All We Are Saying Is Give MPS A Chance

By The Business Solutions Network

Not only is selling managed print services (MPS) a good way to earn incremental recurring revenue, but also it’s one of the best ways to keep competitors away from your customers.

If you’re a VAR or MSP that’s still reluctant to have anything to do with selling or servicing printers and copiers, there are a couple of reasons that should make you want to reconsider. First, despite the growing emphasis on digital records, printing remains critical in the business world. According to CompTIA research, 86 percent of managed print services providers anticipate business growth in the next year, with one-third of providers expecting significant growth of 10 percent or more.

In addition to potential positive gains to be had from selling MPS, there are threats and losses that can be avoided by offering this service. According to John Iaccarino, president of Real Time Consultants (RTC), adding MPS to his managed services practice was driven by necessity. “About three years ago, we noticed large copier dealers were approaching our customers with subscription-based printer management services that frankly were much more attractive than what we were offering at the time,” he says. “We knew we had to either come up with a better way of selling printers, copiers, and services, or we were going to start losing customers.” RTC made the decision to start selling MPS, and within a year of its decision, Iaccarino says his company’s MPS offering was a key differentiator in beating out several competitors and even winning a large project with MLB Network.

If MPS is still foreign to you or you’re just starting to consider it, you’ve come to the right place. Industry experts from SolarWinds N-able, SYNNEX, and Xerox have some helpful tips just for you.

How Hard Is It To Start Selling MPS?
While selling MPS is a complementary add-on for VARs and MSPs, both types of resellers need to make some changes to their businesses before they can be successful. First, VARs need to select MPS software that’s capable of remotely monitoring all of their clients’ copiers and printers, and then they need to figure out how this new service and business model is going to fit in with their current business model.

MSPs, on the other hand, are already familiar with the monthly recurring-revenue concept, but there are significant differences between managing copiers and servers that need to be understood. First, many of the RMM (remote monitoring and management) software tools MSPs use to manage IT assets won’t work on networked printers and copiers, so MSPs will need to shop for MPS software just as VARs will. The second and bigger issue for MSPs is determining how services will be delivered. For example, do you really want a senior engineer who earns a six-figure paycheck delivering copier toner and clearing paper jams? Clearly not.

Establishing a new managed print services business requires a significant investment in time, education, staffing, and cash — as much as $100,000 to $150,000, in some cases for IT solutions providers starting from scratch. But, while these changes aren’t small, resellers shouldn’t be dissuaded from pursuing MPS, say the experts.

“For most IT solutions providers, managed print is not their core competency, and it’s not where they want to make large capital and human resource investments,” says Chris Iburg, director, managed print services, Xerox US Channels Group. “The best way for a solutions provider to enter the managed print space is to leverage a comprehensive, channel-friendly MPS offering with all the tools and workflows already integrated, making it easy for the solutions provider to deploy the services.” An example of this kind of program is Xerox PageConnect Services, in which Xerox takes care of all of the operational elements, including the shipment of consumable supplies direct to end customers and provides on-site break-fix services when needed for both Xerox and the most popular non- Xerox network printing devices. SYNNEX offers a comparable service via its PRINTSolv program.

“For solutions providers just getting started in MPS, I always recommend avoiding trying to tackle the entire market and instead be strategic and specialize in one or two areas such as a vertical market or companies that fall within a particular niche,” says Frank Colletti, VP of sales at SolarWinds N-able. “Find your in, start small, earn your clients’ trust with other managed services, and pull in MPS.”

The fear of transitioning a majority of your customers to an MPS program in a very short period is not reality, say the experts, so you will have the opportunity to figure out the finer points of the MPS business model even while you’re starting to sell it.

Common MPS Pitfalls To Avoid
One of the biggest misconceptions that keeps many VARs and MSPs from pursuing MPS is the belief that if they sell MPS, they have to troubleshoot every alert, including providing and installing new toner and clearing every paper jam. This simply is not the case, and MPS programs like those mentioned earlier have the flexibility for the solutions provider to outsource some or all of the copier support services to the MPS vendor or distributor partner. And, for VARs and MSPs that do outsource the servicing of their MPS programs to a business partner, there are still incremental and monthly recurring revenues to be earned as well as other benefits that shouldn’t be ignored.

“Another common pitfall occurs when service providers think of managed print as merely a cost-per-page service,” says TJ Trojan, senior VP of product management, SYNNEX. “Cost per page is just a billing methodology for services that can quickly become a commodity. MPS is more about optimizing document related solutions, advancing the use of data, and improving the user experience.” With MPS, pricing can be complex — well beyond cost per page — and include the bundling of additional products and services for print and print consumable-related optimization, says Trojan.

“The way MPS pricing typically works is that VARs and MSPs purchase wholesale cost per impression and break-fix services from their service provider, then add their markup/ margin, and bill their customers a flat fee per device per month for the service portion plus a cost per impression [i.e., clicks],” says Iburg. Despite this complexity, the experts concur that solutions providers need to make it simple for their customers to understand the costs and benefits of MPS. “One newer idea that is gaining traction is the per-user fee and utility model,” says Trojan. “Not only does this make billing easy to understand for customers, but it also shows that the convergence of managed services and managed print services is well on its way.”

A final thought about pitfalls to avoid comes from SolarWind N-able’s Colletti, who says, “Don’t sell an all-or-nothing service. It’s important to have an a la carte offering from which new customers can choose.” Keep in mind that just like with other types of managed and professional services, MPS leads to stickier customer relationships. Once you get your foot in the door with a couple of managed print services, it will be a natural progression to add more services down the road.