MPS Conference Europe - More feed back, an Announcement from MWAintel and Have You Heard About M2M?

"Hi Greg,

MPS Europe in one day is a hands down winner for everyone in attendance!

This show has taken San Antonio to a whole new level of success!

Packed rooms, great educational tracks and people! MPS Europe is providing a MPS MBA! People from the US, EMEA and other parts of the world! Amazing accomplishment and kudo's to Ed and team!"

- Mike Stramaglio, President/CEO at MWA Intelligence

And speaking of MWAintelligence, they announced nMPS the first "MPS supply chain".

I have an idea what that means. Looks to be a turn key program, that appears to include everything a Hybrid-dealer needs to execute a MPS practice.

And by everything, I mean from DCA to Inventory Control to dispatch to remote monitoring to behavior modification...interesting.

And a new acronym, at least for me, is "M2M" communications, which of course, stands for Machine to Machine communications. Ok, fine, you can get that.

But what about "M2P" ?

Yes, yes, Machine to Person communication - duh!

I see this as sorta like how your fuel injectors talk to your gas pump(M2M) and your speedometer communicates to you(M2P).

Think I am making this up? There is even a M2M Magazine right here.

I don't have all the details, and haven't had a chance to interview MWAintelligence, but I am sure I will get the chance.

For now, here is a quick Q&A:


1. What does this mean for the industry?

For the first time the new hybrid MPS dealer can bundle MPS print assessment, job routing, automated remote service, break/fix field service, and a full array of imaging supplies. Every asset is managed real time and with actively managed accurate data and fleet management tools.

2. When will this be available?

We are officially launching this program here in Amsterdam and sales activity will begin November 2009.

3. What applications are included in nMPS

Includes management of the service personnel, print management and low cost job routing, print assessment tools, remote asset management, automated inventory management and field service break/fix capability.

4. Will this be available in Europe as well nationwide?

Yes it will be available in Europe next year

5. What are the benefits of this nMPS program?

By definition the Managed Print Services (MPS) marketplace demands a clear combination of a full suite of products and services. The benefits for the distribution and the end user client are nearly identical. Improved supply chain, actionable fleet data, asset management, etc. all directed toward customer satisfaction, ease of use, cost recovery and redeployment of dollars toward revenue and or profit.

6. What are the overall MPS customer needs?

We put the MPS customer needs into three categories. The first is control which creates visualization and lower TCO. The second is optimization by device consolidation, print page consolidation, fleet deployment, monitoring and support. The third category is enhancement providing national coverage, business process optimization, and vendor agnostic support.

7. How will this help to enhance dealers and resellers MPS offerings?

The nMPS Service program will enhance a dealer and reseller’s MPS offering over all by fulfilling all of their MPS customer needs in one program. It will offer dealers turn-key national service programs creating instant revenue opportunity and growth.

8. What is MWAi’s Intelligent Service

Intelligent Service module provides automation tools for service dispatch operations and back-office supporting roles to ensure that data flows seamlessly between your assets in the field, IT infrastructure and people. The Intelligent Service modules provides a seamless link between the service activities of your field workforce and other mission critical portions of the enterprise, connecting service management, supply chain operations, dispatchers, account management, credit and meter collections, ensuring the needed data is available where it is needed, when it is needed.

9. What is MWAi’s Intelligent Device Management?

Intelligent Device Management™ (IDM) is an enterprise-class solution for the collection of asset information and delivery to your back-office, IT systems. MWAi offers a variety of data collection clients to capture information from connected, unconnected and locally-connected imaging devices. Data is transmitted from end-user location utilizing innovative cellular, pager, wireless Mesh and network protocols.

10. Do you have to have both MWAi’s IDM and IS Solutions to take advantage of the nMPS program?

The good news is that the MWAi solution suite is a scalable enterprise solution. Which means it is most effective with all modules in place and active. However every application can be applied independently.

MPS European Conference: Press Release, MWAi

MWA Intelligence, Inc. and Image Star Launch Industry First nMPS Supply Chain.

Image Star’s i.s.connect™ eCommerce Web to secure and automate MPS Supplies replenishment fully integrated with MWAi’s new nMPS National Fleet Service and M2M/M2P solutions.

Amsterdam, Netherlands — October 22, 2009 – MWA Intelligence, Inc. (MWAi), a leader in enterprise-class M2M (machine-to-machine) and M2P (machine-to-people) solutions and services, today announced a strategic partnership with Image Star, a leading wholesaler of imaging products, to increase dealer income and end-user satisfaction through integration of MWAi’s Intelligent Device Management™ (IDM) to Image Star’s i.s.connect™, the company’s industry leading eCommerce web portal to provide high quality printer supplies and automated supplies ordering process for dealers and resellers.

Image Star’s line of quality printer supplies will be an integral part of the nMPS, the industry-first national fleet service program that supports dealers and resellers across the U.S. to expand and enhance their MPS offerings to satisfy requirements from end-user organizations on lower TCO and supplies replenishment automation.

“Image Star has won a great reputation in its high quality supplies products, and is about to add their new value for their dealer and reseller customers in this MPS era,” said Michael Stramaglio, CEO and President of MWAi. “End users demand lower cost of ownership in printing, which requires both competitive pricing of quality supplies and the efficient supply management process for dealers to proactively detect toner levels or toner low alerts to automatically replenish supplies.”

This new offering is the result of a strategic partnership between Image Star and MWAi, designed to maximize synergies between a leading wholesaler of imaging product and the world’s leading M2M/M2P solutions provider and MPS service.

Speaking on the partnership, Charlie Antell, Director, Business Development of Image Star said, “We are very excited to play a significant role in this industry first national field nMPS service!” He added, “Having a successful 15 year track record, Image Star can guarantee that the end user will be satisfied with what we have to offer as a company. We pride ourselves on top notch customer service and solutions, paying close attention to each customer’s specific needs”

About MWA Intelligence, Inc.

MWA Intelligence Inc. (MWAi) delivers enterprise-class and leading-edge M2M (machine-to-machine) and M2P (machine-to-people.) MWAi provides an enterprise class solution designed to manage the MFP’s, Printers (locally or networked) collecting, automating meters, consumables, service alerts and Managed Print Service (MPS) tools. MWAi literally connects the people who service and sell the assets with the actual machines and ERP systems delivering greater customer satisfaction. Solutions include: Intelligent Service Management, Intelligent Managed Print Services, IntelliDashboard and Intelligent Device Management. For more information, please visit www.mwaintelligence.com.

About Image Star

Image Star is a leading wholesaler of imaging products offering a wide selection of OEM and compatible printer, fax, copier, and data media supplies. They have been distributing quality products at an exceptional value for over 15 years. For more information, please visit https://www.imagestar.com/isps/index.html.


Contact
Rose Alagna
MWA Intelligence, Inc.
Marketing Manager
Rose.alagna@mwaintel.com
480.538.5905

A Quick Tour of the Xerox R/D Labs, sans "M" ...

10/2009

I "peeled" the following out of an article by Jennifer Kavur, over at Computer World.

A couple of revealing subjects popping over the horizon from X.

Check it out.

CTO Sophie Vandebroek provided an overview of Xerox's R&D strategy, which focuses on information explosion, mass customization and sustainability.

Long-life photoreceptors

Xerox has advanced the life of photoreceptors by 50 per cent with the development of a polymer composite that acts as a protective chemical armor against surface wear and scratches. The new photoreceptors, which were implemented into the 4112 and 4127 monochrome copier/printer models this summer, can achieve about one million prints and 33 per cent fewer replacement cartridges.

The ultimate goal is to develop photoreceptors that will last the entire life of the machine, said Giuseppa DiPaola-Baranyi, laboratory manager for Materials Integration at the XRCC. This involves leveraging expertise in smart materials design and nanotechnology to design molecules for next-generation photoreceptors with self-healing capabilities, she explained.

"For example, when you scratch your hand and you heal, that's a biological process. We're looking at how we do that analogy for photoreceptors. How do we use smart materials design, how do we use nanotechnology to give us life-of-the-machine components that can repair themselves so that any damage is oblivious to the rest of the systems," DiPaola-Baranyi.

Reusable paper

To meet the continued demand for paper and reduce the amount of energy used for recycling, Xerox researchers are developing paper for printing temporary images that can be erased on demand. The end goal is the ability to reuse one sheet of paper up to ten times with prints that can last three to five days.

While paper usage per individual is declining in developed countries, paper usage in developing countries is on the rise due to growing economies and more people having access to computers and printers, said Adela Goredema, project leader for Reusable Paper at XRCC.

"Everyone was thinking that the office of the current millennium would be paperless, but as we know that is not the case ... We can recycle paper, but the amount of energy required to recycle is also quite significant," she said.

To make one sheet of paper from virgin pulp requires about 204,000 Joules of energy, which is enough to run a 60 watt light bulb for about one hour; making one sheet of recycled paper requires about 114,000 Joules, which is enough to run the same 60 watt bulb for about 30 minutes, she pointed out.

Natural language colour

Xerox is making it easier to edit colour in digital documents by translating words into numbers with Natural Language Color technology. The software allows users to make adjustments in colour by selecting everyday words and phrases from drop-down menus to create a phrase such as "make the skin-tone colours slightly more warm." Over 50,000 colour variations are supported.

The technology has been introduced in the Xerox Phaser 7500 colour printer as a Color By Words feature and accessible online in a test lab called Open Xerox. Xerox plans to expand the technology into other printer and MFP models in the future.

Rob Rolleston, technical manager of the Workflow and Documents area at the Xerox Research Center in Webster, N.Y., encourages visitors to the site. "We are trying to get customer feedback. We are calling this customer-led innovation," he said.

Printable organic electronics

Xerox envisions a flexible monitor that can "fold neatly into a briefcase" and a smart hospital gown that "monitors your vital signs and displays them for the nurse or doctor to see" as potential end uses of printable electronics technology.

An alternative to silicon, electronic materials promise to be "durable, flexible, lightweight and economical" and printable on large flexible substrates. The technology, currently in development at XRCC, will have significant implications on the consumer electronics industry.

"XRCC scientists also have developed special conductive 'inks' that can be used to print transistor components," states Xerox. "The components can be used as driver circuits for displays."

Solid ink

Solid ink is Xerox's alternative to liquid inkjet printing and traditional toner. The technology, which has a crayon-like texture and sits in a solid wax form at room temperature, doesn't require cartridges.

Because the ink melts within the machine and uses a quartz crystal to generate very small droplets at slightly above room temperature, the droplets don't move very far and give you very nice, round spots, said Peter Kazmaier, manager of New Materials Design at XRCC.

Xerox recently developed second-generation solid ink technology for its ColorQube multifunction printers, which feature colour printing speeds up to 85 pages per minute and a four print head design that totals over 3,500 ink nozzles.

XRCC estimates customers can save about 60 per cent of their colour printing costs with a ColorQube machine, which makes colour less expensive to work with and requires fewer replacement parts.

"Solid ink performs really, really well when you are working with rougher papers, so you can get almost the same image quality with a cheap paper, a recycled paper, on this machine than you can with a much more expensive, high quality paper," said Kazmaier.

Solid ink technology has several environmentally-conscious benefits, such as using nine per cent less lifecycle energy, producing ten per cent fewer greenhouse gases and generating 90 per cent less supplies waste than traditional laser printing.

Cured solid ink

Building off its solid ink technology, Xerox has invented a cured solid ink that hardens under ultraviolet light and sticks to nearly any surface. The technology has big implications for packaging by allowing printing on non-porous materials such as plastics and foils as well as heavily porous materials like corrugated cardboard.

This offering is different from anything else on the market now, said Michele Chrétien, project leader for UV-Curable Solid Ink at XRCC. "We have something that our customers could do things with that probably we haven't thought of yet," she said.

Ultra low-melt toner

Xerox has expanded upon its Emulsion Aggregation (EA) toner, which was introduced over ten years ago and holds over 300 patents, with an ultra low-melt version that fuses to paper at 45 degrees Fahrenheit lower temperature.

"Our goal was to get to higher speed colour printing at the same time as using less energy," said Patricia Burns, laboratory manager for Materials Synthesis and Characterization at XRCC.

The new Ultra Low-Melt EA Toner retains all of the benefits of the original EA toner, which features smaller particles that improve image quality and require less toner resulting in more prints per cartridge, she pointed out.

The technology is available in Xerox's 700 Digital Colour Press and expected to roll out to other desktop printer, high-end MFP and high-speed commercial colour press models in the future.

Your Managed Print Services Association - Three Months Free

Your MPSA is opening up and inviting you to "test the waters" with a comp'd 3 month membership.

From the MPSA site, here.

Special Offer - Special Limited Time Offer

Become a Member of the MPSA

In order to kick-start the MPSA we will be allowing potential members to sign-up for free membership to the MPSA, which runs from 12/01/2009 to 02/28/2009. This will give you the opportunity to test the MPSA benefits, and assist in our numerous projects.
----------

This is great opportunity to check out the MPSA and see if membership would enhance your customer relationships.

Heck, it's free...give it a whirl.

Canon Sits Down with Imaging Solutions Reseller: Scott Cullen Queries Canon’s senior director, Dennis Amorosano

The complete interview is here.

Scott brushes up on the HP question and Canon answers more directly then HP regarding the HP channel and access to Canon product.

The following is an excerpt of the complete interview.

Will HP have access to these products?

Amorosano: HP will have access to both imageRUNNER ADVANCE and legacy imageRUNNER products. For HP, these offerings will nicely fill a gap in their existing Managed Print Services product portfolio.

For Canon, adding HP’s Managed Print Services organization and EDS as a channel provides us an avenue to reach the largest global enterprises. Although Canon does have its own National Account organization, the base of customers we can reach through this new relationship is much broader and should represent a nice addition to Canon’s channel operations.

Do you see this expanded HP relationship having any affect on your dealer channel?

Amorosano: Not to a great extent.

Many of the accounts that HP through their MPS group is targeting are true global enterprise accounts who want a global relationship from HP. Generally speaking, our dealers are not in a position to do those types of things for a customer and in some cases we’ve been challenged in that area as well. Will there be some conflict?

It’s possible, but by and large the dealer will more likely gain from this relationship by being used as the primary service delivery vehicle for the placements of devices by HP. So, in or view the upside for the dealer channel is bigger than any potential conflict.

You’ve probably spoke with a lot of people the past couple of days about the HP partnership. Are there certain misconceptions that continue to come up that you need to dispel?

Amorosano: There may be some misunderstanding in regards to the scope of the relationship with HP.

In a sense we’ve tried to be very clear that it provides HP with an ability to source Canon product and resell that technology directly to the end customer.

"We do not provide the ability for HP to sell through their reseller channel, which we think is a very important distinction for our channel partners. If HP were able to do that quite frankly we’d have a lot of conflict in the marketplace. That certainly is worth clarifying."

There’s also some confusion in regards to the technology aspects of the relationship. Canon Inc. made an announcement that mentioned some collaboration from a technology perspective. Much of that at this point is focused on the network management of the devices—both the Canon devices within HP’s tools and the HP devices within Canon’s tools.

There have been some questions as to whether HP’s Open Extensibility Platform (OXP) will run on Canon imageRUNNER devices and we haven’t had any conversations to that effect or made any public statements about anything beyond what was in the Canon Inc. press release. Same holds true for branding.

I think there’s some misconceptions that the nature of the relationship is such that we would deliver product to HP under an OEM basis where they would put their HP brand on it, but that’s not the case. All the technology that HP will source under this relationship will be sold under the Canon brand.

---------------

Based on these answers, it sounds like Canon got the best of this deal.

By the way, go check out Imaging Solutions Reseller. It's a new online magazine about our industry - not bad.

Your Managed Print Services Association and the European MPS Conference

Your Managed Print Services Association and the MPS conference in Amsterdam - the coming out party; the Vanguard. Think of it as a precursor to the North American conference in May.

Not only will your MPSA be attending the MPS Conference in Amsterdam, Jim Fitzpatrick the President of your MPSA will lead a presentation on the "State of Standards".

Since the election of your MPSA Team, much has been accomplished in preparation for the European MPS Conference. Indeed, in less than six months, the MPSA has built an infrastructure, website(parts under construction), and put together membership offerings.

Oh but wait, there is so much more.

A three month membership is free to those who sign up now for a limited time

Check it out here.

So, you might say,

"Greg, why in the world would I ever want to be part of the MPSA? I sell copiers, toner, printers, service, servers, telephony, storage, EDM, etc."

Good question.

Here's my answer: you will be part of something that will add value to your client relationships.

This is an organization of like minded people, at the very beginning of organizing. We are sharing insight on a non-competitive basis, elevating the discourse and breaking free form the shackles of the past...

...yeah, that was dramatic.

We are not a bunch of statisticians collecting data points from across the output device spectrum(not that there's anything wrong with that).

And we're not a group of beard scratching consultants who have been in the industry for the last 105 years espousing re-hashed copier sales training(not that there's anything wrong with that).

From my experience with just the executive members, the board members, and even our detractors, this is a good thing.

For instance, your elected officials are of such a diverse background and employed in completely different sectors - yet we all get along and we are all looking to improve MPS awareness. To use a word I have come to despise- Synergy.

We hope to establish some basic standards ultimately sharing tools that will help you transform the transactional into relational. Adding depth to your selling engagements.

But we shouldn't do it alone - we need you.

My "special" mission is to keep the direct avenue's of input open to the "trenches" - the people on the street, in the mix, winning and losing deals everyday, owners, managers, executives, clients and selling professionals.

No frackin Ivory Towers here, no elitism, no snobbish intelligentsia- this is a goal.

And it is just that, a goal. I know the solitary fighting man is a tragic story; it never ends well for the "Leonidas" of the day or a young Anakin and remember what happened to John the Baptist.

But it's fun.

- Yikes.

LOL!

Insider Trading Hits IBM - Moffat Charged

This is big.

Of course, everyone is innocent until...but the FBI don't fool around.

Especially when wire taps are involved.

"Bob Moffat is a good guy, and IBM is pretty strict about things like this," said Pete Elliot, director of marketing at Key Information Systems, a Woodland Hills, Calif.-based solution provider and IBM partner. "I'd be surprised if he was involved in things like that." - Channel Web

The full article is here.

This tomfoolery will deliver bad dividends.

Into the Belly of The Beast: Managed Print Services Discussed at Purchaser Conference

Purchasing Magazine sponsored the Smart Sourcing Summit in Chicago, October 13-14.

On the second day, just before lunch, there was a session entitled, "Business Printing Solutions: Managing Print Services".

How interesting.

That's right, a convention of Purchasers.

A collection of folks, educated in the art of "grinding" you, bent on making your job more difficult, and reducing your commissions. These PA's with their CPM's were dedicating 45 minutes to Managed Print Services.

It's no secret, I really don't like purchasers.

I can count on one hand, the number of "Purchasing Agents" I have been willing to work with over the past 20 years, and two of those, I met just within the last couple of years. But hey, we all got a job to do, and purchasing is the lynch pin of every successful business.

And it's no secret that if you are selling ANYTHING to the Purchaser, you are a commodity - not the place to start a conversation around Managed Print Services.

Which is why this article piqued my interest and to my surprise, a friend of DOTC was carrying the MPS banner - Ed from Photizo.

Check the article out.

It doesn't surprise me that MPS is getting the attention of the Purchasing community.

The MPS message, printing costs are out of control and unmanaged is resonating at all levels in business.

From the show:

"...Crowley says the lifecycle for printer or copier is three years yet uncoordinated procurement allows for out-of-date equipment to remain in service and operate badly. The problem is exacerbated since "less than 10% of total corporate print spend is for hardware..."

Although the Purchasing Department may be the antithesis of value add, it is sometimes better to align with these folks - find a common area of concern - turning the advisory into a ally.

The common issue? Cost.

MPS reduces Costs. Period. Even the most stodgy and decrypt PA understands cost reduction.

Video Of The Week: It's Only 7 minutes, 26 seconds, Let's Go to India

2009

India and Asia seem to be very good markets for MPS in general, and Canon MPS specifically. Some say the future of MPS is in the far East, indeed I have commented about Canon in India. 

MPS aside, Indian music has exploded on the scene with Slum Dog, etc. Some of you may remember this song from the Jodi Foster movie, "Inside Man" - she looks friggin hot and plays a great part, by the way. 

But check this out. 

I doubt very much you will ever find Mariah or Witney dancing and singing on a moving train, as it snakes its way over bridges and through mountain tunnels. Notice how the two stars sing, dance and stomp on the train, and how the director uses the darkness of the train tunnel - special lighting on the female singer. 

No green screens here. 

Think of this as a 7-minute vacation - before your "forecast meeting" or Friday, end of the week rah, rah...  

Enjoy. 

2010: The Year of the Tablet, The Year of the E-Book

When Dan Brown’s latest blockbuster, The Lost Symbol, was released recently by Random House, digital sales of the book on the Kindle were rivaling paper sales on Amazon.com.

On campuses all around the country, students can download "one time use" digital versions of chapters or complete text books.

Are publishers shaking in their boots, eye to eye with yet another"nail in the coffin" - one more milestone on the downward spiral of the DeathOfPrint?

Or could this next technological mash-up SAVE publishers; save the "Dead-Tree Media"?

Will some pitch against the tide like so many music executives had against iTUNES?

Apple is preparing to make a big splash in tablets early next year - this one a little bigger than the Kindle some think this to be a title wave to rival the iPod.

And Xerox thinks paper will never go away.

But what does this mean for us?

It means that instead of carrying around a pad of paper, or a Franklin - by the way, do Selling Professionals still use Franklin Planners? - we will be checking email, forwarding proposals and reading the latest internal HP "constraint report" on our half-inch thick "digital readers".

And there is more.

If Apple can pull it off, you will see publications go directly to consumers through iTunes - by the magazine, newspaper, author, or subject matter.

Cheap subscriptions - perhaps "by the article" or even, by the author -

I haven't read about this angle yet - before iTunes, how many of us would purchase a CD(or if you remember vinyl) to be dissappointed that more then a couple of songs really didn't float your boat?

I know, back in the day, the songs on the album actually were there because the artist felt his/her creation included the COMPLETE work, all 12 tracks, not just the commercially viable tunes. Remember Johnny Cougar, "...the record company's changin my name now..."

Today, musical content is sold, and consumed, one, 99 cent song, at a time. Apply this to the Wall Street Journal - the Mother of all Newspapers(debatable). Other than corporate titans who have 2 hours in the morning, probably because they are a prison cell somewhere, who else can easily read the complete issue every, single, day?

But maybe I would pay, a very small yearly fee, to receive the "left" column. Perhaps I could have my new searches all end up on a custom formated and downloaded on my new iTab.

And not just print. Video as well. All on one 11x17x0.50, water resistant, digital, place mat.

The Demo From Hades: This Is What Happens When You Take Your Eye Off Your Opponent

10/2009

We have all done it. The seasoned of us, have committed it more often.

Twenty minutes of hell demonstrating the greatest contribution to office productivity and flubbing up every, single thing.

Face Plant. Flameout. Bunkered. Epic Fail.

It wasn't the machine's fault, a matter of fact, the Edgeline was in great shape, the best ever; someone even cleaned the chassis. Trays were set correctly, scanning worked, print driver was installed and at the ready.

So I couldn't blame the machine.

The MPS pre-work had been established; a study conducted, and the decision for the copiers had been wrestled away from purchasing and handed over to IT.

The small fleet was old, oversold and the leases expired.

My proposal made sense didn't grow into a 10-pound, thousand-page monstrosity, and even included Visio flowcharts. Cool.

The prospects' approval process had been defined, and documented and we were are track. The Economic, and Technical influencers were identified and covered.

I had a Coach and End-Users interviewed. As a final stage, my coach was bringing the last remaining end-user to our offices so she could just take a "quick" peek at the Edgeline.

Can you see this train wreck coming?

To be certain, I am not the best at "the demo" - and I think those who are, commit way too much time, standing at the machine, learning the myriad of never-used functions.

I loathe copier training disguised as "sales" training - you know the ones - all speeds and feeds and why this guy's toner is more round than that one's...gag.

But also, I have demoed Oces with cold cans of Coca-Cola in them. I have run dozens of Edgelines with the doors open - if you've never seen it, it is glorious.

I've scanned coffee-stained UPS Red shipping tickets through many Canon ADFs and received 99% hit OCR rates.

Who hasn't had a toner bottle explode while showing how "easy it is" to replace?

Yes, I have even "made up" a flip-chart presentation while that damn space shuttle icon was prepared for and finally launched(Konica/Minolta) because some goody-goody, decided to power down the unit 10 minutes before my client arrived.

And the ultimate bar story - I have demoed a machine that had no power; I just used the word "imagine" a great deal.

So yeah, I can dance through most anything. Most.

But I prefer to have all the variables nailed down. Like, what kind of documents will be copied, are there any specific functions to be reviewed, and will you ever need a heavier bond?

Are you printing PDFs, and if so, can you send me a file ahead of the demo, so we can be prepared? And what about envelopes?

Do you need and will you need to see 11x17, in color?

Stuff like that. The boring, mundane, bland, everyday functions that a copier should be able to perform. The simple things.

The dark partner of concern shuddered my foundation of confidence when I saw her meaty hand clutching the manila folder of documents. Her heels clicked across our reception area tile like the ticking of some angry clock. Oh boy.

But I thought to myself, "Should be no problem...they print more than copy...".

Well, she pulled out a full color, highly detailed, 11x17 map - generated from an older inkjet - .BMP, not even. PDF.

My question to her was why would you ever copy something like this if you could print it? Don't you receive these documents (hard copy, bound, site survey, and maps) in electronic form?

Mind you, I recognized the engineering company that generated the document. The same company I sold a few wide-format devices and a color Canon unit to three years ago.

The Canon came with E*Copy Desktop. And I remember spending an hour showing them how to assemble multi-page. PDF documents so they could email final reports to their clients, saving thousands on courier charges. I knew that she had the report in digital form.

"No", her response.

"So, you dismantle the report, scan them and then make copies? Is that the process?

"Yes", her response.

I know, logic does not apply, but it didn't matter. This is how she does it now, and this is the process she wants to see my machine perform.

My weakness - my unit scans at 600 dpi and outputs 1200 so the output was clearly sub-standard. I had to agree.

Oh, and sometimes, they need to duplex 11x17, at the machine and hate the speed of their existing Xerox.

Carefully explaining how the Edgeline applies the ink, reads the surface of the paper, and either re-applies ink with another pass or runs the sheet around again until the ink is dry - this makes the speed of output decrease but ensures higher quality.

She wasn't having any of it.

The scan quality sucked, and the speed slowed to an unbearable crawl. Game, set, match, I took five in the back.

The Postmortem - "Somebody Call Dexter, we got blood here..."

What did we learn?

Know what the heck you are getting into before you get into it. More importantly, MPS is a big deal, a compelling argument, but when it gets right down to it, it's the basics that either make or break you - always has been, always will be.

Remember the basics.

Hey, this isn't easy, if it were, your manager would still be in sales.

Keep getting up and keep selling.

HP IPG folding into PSG? Someday, HP Won't Sell Printers

10/6/2009

Back in April, I wrote a bit about an issue that was, at the time, unthinkable.

In my article, Is Hurd funding IPG's Demise with IPG's Revenue?, we briefly explore the possibility that Hurd's restructuring of HP into a full, IT services company, is being funding from IPG(printer) profits.

The irony being that one day, HP will not sell printers.

Ludicrous, inconceivable?

Add it up:

Expected HP growth somewhere around 3-5%, with MFP growth at only 2%

Five years ago, HP's PC unit was losing out to Dell, and barely making a profit, today HP is the leading PC provider in the world

IPG growth has been over shadowed by PSG and other growing sectors of HP's galaxy

MPS programs supported by distribution partners, not "home grown" except for Enterprise accounts

Edgeline

EDS purchase

Mark Hurd

Canon Alliance

And who is Todd Bradley?

Indeed, if this is true, if the LaserJet is destined to follow OS/2, the next move we may see is an "enveloping" of IPG into PSG.

CrazyTalk? Oh really?

"...Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Hurd is considering a plan to fold the printing business into Bradley's division. HP executives have declined to confirm or comment on the report, which the Journal attributed to unnamed sources..."- Mercury Hews

Here is the blip.

More from the Mercury News article:

"...As businesses shift to electronic records, some analysts believe they will print less on paper. Many consumers, meanwhile, are increasingly viewing Web-based material on their laptops, smart-phones and portable devices, without feeling the need to print.."

This is big - But what about Joshi?

The Mercury News article, here. A very good read.

In an article by Bob Evens, Information Week, he hearkens the same tone - HP needs to stake it's flag and the colors won't simply be printers/output:

"...Hewlett-Packard's got all the pieces to become just about whatever kind of company CEO Hurd wants it to be, and while that vision has yet to be fully expressed, the imminent merging of its PC business with its printer business is a huge step in the right direction. Because while both of those product lines are massive and are among the top reasons why HP's annual revenue of about $120 billion tops that of any other IT company, PCs and printers are simply not going to serve as the strategic platforms that define HP's future and its enduring value to enterprise customers..."

IBM, at one time, sold laptops, PC's and printers...

It's Not a Copier, It's a Replicator and The World is Not Enough

Photocopier - watch more funny videos

...and one of the main characters in this bit is "Mr. Walters"...LOL!

Enjoy.

Hewlett Packard Signs as Platinum Sponser for MPS Conference

John Johasky, HP Vice-President to be Keynote Speaker at the Photizo MPS Conference in Amsterdam.

Photizo lands a big fish.

In San Antonio it was Xerox - for Amsterdam, HP.

Congrats go to Ed and the gang.

I will not be in Amsterdam, which is probably a good thing, for I have heard of many, different, odysseys one can experience in the dens of that strange land.

The Mad Dog in San Antonio was fun, one can only imagine the trouble I could get my colleagues into in Amsterdam.

The MPSA will have a strong presence and maybe a presentation or two.

The Teacher, The Photocopier and The Toner - This stuff can't be made up.

Some readers may notice my Blog Roll on the left and the more observant may scope a few blogs that are not specifically print or copy related - so it would seem.

I added one, "It's Not All Flowers and Sausages" few months back.

I don't remember why, except perhaps the enticing and mysterious title - but I am sure there was once a post about copying or some none sense along those lines.

But today, when a tile from that blog came across "The Photocopier Continues to Haunt(Taunt) me" I chuckled.

Not at the clever play on words, Haunt/Taunt, but - who uses "Photocopier" as a descriptor anymore?

Teachers, that's who. Those wonderful, whacked out, the "world is my classroom - why are you tardy", pontificaters of the useless, keepers of the children, molders of the future - that's who.

This just in - upon further research into the title, I have uncovered the fact that this blog is written by the author of a book, "It's Not All Flowers and Sausages. My Adventures in Second Grade". Mystery solved.


Anyway - the story here is about a seven year old copier, Staples and Kinkos and customized seat sacks - whatever in the hell those are.

Its a teachers story - here's a tid bit:

"...I mean, isn't it enough that for seven years SEVEN YEARS the photocopier was capable of sending me into a rage I still can't quite put into words? What IS it about the photocopier? It got so bad at one point that Grandpa Mimi offered to BUY ME a photocopier. BUY ME A PHOTOCOPIER!..."

She has many posts about how there is no money for paper or how toner never arrives and how the school's tech guy tells her she has to buy her own toner for a district's laser printer(WTF!).

Check it out, a slice in the life of our second grade teachers.

The Big are getting Bigger: Xerox 's Largest Acqusition Ever, Affiliated Computer Services: Who?

"We don’t see the world going paperless." Burns on CNBC.

Xerox announced, today, it will purchase Affiliated Computer Services creating a $22 billion global enterprise for document technology and business process management.

The deal is initially valued at $6.4 billion.

Affiliated Computer Services is what's called a "BPO" or "Business Process Outsourcing" provider.

ACS Started in 1988 as a provider to the banking industry. Today, ACS is 23rd on the VAR 500 and boasts recurring revenue of around $5 billion and 74,000 world-wide employees.

"Our recurring revenue model has allowed us to generate healthy growth. The growth potential with this deal will generate solid returns and provide employees the opportunities to expand their expertise," said Lynn Blodgett, president and CEO of ACS.

Indeed, Ursula stressed this new business group will bring "a significant boost to our profitable annuity stream".

The revenue Xerox generates from services will triple from $3.5 billion in 2008 to an estimated $10 billion in 2010.

ACS has nothing to do with copiers, printers, and output devices - it's all process outsourcing and resides in the the realm of EDS and Perot Systems.

Xerox is moving from the Third stage, Enhancing the Business Process into the Fourth stage of MPS, Managing the entire Ecosystem.

Also, ACS has the largest position in MediCaid and health care field.

So now the field is complete - HP/EDS, DELL/Perot, Xerox/ACS and Ricoh/IBM.

There is a very good interview from CNBC, here. Check it out.

Engage or Die? Managed Print Services Reaching Another Sea Change

In an article appearing in the MicroScope UK by Billy MacInnes, Ed from Photizo outlines a possible approaching tempest for the traditional resellers - KillSwitch Engage.

This is nothing new for we who have been engaged in MPS - evolution occurs in months, not years.

Last month it was "define MPS" today it "engage or die", next month it will be "channel competes with the manufactures" - again.

For us in the trenches, the glass will be either half-full or ...well...you get the point.

The large manufactures do not have the flexibility that the channel posses - the Channel may not have the Global coverage the manufacturers do - competing with manufacturer MPS, in the SMB should make your mouth water - and by SMB, don't we mean 100-1,000 employees?

That's at least 500 printers and possibly a few dozen copiers, right?

Enjoy the article:

Analysis: Resellers need to engage with print managed services

by Billy MacInnes
25 September 2009

IT resellers risk losing out if they fail to seriously engage with managed print services (MPS) opportunities within the next
five years.

The warning comes from Ed Crowley, CEO at specialist market research company Photizo Group. He suggests large numbers of resellers will not be able to break into the MPS space if they delay the move because rivals that make the leap to become what the company terms “hybrid dealers” will have so much more to offer.

“Firms that make the transition are so successful because it completely changes the customer dynamic and the customer relationship. Resellers will have a very difficult time competing once they come up against hybrid dealers,” Crowley says.

Levels of commitment

Photizo Group categorises IT resellers, office products dealers and office supplies resellers and remanufacturers as hybrid dealers, committed, testers or fence-sitters.

According to Crowley, less than 5% of IT resellers, office dealers and supplies remanufacturers/resellers have become hybrid dealers able to sell and support managed print services. A further 10% are committed to making the investment in people and technology to deliver MPS. Of the rest, around 25% are testers, which are not fully committed to MPS, and almost 50% are fence-sitters.

Photizo Group estimates that up to half of the latter two groups will not be able to break into the MPS market after 2014.

In the US, half of the hybrid dealers are from the office product space and a quarter each are IT resellers or office supplies resellers/remanufacturers.

Crowley says the IT channel has struggled with the MPS approach because it is so used to a box-selling mentality.

Channel role

He suggests the channel has a critical role to play as vendors seek to promote and sell MPS to SME customers in the wake of a dramatic fall in sales of printers, copiers and multifunction devices.

Until now, vendors have concentrated on selling MPS to enterprise customers, mainly on a direct basis, but their attention is beginning to shift to SMEs.

“A lot of the activity so far has been enterprise-centric,” Crowley says. “The vendors have not really approached the SME market yet. Some vendors may attack it directly, but for most it will be difficult to scale their systems.”

Reseller involvement

He adds that resellers should prepare for a blizzard of channel programmes from vendors in the coming months, pointing out that almost 18 schemes have been launched in a little over 12 months in the US.

“Europe is a little bit behind, but we see a very similar situation developing and an increase in the pace of the number of new programmes,” Crowley says.

He reveals that HP’s channel programmes in the US have not
been as successful as they needed to be with capturing office product resellers.

“It has been very successful with direct programmes to the enterprise, but the channel programmes are struggling a bit,” Crowley says.

One "Big Copier" or a Small Fleet of MFP's? What say You?

Nathan over a Adventures of Office Imaging put up a nifty little comic.

Thought provoking. I found myself internally selling either option.

It's a classic and evolving story - I believe HP touts a statistic that for every "copier" in the field, there are 5-8 laser-based devices.

Seems to me that a mix of devices within the fleet is realistic.

Having a fleet of smaller devices, distributed though out an organization is not bad, it's the management of those assets/supplies/service that can get tricky.

Enjoy.

Joe and Zoe.

Good Things Start With A Pencil

Have a great weekend.

Last to The Table - Canon Makes Us All In - Canon Managed Document Services

Ok - this makes it final - everyone is on the MPS bandwagon.

In Vegas, Canon announced it's Managed Print Services program, "Managed Document Services".

As you probably already know, and according to the Rob Sethre, senior analyst, the Photizo Group,

“MPS is the fastest growing segment of the imaging industry, growing at a compound annual rate of 30 percent. Although historically MPS has been targeted to mainly large accounts, Photizo anticipates that MPS will become increasingly popular with small- and medium-sized enterprises, thereby putting dealers who offer these services in excellent position to capture a larger share of customer opportunities.”

So the biggest issue with the Canon announcement is, "What took you so long?"

The Press Release:


LAS VEGAS, Sep 22, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Setting a new standard for delivering managed print services to regional and global customers, Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital document imaging and advanced office solutions, today launched Canon Managed Document Services (Canon MDS), a new unified, global initiative for outsourced print and document management services.


In concert with Canon Inc.’s recent global announcement consisting of a standard service menu and methodology, Canon MDS provides the infrastructure, tools and support to serve small to enterprise offices and CRD environments on a global scale, while also serving the needs of customers with a local geography.

Based on a common menu of tools and services, the Canon MDS offering evaluates a customer’s needs and ensures continuous improvements through a five- phased approach, including:

1. Discover and Analyze


2. Design


3. Deploy and Transition


4. Support and Manage


5. Evaluate and Review


As small- and medium-sized business customers look to take advantage of managed services models, Canon MDS empowers its network of authorized dealers to provide document services by packaging sophisticated tools and technologies that can easily be leveraged in customer deployments.

In the U.S., Canon has been successfully delivering managed print services to many top-tier organizations in the region for several years through its Canon Business Solutions subsidiary. Now with a common menu, Canon can offer its global customers a consistent approach and range of services regardless of their location.

“Today as customers increasingly recognize the monetary and workplace efficiency benefits of migrating to an outsourced solution, customers and dealers alike are looking to print manufacturers to deliver the complete print and document workflow solutions that will help reduce total cost of ownership and improve overall efficiency,” said Sam Yoshida, vice president and general manager, Imaging Systems Group, Canon U.S.A.

“This new Canon MDS offering, in combination with the technological innovations available with our products, such as the new imageRUNNER ADVANCE Series, will allow our customers and sales channels to tap into a single-point-of-contact to utilize and leverage the regional and global expertise and resources of Canon like never before for outsourced services.”

The Canon MDS offering leverages several innovative technologies and tools that uniquely combine Canon developed device functions, software solutions and professional services capabilities.

They include:

- imageRUNNER ADVANCE Content Delivery System, which offers capabilities for remote services, including remote installation of imageRUNNER ADVANCE firmware updates, embedded software options and MEAP applications

- imageWARE Enterprise Management Console with Plug-ins, which can be used for on-site enterprise device management, customer-managed meter collection and service alerts delivery

- imageWARE Remote, which enables the automatic submission of meter data and service alerts for pre-emptive support and consumables fulfillment, e-Billing functionality and integration with leading third-party Dealer ERP systems, such as OMD and e-automate

- uniFLOW Output Manager is an intelligent and highly scalable print management software suite with modules for Universal Secure Printing, Rules-Based Routing, Authentication, Desktop Accounting and Print Center Management

- Canon U.S.A. Professional Services brings the expertise to design and implement managed document services, from analyzing a customer’s print environment and developing new designs to reporting results and identifying areas for future improvements

- Canon MDS Knowledge Portal provides a secure Web site for business development and support, including business plans, training modules, best practices, white papers, case studies, industry analysis and more

The Canon MDS initiative will provide the framework and know-how required for Canon and its channel partners to effectively deliver managed services to clients. Based upon this introduction, Canon intends to capture a larger share of the growing market for outsourced document related services.