Managed print services (MPS) have been punted to high heaven by vendors, but resellers are seeing mixed results among the growth.
Louella Fernandes, principal analyst at Quocirca, said its research shows that businesses are benefiting from reduced costs, improved efficiency and productivity.
“Around 20 per cent of enterprises are using MPS, so it is still a huge opportunity. There is much lower penetration in SMBs, although increased availability of basic MPS from channel vendors is going to increase this,” she added.
In her experience, VARs are benefiting from the trend.
“They can capture ongoing revenue opportunities from supplies revenue as traditional transactional purchasing means consumables may be from different suppliers,” she claimed. “With MPS, supplies are built into the contract as well as servicing. This also improves relationships with customers.”
How well VARs do depends on variables such as the vendor programme and how the resellers get paid. Cost-per-page contracts are typical, with customer cost based on predicted print volumes, she said.
She noted that some are delivering channel-only MPS while others are going direct or indirect in different business segments. Some deliver certain elements direct – such as hardware and consumables – using partners to service the contract.
“Vendors are not cutting out the channel, as it is an important route to market for SMBs, and they are developing channel programmes such as HP QuickPage and Xerox Partner Print Services,” said Fernandes.
“Resellers need to move to MPS because of the ongoing revenue opportunities, longer customer relationships, and more. Multi-brand resellers should look at solutions that enable a multi-brand fleet.”
She said MPS requires resourcefulness as well as a change of mind-set and infrastructure, with VARs often requiring the help of vendor programmes offering a hosted infrastructure – such as those of HP or Xerox – that minimise their spend. What can be achieved depends on individual circumstances.
Reseller experiences may vary. James Kight, managing director of Printerland, said MPS is profitable, but perhaps not as much as the manufacturers expected.
“The demand for it is still not there at the moment, especially in the SMB market. People do not want to be tied into a contract,” he said. “I do not think that anybody has got [MPS] quite right yet.”
SMBs make up 80 to 90 per cent of the Cheshire reseller’s customer base. Kight said that being locked into a contract holds little appeal, especially for a non-core service.
“They want to pay as they go,” he said. “Xerox has done things such as [cost-per-copy] PagePack and that is a better option.”
He added that its MPS business has grown by 300 to 400 per cent in the past year from a tiny base. Xerox’s MPS offering is proving a customer favourite, with its other vendors more or less jostling for second place.
Abroad, vendors have competed directly with VARs on MPS – swooping in on customers before partners can close a deal. But Kight said he had not heard of that happening in the UK – at least not with SMBs.
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