Thought I would share this email from Joel about MPS in the AEC wide format market place. Joel is an active blogger, has more than 40+ years experience in the wide format industry and writes his own blog @ Reprographics 101. Enjoy!!!
Art:
Well, I went to the RedSox-Tigers game last night, and it was a long game, in spite of the fact that the Sox only got one hit. It did, actually, come down to the last at-bat. Sox could have pulled it out with just one swing. In this contest, I can't lose. I'm a RedSox fan, but my granddaughter's great uncle, on the other side of the family, is the third base coach for the Tigers (Tom Brookens), and he is an absolutely delightful guy, so, even though I would normally be pulling, strongly, for the Sox, I'm happy when the Tigers win. Well, I'll be at game 2 tonight; hope it is not as cold/breezy as last night.
Changing subjects.....
Very recently, I received an e-mail from one of my friends - his company offers, among other software/technology products, "tracking" software - and here's what he said in the e-mail he sent me:
"Joel, I was at the Synnex National Conference last week in South Carolina, not many wide format people but a lot of MPS providers mostly small companies that have been passing on the wide format business because they weren’t aware of software that would work with wide format and small format. It looks like a market for AbacusPCR."
Art, the "tracking" software that his company offers is very, very widely used at FM/MPS sites all over the U.S., inasmuch as his company's parent company, ARC Document Solutions, is a nationwide enterprise involved in providing FM/MPS services. [ARC DS is "mostly" involved in providing FM/MPS services to firms and businesses in the A/E/C industry (Architecture, Engineering and Construction). But, ARC DS does not just offer FM/MPS services to the A/E/C Industry. ARC DS targets prospects outside of the A/E/C industry as well.]
The product (the tracking software product) my friend mentioned in his note to me, AbacusPCR, is one I've mentioned to you previously (at least I think I've mentioned this to you previously; I am getting old.)
The one unique aspect of AbacusPCR is that it was, from the get-go, designed to track output generated on both wide-format and small-format print devices (tracks scanning as well.) Abacus also has on-line device management tools.
I've been in and around the reprographics industry for 40+ years. Personally (through the two different companies I was an owner of), I was involved in the FM/MPS business - serving A/E/C firms - in a big way, twice. So, when it comes to "tracking output", I very well understand the challenges ... and the importance.... of tracking systems (software and hardware) that track BOTH wide-format and small-format devices. When I first began offering FM/MPS services, which was back around 1983, there wasn't any software (or hardware) to track output - primarily because "stuff" wasn't digital. So, we developed a system of paperwork to "manually" track and account for output (on devices we provided to our customers for their offices). Later on, as devices became "digital" and "network-connected", we explored various tracking software (and hardware) that came onto the market. For example, we were an early user of Equitrac keypads. But, the one failing of Equitrac is that, although its devices did a fairly good job tracking output on "copiers", it's later-developed software, for tracking "digital printing" was, well, not all that good .... and the "hole" was that Equitrac was awful at tracking output on large-format print devices (plotters and such.) In fact, most of the companies who later developed software (combined with keypads) to track small-format output devices (and there are, as you know, many companies who offer that type of software) targeted, by design, small-format device tracking, since small-format output is used by every company, whereas large-format output is mostly an A/E/C industry thing.
Equipment dealers, those who first offered only small-format print devices but who later expanded into offering wide-format print devices, and, in particular, those dealers who later expanded their offering to include "MPS" services, are not going to be successful pushing into the A/E/C industry, MPS-wise, unless they are prepared, and are able, to offer software tracking solutions that conform to the output reporting requirements of A/E/C firms. Over the years I was active in the reprographics business offering FM/MPS services, I had to compete, at times, with equipment dealers who also offered FM/MPS services and who "said that they" could offer output tracking and reporting. I never lost a single FM/MPS deal to an equipment dealer. That's a bold statement, but it is true. [We did lose deals to other reprographers who offered FM/MPS services (including tracking and reporting), but never to equipment dealers who were not reprographers.] I attribute that to a very wide lack of understanding (of the tracking and reporting requirements for A/E/C firms) in the equipment dealer marketplace. That was to my advantage, and, of course, I took advantage of that lack of understanding whenever the opportunity presented itself.
The "main point" of this long-winded e-mail is that a) you have a very wide audience of equipment dealers who are trying to survive and grow and, in an effort to survive and grow, many are pushing into the "MPS" space ... and some (perhaps more than just some, given the subject matter of some of your blog posts the past couple of years) are trying to push into the A/E/C "MPS" space. For those efforts to be successful, they are going to have to explore alternatives to "tracking" and "device management" software products that were primarily designed for installation in "small-format" MPS situations; they are going to have to explore, evaluate and acquire (or license) software tracking products that were primarily designed to address BOTH large-format and small-format. Small-format equipment dealers, those who've added large-format (wide-format) devices to their product offerings, will not be successful (in the A/E/C space) competing against reprographers who offer FM/MPS services or against reprographers who are equipment dealers and who also offer FM/MPS services. 98% of the A/E/C FM/MPS business is going to stay in the reprographics camp and that will continue to be the case until equipment dealers (who are not reprographers) get savvy as to how to track, report and invoice "output" from wide-format print devices. Success in the FM/MPS business in the A/E/C space does not just require one be good at installing and servicing equipment, it requires a thorough understanding of, and the implementation of, tracking, reporting and invoicing regarding output generated on large-format print devices (and, of course, small format as well.) For example, most A/E firms in the U.S. use accounting/project management software from Deltek (huge A/E/C market share). AbacusPCR can directly export, into Deltek, the data A/E firms need to 'account for cost' and to 'capture and report reimbursables.'
Sorry for the long-winded post. I often get carried away when I begin writing about a subject that I'm very fond of, one that's near and dear to my heart. I've seen articles from you about the opportunities for equipment dealers to push into wide-format and to push into MPS in the wide-format space. In the A/E/C space, tracking, reporting and invoicing (for output) is not just something that A/E firms prefer, it is ESSENTIAL to their needs. Your readers should be aware of that, if they want to have any chance for success in the wide-format A/E/C space.
Joel
Comments (0)