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MANAGED PRINT SERVICES
I F I T WORX , I T ’ S
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UTAX Product Demonstration Days:
October 2014 – March 2015
PRODUCTIVITY, RELIABILITY, QUALITY, YOU
N-able by Solarwinds explains why copier
companies and IT resellers should embrace
managed print services.
Copiers and equipment vendors are a critical part
of the office solutions market. Despite predictions
made roughly 30 years ago, the paperless office
has not materialised and businesses around the
world are still big consumers of paper, especially
copier paper. In recent years we have seen the
copier market slow and begin to decline driving
vendors to seek additional revenue streams that
complement their core business.
Commoditisation and consolidation wage
war on dealer margins.
The market has seen a decline for the past two
years. According to Gartner, 2013 unit shipments
were down 2.2% Y/Y and end user spending
was down 1.1%. Multifunction peripherals
(MFPs) growth continues to skyrocket, reducing
the number of individual peripherals a vendor is
able to sell. For cost-conscious end users, we can
expect to see a continued shift from fully featured
high-end A3 copiers to lower cost A4 units.
The need to stand out from the crowd and
to diversify revenue has driven many traditional
copier and office solution companies to explore
new products and services. One of the keys to
building recurring revenue and high margins is
transitioning to a managed services model and
becoming a Managed Services Provider (MSP).
Managed services: a perfect solution and
transition opportunity
To meet these challenges and deliver new,
breakthrough value to clients, many copier
businesses and office solution providers
are making the move to managed services.
Managed services is a profitable business and
service delivery model that is changing the way
VARs, system integrators, IT service providers
and copier companies do business. Offering
managed services enables you to assume
responsibility for the entire network – from the
copier to the server.
Higher business valuation from a new
recurring revenue stream, improved margins
from higher technician utilisation rates and
stronger customer relationships are just some
of the compelling benefits of becoming an MSP.
Managed services enable you to provide clients
with predictable, business-focused IT services
that optimise operations, manage risk and
deliver measurable business value. With average
profit margins of 60%+, it is no surprise that
more and more copier providers are adding
managed services to their offering.
To find out how you can start providing
managed services, visit
Seize the initiative
want to do business, but there’s going to
be this concept of ‘We are going to add
technology to the mix and really enforce
automated toner shipments and automated
service fulfilment and a lot of electronic
transaction between us and our customers
to help minimise the cost of all of that’.
The other trend that is becoming very
interesting is ink versus toner. HP and Epson
are already making a play in this area and
we think that over the next 3-5 years these
two players could significantly shift market
share positions and the bias customers have
for laser. We are already seeing inkjet prices
drop to a level where they are actually
better than laser and inkjet printers become
as sturdy as laser devices. What’s holding it
back is the idea we all grew up with, which
is that laser is better than ink.
Finally, I think we are going to see even
more channel convergence. You hear about
this all the time, but I think people have
to stop thinking about the heritage of the
partner being in office equipment, office
supplies or IT system integration and think
more about their current capabilities. That’s
what’s going to make them effective in
tomorrow's marketplace. Today’s leaders
may not be tomorrow’s leaders, and channel
partners are going to see a steady erosion
of their business if they don’t really engage
with customer-centric, cost of lifecycle
selling. The UK and the US markets are
already well down that road. I don’t want
to say that it’s too late – it’s not – but today
it’s harder to make a really strong inroad
into that services play if you haven’t made
some moves already.
...continued
PITR
: Finally, what will resellers
get out of attending Transform?
KS:
I always enjoy the quality of the
people who are there; these are some of
the most astute executives that I have
had the pleasure to work with. It’s a great
opportunity to hear what the best practices
are, what the best-of-breed are doing out
there and how they are overcoming the
challenges that pretty much everybody
has to face. Secondly, I think its a great
opportunity to expose yourself to new and
innovative ideas. There are going to be
some great learning lessons there. We are
trying to focus on offering as much value
to various stakeholders as possible through
either channel-type tracks or through
advanced services-type tracks. Beyond that,
Prague is a great place to visit, so why not
spend a couple of extra days there and have
some vacation time.
For more information on
Transform Europe 2014, please visit
.
