Managed Print Services: Kyocera enhances, Sharp getting in, Brother waiting for MPS to go Mainstream(?)

That's right.

More straw MPS training, a late to the game player and an organization waiting for MPS Industry to "open up".

Press releases and reflection follow:

FAIRFIELD, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Expanding its industry-leading Managed Print Services (MPS) training offering, Kyocera Mita America, Inc., one of the world's leading document solutions companies, today announced that the Company has authorized the Business Technology Association’s (BTA) “MPS Sales Workshop” and “MPS Operations & Service Workshop” for meeting training requirements of the Kyocera Certified MPS Dealer Program.

These two programs are taught by Tom Callinan, Ed Carroll, David Ramos and Mike Woodard of Strategy Development, a management consulting and advanced sales training firm.

The BTA MPS training program and Print Management Solutions Group (PMSG) are the only organizations with authorized educational offerings within the Kyocera Certified MPS Dealer Program.

“Kyocera is committed to enabling and supporting its certified dealers in their development of the MPS business model, and we’re identifying resources which bring the best MPS training programs for sales, services and operations to our dealers,” said Peter Hendrick, vice president of marketing, Kyocera Mita America.

“We believe MPS is the future of our business and we understand that education is the key to a successful MPS strategy. We’ve partnered with BTA and PMSG, two of the industry’s leading Dealer and Training organizations, to deliver the training that certifies Kyocera dealers into our national MPS network.”

The following BTA MPS training programs are authorized for certification to Kyocera’s MPS Dealer Program:

BTA MPS Operations & Service Workshop

The MPS Operations & Service Workshop is designed to jump start the dealers’ understanding of how to set up and manage all service related aspects of an MPS agreement.

BTA MPS Sales Workshop

Designed to provide dealerships with the tools they need to establish a managed print services strategy, the MPS Sales Workshop will educate dealers how to increase the quantity of captured prints, lock in customers, distinguish themselves from competitors, sell more document imaging devices and, ultimately, become the end-user's "single source" for managing printed pages and hardware.

Press Release, here.
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DOTC, I'm calling BULLSHIT.

Managed Print Services, MPS Training and Best Practices: I'm Calling Bullshit

2010

Ok, we all know anyone who claims to have been "doing MPS for 15 years" is nothing but Bravo Sierra - how was anyone trying to reduce costs associated with output back in 1995, re-inking ribbons on an Epson LQ-1050?

Really? Copiers were not even DIGITAL in 1995! Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot!

And if one more ding dong sales consultant tells me that "...MPS is all about TCO..." - but doesn't include costs incurred in the Third Stage of MPS, I may just hurl right then and there.

Do not even get me started on re-hashed IKON Circa 1990 leasing, "Image Management Plus", customer for-life, schemes - exactly how many lawsuits did IKON fend off back then?

100's?

So this is what we've come to: years of usage statistics, decades of observed business behavior, and so much data about how the world prints, stores and creates documents yet we still do not have any real-world benchmarks. No guideposts.

Hell, we don't really have any Guides.

Correction, "guides" do exist. Most just don't know shit about shit and keep telling us they do - that is if you pay them. And the more we pay, the more horsepucky comes out.

Welcome to MPS.

Steve Reynolds: Battled to the End, Passed Away Wednesday

Steve Lost this battle. I met Steve a few times, at two Lyra conferences and the MPS North America Conferences.

He knew his stuff, he will be missed.

Also, there will be a memorial service for him at the AGH Art Gallery in Hamilton on Monday night from 6to 9 PM.

http://www.artgalleryofhamilton.com/aa_index.php

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Lyra Establishes Reynolds Family Support Fund to Help Colleague and Friend, Steve Reynolds, in His Battle Against Colon Cancer

Lyra Research announces the establishment of the Reynolds Family Support Fund to help Lyra Senior Analyst Steve Reynolds and his family in his battle against Stage 4 Colon Cancer.

Since 1998, Mr. Reynolds has been one of the prominent faces of Lyra—first as an editor for The Hard Copy Observer and then as a senior analyst for Lyra’s Hard Copy Industry Advisory Service. Diagnosed in June, Mr. Reynolds is meeting this grim news with the same direct, fearless attitude that he brings to his professional career.