The VAR Guy has always been a big proponent of managed services as a way for VARs to transition their business or simply add an incremental revenue stream. Most MSPs, however, focus their business on managing and monitoring networks and ignore other myriad areas of opportunity. Others find much success in niche managed offerings such as managed print services. The VAR Guy is intrigued enough in this potential revenue stream to once again pack his bags and schlep down to Orlando, Fla., to the Managed Print Services Conference. Read on for what our resident blogger hopes to learn …
The Managed Print Services Conference, which is hosted by The Photizo Group, is a three-day conference focused on education and networking for the managed print services industry — most specifically, how managed print service providers can make more money.
The VAR Guy plans to have a nice chat with David Cameron, Senior Client Adviser for MPS Channels & Programs about evolving trends in the channel and the best way VARs and MSPs focused on managed print services can profit. Our resident blogger also will be looking at how managed print services can be applied to existing customers’ infrastructures, even if a VAR currently doesn’t offer any other managed services.
Joseph Flynn, CEO of Auxilio, a managed print services company, also hopefully will provide some insight. His company focuses on driving down healthcare costs using a combination of “sustainable” print services coupled with vendor independent printing solutions. The VAR Guy is counting on Flynn to detail how managed print services can spell success, even when the IT world seems so focused on cloud, virtualization and digital ink.
Lastly, The VAR Guy plans on checking out the latest and greatest technologies in the printer space. With all the buzz around mobility these days, The VAR Guy wonders whether there will be a focus on mobile printing — our resident blogger would love to see the mobile space expand beyond the traditionally expensive niche devices currently available.
Anything we missed that you want to see? Let The VAR Guy know in the comments.
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I am agree with the improtant role MSPs will play in the MPS arena. In fact, our big customer is a recognised MSP and last March we have published the following article:
Dealers and managed service providers: The rush to MPS
By Antonio Sánchez Navarro, on March 9th, 2011
The article from Greg Walters “The Death of Managed Print Services…” (dated 2009 but still valid) drives to the conclusion that managed services providers (MSP) entering MPS (Managed Print Services) will cause its death. His argumentation is valid enough and it is not my purpose to argue against. Instead the article raised to me the question of how different is MPS perceived by MSP and by Dealers? Who would be finally playing a better role in MPS? Dealers have traditionally been playing the primary role in printing, but it seems that they will both compete because of MPS. Why is this? What is their respective starting point?
Up until now the Dealer has been assuming the responsibility of attending the printing needs of end-customers. Its tasks include the stock and delivery of supplies (the hassle) and an assessment in terms of selecting the right resources (printers) among other roles. As a matter of fact the Dealer and the MSP have been co-sharing the end-customer peacefully, one handling the printer needs, the other servicing servers, PCs and networks.
The arrival of MPS arises the discussion as both roles (print and services) are now merged into one. On one side the Dealer has the know-how on printing. It also has the capabilities to stock and deliver, which is crucial to perform management tasks of printing resources. But it also lacks of servicing experience.
On the opposite side the managed services provider has ignored printing as much as it has been allowed to. But new printing monitoring technology makes now “attractive” servicing printers. The need to handle stock and deliveries of supplies is an obstacle easily turned around by subcontracting from distributors (with which it already has relationships).As a consequence, while the MSP will have to learn about supplies fulfillment, or just subcontract it, the Dealer will have to shift its behavior to a utility approach to attend managed print services. In an environment where end-customers are demanding MPS as a way to control their printing costs, and where OEMs have included MPS as a part of their strategic approach for the next coming years, the costs for MSP and Dealers of not reacting looks different. While for the first one MPS is an opportunity to grow in its existing accounts, the last one may see its business cannibalized by the new MPS providers, especially the OEMs.
Therefore the Dealer would be wise to consider this business as a critical need for it. As such, it seems reasonable that the Dealer will adopt MPS much quicker than a managed services provider. This is sustained also by the fact that it can gain substantial productivity by implementing the right MPS solution, accelerating as a consequence the ROI.
The current market situation shows that the MPS business has exploded. Although there is an unquestionable feeling that MPS needs to be addressed urgently, I personally see a very cautious attitude from many “future” MPS providers. Unlike many other new products take off process from the past, the time to market decision in MPS is a key factor for success: once an end-customer signs for it, the opportunity for a new provider is locked for years. NubePrint approach to the market ensures a quick deployment of its professional MPS solution (www.nubeprint.com) in less than 24 hours. The Dealers and MSP can set up an MPS contract with their customer instantly and from remote. The information is available in just a few seconds. The solution covers both network and USB plugged in printing devices, and is cost efficient from one single printer to thousands of them per customer.
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