I've spoken there, and pulled a camera crew along.
I've criticized and mocked the event. I've promoted and exclaimed the value of the show.
They've hosted MPSA events for us.
I just don't know what to make of it today.
New leadership with promises of "being different" yet every scrap of news makes me feel like Tom Cruise in The Edge of Forever.
The schedule looks the same. The venue looks the same. The class structure looks the same.
What has changed?
Is it better? Does it matter? Is the show RELEVANT?
Looking at the agenda and training classes(Let's see if you get trained or sold)there are few I recommend:
How to Earn an A+ on Assessments for MPS (MPSA Exclusive Content)
Learn from successful dealers who have increased their net income by adding complimentary business solutions such as Managed IT, 3D, and VOIP
Aldo Spensieri
VP MPS Solutions, Clover Imaging Group
New Blood: How the Kids are Taking Dad’s Dealership to the Next Level
This panel of new blood owners discusses dealer culture, millennials and how these dealers built on the success of their parents and are taking their companies to the next level.
Andy Slawetsky
President, Industry Analysts, Inc.
Tyson Stargel
VP, Stargel Office Solutions
Ryan Jones
Executive VP, Advance Business Systems
Johnathan Garlow
President & Owner, Ford Business
The keys to successfully incorporate Infrastructure, Platform and Software into your Managed IT Services
Learn how to make money, add value, maintain ownership and still deliver best in class on-premise and cloud solutions, all while offering your services as a 100% operational expense.
Greg Van De Walker
Sr Vice President - IT Channel & Services, Collabrance, LLC
Brian Wells
Director of Product Development, Collabrance, LLC
Ryan Shea
Owner, Info-Flow
SMI: Supplies Management Investigation
The aftermath of growth of MPS and the promise of just in time fulfillment may sometimes make your business processes feel like a crime scene. What are the ways dealers can clean up an often neglected area of supplies fulfillment? How can MPS Providers make changes to drive higher revenues and reduce waste? Meet your lead MPS operations investigator and dealer program leader for a rare look inside an MPS program that reduced administrative processes and eliminated waste while growing in devices being monitoring and overall revenue.
Sarah Henderson
Director - MPS Solutions, Clover Imaging Group
I'm sure the SBB session will be packed, no need to recommend.
I don't know if the show is stale or industry on a glide-path into the past, and can't judge - but I am asking.
If you have an opinion, lay it out here. Otherwise, enjoy the sun and sin that is Las Vegas.
Leave the churches, funeral homes, print for pay, non-profits, municipalities, schools, day care centers, three-person real estate and insurance offices for the five, ten and even the fifteen million dollar dealerships. That once fertile, bottom land is transforming. The SMB does not print like it use to and will be serviced by drones; not men and women.
“What once was our greatest strength, one day, becomes our most severe weakness”
We're great at selling to the small business owner. We use to drag machines around and demo in the lobby, not returning to the office until that unit was placed.
Not anymore. This type of selling is losing relevance.
Sure, you’re going to hear colleagues, and sales managers say things like, “I don’t know about Ricoh, but our copier business is booming…” and “We just sold more devices than ever before!”
Here’s the dirty little secret in the SMB - they buy devices, they just don’t use them. Again, I know what you’re thinking, “Greg, all my customers are printing like crazy!” - No. No they are not. Nobody is printing like its 1999.
Nobody. Go into any OfficeMax, Staples, if you can find open locations, and walk down the printer or toner isle. Depressing, isn't it?
Don’t fall for the fake reports showing an increase in “print”. (books)
Don’t be bamboozled by the OEM sponsored studies evangelizing “Millennials prefer print.” (Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot?)
When your OEM rep/BDM spouts off how, “last year was our best year ever” - check out their earnings reports and remember Ricoh, Sharp, Kodak, Oce, Panasonic, and Ikon. Reflect upon the ColorCube from Xerox($7.21 a share) or HP’s($17.72/share, forever) Edgeline.
Don’t believe any of them.
If things were half as good as the pro-copier, pro-paper pundits say, HP would not have split, Xerox would be the darling of Wall Street and Lexmark still American.
I feel bad for the good folks at Ricoh, as I did for the just as good people at HP and their worthy colleagues over at Xerox when they both purged.
And the paper plant employees.
And the liquidated newspaper staff.
And the book stores.
Two Roads
The lines have been drawn for a few years now - you’re buying businesses or lining up to be sold.
That’s it.
For us still in the industry, what’s the best path?
I believe in technology, not in print. I believe in people, not corporate elevator pitches.
Today, more than ever, deciding to stay in this mixed up realm, demands you act in YOUR best interest. Not in a stingy or self-centered manner. Self improvement in terms of helping yourself and those around you. A rising tide, floats all boats and the best way to improve the world around you is to make the best of yourself.
Keep going, focus on solving, not selling. Evolve.
Our space is turbulent, vibrant, and self-indulged. Most of all, our world, the place of toner and fuser oil, is Hope.
...work or activity that is wasteful or pointless but gives the appearance of having value.
In 2007, I traversed the sun drenched thoroughfares of Southern California - from the 'Bu to the Border, Laguna Beach to Victorville.
I was part of a new movement, "Managed Print Services", working for a big VAR, part of HP's flex into the copier niche(sound familiar?) with an MPS program and a new copier-killer, Edgeline.
Like most VARs, we were built on value added services attached to hardware sales. Unlike most, our newly built NOC helped the move to services based revenue streams. In addition to classic T/M contracts, email hosting, backup/disaster/recover, remote management and remediation, and help desk were part and parcel of our value proposition.
At the time, managed print services fit well into our portfolio; the notion was to integrate all services and bill per user, per month. I didn't consider this a 'good' or 'bad' idea, it was simply the established method.
We folded our per click model into the per user or 'seat' amount and soon ran into challenges -
What if we calculated the per seat cost but users printed MORE than we anticipated?
Could we discern between "high-volume" users and provide tiered billing?
How do I get EAutomate to bill by user?
There was risk.
“...A good friend of mine(Greg Walters), talked about SBB back in the olden days, and I told him it wasn’t going to work - but when Print Audit and West started bringing in high powered guys like Luke Goldberg, I knew it was going to fly”.
"If dealers don’t jump on this, they should just call their bankruptcy attorney today. "
- Anonymous
Unfortunately, back then, SBB for MPS, found few advocates. In 2008, industry know-it-alls labeled managed print services a fad; the latest scheme by some to remake the copier industry. The successful copier dealers could barely spell 'MPS'.
Since then, I've been inside VARs, across the country learning one thing - even if an MpS program is 'out of the box' easy, or well established, most IT providers treat print like 'fly-over' states. Separate in practice, structure and billing.
Has the time come? Is per user invoicing the second coming?
Yes and No.
Boon - "Cause your's is the best in the county, isn't it 'mam?"
Billing per user is easier for the client. No meter reads, or confusing invoices. When faced with a quote of $9.00/emp/month, prospects find the decision to move forward, easier.
Imagine a business with 150 employees; 75 are knowledge workers. This account would generate $675.00 each month, no matter how much they print/copy. (Not sure if that is big or small for you.)
Indeed, as prints decrease, and head count remains constant, costs fall against steady revenue.
This fits nicely in the true goal of a solid, contemporary managed print services engagement: reducing output.
Boondoggle - "...and you sir, in the yellow shirt, come on up on stage..."
Across industries, the best sales people rarely, if ever, discuss pricing.
Converting cost per image into cost per user and presenting this idea as a 'value-add', reduces(once again) the conversation to price, moving away from business solutions, focusing on cost as a primary motivator.(I know, I know...)
Same race to the bottom, different vehicle.
So what can you do? More importantly, who do you go to for real world advice? A sinner.
"Who can lead you off that crooked road? You need real sinner, people. A sinner of such monumental proportions that all your sins wrapped up in one couldn't possible equal the sins of this King of Sins..."
Listen to A Sinner - "...I have danced with the demon satan..." How To Implement a Per User Model for MpS
Create SBB in-house
Our industry either builds or subs out services - MpS and Managed IT can be provided by aligning with outsourced programs like Collabrance, Continuum, PrintSolv, and others. Soon there will be SBB programs sponsored by toner remanufactures.
Is this right for you? I'm not sure. I once believed the only way to offer SBB was to rely on distributors. Only they can spread the perceived risk over large amounts of devices/toner.
But today, the risk isn't in toner delivery. Aligning with toner suppliers for SBB my be as counter productive as partnering with transactional copier dealers when designing a print reduction program. The motivations are diametrically opposed.
So do it in-house.
Work closely with your managed IT services practice. MpS is IT.
Approach through IT, present as a managed program, not "toner and service just like your copiers"(upchuck). If you're not providing any IT services, stop reading this now and go feed your pet dinosaur.
Sell one more service(IT). MpS and Trees.
Embed MpS with backup disaster recovery or remote monitoring and management. Expand your current MpS services to include "remote output monitoring" or something similar, utilizing the full capacity of your data collection agent. If you don't know what I mean, stop reading this now, and go feed your dinosaur.
Line of business integration? Forget 'bout it.
Of course you want to integrate your even existing CPI billing structure with the new managed IT and SBB programs. But it isn't easy. All it takes is a spreadsheet and a separate P/L - your MpS practice has its own P/L, right? Tsk, tsk.
In the end, SBB is a good idea to protect your revenue from the continued reduction in 'clicks'. But per user billing is a temporary fix - nothing is going to stop the decrease in placements and clicks.
Not even the Supercharged Grenade Launcher of Love...
