013: Wall Street Lets Up on HP: But Why?

From the Wall Street Journal,

"H-P’s numbers buy CEO Whitman some breathing room. Hewlett-Packard Co.‘s first-quarter earnings declined 16% as the technology giant continued to see weaker sales across all its divisions, including its core personal computer business, reports the WSJ’s Ben Worthen. Shares nevertheless soared in after-hours trading as H-P’s numbers beat Wall Street estimates..."

We listened to HP's earnings call (Feb. 21st) our 4th, and for the life of me, I can't find the 'silver-lining everyone else sees - but there is one.

HP is following the tried and true public formula for companies on the mend - 

1. Admit problems...
2. Clean house...
3. Blame economic headwinds, past leadership and bad deals of the past...
4. Make the future seem as though it is going to be very bad...
5. Report numbers that are "less bad" than the original thought/projected...
6. Get the street off your back..

There's a concept in military science called, "shaping the battlefield".  In HP's case this means setting expectations so incredibly low, feeding detractors fog and allowing media-allies, 'privileged access'.

When you hear, "...HP beats Wall Street analysts projections..." question what data these analysts utilized establishing their forecast.

For the rest of us, here are the numbers that hold relevance.  The largest technology company in the world, the company that grew from humble beginnings into the corporation we all work for, the entity that rode the output wave, encouraging over printing along the way, is fighting for her life:

See the rest here.

What if Nobody Buys MFD's ?

The day MemJet rolled out their program over at the MPSA was a good day. It seemed many years since there was something new and exciting to talk about that had anything to do with hardware.

Sure, all the standard OEMs have released new models and refreshed their offerings - but they are all more of the same - well, I guess in the case of A4 to A3, LESS of the same thing. Xerography has been around for a hundred years, melting plastic on paper is mundane and even a really cool technology like melting wax onto paper has lost its novelty.

I know, I know, MemJet is simply a fast inkjet.

 They're fresh and for now, their machine is smoking fast and like no other. One more thing about MemJet - they are opening a channel specifically for and exclusively of, managed print services providers. The good folks at Memjet feel they can negate the lack of brand recognition by pairing with more sophisticated and relationship based, MpS selling professionals; dare I say, 'trusted advisors'. Resellers who have honed their skill beyond the box, earned client trust and are comfortable presenting on value, not brand.

Genius.

A few days later, we listened to Xerox earnings call.

The rest here...

Why Don't You Pay Reps Residuals on Service Contracts?

"It is time to pay sales people commission on copier service agreements.  It is time to combine all volume under one agreement, on a single invoice and pay the sales person residuals for the life of the engagement."

January, 2013

One of the first rules of managed print services is consolidating the decision making process for printers with the process for copiers, bringing IT and Purchasing(or facilities) together.  This usually meant getting the copier decision out of the hands of purchasing or facilities and into the realm of IT.

It was a big deal at the time and a qualification of a real managed print services opportunity - if we can't speak to the person in charge of both copiers and printers, we did not move forward.  On the other hand, once we befriend an IT director, one of our guiding principles was to shift the copier decision process into IT.  If the device was connected to the network, it should fall under management of the IT department.

It was a good idea and contributed to most every successful managed print services engagement.

But a funny thing happened on the way to managed print services nirvana - in an effort to fully understand managed print services, we, on the provider side,  chopped up all the elements of the ecosystem. We saw managed network services as separate from managed services(?).  We decided to propose MpS for printers and continue writing separate service agreements for copiers.

We dumbed down managed print services offering "advanced toner delivery services" in its stead. The printer & toner guys laid claim to MpS defining it as "printer service and supplies on a cost per image billing" sliding right into their existing model.

And the copier folks were just fine with this approach, they didn't want to change either. They didn't need to adjust the way they leased and serviced copiers, or tamper with decades old billing and invoicing policies.  No need to upset the apple cart here - service departments have been running just fine - fueled by 36 to 72 months of predictable and untouchable service revenue.

It doesn't stop here.

Read the rest...