OfficeMax: ***CORRECTION*** I DO Remember Seeing Someone From OfficeMax at the Managed Print Services Conference

****** CORRECTION ********

David Peterson, Director of Sales, OfficeMax was in attendance at the MPS Conference, and I did speak with them - my apologies!

So, what can be determined by this?

OfficeMax gets it.

They get the whole MPS approach and are leveraging their customer relationships. And not only with MPS but also as a MSP.

Lawton Smith and Darrell Amy's discussion resonates once more - the advance MPS providers are ready to hop-scotch over to the MSP role.

And now, I need to wipe the egg off my face.

During the OfficeMax earnings call today, Sam Martin – Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer regarding Managed Print Services said, "...The idea is to collaborate with customers and maximize their office supply savings with OfficeMax through analytics.

This value proposition then opens the door to approach the customer with related spend categories as well as non-traditional areas in which we have expertise such as managed print and data center services..."

Furthermore, Martin adds, "...We believe that a deeper business relationship results in better retention...Our relationship with Young has evolved from basic office supplies procurement into a broader solution which includes managed print services.

Print is not a core activity for Young and they viewed OfficeMax as having a best-in-class solution that met their needs.

Other categories where OfficeMax has expanded its relationship with Young include certain data center services and other supply categories not originally priced with OfficeMax. Currently less than half of our business with the Young brand is traditional office supply procurement..."
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On the OfficeMax Managed Print Services website, they use phrases like "scalable end to end solutions" and "...across all manufacturers...". On the site, they even say, "...We'll help manage all your print and multi-function machine supplies and coordinate the installation, servicing and redeployment of your hardware..."

In one session at the MPS Conference, Lawton Smith explained how Managed Print Services will one day soon be enveloped into the Managed Services Provider's portfolio of services.

And suddenly, out of nowhere, OfficeMax is pitching just that.

***** CORRECTION ********

OfficeMax was in attendance at the MPS Conference - my apologies!

The complete transcript here.