Yes, I know - the original quote is "Winter of Discontent" - my apologies to the "Bard"A post on the "Adventures in Office Imaging" blog by Expert Laser Services piqued my interest because it was about a post on the Photizo blog and related to "MPS Newbies".
While adding the "Adventures..." blog to my roll it struck me, there was a time when I had just 3 blogs on my roll - because they were the only ones talking Managed Print Services - that was just over a year ago.
Today, hundreds if not thousands of us are betting on an Endless Summer.
For better or worse, the MPS party is getting crowded and everyone is trying to dance to the music.
In the past 30 days there have been so many Managed Print Services related announcements my Google New Alerts nearly burnt up.
I'm not going to list out all the announcements, that isn't important.
What is important is how the market is responding - is it?
Are prospects calling you asking you for Managed Print Service advice?
Are they begging for an "Assessment"? No?
Are they still worried about first copy out time?
The buzz has been building since ITex - and now it seems that we(all of us on this side of the desk) have locked and loaded- ready to rock the MPS world.
The way I see it, the current iteration of Managed Print Services began around 2006.
And as much as some say they "...have been doing MPS for 20 years..." the application of asset and life cycle management, work flow analysis, right-sizing and work flow optimization to office output, are recent additions to the original definition of MPS.
The dust is settling. The Second Wave of MPS execution is beginning in earnest.
And still, we struggle.
The BTA is desperately seeking Alpha.
MPS Sales Classes are no doubt filling up.
Have we gotten to the point where the only ones making money in MPS are the "consultants", the "MPS Marketing" firms and the "MPS Sales Training" companies?
When the music stops, who will still have a chair and will the hangover be more then we can bear?
Greg, I would think that some of these major vendors who are creating MPS programs in the hopes to have a product to sell while they are selling less hardware will drop their programs if the market for said hardware ever turns around. I think people who will continue offering MPS programs will be those of us who had been doing it before it was "the thing to do" so to speak. I suppose some companies who became "hybrid dealers" early on and had at least 5-10 years of developing a quality MPS program may be able to continue offering their MPS program with success as well.
ReplyDeleteNathan, due to "technical" difficulties... I like to call it an "I.D. 10T" error, I accidentally lost this comment - so I cut and pasted out of email to here - my apologies...
ReplyDeleteNathan Dube said:
also about this:
"And as much as some say they "...have been doing MPS for 20 years..." the application of asset and life cycle management, work flow analysis, right-sizing and work flow optimization to office output, are recent additions to the original definition of MPS."
the above terminology is industry jargon.
the application of asset and life cycle management = keeping your machines running at optimum performance without throwing it away after 6 years and trying to get you to buy a new one.
work flow analysis, right-sizing and work flow optimization to office output = making sure your customers office space has the right sized machines in the right places set up to handle that respective areas printing needs.
Expert Laser Services started doing these as part of our MPS program over 15 years ago.
thank you for pointing out that in the major league of MPS some veterans have more expertise and a better grasp on the fundamentals of the game than others who have been in the industry for just as long.