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Print.IT Reseller
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opinion
28
I am going to start this, my first
article written for
Print.IT Reseller
,
by introducing myself. My name is
West McDonald and I come from
Canada, the land of Beaver pelts, vast
wilderness and Maple syrup. Unlike my
American counter-parts to the south I
try to spell using the Queen’s English.
So, it’s ’colour’ not ‘color’. Sometimes
it’s the little things that hold it all
together, right?
Speaking of little things, how about
all the buzz around the transformation of
how we sell and provide office print? Oh
right, not such a ’little’ thing, is it? I can tell
you from experience that the art of selling
pages in the office has gone from a purely
product-based endeavour to a much more
services-led approach in North America. And
whether you are in Canada, the U.S.A or the
U.K., this services-led approach is bound to
have a huge impact on your business in the
very near future (that’s assuming it hasn’t
already!).
I have been in the Managed Print
Services space for over 10 years and in that
time I have seen a lot of change. I began my
MPS career with PrintFleet when their print
monitoring software was still just a white
board concept. At that time nobody believed
that ‘M.P.S.’ had any legs. I sure am happy
they were wrong because this space has
been an incredible one to be a part of. And,
to cite a cliché, the best is yet to come.
Why is the best yet to come? Because
people are printing less and we will continue
to see a dramatic down-turn in overall
volumes. Why, you may ask, do I believe
that is a good thing? Because with all great
change comes great opportunity. Yes, there
is going to be a major shift; and yes, many
businesses will not survive. I’ve seen more
consolidation in the U.S. than anybody would
have believed 5 years ago. I have no doubt
you’ve seen much of the same on your side
of the pond. But for those with a stomach
for change the future is looking good.
There is a great bit of traditional folk-
wisdom that says “
May your enemy live in
interesting times
.” I think we can all agree
that the changes happening today in the
office print world are very interesting, far
too interesting for most constitutions. We
have entered a time when all the major
manufacturers of print-enabled devices are
desperately trying to figure out what comes
next. I say ‘desperately’ because they, like us,
are all feeling very real and negative effects
on their bottom lines. I won’t be citing any
financial earnings reports today: every major
OEM has suffered in the same way, you
know it as well as I do.
Whether or not you think the paper-
tray is half empty or half full is a matter of
perspective. The bad news is that whatever
innovations take place they are going to
mean offices require a lot less toner and
a lot fewer printed pages. The good news
is that fewer pages printed does NOT
mean less information consumed. There is
a whole lot of ’paper replacement‘ going
on, and with it, a plethora of new solutions
and services that are going to have great
revenue and margin potential! If only we are
forward-thinking and brave enough to see
beyond the ink.
The hard reality is this: Printed-pages are
disappearing at an alarming rate. Some of
this decline in printing is due to a younger
generation entering the workforce that grew
up with smart phones and iPads. They Twitter,
they Text, they FaceBook, they don’t print.
Another factor is collaboration in the cloud
which was, until very recently, the stuff of
dreams.The new world will share information
via the cloud and tablets. It’s happening
today in offices all around the world with
the adoption of cloud-based storage via
Google Docs, DropBox and a host of others.
The future isn't coming, it's right here on our
doorstep.
MPS Ponderings From Across The
Pond
won't focus solely on the future: it
is also about the here-and-now and what
is available to those trying to protect and
continue to grow the business they already
have. I get it: I know that maintaining
revenue today is as important as figuring
out the market drivers of tomorrow. Helping
grow MPS businesses TODAY is what I
do, after all. So understanding current
opportunities in MPS and sharing strategies
and services for real growth ‘Today’ will
be one of the main functions of this new
column. We will cover topics like Paper
Replacement, Secure Release Printing and
MPS Assessments. We will look at the
revolution taking place in the ‘Tablification’
of the modern office. If it has to do with
MPS strategies and tools proven to have
some legs in the U.S., odds are most of
them will have the same effect in the U.K.
market as well.
In MPS terms, the trip across the pond
is a short one. I am excited to offer you a
first-hand window into the revolution that
is MPS, happening all across North America.
One thing about insight: You can never have
too much. Until next time, may your pages
be plentiful.
Some of the
decline in
printing is due
to a younger
generation
entering the
workforce...
Turning The Page:
MPS Ponderings From Across The Pond
By West McDonald, FocusMPS