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MPS
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Advantage MPS Core Program as a risk-
free option for IT resellers that in the past
might have been wary of MPS.
“There are two reasons why resellers
may be reluctant to adopt MPS: if they
want to deliver it themselves, it requires
quite a lot of up-skilling – you generally
need an engineering force to be able to
support it; you need a data collection
tool; and you need to understand how to
analyse that data and make sure machines
don’t drop off the network so that you can
always connect the page counter. From a
reseller point of view, that infrastructure
is a lot to take on board. With the
Advantage MPS Core Program, all that is
the responsibility of Lexmark,” explained
Fairman.
“Secondly, there is a risk generally
associated with cost per copy or click
MPS. When you provide a click, it is based
on a percentage of coverage. If the end
user starts printing pages at 10% or
15% coverage, and the possibility isn’t
addressed in the contract, then the reseller
can face a loss. Also, if the end user
doesn't print as much as you hoped they
were going to, that, too, can cause losses.”
Once again, this risk is borne entirely by
Lexmark, giving resellers the opportunity to
enjoy big margins for very little effort once
the initial sales has been made.
“The service charge and the click
charges we provide to resellers are very,
very competitive and we would expect
them to add a margin on top. Copier
A lot of
end users
are buying
hardware
from one IT
reseller and
then going
somewhere
else to buy
document
solutions,
which means
we are
missing the
opportunity
at point of
sale.
dealers are making very handsome margin
– 30-40% quite comfortably – and we
want to make sure our IT resellers make a
proper margin on this proposition,” said
Fairman.
Additional services
Fairman added that, unlike basic hardware
sales, the Advantage MPS Core Program,
and in particular its data collection tool,
provides opportunities for additional sales
that can help resellers strengthen and
deepen relationships with customers.
“The data collection tool can highlight
where one machine is being over-utilised
or show how many scans are going
through a device, which raises another
conversation the reseller can have with the
end user – what are you doing with that?;
how are you capturing that data once
you’ve scanned it in?,” he said.
“We want resellers to carry on visiting
customers with software applications
we have added to our portfolio from our
acquisitions since 2010, to make our
devices a bit more sticky for the reseller,
so that at the end of a contract it is a
little more difficult for the end user to
unplug the device from the end user
infrastructure.”
As an example, Fairman cites a
new Lexmark product called AccuRead
Automate that resides on an MFP and
can be operated via the device’s colour
touchscreen display.
“A partner can go into accounts
payable, download the application
software, put it into learn mode and the
machine will very quickly learn what
a purchase order from the end user’s
suppliers looks like. You then take it out of
learn mode and ask it to recognise four key
fields, e.g. PO number, which it will extract
from a scanned document and put into a
repository somewhere to be acted upon.
It takes you away from a manual process
of someone getting a PO, taking off all the
info and retyping it into Sage or whatever,”
he explained.
He added: “IDC says that 39% of
document solutions are always purchased
separately from the channel partner. A lot
of end users are buying hardware from one
IT reseller and then going somewhere else
to buy document solutions, which means
we are missing the opportunity at point
of sale. Effectively, the reseller is leaving
money on the table, which another IT
reseller is then gathering. We want to bring
it all under one umbrella.
“We can start bolting on additional
services all under the Lexmark brand so
you don’t have to go to third parties. The
end user doesn’t get into a debate whether
it's this third party or that third party
that's causing an issue they may have
experienced. It’s all under one roof. The
reseller can come to us and we will build
that proposition for them.”
Last year, Lexmark introduced its
Solutions Academy to explain to resellers
how to sell solutions and what types of
solution to take to particular customers.
“We do a lot of hand-holding with that,”
said Fairman. “We train resellers up to make
sure their engineers are qualified and their
sales people know how to sell software and
solutions, because it’s a completely different
sale than just selling tin.”
The next stage
As resellers gain confidence in MPS and
over time develop their own in-house
expertise, Lexmark provides a clear
upgrade path from Advantage MPS
Core Program to more advanced MPS
programmes.
“We have a unique Business Solutions
Dealers product range available through
copier dealers that typically have sold
A3 Japanese manufacturers in the
past. We have an aggressive hardware
platform unique to them and discounted
consumables and different servicing
offerings for them to build their own click.
They have been doing it for 20 or 30 years;
they are very confident with MPS; they
have the infrastructure; they have data
collection tools. That’s one programme,”
explained Fairman.
“We also have MPS Elite designed for
the IT partner or reseller community. That’s
a set of products with heavily discounted
hardware, discounted consumables and
discounted service and warranty. That
programme is designed for resellers
that already have engineers and already
have a data collection tool, so they don’t
necessarily need to utilise the infrastructure
of Lexmark to deliver an MPS proposition
to their end users.
“Advantage MPS Core completes
our portfolio for resellers that want to
gather more market share within their
own end users, find that revenue stream
and protect that revenue stream. This is
the entry-point for them. As they become
more comfortable with selling MPS and
have enough machines in the field to
start justifying the additional service
requirements and everything else, then
they can build their infrastructure on the
back of Lexmark’s and one day move to
our Elite programme.”
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