ITEX 2015: Copierville is a Fireball

"Everything dies baby that's a fact
But maybe everything that dies someday comes back" - BS

"Mr. Worldwide to infinity
You know the roof on fire..." - Pit

This year's ITEX show was one of the more interesting versions.   Fewer attendees?  I don't know the numbers, but maybe.

Was business conducted?  Yes.  Was the location right?  Yes.  Did the sessions stir thought and impart ideas? Yes.

Was it obvious that Managed print services as an offering, is waning. Yup.

This time around, I was fortunate to help the good people at ITEX  document the show through video.  If you were there, you probably some guy walking around with a mic and a video guys in tow - asking all the 'tough' questions.

I talked with many and worked the floor an entire day - booth to booth, person to person - and in those travels, I was able to glean some interesting thoughts and hear directly how some in the industry feel the niche is transforming.

Change is constant, here are some of my observations

1. Less toner focus but the big guys are marketing.
2. IT services providers are solid with an entire row dedicated to managed services
3. New Hardware announcements and products were on parade but it just doesn't matter and that's a good thing.  Consumers of devices care less about logo's and ink versus toner than we.  

Conclusion:

The ubiquity of Managed print services is about as exciting as wallpaper.

If you're truly ready to venture out into the IT realm, Mps is your gateway. Connectivity, conversations with IT departments and relieving them of a headache issue, are all part and parcel of a visionary Mps.

Companies like PrintFleet(Artificial Intelligence), Print Audit(Per Seat billing), MWAi(real, copier based accounting systems) and AVG(flexible, proven, managed services offering) offers opportunities beyond the pubescent toner and machine management.

There are dealers making the visionary decisions and moving beyond OEM, MPS, and quotas

"We love the show, this is our second time and we are definitely coming back next year..."

Every show attracts criticism - it is a tradition. This year, the negative observations say less about show content, venue and PowerHours and more about the niche.  Our relatively small industry is contracting not expanding - the most revered and longest running conference(Itex) is reflecting these changes, not projecting: another Sign.

Itex will be back next year at the same venue, but will copiers survive beyond 2016? Sure, of course.  At this very moment, somebody, somewhere is manufacturing and selling buggy whips.

ITEX 2015: "Mount Gay"

The best conversations occur after the show, around a bar, cold, adult beverage in hand.  This year, the drink of choice, pour moi, was the historic Mojito.

The best Mojito's were made with Mount Gay rum - and yes, when ordering, "Mount Gay" should be said with gusto.  Mucho Gusto, my friend.

"I may not always drink rum, but when I do, its Mount Gay..." - B.R.

What copier-goodness conversations flowed as we climbed Mount Gay?

Plenty.

Print servers -
I've been ringing this bell for a while now:  Mps should include all the devices and process involved with moving information within and between organizations regardless of medium.

Print servers have long been the bane of many IT Directors - so why don't we help them control, managed and optimize their print server fleet?

I know a great company that has a very lucrative dealer program.  Contact me and I will get you connected.

Decreasing toner sales, cores and companies -  Dive a million dumpsters and you'll surface empty handed.  Cores are hard to find.  Are you surprised or simply choosing to ignore another sign?

True to every other evaporating industry, consolidation of the largest players foretell the end. That's what we talked about - the big toner remans getting together, colliding cultures, marketing talk tracks and managed print services programs.  Big Bang.

The passing of an niche - 
Around the bar, we all agreed that managed print services as it was and as it once was to be, is dead. The reasons are too many but paramount in its demise are the OEMs and their disingenuous talk tracks about savings and optimization.

We all see customers reducing the number of devices, both A3 and A4, as more optimize 'in-house' without manufactures.

As Itex 2015 fades in the rearview, I think the lesson taken home is more about smaller, focused, dealerships than big, broad, hardware mass marketing.

To be celebrated, not feared.

Eight Characteristics of a Growing Managed Print Services Practice

2015

After five years of managed print services, one would imagine a standard set of MPS rules would rise out of the fog.  And yet there is still debate over what exactly MPS stands for — not the acronym, but the vision and real value of managed print services.

I remember the great device-to-technician-ratio discussion of 2008.