Strategy Development Does Not Work For THE Death of the Copier(DOTC)

*** THE DOMAIN NAME IN QUESTION, HAS BEEN PARKED...first noticed, January 12, 2011. ***
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There has been something on my mind, bugging me for a few months - well not bugging me.

More like lurking.

You see, my livelihood is tied directly to Managed Print Services as an MPS Practice Manager.

Interesting little tidbit, 12 months ago I was selling MPS - today I am responsible for the full P/L.

Everything from hiring technicians, hiring MPS Selling Professionals, forging and maintaining MPS partnerships, and building an MPS team. Continuously, every single day, selling MPS internally to other practice managers, Business Development Managers, Executive Management, and Ownership.

And as I continue on this particular odyssey, it is my responsibility to evaluate all things MPS; new and interesting Data Collection software, EAutomate Add-ons, supplies fulfillment programs, devices, OEM MPS Programs, etc.

I attend as many MPS Webinars and read/consume every article I can find - from MPS to Change Management to EDM to ECM to BPO.

I try to get as much exposure to every MPS Selling webinar, class, or program I can find.

The results of this analysis can fill a dozen manuals - perhaps someday I will put my findings into "print".

All this accumulated information, I apply was relevant to my little MPS practice.

My point here is simple - although I know a good deal about MPS and the internal MPS programs, I do not make a living pontificating or selling training classes.

I do not compete with the likes of Water or Print Management Solutions Group. And even though I feel I have an above-average understanding of the global MPS market, my research does not go toe to toe with the likes of InfoTrends, IDC, or Photizo.

Am I opinionated? Yes.

Is this blog followed by many people of like opinions? Yes.

Do I see bad training, stunted vision, and archaic selling techniques? Yes.

Will I continue to point out blaring inadequacies in our industry? Yes.

With this in mind, do me a favor...open a browser and type in www.deathofthecopier.com - just promise to come back...and read on...


##### THIS POST WAS FIRST PUBLISHED ON 12/29/2010. ON 1/21/2011, THE DEATH OF THE COPIER FIRST NOTICE, DEATHOFTHECOPIER.COM HAS BEEN PARKED AND NO LONGER POINTS TO STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT'S SITE #####

Laguna Beach Crescent Bay...

After what the weather casters out here are calling the "Biblical Event" - referring to 5 days of as much rain that usually falls in a year - Laguna Beach is acting more like it should be. For all our readers east of the Mississippi, enjoy...

Blade Runner Concept Designer, Talks About the Future...

2019: A Future Imagined from Flat-12 on Vimeo.

tDOTC Managed Print Services: Top 15 Posts of 2010

12/2010

No order, really. And an end-of-the-year tradition.

Enjoy.

1. More Than Managed Print Services - Born Free, You and Me

2. MPS Selling Appointment: "This is Turning Out to Be One Hell of a Morning!"

Merry Christmas...2010

1980-84ish.

Every Christmas season, blasted out of the dorm room window, on the top floor, the ninth floor, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan.

The name of our floor, "Penthouse" - is it any wonder?

Merry Christmas to all!

Managed Print Services is Dead - "...alas poor MPS-Guy...I knew thee well..."

12/2010

I love it.

Just as everyone figures out how to spell MPS, industry pundits kill it.

Photizo called heavy growth rates in MPS Engagements through 2015 - of course, this was back in the "olden days" - 2009!

Last year at Lyra, consultants and statisticians explained that we will never return to the same levels of units (copier) sold, pre-2009.

Do you get that? Does anyone?

Why yes, some do...some have all along. HP buys EDS, and Xerox takes ACS.

Why paint MPS all black? Why kill MPS after just three short years? Why blacken the Sun?

I've said it before. Change releases fear and fear motivates.

Contrary to what the Imaging Intelligentsia bloviate, we are not witnessing the beginning of the End Managed Print Services - we are seeing the last gasp of "Print Services"(it's the "M" - stupid)

Two informational items were released this month:

Merry Christmas - This Time Last Year, Some Didn't Think They Would Have a Job

Yes, I know, it's WHAM!

This real old skool funny music stuff cracks me up.

The song came out in 1986: 24-25 years ago.

Right about the time most of the experts were just getting into MPS - right?

LOL!

Merry Christmas -

OEM vs. Reman Cartridges: The Battle of the Green

Interestingly, many clients are increasingly contemplating Remanufactured (Reman) vs. Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) toner cartridges. According to an InfoTrends webinar from September 2009 here, the trend is showing a lean towards Reman.

Really? Who wants used...anything?

Um...everyone. It's the new Green.

Let's take a look across the vast sea of possibilities.

MPS Vision Quest: You Got Yours?

Before having sex with older women, possibly a teacher, was considered a bad thing, and when being touched by a sports gear sales person was criminal, yet could still make it into a movie - Vision Quest.

The music was great.

The visuals familiar. The theme, every red blooded American boy's dream(wet or not)

And then there was John Waite...

Business Reviews - "Never Kick Off With Sales Figures..."

The latest "buzz" in The Ecosystem orbits around "the Quarterly Business Review".

Be certain, if the phrase is new to you, you are a newbie. Period. No question.

It's okay. Everyone was a "QBR Virgin" at some point. And I promise to be...gentle...

First recommendation, never kick-off with Sales Figures.

#ManagedPrintServices: What if the OEM's Threw a Party, and Nobody Came?

2010

I had, yet another, epiphany the other day while sitting in front of a prospect, reviewing his fleet over my 8-page "Approach Document", poking through the pain, and proposing an MPS S1 Engagement.

I realized that this and every, single, assessment have had one thing in common - overcapacity.

11x17 at 1% of volume; duplex at 4% of volume; fax machines physically next to MFPs with fax capability next to laser printers; 5-year leases; fuser assemblies and toner sitting next to oh so many client's Canon/Xerox/Ricoh/Konica/Copier-De-Jour.

I thought to myself,

"What's going to happen when everybody realizes they don't need a copier?"

Last week I sat in on a Lexmark MPS webinar - the OEM doesn't matter as much as the customer (always) - Columbia.

As a matter of fact, 60 seconds into the show, I felt I wasn't going to make it past five minutes. I mean, I expect to be "pitched" but a read speech? I swear it was pre-recorded. OMG.

Toughing it out, my staying power was rewarded.

Mike Leeper, Global IT, Columbia, presented a frank, honest, and downright refreshing story of his MPS implementation. Two years into a successful MPS Engagement breaking 10 years of status quo.

Now, I am familiar with the DOW Chemical MPS and Nationwide MPS Project, so I have a good framework for comparison. Both DOW and Nationwide are successful, cost-reducing examples.

I won't bore you with the many details except these:

1. Moved decision process out of Facilities
2. Past decision process was very hardware-centric
3. Print Vendors were just like "...used car salespeople..."
4. Printing was considered boring
5. Success hinged on selling internally and continually communicating
6. Network-only devices considered
7. Project reduced costs by 37%
8. Reduced printed output by 1 million images
9. Effectively "killed" all the previous copiers(DOTC) - zero remained

The last two should send chills up the spine of every OEM and induce the booted, incumbent to hurl - through his nose.

MPS engagements like these are the Pure MPS - how can you commoditize this?

But wait, commoditizing is exactly what the manufacturers want - get all this MPS stuff boiled down to the most basic, simplistic, lowest common denominator. Make it easy enough for a monkey or copier rep(jk!)to sell.

Create tools that kill the art of MPS, and stifle creativity and growth by automatically creating proposals and QBR marketing slicks. Just press F7.

Cram MPS into the old, "slay it and move on" sales model. As long as that MPS engagement includes 11x17, an unused duplex, and a fax machine with every copier.

Back to my prospect.

As happens with like-minded folks, conversations travel the spectrum of technical subjects, tangents really. Some would say, tangents get in the way of the close. Yeah, right.

So we talked about the Agile methodology, Google, SaaS, dual-monitors, MPS(reducing output), CIOtalkRadio.com, and the new control end-users share via social networking.

How, today, the ultimate buyer has more choices and how everybody is collaborating. I told him MPS really expanded around the world because of the new social media - the buzz started online.

I expressed my belief that finally, in my little world of copiers/output devices, the shift from Supply (copier OEM) to Demand-driven(ultimate end-user)is taking place.

The party may not be over but fewer and fewer will be attending...

I think he was being polite when he agreed with me.

Either way, we decided to move forward with an MPS S1 Engagement.

So, now that I have a close, I guess I should strike out and "slay" another one, right?

Takes every kind of people...

Click to email me.

TheDeathOfTheCopier - New Leopard: "LivingOnTheEdge"

This MPS universe teems with interesting folks and unique stories. Straight-laced suits, drunk service technicians, leaders with vision, Sales Managers who don't know Steve Schiffman.

In general, I have met great personalities and people out here - sales people, owners, CEO's and shipping clerks.

All with one common thread: we didn't grow up telling our mothers we wanted to be copier or MPS Sales people.

- Wow -

May is just around the corner...sorta...MPS and Orlando!

European Managed Print Services Industry Shows Its Vitality at Major Industry Conference

Record attendance indicates Europe on track to become largest MPS market

Lexington, KY – December 6, 2010 – The success of the recent European MPS Conference signals strong and growing interest in managed print services, the business model sweeping the imaging industry. The European event drew 162 attendees to Barcelona, Spain from November 10-12. Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom were among the most represented markets, with participants traveling from 18 different countries as far as South Africa and the United States. HP, Ricoh, FMAudit and DocuAudit Europe were Platinum Sponsors of the 2010 European MPS Conference.

Archived footage of the European MPS Conference Webcast can be found at http://www.mpsconference.com/wrapup/ondemand.html.

“We keep hearing from our attendees that the MPS Conferences hosted by Photizo Group are becoming a watering hole for the industry--a true source of education and networking with peers and experts. That is so important, because with organized, focused resources like these, MPS professionals and users increase their chance of success,” said Photizo founder and CEO, Ed Crowley. The highly acclaimed Barcelona keynote and presentations inspired attendees with stimulating insights and ideas:

Know Thy Self: Epson not getting into Managed Print Services anytime soon...

It is the hottest thing going on our little industry.

Secular, paradigm shifting, and a defining moment inhabited by both players and posers - there is plenty of room.

Who in the world would NOT get into this?

How could anybody rationalize not having a Managed Print Service offering with a statement like, "...I don't think we can be that bullish, I think we have to react to what the market wants..."

Who could do this?

Epson, that's who.

The Day I Had Drinks with a Hero...

April 1941, Pearl Harbor.

The newly wed couple fresh from the states live in a one bedroom house.

They share the shower, and toilet with 2 other couples. He a Naval corpsmen, his beautiful young bride the homemaker.

After being married a few months and living with family in a small, cramped California house, they journey thousands of miles and half an ocean's distance to finally live together alone.

Together in Paradise.

This is Oahu, April of 1941. Cane fields surround the lazy, sleepy town of Honolulu. Soft, tropical breezes stir through the palms drying out remnants of morning showers. The island was home to 50,000 service men but it still had jsut one traffic light.

Hawaii a US Territory, statehood nearly two decades away. The town has one road in and out; no skyscrapers, mega-resorts, or miles of lights, to wash out the stars of the night sky.

A time as foreign to us contemporaries as the surface of Mars.

On the morning of December 7th, eight months after arriving in Paradise, and a mere 30 minutes before "all hell breaks loose", a sailor gives his new bride a kiss on the cheek and heads of to another day doing whatever a corpsman does. She expects to greet her husband at day's end, with a home cooked dinner.

At work, a line of gray battleships - the might and power of the United States Navy - are tied off - "Battleship Row". They carry names of honor; Nevada, California, Tennessee, Maryland, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Utah and Arizona.

This sailor will be late for dinner.

Strategic Realignment of Managed Print Services Association, YourMPSA.org

Focuses Supporters on New Challenges Facing Dynamic Marketplace

Leadership and volunteers recalibrate assignments to evolve with fast-growing association

December 6, 2010 -- Key volunteers and leaders within the Managed Print Services Association executive committee and board of directors have realigned their roles to focus their experience on other areas of the MPSA. This will help keep fresh ideas and new perspectives flowing across all aspects of the association.

“In an effort to improve our effectiveness and support the ideas of our volunteer leadership team, the MPSA Board has approved these changes,” noted Joe Barganier, who was elected Interim President of the MPSA. “This coordinated transition ensures members can benefit from the diversity of experience we have to offer at the leadership level. We are all very excited about taking on our new challenges.”

More Copier Crime from the Big Apple

“An office worker at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center is accused of stealing as much as $3.8 million from the hospital by ordering toner-ink cartridges in bulk, diverting their delivery and then selling them elsewhere, authorities said Wednesday…” - The Wall Street Journal, Digital Network

There must be at least 2 dozen motivators for implementing a Managed Print Services program – but fear should not be one of them. As a matter of fact, fear should rarely be a motivator.

So when I read this article about a 32 year old receiving clerk, bilking some hospital out of $3.8 million by ordering and fencing toner-ink cartridges over the past 6 years, I was reminded of the Great Governor French Copier Lease Caper and the Missing Copiers in Cleveland Swindle, The Beaverton Ink Bandit and the Funky New York City Department of Education 6,759.33% contract overrun.

From Detroit to Washington State, crime and shenanigans around copiers and supplies abound and are timeless.

Of course, like you, my initial response was “they should get MPS…”

Before you email this article to your sales staff and all the hospitals in your territory, slow your roll, chisel chest.