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IT
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As MPS has continued to gain
traction over the years with more
and more businesses wanting to
access the cost and efficiency gains
a fully managed print service
delivers, the number of providers
and the scale of vendors’ offers
has continued to rise.
One of the biggest negative
impacts on traditional OP resellers of
the rise and rise of MPS deployments
has been on printer and particularly
EOS sales.
This trend has seen a number of
wholesalers, dealer buying groups
and indeed independent resellers take a
leap of faith and introduce MPS as part
of their offer, moves that acknowledge
the reality that dealers that don’t take
action could find themselves losing clients
to competitors that can offer a more
complete solution.
Channel MPS
At the end of last year, Integra, the UK’s
largest dealer buying group teamed up
with ISN Partners to develop a tailor-made
printer control and management solution
designed for office supplies organisations,
IT services providers and small dealers. The
service, which provides a simple entry-
point to MPS and which is open to all
members, is delivered in collaboration with
Centrex Services.
At Green Light in January, VOW
reported that it has been right-sizing and
operationalising its MPS category for the
channel to support sustainable growth. The
wholesaler is building a robust operational
and commercial platform to offer MPS
through its direct and wholesale channels
and also increased the size of its business
development team to further maximise the
opportunity for conversion.
VOW’s MPS methodology is designed
to provide resellers with a seamless and
professional approach to cross- and
up-selling and by bridging the experience
gap, help them to win MPS opportunities.
Essentially the wholesale model should
provide dealers with an uncomplicated
way to move into the MPS market, increase
revenue streams, fend off transactional
competition and achieve longer term
security.
As part of its strategy to transform
how its customers manage non-core
expenditure, independent reseller Anglo
Office established a comprehensive supply
chain which saw it strategically partner with
a number of specialists in each category.
MPS is one of those areas. The company
launched AngloTech, a joint venture with
TechnoCopy, a Canon, Ricoh and Olivetti
reseller to deliver MPS. Managing Director
Gary Naphtali said that when delivering
true MPS, it’s important to have have
credibility and strong relationships with
OEMS as well as the ability to deliver a
service agreement. In an earlier interview
with
PITR
he said: “You could potentially
spend more money getting it off the ground
than you would make a return, it would
certainly take a lot longer. TechnoCopy has
a ready-made prospect and client base and
team of sales people they would have had
to fund themselves, so it’s a win-win.”
For Anglo Office, MPS deals secured in
the first six months generated a quarter
of a million pounds in sales. Importantly,
the dealer owns the service contracts,
providing a recurrent revenue stream
MPS is no longer the exclusive domain
of the print channel, wholesaler
Spicers is the latest to report successes
within its recently launched Xerox
partnered MPS service
Spicers targeting
£10m revenue with MPS
which delivers a healthier net profit than
it could achieve by simply selling the
individual components.
Spicers MPS
Recognising both the challenges that its
dealers face in delivering an MPS solution
and the value that lies in the ability to offer
their customers a one-stop service that
bundles traditional transactional products
such as toners, with service, spare parts
and consultancy services in one single
contract; just over three years ago, Spicers
launched Sprintwise MPS.
The wholesaler appointed MPS provider
Balreed (now Apogee) as its partner to
deliver MPS services to end-users on behalf
of Spicers’ resellers. Under the terms of
the agreement, the reseller received an
introductory fee and margin share and
once the system was set up, Balreed
(Apogee) managed the contract.
According to Spicers MPS Operations
Director Guy Church, one of the reasons
that prompted them to launch an
alternative MPS offer for Brilliant Partners
was the fact that its resellers weren’t
benefitting from an ongoing revenue
stream with this offer.
“The legacy programme is still in place
and it’s an arrangement that suits some
of our partners,” he explained. “However
what we wanted to do was provide an
alternative that would enable our resellers
to retain the customer relationship and
see a recognised revenue. Whilst they
do receive a percentage kickback under
What we
wanted to do
was provide
an alternative
that would
enable our
resellers to
retain the
customer
relationship
and see a
recognised
revenue
Continued...
MPS
