments, dealers continued to earn their first dollar at the time of the hardware sale and rely on fix/repair services and supply sales for ongoing revenues.

As MPS grows, providers are now encouraged to provide assessment, design and support services free of charge to capture toner cartridge revenues or hardware sales. Software vendors promote sales professionals performing assessment and analysis rather than focusing these practices on specialists; it sells more seat licenses.

Much of the industry simplifies MPS to servicing and supplying fleets of printers and multifunction devices but there is much more to it than that. Fleet management is but one important managed print service.

Implementing MPS carries the highest margin potential for your dealership, and likely the greatest savings for your client.

Your clients realize real value from MPS and you differentiate your dealership when you solve their problems, not just tell them they exist with simplistic print output assessments designed to sell them additional hardware. A well-designed print management strategy will provide a compelling value proposition for your client and deliver multiple benefits to you.

You can positively change the sales dynamics between your sales organization and clients and create greater value. This will increase revenues within your current client base, create a differentiated value proposition in competitive engagements and provide an engagement strategy within your target accounts. You will benefit from net new professional services revenues with potentially higher margins, increased hardware placements and greater aftermarket revenues.