Is Your IT Vision Hung Up on the Past?

Need a new love, yeah I'm ready

Want my time, yeah I'm willing yeah

'Cause I'm the one who's gonna show

When there's nobody

I'll be your man

Yeah, I'm the one who's gonna show

When there's nobody

I'll be your man

I'll be your man

Alright

What if one day, while staring out your parent's window, watching retirees water their lawns, you realize that after everything, all the adventures, meetings, and journeys of the previous years, you've become a cliche, irrelevant?  The world stops and you're alone - moving through a bad dream, in slow motion.  Stunned.

Nobody wants to be forgotten, cast aside, wounded, not even dead.  But it happens. Has it happened to you? Hurts? Don't it?

For CIO's and IT Departments, this could be your future.  Irrelevancy.  Once you see 'the  retirees watering their lawns' can you adjust your unit, make the changes and move through the worst?

Maybe...

If you've made the jump from ambivalent ignorance, also known as "bliss", to hard, 12 degree below freezing, self-recognition, reality, here are some ideas that might warm you up:

Help formulate the organization's long term business goals.

Back in olden-times, knowing the difference between EBCDIC and WYSIWYG meant something important. Today, its EBIDA.

Look for 'partners' instead of 'vendors'.

'Partners' are shoulder to shoulder with you during tough times; 'vendors' sell out of a hotdog cart.  Search out deeper relationships, not discounts.

Walk a mile in your end-user's shoes.

Cross training doesn't only refer to athletic programs - consider spending time at a nurses station or in Revenue Cycle. Insight is guaranteed.

Three simple ideas that promise significant impact for your staff, executive management and end user community.

Give them a chance and take your time.

Managed print services, per seat billing. "I have two guns, one for each of you."

It's time to chime in on a subject that's been part of my Mps discussion since 2008 - per seat billing for toner and supplies fulfillment.

By now you've been reading or have heard the buzz around the idea; instead of billing in a 'usage model' or per click, we bill monthly for the number of users.  Benefits for the customer are about the same: supplies and service inclusive. For providers a steady revenue stream, regardless of decreasing print volumes.

Not a bad bargain.

"...that's the rumor..."

I've been a proponent of per-seat billing since 2008 when I was cutting my MPS teeth with Edgeline, inside a VAR.  Billing help desk and other services on a per-user basis was the norm.  Back then, I thought that someday, managing print devices would fall into the same scheme.

Of course, this hasn't happened.

"...that's just my game..."

Two sides of the same coin, arguments for and against, with no clear winner, I put together three reasons 'against' and three reasons 'for'.  Enjoy.

Against:

1. Risk Avoidance - Assessments may be more important than ever, adding another 30 days to the cycle.  It is difficult to convert CPI or toner out costs into a per seat figure.
2. Implementation - Can your system bill per seat?  How about three different types of seats? Who will handle adds and deletes?
3. Ignorance - If you're doing Mps, by optimizing a 1:1 scheme, delivering toner/service only, there is little chance you'll understand the complexities and nuances of presenting to an IT professional.  Don't try per seat billing.

"...you're a Daisy if you do..."

For:

1. Easier to bill - Once you determine the SKU(gag), billing is simple.  No meter reads.
2. Easy to understand - Again, simple billing is a value.  So is an easy-to-understand pricing structure.
3. Your customer does not care - And your client doesn't care how you bill.

"...I'll be your huckleberry..."

My personal belief is that by the time BTA-types figure out how to confront their fears and live outside the shadow of equipment quotas, there won't be any printing - no matter how we bill, per image, per scan, per seat, or per whim - the cheapest image is the one you don't print.  Ever.

"I was just foolin..."
"I wasn't..."

"....poor soul...you were just too high strung..."

Click to email me.

Greg Walters tapped to Reimagine "Managed Print Services"

Alert the Authorities...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Oconomowoc, Wi, May 9, 2015:

Your Managed Print Services Association has asked former MPSA President and current MPSA Board of Director, Greg Walters,  to lead the charge in redefining Managed Print Services.  Greg will be forming a Blue Ribbon task force of MPSA members to collaborate in this effort.

"The time has come to once again press the boundaries," said Walters. “We're stuck in the past if we allow copiers, printers and marks on paper to define us. They do not. Everything the association takes action on supports our definition of the market. As the only, independent, free-thinking, non-profit association in our niche, it is our responsibility to lead into new and dangerous frontiers.”

Greg is issuing a "call to arms" for all MPSA members interested in directing the future of the association, to volunteer and become part of the coterie.

Reach out to him at greg@grwalters.com.

"It's pretty simple.  Everything the association takes action on, supports our definition.  That's just it.  It is OUR definition of the market.  As the only, independent, free-thinking, non-profit association in our niche, it is our responsibility to lead into new and dangerous frontiers.  Join us,"  adds Greg.

About the Managed Print Services Association

Founded in 2009, the MPSA is a global, non-profit organization that provides independent communications, collaboration, education, standards and success MPS professionals. The mission of the MPSA and its members is to address and optimize business’ office document management while enhancing the growth, efficiency, and profitability of the MPS segment through advocacy, marketing, education, research, standards and a general community of interest.


About Greg Walters

Greg Walters is an entrepreneur and founder of the notorious destination site, TheDeathOfTheCopier where he comments on all things imaging, the rise of managed services and the advance of business technology. A prolific writer and frequent speaker, Greg shares his passionate, unique—and provocative—view of technology and people addressing the digital impact on 21st century business, the new way of work and society. His book, Death Of The Copier, published in 2014, offers a controversial summary of the early days managed print services and the not so distant future of the hard copy industry. Greg is currently with a regional VAR, building an MPS practice within the IT Lifecycle model. He lives in Oconomowoc, Wi.

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