Print4Pay Hotel: HP Edgeline "What Went Wrong"

Art has a good little post regarding Edgeline and "what went wrong".

Of course, I had to comment.



Print4Pay Hotel: HP Edgeline "What Went Wrong"

Copier Selling to Schools- Let's Get Down and Dirty in the Mud!!!!

This is almost too delicious.

A longtime Xerox partner has to take on a newbie Xerox dealer.

The Newbie looses the bid. The Newbie plays the "he didn't play fair" card. Ends up representing all that is wrong in copier sales.

This article from the Westport News, written by Frank Luongo, explains it all better than I could.
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Rejected copier bidder protests contract choice
By Frank Luongo

In losing the bidding competition for the Westport school system's new contract for photocopier management services, CBS/Xerox (CBS) of Newington has described the outcome as fiscally flawed.
"It is without question that this is an irresponsible financial decision to the taxpayers of the Town of Westport, the Westport Board of Education (BOE), as well as the respective teachers, faculty and students," CBS President Wilson Vega expressed in a formal protest on Dec. 18 to Assistant Superintendent for Business Nancy Harris.

Vega said that the school system would be paying $137,168 more over the term of the contract than the CBS bid would have cost, based on what he said would be an annual higher cost of $34,292 in the ACT agreement.

ACT President Gregory Gondek said in a telephone interview Wednesday that the net cost of leasing replacement machines for a 60-month term, together with a run of 5,000,000 copies at a $.0090 cost-per-copy, would be $45,000 per quarter, after a credit to the school system of $3,208 each quarter for the machines replaced.

A review of the bid documents shows that CBS, which is owned by Xerox, had proposed quarterly payments over the course of a 48-month equipment lease, ranging from $39,074 to $39,873, depending on the option chosen, based on a quarterly volume of 5,008,251 copies at a $.0042 cost per copy.

In answering CBS's protest on Dec. 22, Harris did not respond to Vega's claim about the higher costs of ACT's services, but said that his letter "incorrectly" assumed that the "photocopy management services were awarded on the basis of which bidder bid the lowest price."

Rather, Harris said, the school system's request for proposals (RFP) for copier services had made it clear that the BOE at its "sole discretion" would make the award based on a range of considerations "in addition to price.

The BOE, in fact, did not "review or approve the bid responses," according to Marjorie Cion, the executive assistant to the superintendent, who confirmed by e-mail, after consultation with Superintendent of Schools Elliott Landon, that the school board did not take up the copier contract matter at a meeting in public or in executive session.

In a "certificate of fact" for the law firm that represents the school system, Shipman and Goodwin, Landon said that the copier-contract agreement had been "duly authorized and approved" by the action of the school board, authorizing him and Harris "to sign contracts on behalf of the Board of Education."

The certificate notes that there is "no action or other proceeding pending" that could impede the enforcement of the agreement except the CBS protest.

On the basis of Landon's certification and a meeting with CBS on Jan. 6, Shipman and Goodwin said in letter to CBS on Jan. 8 that "the board's decision to award the contract to Advanced Copy Technologies is final. The board deems this matter to be closed."

Cion said in an e-mail message that, according to Landon, Shipman and Goodwin's description of the board's role uses legal "terms of art" to convey the point that Landon and Harris had acted under a BOE authorization for them to sign contracts, not that the board had "decided to award" the contract.

The signing authorization, which eliminates the need for a direct BOE review and approval of contracts, was contested several years ago in a copier-contract dispute over the transfer of the school system's copier services also from a Xerox company to ACT, which has now had its services extended.

In the new contract dispute, Harris maintains that CBS did not satisfy the RFP requirement that the vendor supply only newly manufactured, "latest model" equipment with no "recycled, reconditioned, remanufactured or used parts."

Harris said in the Jan. 8 letter that CBS's response to the RFP "discloses" that the company's proposed equipment "contains recycled components."

CBS had tried to counter that contention, according to a letter from Vega on Dec. 30, by saying that its Xerox machines are new, but "as with most manufactured products today, there are some elements of recycling in order to meet government standards as well as to be environmentally responsible."

"All office product manufacturers have adopted the policy of using recycled parts as a way of reducing their carbon footprint," Vega said, including Lanier/Ricoh, which manufactures ACT's copier machines.

Gondek denied that the machines his company uses have recycled components. He said that he has visited Lanier/Ricoh plants and has seen only totally new copiers, although he acknowledged that the manufacturer does recycle toner cartridges and printer drums.

Harris said that CBS had also failed to prove that it has been a "factory authorized dealer for the products being proposed for a minimum of three years," as she wrote to CBS, pointing out that CBS has been owned by Xerox only since May of 2007, which, she said, fails to meet the school system's service-experience test in its RFP.

In answering that objection, Vega relied on the good reputation of the Xerox product, its standing as a Fortune 500 company and the fact that CBS is currently servicing Xerox products in the public schools of Greenwich, Darien, East Windsor, Guilford, Madison, Old Saybrook Ridgefield, Trumbull, Watertown, Weston and Wilton.

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HP cuts full year outlook - Rueters

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) cut its full-year profit outlook after quarterly revenue missed expectations on weak sales of printers, personal computers and servers, sending its shares down 3 percent.

While HP's diversified business lines -- which also include computer services and software -- have kept it relatively resilient to the economic downturn, it is still vulnerable to sharp cutbacks in corporate spending on technology.

"The big disappointment, not surprisingly, is the shortfall in revenue," said Pacific Crest Securities analyst Brent Bracelin. "Their hardware businesses, both servers and storage, are under intense scrutiny. Budgets are being cut and that showed up in the shortfall today."

For fiscal 2009, HP on Wednesday forecast profit excluding items of $3.76 to $3.88 a share, on a revenue decline of 2 to 5 percent from $118.4 billion in fiscal 2008. That compared with its previous forecast for earnings per share of $3.88 to $4.03 on revenue of $127.5 billion to $130 billion.

Wall Street analysts, on average, had expected earnings of $3.78 a share on revenue of $126.6 billion.

"They are vulnerable to weakening PC sales," said Shebly Seyrafi, analyst at Calyon Securities. "Shares are down on a combination of the actual results, the revenue mess and the lowering of the annual guidance. There are lots of reasons to be concerned about Hewlett-Packard."

The technology bellwether said net profit for its fiscal first quarter ended January 31 fell to $1.85 billion, or 75 cents a share, from $2.13 billion, or 80 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

Excluding items, HP earned 93 cents a share, matching average analyst estimates, according to Reuters Estimates. Analysts pointed to tight cost controls.

"A laser focus on cost-control has benefited HP despite a dramatic falloff in revenues and I don't think the outlook is as bad as it could have been given currency headwinds and overall weak demand environment," said Bill Kreher, analyst at Edward Jones.

HP said fiscal first-quarter revenue rose 1 percent to $28.8 billion, below the $31.9 billion Wall Street estimate.

For the current quarter, HP expects a profit of 84 cents to 86 cents a share from continuing operations, on a revenue decline of 2 to 3 percent from a year ago. That compares with the average Wall Street forecast for earnings of 90 cents a share on revenue of $31 billion.

The company is the world's No. 1 PC maker, with a market share of nearly 20 percent in the 2008 fourth quarter, according to IDC.

Last year, HP acquired Electronic Data Systems Corp in a $13.2 billion deal, making HP the second largest technology services company behind International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N).

Shares of HP, a Dow component, are down around 20 percent from a year ago. The stock fell to $32.93 in extended trading from its New York Stock Exchange close of $34.08.

(Reporting by Gabriel Madway; editing by Richard Chang)

Managed Print Services - Today's Lightning In a Bottle

"MPS has had its false starts over the last 8 years or so..."

"I have over 100 salespeople, who typically take orders. I can't get them to sell MPS..."

"The owner of my company really doesn't understand what it takes and how long it takes..."

"This is a lot to digest..."

"It's like trying to drink from a fire hose..."

These statements are just some of the "off-line" comments I heard while attending the Synnex, Managed Print Services, "Windows of Opportunity" seminar.

I was very happy to attend the Synnex/PrintSolv sales training seminar held in "Surf City", Huntington Beach, California.

Point of interest: the venue was spectacular - right on the beach, across the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway). With the waves thundering, and a cold breeze whipping in, it was nice to be near the ocean once again.

About 60 or so people attended - and Steven Power, the ex-copier sales guy and current sales trainer extraordinaire conducted the two-day event.

I had attended one of Steven's sales training classes years ago in New York and remembered him to be a strong advocate for Value Add and a staunch opponent of Transaction-based sales.

Metrofuser Helps Managed Print Services: Software Independent

Metrofuser Introduces StockWorks™ MPS

"...We believe that Managed Print Services is here to stay -- and while we won't compete with our customers and throw our hat into the software sales ring, we are committed to focusing on providing services and solutions to our customers that will make their MPS model all that much more profitable..."

Roselle, NJ (PRWEB) February 17, 2009 -- Laser printer parts manufacturer Metrofuser (www.metrofuser.com) today announced the release of its StockWorks MPS program for laser printer service companies and rechargers that are offering Managed Print Services (MPS) solutions to their customers. StockWorks MPS, while designed with the MPS provider in mind, is completely software-independent and does not require a specific brand of MPS software.

MPS providers face the challenge of keeping larger inventories and in some cases multiple remote inventory "closets" at customer sites across the country to ensure that they are able to quickly respond to their customers' printer repair and maintenance needs.

Keeping a vast inventory and shipping parts overnight directly to customer sites at a premium eats away at margins already burdened by the current state of the economy. StockWorks MPS eliminates those costs and increases equipment up-time.

Metrofuser Sales Representatives can do a quick trending analysis of an MPS provider's stock and with some forecasting provided by the MPS provider, Metrofuser will come up with a program that primarily consigns stock to the customer. Customers participating in the program will also be able to enjoy other benefits such as low-to-no cost shipping rates, periodic trending analysis and inventory usage reports, industry forecasting and trending information, ROI analyses, and so on.

"We wanted to come up with a program for all of our customers who have deployed Managed Print Services without mandating or promoting specific software to them," said Dennis Fotopoulos, Metrofuser's Director of Strategic Business Development.

"In coming up with this program, our intent was to stick with our core competencies -- that is, providing high-quality remanufactured laser printer parts along with world-class logistical and fulfillment services."

"We started this program to enable us to partner with our customers to save on the costly burden of overnight shipping," said Eric Katz, Metrofuser's Co-Owner and CFO. "If we're constantly shipping parts overnight to any one customer, no matter who's footing that bill or whether we're splitting it, we're not optimizing our partnership. We're both passing our revenues on to the shippers. Metrofuser is willing to take on 90% of our customers' inventory risk ourselves if we can curtail those practices."

Metrofuser has been running a controlled introduction of the program and the response has been positive. Says one service provider in South Carolina, "Metrofuser has reduced shipping costs for me, and at the same time has allowed me to increase much-needed inventory without increasing my inventory costs. When I need something immediately, I don't have to scamper around to get it overnighted."

Adds Fotopoulos, "We believe that Managed Print Services is here to stay -- and while we won't compete with our customers and throw our hat into the software sales ring, we are committed to focusing on providing services and solutions to our customers that will make their MPS model all that much more profitable."

For more information about StockWorks™ MPS or other programs at Metrofuser, go to http://www.metrofuser.com or call 888-FUSERS1 (888-387-3771).

About Metrofuser:

Metrofuser remanufactures and distributes printer parts for HP and Lexmark laser printers. The company offers a broad array of laser printer products from its Eastern and Western distribution hubs including fusers, maintenance kits, boards, and paper handling assemblies. For more information, visit http://www.metrofuser.com, or call 888-Fusers-1 Ext 107.

Ingram Micro Lays Off 8 Percent Of North American Employees

And the Hits keep on coming...

The president of Ingram Micro North America, Keith Bradley, said the layoffs wouldn't impact the company's relationships with VARs or vendors.

"There will not be a service-level degradation to any customer. We've taken the last two months to work on this," Bradley said. "We're making adjustments to where we see activity levels."

"Our main priority today was to talk to our impacted associates first and then non-impacted associates. In addition, we are calling vendors and reseller partners. There are outbound calls being made today," he said.

About 100 employees were let go in the company's Williamsville, N.Y., campus, another 50 in Canada and 150 more spread across the company's Santa Ana, Calif., corporate headquarters and other centers in the United States.

"Last year was a little softer than all of us had hoped for. We had decent growth in the first quarter and the second quarter and the third quarter. But as we all headed into Q4, we saw things begin to soften and that has gotten progressively worse all over the world as newspapers and television have indicated," he said.

"We had been managing operating expenses through natural attrition and managing expenses pretty aggressively. Given what we now see for 2009, we wanted to maintain our level of profitability and we had to come up with some incremental actions," he said.

Latest Financial look.

Gartner Says Printer, Copier and Multifunctional Product Market in EMEA Declined 8 Per Cent in 2008 - 11% for HP

And Managed Print Services is the way to go...

(pressebox) Egham/UK, 17.02.2009,

The combined printer, copier and multifunctional product (MFP) shipments market in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) totalled 48.2 million units, a decline of 8.4 per cent over 2007 (see Table 1), according to Gartner, Inc.

“The fourth quarter of 2008 was a pivot point for the world economy, creating a very challenging selling environment for all printer, copier and MFP hardware and software providers. The rapidly deteriorating economic environment is forcing technology providers to look at their business models and make significant adjustments,” said Tosh Prabhakar, senior research analyst at Gartner.

Gartner said buyers reduced printer and MFP spending in light of low confidence in the market. Sales of consumer devices were down 9 per cent in 2008. In addition, businesses delayed product upgrades and/or cancelled investment in new office devices as budgets and cost containment policies became a priority.

The tough economic climate created a lot of caution and uncertainty among both consumers and businesses. Reduced credit availability for consumers, start-up businesses and SMBs across a majority of the European markets during the next 12 months will exacerbate the situation in the short term. It will also continue to have a detrimental impact on the consumer market during 2009, with similar declines expected.

Mr Prabhakar said:

“Businesses are holding back on investment of new office equipment. However, these businesses should instead consider adopting strategic and deployment alternatives such as managed print services (MPS), smart MFP and fleet document management systems to help better control costs and better manage their office devices with cost optimisation in mind.”

Most vendors suffered in 2008. Hewlett-Packard remained market leader in the overall EMEA printer; copier and MFP market, but sales were down almost 11 per cent in 2008. Lexmark experienced the greatest unit losses during the year as the organisation continued to lose market share as a result of it shifting its focus to the more profitable high-end workgroup space. Samsung Electronics posted the highest year-on-year market growth with a 16.3 per cent increase in 2008, which helped it maintain second position in the page market and narrow the gap on Hewlett-Packard.

Mr Prabhakar concluded: “The print market will continue to feel the pressure during the next 12 months, as the economic uncertainty worsens. A worst-case scenario will be that both unit shipments and end-user spending will be lower than in 2008 and that recovery should not be expected to start until early 2010.”

Additional information is available in the Gartner report “Printer, Copier, MFP Combined Annual Market Share EMEA: Database”. The report is available on Gartner’s website at http://www.gartner.com/....

Article here.

Gartner Press Release here.
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