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funded support staff through recognised
IT accreditations to qualify them to
integrate print solutions with clients’ IT
infrastructure, and are well poised to
broaden their offering into IT services.
Some of the more proactive MPS resellers
have also realigned their merger and
acquisition strategies, and are searching
out opportunities in complementary IT
Managed Services businesses rather than
looking to ageing, under invested copier/
printer dealers, in order to create a one-
stop-shop for a broad scope of business-
critical services.”
Derek Russell,
Managing Director,
RDT Office Solutions
:
“Over the past
ten years, the market has been to-ing and
fro-ing with this contest. Even so, there
are few challengers that have successfully
achieved the jump without acquisition or
strategic partnerships. This is due to the
different nature of the business models.
“One of the primary discussion points
when talking to IT service focused MSPs,
is the lack of experience in dealing with
the financing model standard among MPS
resellers. Structuring leases and, the more
direct sales approach, doesn’t form part of
their business models. On the other hand,
the general MPS reseller doesn’t command
the same client integrity as an IT services
company when they’re trying to pitch their
offering to a typically technical audience.
“In order to be successful, the
conventional MPS salesperson has had
to be commercially-minded first rather
than technically-minded. Although there
is clearly a new mould of salesperson/
consultant emerging in the print world,
they are still behind in terms of client
expectation when compared to the
representatives from most IT service
companies. For those reasons, I’d say
there is still some way to go before the
print channel can hold its own against IT
vendors in the IT services space using an
organic growth model.”
Julian Stafford,
Managing Director,
Midshire Business Systems Northern
:
“I think there is a balance now. Historically
it has indeed been IT resellers moving into
the print space. Now more and more MPS
providers are adding IT services to their
offering.
“I happen to think it’s good for the
market to have the added competition
and also the different approach each
brings. For example, historically IT services
were provided with no real SLAs. We
have matched our IT offering to the
service offered on our MPS contract, so
a guaranteed response of four-hours as
a minimum. We also offer lease facilities,
Mike Holyoake:
“The MFD in isolation
becomes a commodity with a lack of
relevance to the business requirement
it was sourced for. Broadening the
proposition to embrace a true service wrap
including IT services, systems integration,
security compliance and translation
services for example, begins to build a
value add to what was once a simple
hardware sale.
“In order to unleash the evolving
capabilities of the latest MFDs it’s
important that the features and capabilities
are integrated into the IT infrastructure
and ultimately the MFD device becomes
a component of the wider document
workflow strategy within the workspace.
Too often we hear Document Managed
unheard of in the traditional IT world.
These innovations are good for the market
as a whole.”
Mark Smyth,
Operations Director,
Vision
:
“We have been providing more and more
clients with IT products and services. It
starts with building a trusted relationship
and having the capabilities to meet their
requirements. We have enjoyed significant
success with software and hardware
sales to existing and new clients and our
partnerships with key vendors and the
distribution channel, have been essential in
enabling this capability.”
Services being delivered across a
business enterprise when realistically
the proposition only offers automated
consumable replenishment, consolidated
billing and potentially a feature rich fleet
of MFDs that deliver a fraction of their
capability.
“The integration of IT services
and a broader understanding of the
client’s document strategy and business
requirements through a thorough
assessment of the environment, leads to a
more successful MPS implementation and
builds an evolving pathway towards the
future desired state for the customer.”
Scott Walker:
“A managed print provider
will focus on how their print infrastructure
Terence Hargreaves,
Sales Manager,
DMS Reprographics
:
“I’m not
necessarily sure that print vendors are a
threat to IT vendors, or vice versa. Things in
the industry have changed. Our clients are
now pushing beyond the managed print
offering and we, as a company, find that
we are being pushed into working with a
wide range of technologies.
“With our education clients alone,
we can find that we must work with
technologies like databases, classroom
management software, financial packages,
networks, cloud based systems and mobile.
This would normally have sat firmly in the
arena of the IT vendor, but as the world
becomes more integrated, so must our
offering.”
The MFD
in isolation
becomes a
commodity
with a lack of
relevance to
the business
requirement
it was
sourced for
PITR:
In today’s inter-connected world, how important is it to offer IT
consultancy, managed IT services, technical support and expertise to
complement the traditional MPS offer?
...continued
“Now more and more MPS
providers are adding IT
services to their offering”
Julian Stafford,
Managing Director,
Midshire Business Systems Northern
