For Those of Us In Managed Print Services - Wow!

I.T. is taking over the fleet...This article is very revealing and confirms pretty much what I and my collegues are seeing in the field every day.

I have taken some excerpts - the data was revealed after interviews of both MPS providers and clients; approximately 100 companies interviewed in the first quarter of '08.

Ed Crowley Founding Partner and CEO of the Photizo Group -

“Perhaps the most interesting detail is what is happening within brands. Each brand’s dynamics are unique, and it is important to understand what levers to pull -- awareness, consideration or product offering -- to improve your brand’s performance,” said Crowley... “For decision makers in both IT and non-IT roles, HP is the leading brand in terms of unaided awareness and consideration for printers and MFPs. While HP and Xerox are very close in terms of brand consideration rates, HP has almost twice the unaided awareness of Xerox as an MPS vendor among IT decision makers...”

And something that reflects what I see all the time:

“...It is important to note that the decision making process is less collaborative than might be expected. The market is shifting to an IT-controlled, printer-based MFP-centric environment, and study results indicate that IT is winning the battle to make the MPS decision for the entire fleet, including printers, MFPs and copiers..."

Interesting...