Did ECi Just Hoodwink An Industry?

Describe for me your system for collecting data in MPS assessments.

Does it go something like this?

"The system comprises a local network including several printing devices provided with a diagnostic unit collecting various device working data’s and at least a connecting device connecting a plurality of printing devices,where by the connecting device is adapted for collecting data’s from a plurality of printing devices and for storing said data’s in a digital repository,where by said digital repository is in a form readable by a process or comprising instructions for treating at least some data’s of the digital repository."

If you were to draw it out, workflow, would it resemble this:

One last question - are you utilizing FM-Audit as your DCA?  If so, you're good, if not - do you think you might be in violation of a patent?

ECi has been awarded a patent for:

The “Status Monitoring System and Method” invention is in the field of data collection and digital repositories for printing and imaging devices. The method provides end users with the ability to click a link or download the application from a portable external storage device (USB key) and aggregate data such as meters, toner and ink levels that is collected from both network and local copiers and printers. The patent covers much of the technology found throughout today’s FMAudit suite of products, including Central, Onsite, WebAudit, and Agent."

Its probably nothing, just a way to keep anyone else from stealing FM-Audit's unique method of collecting printer data.  I'm sure intentions are pure and motivation is customer centric.

Time will tell.

Get the patent documentation, here.



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The Magic Quadrant: Reflection of MPS or Marketing Budgets?

"The New Matrix is here!  The New Matrix is here!"

So, yeah...

the Magical Matrix came out last month showing just about everybody - Xerox, Ricoh, Canon, Lexmark, HP, Konica - in the "Leaders" sector for Managed Print Services.

Kyocera and Toshiba end up as "Visionaries" - I guess an erasable copier can be considered visionary - and ARC looks to be the only "Niche Player".  I've always wondered if there is a correlation between the amount of money folks spend with Gartner and their placement in the upper right. Probably not.  Either way, the square looks skewed.

Reflect with me now and consider for a second the definition of managed print services:

"...The active management and optimization of document output devices and related business processes..."

If I had "Greg's MPS Almanac", this is how I would stack the pile:

1.  Xerox - Next Generation MPS
2.  Ricoh - The New Way of WorkIntelligent.ly

3.  ARC

4.  Canon - Fragmented but becoming clear

5.  Lexmark - Verticals, F500, transactional
6.  HP - Who? Except in LA
7.  Konica - Why sell anything but copiers with landed margins like that!

See, There's This Thing Called MIF and Apparently, It Needs Scrubbing...

One of the strongest arguments in MPS is lowering cost through the reduction of the number of devices.(Optimization).  This single leverage point is difficult for an OEM to reconcile as long as there are plants building machines.

I'm not saying players won't shrink MIF - Global loves shrinking Ricoh's MIF; Ricoh and Canon exchange MIF as often as Clinton flip-flopped and HP is out there reducing her own MIF.(Something to do with Ink vs. Toner and what-not)

In this year's Mystical Matrix, everybody except one, operates manufacturing plants and the one player is presented in the lower left.

Not to me.

ARC is different. Specialized and tasked with REMOVING DEVICES FROM EVERYBODY'S MIF, they're about as close to MPS Purity as possible.

Check out the progression:

And the Point?

Millions of dollars are spent by purchasers every year based on who is placed where and I don't think the Mystical Matrix has an once of relevancy in MPS.  The fact that ARC is placed in a lower quadrant tells me that Gartner's definition orbits machines in the field or images captured/under contract.  Which is a losing argument not for the future.

The companies mentioned aren't at fault - HP has a good MPS program, Xerox's is better; Ricoh has a solid MPS program, Xerox's is better.  But the comparison is on a GLOBAL scale. How many of you are selling to Fortune 500?

If anything, the ranking shows how similar ALL the programs have become. They're painting with the same set of colors - or worse - only one.  It would be as if Van Gough painted Starry Night with a single color.

Blah.

We've gotten to the point where all MPS programs look, act, feel, and taste the same.  Where touting the number of collected awards is part of a value proposition . In a world that increasingly regards 'expert research' as rear-view-mirror forecasting, why do we listen?

"No, Really, What's Your Point, Greg."

In a past life, one of my value-props started with, "You know mister prospect, all devices are the same."  I did this for two reasons:

1.  Neutralize competitors selling speeds and feeds
2.  I could sell five different lines

The latest slew of awards and accolades proves my point - all machines are the same.  Here's the kicker, this isn't simply my, personal view - more than likely, your prospects think the same way.  They don't care about BLI or Gartner - they barely think about print - the care about how you empathize and help them solve problems.

Simple.

The best to be done with any of these studies is to ignore and move on.



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I Have Seen The Future of Our Business and it is #Samsung. No. No it isn't. What?

This is what is known as an "Adobe Upgrade"

Dateline, 2014

Do I make fun of the tablet 'duct taped' to the side of a copier?  Yes.

Do I think end users will do whatever they can to avoid standing in front of a copier? Yes.  Even if we attache Netflix or Clash of Clans?  Yes.

Did Tod Pike sell AGAINST A4 devices just four, short years ago?  Well, did Samsung profits just drop like a 1951 era MIG-15?(good lord, google it) Yes.

"Oh, Greg.  Who are you pissing off now?"

Samsung -

Here's the challenges I see with the new user interface:

Reason One - Nobody wants to spend more time in front of a copier.

In all my years of working with clients helping them determine requirements for print and content management, I have never had a client say to me, "I wish I could find another reason to stand in front of the copier."  Well, except for government and education, but let's not get political.

Reason Two - 'Droid isn't a great platform

But what else is Samsung going to use, Yosemite?

Reason Three - The visual stinks.

Honestly, the unit looks like an engineer velcro'd the tablet to the side of a copier.  IKON'a DocSend - now that looked cool.

Hold Your Venom!

I know there are folks ready to fire off a terse comment or email my way, please don't hit 'submit' just yet.  Here are my reasons we should recognize this move as powerful genius.

Tod Pike has been able to get two divisions within one of the largest technology manufacturer's in the world, to come together and bring a combined package to market - in what? Two years?

I see the future of our business with fewer silo's and faster innovation to market - SPEED.

Think about your world: How easy is it for you to get Sales and Service talking?  Right.

How long did HP 'think' about Edgeline before hitting the streets? HP 3D? 2016ish. What train wrecks occurred whenever IPG was inside a PSG account - with a dealer and VAR?

In some organizations, speed to market is measured in 20 quarter cycles.  Our traditional OEMs have one gear to innovation. S L O W.   In this case, it looks like Pike was able to jump the curve.

Maybe there is a back-story and I am giving too much credit, it doesn't matter because Tod isn't stopping here.  He's working with Technology United, integrating Forza AT THE MACHINE LEVEL which would be a gargantuan undertaking for many, but apparently not Tod.

From the outside, it looks logical for a manufacturer of copiers, tablets and phones, to integrate products into a single package.  An example would be Toshiba integrating nuclear reactors inside their erasable copier.  But that's not going to happen.

Remember when HP printers and computers went together like,"...rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong..." (props to Olivia Nutron Bomb).

In a time when MPS messaging gets garbled from the board room to the trenches, seeing a company slap one department on the side of another and bring a product to market, is both refreshing and significant.

Cheers to the process.

####  UPDATE 12/23/2014  ####

Tod Pike as decided to move on, leaving Samsung in early 2015.  What can be gleaned by this turn?

I am not sure.

I can tell you this, the 'droid-tablet-copier will not land more units and if the consolidation of divisions says anything, its that they're shrinking and focusing on equipment based, transactional selling.  Box moving.

Now...let me tell you about a Intellinetics and their 'little box of wonders..."

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