In a tough market where printer sales are not booming, printer vendors are now reinventing themselves to focus on Managed Print Services (MPS)—a market that has gained traction specifically due to current economic conditions. With customers demanding technology solutions that will help them cut costs, MPS has suddenly become an attractive proposition for both customers and vendors.
Printer vendors have recognized this demand, and have accordingly taken a cue from successful software services players and business consultancy firms.
The approach is similar to a business consultant who undertakes a comprehensive assessment of the infrastructure and then proposes a planned roadmap to deliver cost savings and improve efficiency.
“Many enterprises do not understand that there is an opportunity to save in the printing infrastructure, and that true TCO is not limited to printers and ink”
—Nitin Hiranandani, Director – Enterprise Sales and Services, Imaging and Printing group, HP India
This roadmap may involve consolidation of devices, automation of workflows and in some cases, modification of existing processes. While a major focus is on ROI, vendors are educating customers on added benefits such as improved efficiency and security that enterprises can enjoy as a result of using MPS. To encourage adoption, vendors are even offering comprehensive SLAs.
Printer vendors believe they have just explored the tip of the huge iceberg of opportunities as a large percentage of the market is still unexplored. “India represents huge growth opportunities as large businesses continue to use paper and traditional forms of storage. There is hence an increased need for automation and efficiency, which MPS solution vendors can provide,” says Mark Pettit, Executive Director, Xerox Global Services. This demand is corroborated by statistics from independent research firms. A report by Springboard Research estimates the MPS market in Asia (excluding Japan) to grow to USD 1 billion by 2012. The Indian market is expected to be the fastest growing market
in the region, with a CAGR of 22.6 percent.
SOME NUMBERS TO THINK ABOUT
IDC estimates that executives spend 45 percent of their time working with documents. 610 billion e-mails are sent each year out of which half are printed.
According to IDC, companies spend as much as 10 percent of revenues on document production, management and distribution.
According to Gartner, up to 3 percent of corporate revenue is spent on the office output fleet (print,copy and fax)
Original Post