Konica Minolta Imaging the end of the Danka Legacy

Pirate Mike has some good information regarding a pretty healthy lay-off over at Konica.

It goes along with another blood-letting I heard about at HP last week or so.

Also, I am hearing more about manufacturers cutting back in advertising thus effecting some of the industry's print publications - like all other print.

And a quick look at some local layoff announcements, Toshiba will be telling 120 to "hit the bricks..." May 11.
The times...

Selling Managed Print Services 101

2009

MPS is all I talk about...ok, not ALL. I do talk about Half-Life, Land Rovers and Paintball, but enough about me, let's talk about me...

I have been performing MPS assessments pretty heavily over the past few weeks and I find that although we have a great deal of tools, I am still making things up as I go along.

After reading Ken’s post I knew I had to complete my current article. Ken’s post resonated with me regarding the Tools of MPS -

Current MPS tools consist of spreadsheets, interview forms, data collection sheets, automated data collection devices/software, supplies cost matrixes, etc. 

All geared around collecting the Technical data, i.e. volumes, lease end dates, lease payments, overages, 11x17, first copy out speed, duplex...blah blah blah...this data is mundane and acquiring it is fatiguing, but necessary.

The data is one dimensional and any “monkey” can collect it.

Unfortunately to some providers and many customers this is the extent of the information used in the analysis. Even more disappointing, the assessment to some, IS the proposal.

The Second Most Important MPS Tool: The Interview -

When interviewing, many issues are exposed, some that may not at first seem to be MPS related.

The idea here is simple - the End User interview, the Director interview, and the C-Level interview are all treasure laden conversations. 

Corporate directives, cultural issues, political hurdles, and decision making processes all become apparent as progression is made through the organization.

As an example, I am currently working 3 separate assessments for 3 clients - one is what I call a "Mini-Assessment"; which means we are only looking at 25 copiers out of a fleet of 220.

The idea is to analyze these units for fiscal '08, get the refresh approved, and continue the study into year's end for fiscal '09 upgrades. The goal of this study is to form a Standard Requirements List for all future hardware/copier acquisitions.

The overall organizational goals are:

1. Reduce operational costs by 5% without “Reductions In Field”
2. Increase employee job satisfaction
3. Improve Customer Service

Covering All the Bases – Strategic Approach

When interviewing the questions asked important but the people you ask are much more important. This is my personal application of a strategic approach. I see four types of interviewee’s:

Your Coach

The Technicals

The End User

Project’s Economic Influence

Your Coach

This person is convinced that MPS is the way to go. And he wants to see the project (and you) succeed.

The Technicals

These folks hold “go/no go” over the final recommendations. Their perspective is on the functional issues of the program. They are focused on issues like network compatibility, end-user support functions, invoicing and billing procedures, and maybe all the way down to duplex capabilities of the hardware.

The End User

The End User must be satisfied. When interviewing and speaking with the End User you must have a clear idea of what direction the organization wants to move. For instance, if one of the basic goals is to reduce all the locally connected, desktop inkjet printers, check with IT to insure how they want to approach the subject.

The End User has a wealth of “everyday issues” that cause work flow bottlenecks. Their visibility into the organization is restricted but at the local level the information obtained can be very illuminating.

Economic Influencer(s)

This entity releases the funds necessary to move forward with the project. Interested in cost reduction and R.O.I. and is probably already spending a great deal of money.

These interviews are most likely the C-Level players. I do not recommend asking the CEO if “duplexing is important…”

Additionally, if while covering the Economic Influencer, it is revealed that MPS does not hold a high degree of attention, you may NOT want to proceed.

(See Strategic Selling for more on the above influencers)

Any successful project includes covering ALL these bases with relevant (from their perspective) questions.

Imagine – if you were to contact ALL the above types of users - your picture of the organization’s output fleet would be detailed to the nth degree. And hopefully, this data would allow to make a solid, agreeable recommendation proven to positively impact the organizations overall goals.

Want to know more? Check out Ken's articles:
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Managed Print Services: the Theory, the Tools, and the Targets (Part 1 of 3)

Managed Print Services: the Theory, the Tools, and the Targets (Part 2 of 3)

Managed Print Services: the Theory, the Tools, and the Targets (Part 3 of 3)


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Xerox To Manage Procter & Gamble’s Global Print Operations - MIF or NN?

According to a report over at ZDNet, posted by Larry Dignan, Xerox landed a five year deal to manage P&G's print fleet.

Reprint of the article:

Xerox said Tuesday that it will manage Procter & Gamble’s global print operations with the aim to cut costs by 20 percent to 25 percent.

Managed print services are becoming popular as companies look for ways to squeeze costs. All of those stray printers residing in offices add up to a big cost. In the managed print service market, HP and Xerox are duking it out as the largest players.

In a statement, Xerox said it won a five year deal to manage P&G’s “print shops, offices and home-based work settings.” Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Xerox said it is aiming to cut print power usage by 30 percent and paper consumption by 20 percent to 30 percent.

As part of the deal, Xerox will offer training to P&G employees and tips on reducing printing costs as well as a portal for procurement and support.

Overall, print managed services is an interesting market that I’ll be learning as a user. HP is planning to provide print services to CBS, owner of ZDNet. I don’t have any local printers hiding under my desk so I don’t anticipate any problems.

Are You Considering Managed Print Services ? - What You Should Know and What your Service Provider Should Know

April 2009

Managed Print Services is still being defined - or is it?

I firmly believe in "the best advice is the advice you ask for...", so please don't give me any advice - unless I ask.

I extend the courtesy to you if you're not asking for advice and don't want to know my opinion, skip this article.

But if you are a prospective Managed Print Services client, and you're just a bit curious as to how to go about choosing a provider, read on.

Introducing, Greg's Top 10 Must-Know's before engaging in an MPS assessment.

Imagine, you're sitting across the table from a Managed Print Services representative. He or she seems to know a great deal about printing and output and supplies.

After he gives his 5-minute canned intro, pull out the yellow pad with these questions written down, hopefully, you have left plenty of room for his responses.

Let's begin:

1. How do you(the client) define MPS? Have your prospective provider define MPS.

2. What is his Process? Leave it at that, let him further define your question. You want to see the detail of his process if he has one.

3. Tell me about your assessment. Get the gist of the assessment, the mechanics. You are trying to see if the proposal is the assessment - is that all he's got?

4. Clearly define the goals of your MPS engagement and have him respond to them. You should think before you meet with the provider. You do not need concrete goals, just a direction.

5. What goals does your prospective MPS provider have? Is his plan to replace all your existing equipment or supply source(s) with his?

6. How important is the assessment? Again, is the assessment the only tool in the shed?

7. How many units have the prospective MPS provider assessed in the last 6 months? This is simple and the numbers don't matter, it's how he answers that matters. Does he make excuses or wild claims?

8. How many units does the MPS provider manage? How? Same as above.

9. What percentage of savings has the prospective MPS provider achieved with clients and from what areas of cost? This is a great one, don't let him get away with quoting Gartner or All or InfoTrend or even Photizo, make him get specific. Again, the numbers don't matter as much as how he responds.

10. What was the Core business of your provider before MPS? The best question. This will tell you where he is going with your account and exactly how much infrastructure he has to support your fleet.

----

Some generalities and points to observe -

• Does he use the word "partner" or "vendor"?
• Does he say he has the cheapest program around?
• What does he say he can not do?
• Where did he learn about MPS?
• What does he know about IT issues like power consumption and cooling?

As the captain of the Titanic said, "...this is just tip of the iceberg..." 

The ten points above can be expanded into even deeper discussions - would you like to learn more?

Somehow, This is Just Wrong - How many Trees must Die for Our Amusement?

But then again, doesn't paper grow on trees?

280,951 Sticky notes

InfoTrends,Calculating Your Emissions Factor - It's All Local

New study from InfoTrends:

Average energy usage (kWh) * EF (lbs CO2/kWh) = Carbon Output (lbs CO2)

Huh?

From the summary:

"...Office equipment in Delaware creates 400 times as much carbon output as it does in Vermont..."

"Carbon dioxide emission factors (EFs) provide a localized translation from energy usage, often in kilowatt-hours (kWh), to equivalent pounds of carbon output (lbs CO2).For energy-consuming office equipment devices, the proper EF represents the indirect public electricity EF..."



Interesting...

Xerox Page Pak Analysis and Reflections: Let's Go To Church

The Big X has it sights on the MPS market(duh), and not just through the Xerox lens.

Toner Pack, an extension of PagePack, is a program allowing dealers to supply their customers with Xerox branded, HP compatible toner.

But the primary thrust of the program is making MPS much easier on a select number of Xerox MFPs.

With Page Pack, meter reads, Service Requests/Maint. Kits and Toner orders go directly to Xerox. Xerox fulfills toner orders, submits Service Requests over to the correct Xerox Partner and invoices the partner monthly - partner bills the customer directly.

The Xerox partner's client never speak directly to Xerox.

I am not as much an HP advocate as a I am proponent for what works for clients and what works VARs. If I see something I like and think will fit into business, I will mention it.

Xerox PagePack works.

Basically, those of us in the Managed Print Services niche, know that one of the most difficult items to calculate is a true per image, dealer cost. This being the variable that exposes a fledgling practice to possible huge losses in a MPS agreement.

For instance, if we calculate our cost to be 0.004/image (example, not true) - cost meaning toner, maintenance kits, and labor - using this cost and selling at 0.012/image over the life of say, a 36 month MPS Engagement - I should make money on this account unless: toner prices increase, supplies increase, labor rates change or machines start to "blow up" after 12 months.(unlikely)

In practice, this risk is spread out over the entire fleet - that is if you have a fleet(MIF).

So, what Xerox did is what the copier makes have done, Xerox told the dealers what their cost is when running with the PagePack program.

This sounds simple, and it is - which is the point.

As a selling professional, or owner I just want to know what the cost is - tell me what my lowest cost point is and let me price it to win. Simple.

I can not over stress this point - even HP VAR's have access to SPS costs - but the cost is wrong. Xerox made it easier to sell Page Pack, by providing a easy to understand all inclusive price structure.

I won't go into all other reasons, if your interested, you can call Xerox.

I will say this, Xerox is making it very easy to become a PagePack Partner.

And I am sure there are other manufactures either providing this or about to provide a price matrix for their dealers.

One point I want to make - the reason this program makes sense and is simple to understand is because Xerox asked their dealers what they would want. Just like we ask our prospects what they want and how they define MPS.

Bold concept.
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