Webinar - MPS Confidential: How to Buy Managed Print Services

Webinar: MPS Confidential Series

$189.00.

If you are a business with 50 users or more, you should be looking at utilizing Managed Print Services.

The hard cost savings can be significant - some of my clients experienced between 20% and 45% cost reduction in the first 30 days.

Yet, sometimes, initiating an MpS program DID NOT MAKE SENSE, so we didn't move forward.

How should you evaluate a Managed Print Services provider?
What, exactly is Managed Print Services?
What are some sound expectations?
What should YOU do to get the most out of an MpS engagement?
Is the Cheapest the Best?

I've reviewed every single MpS program on the planet - well maybe not every single program.

I've sold copiers, printers, technology, networks, accounting systems and I created a successful MpS practice built on a client-centric focus.

Managed Print Services looks easy from the outside, but there are areas for improvement that are often overlooked.

Join me for a frank, open discussion outlining ideas and suggestions to help you get the most out of managed print services.

This is not a 'how-to negotiate for the cheapest price' session.

We won't endorse one program over another, although if asked, I do have opinions.

The session is intended for decision-makers, folks who will "sign on the line which is dotted" to engage in a Managed Print Services agreement.

This is NOT intended for MpS providers, copier dealers, printer manufacturers, office supplies, toner companies, or anybody providing these services.

This is for end users - financial, healthcare, manufacturing, business services, construction, hospitality, food service, etc. -

It's less than 200 bucks - money well spent.

Join Us.

Click here to register:





Good information here.

Webinar - Technology United, Bigger Than SkyNet

Who is Technology United ?

The core group comes out of the imaging sector, but each and every member has eyes on the horizon and collaboration as a mission.

There is more to imaging than marks on paper.

The MpS Ecosystem continues to grow, expanding beyond toner on paper, up to the clouds and back down to screens.

How can we in the niche, utilize this powerful new group to maximize our customers' experience, become a valued partner, and sustain this new business model?

Tune it to learn more about Technology United.

More than a group of buddies leveraging their marketing position, TU is a collection of forward thinking, early adopters who believe improving the industry, improves us all.

A rising tide lifts all vessels.

We will simplify the complex and illustrate the significance of this first of its kind association.

August 7, 2012 - 2:00PM EST

Sixty minutes, open discussion, with 15 mins for Q/A - a maximum of 25 attendees.

Click here to register.

Webinar - Starting a Managed Print Services Practice, What Not To Do.

A $169.00 webinar illustrating some of the many challenges involved with starting a Managed Print Services Practice.

This session is intended for those considering or just starting an MpS practice; traditional copier dealer, supplies provider or IT VAR.

Basic stuff, but I wish somebody would had one of these 3 years ago - it would have saved me a ton of money and headache.

It's only an hour and there are so many reasons 50% of those who try MpS, fail at MpS.

Are you going to be one of the 50%?

Join me for an hour long talk and 15 minute Q/A.

We'll cover issues like:

MpS Partnerships
Infrastructure
Assessments
Pricing
Vision/Mission(s)

Click here to register. But hurry, spots are limited.





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Three Aspects of the New MpS

Hype, fact or a little of both – it doesn’t matter; Big Data is here and it’s growing.

Beyond describing Big Data as everything that has ever been digitized, printed, viewed, tweeted, posted, scanned and/or blogged, how can we maximize our position within the realm.

To begin with, let’s define BD by saying it’s a “great big hard drive in the sky,” like a cloud – go figure. If you’re interested in more, I wrote about it a million years ago...

More Here.

MWAi/Technology United: "Force Multiplier"

Technology United is a group of cutting edge, early adopter companies.

This is not old skool; NOT the same old, MLM, Jaycee-type, loosely run, networking and poker club.(not that there is anything wrong with the Jaycees, old your emails) Technology United members are all best of breed in their industries and standouts in the technology realm.

I like Mike.  I like the idea of TU and I like the players.

Please read Mike Stramaglio's introduction, review and update:

TheDeathOfWebOS Took Less than a 3 year Lease.

I sold the "Hawk": HP/Konica Minolta and Ikon's nexus of the absurd. HP's first toe-dip into the copier industry.

I sold Edgeline.  HP's second and "this time, we'll get it right" attempt to play in the copier industry.

I own a TouchPad.  I wanted to own one.  I was an HP head, as much as could be, without being employed by Mother Blue.

So when the TouchPad was rumored, I maneuvered into a position to get one.

When the rumors came down the channel that HP was going to market their E*Print along with the new tablet, as an MpS Practice manager, under the HP OPS banner, I was doubly excited.

I was not alone.

Across the country, honorable, trusting, HP believers, and employees,  fanned out to the channel exalting the next big thing in print; mobile print through HP tablets and phones.  WebOS was to be installed on every printer, MFP, laptop, phone, and tablet.

Ubiquity.

We were encouraged to invest and build mobility practices. Indeed, HP VARs all over, hired, shifted, and built business plans around the "Blues Clues' handy-dandy notebook" and print.

At the time, we saw Apple as pulling tablet use up for everyone - like the rising tide lifts all ships.

Of course, it ended up not being the tide, but a tidal wave, dashing the hopes and dreams of mobility practice managers everywhere into the rocks of BYOD.

Looking back like this feels as though I'm 'piling on' as Meg tries to right the lumbering behemoth - jettisoning tens of thousands and returning to HP's hardware roots.

HP will survive.  It's too big to fail.

What is to be learned from this Shakespearean tragedy?  What can we as individuals take from the meteoric arc?

1.  Everything dies, baby that's a fact...
2.  What is strong today, can be gone tomorrow
3.  Logic sometimes, doesn't prevail
4.  The obvious isn't
5.  When you forget who you are, you're just aching for a smack-down

Currently, HP, Canon, and Samsung have announced, each in their own way, that they are now, always have been, and always will be, hardware manufacturers.  Defining who you are and promoting yourself as true, is the only way to survive these days - we can debate over the sustainability of a pure hardware play, my money is on Samsung.

Period.

The truth is finally revealed.  No more talk of 'solution-based selling', or 'on-ramps to EDM', or such nonsense.  For these guys, the value is, 'best product', 'reliable performance', "affordable price', 'simple to use', printers and copiers.

For them, MpS will always hold a capital "P" and a small 'm'.  Oh, they will protest, flaunting symbolic MpS programs, designed by marketing departments and tasked with landing more equipment.

Period.

So it is with great nostalgia that I combed through this article from The Verge, regaling the rise and fall of Pre, WebOS, and TouchPad.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen - $1.6 billion write-off? - ain't nothing but a thang, just ignore that.

BladeRunner in Water Color

This is a great video. 3200 water color paintings of the first 12 minutes of BladeRunner.

Enjoy:

Going Mobile and Big Data

From imaging to content to the cloud to Big Data to Business Intelligence to Mobile Business Intelligence.

We're moving from marks on paper to the clouds, all the data is moving off the paper files.

But the data is just data, unusable.

In the old days, we would 'crunch' the numbers either manually or on a spreadsheet.

Today, there is an app for that; instead of the numbers getting crunched on paper, it's being presented on a screen.

Typewriters and impact printers - gone. Carbon paper, white-out - gone.

Add cubicles, office furniture, water coolers, uniform rental programs, IT departments, factory floors, inventory shelving, hi-lows, truck docks, and pallets to that list.

Then take away the roads, parking lots, air conditioning units, and tons of paper.

And all those useless meetings. Gone like a freight train. Gone.

How so?

The answer is in the palm of your eleven-year-olds hand...right here.

Webinar:The Internet of Things

July 2, 2:00PM - Free Webinar.

Curious about how all this new technology can help your practice or dealership?

Wondering what all the hub-bub is about Big Data, BYOD, and Business Intelligence?

Are you seeing your volume decreasing?  How about your MIF?  Some studies are calling for 40% of the channel to disappear by 2014.

What should you do? What can you do?

There are no silver bullets, but tune in and learn about a few options.





Greg Walters will be presenting on the new technologies, how to survive and thrive during this secular shift.

Xerox and Greg on One Stage: Go Ahead, Pull my Finger...

Date: Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Time: 11:00 am PT/2 PM ET
Duration: 60 minutes

Hazaaah!

From the invite:

"The managed print services industry grew more than 15 percent last year and will continue at this clip at least through 2012.

If you're a print VAR, an IT VAR, or an MSP you can still profit from this hot market—but the opportunity won't last forever. Join this interactive discussion with Greg Walters, a consultant with years of experience running a managed-print business, and Tom Gall, Value Channel Marketing Director at Xerox Corp., as they explore what works—and what doesn't—when it comes to jump-starting managed print profits today."

- Xerox Channel Cast 

The above is the official line - and it is all true.  My hope is that you get at least ONE good nugget out of the discourse.

It's set up like this:

The moderator introduces us.

I get 5-7 minutes of pure MpS bliss, yakking on about City on the Edge of Forever, the MpS ecosystem, and Tri-Dimensional chess.

Then Tom Gall of Xerox contributes and recovers from my tomfoolery, saving Xerox's good name.

We will be talking about why NOW IS THE TIME to get into MpS - but there is work, it ain't easy but it can be done.  It will be done.

Join us.

Greg Walters, Senior Correspondent, The Business Transformation Center

I'm not kidding, it says so, right here.



Click to email me. 

DOTC in Vegas

We will be in Vegas, at the Wynn, Monday June 11 and 12th.

I will not be attending the Ricoh show(huh?) - but will be in the Casino, around the pool or at a bar,

that is if the Wynn has a bar, not sure on that one...

If you're in town, and want to talk about how to pick a Managed Print Services program, technology in our world, the social ramifications of  Space 1999, or the Four Screens of Life - drop me a note.

I may even have a nifty, cool, MPSA hat for you...

Click to email me. 

Sexual Harassment & Holding Power over Women in the Copier Industry

June 2012.

Why do I blog?  To read what I write.

"Those responsible for the obliteration of each DOTC image are the MEN in our niche who have in the past and are right, this very second, to leverage their power as Area Vice President, Owner, or Manager, over a female subordinate."

My intent from the beginning was to record observations of the world and refer back over time for my own amusement and pleasure.

The Hits Keep Coming: HP downgraded and 52-Week Low...

As long as someone else says it, I should be okay...maybe these good folks are picking on HP, because HP is the biggest and best in the business.

I threw up a little...in my mouth, just now.

Business Week:

"Peter Misek of Jefferies & Co. said that tablets are likely to hurt HP's personal computer segment.

"While consensus thinks Windows 8 will boost personal computers, we think it will accelerate tablet cannibalization as the operating system focuses on touch," he wrote in a client note.

Misek also believes that smartphones are now used by enough consumers -- and tablets to a lesser degree -- that it is lowering printing demand.

The analyst lowered HP to "Hold" from "Buy" and reduced his price target to $23 from $30.

HP shares closed at $22.68 per share on Thursday. They fell to a 52-week low of $20.57 on May 23 and traded as high as $37.70 late last July.

An email seeking comment from HP was sent before business hours but was not immediately returned."

From a usually more upbeat news site, cheerfully named, Bright Side News, the first passage is the high-point of the article:

"While we at Bright Side of News always try to look at the bright side of things and have an optimistic view of the industry, there are times when we simply cannot help ourselves and must say something.

Case and point is Hewlett Packard [NYSE:HPQ] and their current announcement of their reduced earnings of 31%..."

The analysis compares HP's terrible employee/revenue ratio with other companies in the niche sumamrizing with:

"When you have that many employees, your workforce begins to become a liability rather than an asset and you begin to drain yourself purely as a result of maintaining such a large bureaucracy. If HP wants to really become nimble, they need to spin off divisions of the company or give some of them less importance in the future of the company's success."

Mother Blue is going through some significantly bad times - more than most.

Who else could one week announce the reduction of 28,000 employees and talk about being around 40 years from now the next?

IPG merging with PSG is like two fortune 500 companies merging - and we all know how well merges of that scale go, right?

Well, the next time you see an HP'r, wish her the best.
I know I will.