Gartner at the Print and Imaging Conference: Take Aways

"Companies are saying that managing print is one of the most effective ways to manage costs," - Frederico de Silva Leon, principal analyst at Gartner.

The Print and Imaging Conference was recently held here in LA and Gartner chimed in with some observations of the MPS Ecosystem.

Based on an article over at Channel Web, Gartner is illustrating information most of us have been living with for two years now.

For instance, Gartner reports,

"Customers are also looking for ways to improve their business processes. Up to half of a knowledge worker's time could be spent printing and looking for documents,...This is a an area where we could see significant improvements."

Huh, who woulda thunk...And welcome to the party!

Maybe I am a little, what's the word, jaded - but isn't this the third generation of "johnny come lately's"? Me being part of the second.

That's fine, the MPS boat has lots of room.

In a nutshell, according to the article, Gartner believes:

- Companies should move to a three year refresh rate on printers
- Employees could be spending up to 50% of their time printing documents
- It is better to purchase a color device if monthly volume is below 5,000
- Printing hardware cost is falling
- Color pricing is falling
- Purchasing color devices that emit 5,000 images a month could save $1,000.00 per year
- Less 11x17 and more A4 devices would be better
- Keep an eye out for "smart MFP's"

Additionally, another principal research ananlyst with Gartner defined MPS as,

"...as a series of steps for cutting print costs, including an assessment of a company's current fleet of devices and printing requirements, technology and processes to optimize the management of that fleet, break-fix and management services, management of the hardware and consumables, and training..."

- I guess we can finally put this little debate aside.

But why stop at defining MPS, why not endulge in creating, I mean describing, MPS best practices:

-Create a strong corporate governance environment
-Carefully manage the transition to managed print services
-Holistic management of the service

Huh, again, who woulda thunk...Yes, I am being very sarcastic.

To be serious, I only ask, "Hey Gartner, where ya been for the last two years? Getting wine'd and dine'd by all those Upper Right Quadrant dwellers?"

Gartner's Magical Quadrant and The Scales of Justice

On December 4, 2009, ZL Technologies filed an amended complaint against Gartner, Inc. in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

The Court granted ZL the opportunity to clarify and augment our earlier allegations of defamation and trade libel.

In the first round of ZL's legal dispute with Gartner, Gartner argued to the Court that its rankings and other statements in the proprietary Magic Quadrant Reports are merely opinions that are not based upon fact, and that they are understood as such by the readers of those reports.

However, Gartner's past statements in marketing materials, white papers, blogs and even the Magic Quadrant Reports themselves, assert that their research and analysts' opinions are based on a body of facts compiled through what is asserted to be a rigorous process.

The amended complaint clarifies ZL's contentions about the inaccuracy of Gartner's reports, the inherent conflict of interest arising out of Gartner's voluminous business with the vendors it reviews, and its subsequent bias towards large and established vendors. The amended complaint also adds new detail about Gartner's repeated claims that its research is based on objective facts a position exactly opposite to the stance forwarded by Gartner in court.

While this case is focused on ZL's dispute with Gartner over the erroneous statements in Gartner's publications, the issues here also implicate Gartner's larger business model.

Gartner plainly admits that it attempts to leverage value from its largest clients, many of whom are also vendors covered in the company's research.

ZL's legal filings describe how that business model causes Gartner to favor those large companies at the expense of identifying the best technologies, thus misleading not just the vendors who are inaccurately reviewed by Gartner, but the consumers who base their IT purchasing decisions on Gartner's biased research.

ZL is seeking injunctive relief as well as compensatory and punitive damages from Gartner.

The amended complaint can be found here:

http://www.zlti.com/courtdocs/docs/First_Amended_Complaint.pdf

The Day I Had Drinks with a Hero...

April 1941, Pearl Harbor.

The newly wed couple fresh from the states live in a one bedroom house. They share the shower, and toilet with 2 other couples. He a Naval corpsmen, his beautiful young bride the homemaker.

After being married a few months and living with family in a small, cramped California house, they journey thousands of miles and half an ocean's distance to finally live together alone.

Together in Paradise.

This is Oahu, April of 1941. Cane fields surround the lazy, sleepy town of Honolulu. Soft, tropical breezes stir through the palms drying out remnants of morning showers. The island was home to 50,000 service men but it still had only one traffic light.