Thoughts on Manufacturer' App Platforms

Ricoh ICE, selling maybe to 10% of my clients.  I mention it to every account, however in most cases I met with "what is scanning to the cloud". I then have to make mention of dropbox, google drive, box, MS365 or ask what they use.

There's nothing I don't like about the app, it has a decent price point.  On a 5 year lease I need to include 5 years Maintenance along with the cost of the app. Personally I wish there was a monthly commission that could be generated to the sales person.

The real PIA is when you upgrade early that has an existing ICE subscription, there should be an easier process. In most cases I have to do my own training.  Hope this helps

Thanks Art!

I see them as fluff for the most part.    I explain what they are on most demos.  I've also set up Ricoh's free 60 day trials for a number of accounts but I've never had a single customer spend the money to pay for it and keep it.  

Take a look at your smart phone.  Nearly every app I've ever used is a free app.  The apps are easy to set up.  I do not pay extra for apps monthly and I certainly don't have to go to the Verizon store to get the app installed, set-up by their techs.  The Verizon store also is not spending their time training me how to use apps.

The apps will never be embraced until they go to the phone model where the customer can add or delete them at will, they are easily set up by the customer and they don't put an added burden on the selling dealer to sell and support the apps.

MFP apps are going to change drastically in the next few years, with Security at top of mind we are going to see allot more restrictions around what you can do with them. I bet allot of the cloud connector apps will have to go through a tighter certification and Audit process.

Also just heard that Ricoh is laying off a bunch of staff from their RIDP  ISV support team, Ricoh may be looking to eliminate a bunch of 3rd party software apps from the program even revoking access to their Software development kits.