MFP Solutions Top Ten Copier & MFP Blogs for May 2013

MPF Solutions Top Ten Copier and MFP Blogs for April 2013  still tops the list every month for the last three months. That one blog now has close to 10,000 page views! 

Here's an note for all of you that are about to get a new sales position, make sure you get everything in writing, as a matter of fact when you're asked to sig a non compete, make sure you have your own contract in hand for your prospective employer to sign. Heck if they state you have to sign a non compete then I say you have the to tell them they have to sign a "what I expect from xyz company". 

		10 Awesome Tips for a Great MFP/Copier Demo   954 3D MFP Printer/Copier/Scanner "Ready for Prime Tim...   336 10 Things Might Not Know About Digital Duplicators...   286 8 Tips from Selling Copy Machines in the 80's   261 New Ricoh MPC8002 & MPC6502 Sneak Peek   258   Scan2Cloud Solution the Alternative to eCopy   218 7 Tips to Help Win Net New Competitive Copier & MP...   216 Growth Opportunities for Wide Format & The PEiR Gr...   198 How Can You be the Best at MPS, MFP, MNS?   178 Photizo Transform 2013 Wednesday Roundup -=Good Selling=-                                                       -=Good Selling=-

MFP Solutions Top Ten Copier & MFP Blogs for April 2013

Last month I posted "MPF Solutions Top Ten Copier and MFP Blogs for March 2013 and I made a mental note of one particular Blog I wrote titled 10 Awesome Tips for a Great MFP/Copier Demo.

I wrote this Blog in August of 2012, last month there were 856 reads, this month increased to 956 reads for the month.  Total reads since August now stands at a little over 9,000 reads!!! All I can say is thank you. I did post a follow up Demo Blog titled The "Art" of the Copier & MFP Demo which I thought was better, but who am I to argue with over 9,000 reads. Thank you!!!

		10 Awesome Tips for a Great MFP/Copier  Demo Aug 12, 2012, 3 comments   956 Does Brother Corporation Have it's Sights Set for ... Apr 21, 2013   308 WTF is a Copier Lease Forgiveness? Mar 31, 2013, 2 comments   296 End of MFP Copier Lease Equals Balloon Payment? Apr 5, 2013   272 15 Ways to Make your MFP & MPS Proposals Standout!... Mar 31, 2013   240 Copier Stream of Payments Calculator Apr 14, 2013   230 Memjet, Preton Saver Offering New MFP & MPS Soluti... Apr 21, 2013   227 Ricoh MPC4502 Series MFP Review Apr 15, 2012, 1 comment   215 Copiers and MFP's "Charge for Scans or Not to Char... Apr 14, 2013   211 How to Close More MFP & MPS Sales             Apr 13, 2013 -=Good Selling=-

Commissions for Clicks "Is .002 Per Page To Much to Ask For"?

In a recent article from Lou Slawetsky of Industry Analysts titled "Your Reps are Starving; PART 2", Lou made mention that the going rate for commissions for clicks seems to be .002 per page.  Lou did not elaborate about color pages so I can only assume that he was referencing black pages.  I would tend to think that color clicks should pay a higher click rate.

Black Pages

So, how much is .002, I know, I know, well I think I know, however I though I would double check my math skills and .002 is two thousands of one cent. Seems pretty pitiful right?  One black maintenance and supply agreement for 10,000 page per month would generate $20 per month in commissions for the rep.  So, lets look try and find the average per page cost of a black maintenance agreement.  Now depending on your market, I'm sure the averages will vary, but lets take .01 as the average if you're a down the street rep.  Based on the .002 commission this would be 20% (geesh I hope I doing this right) .01 * 20% = .002.  What I'm trying to get a it what would be the commission rate for color pages.

Color Pages

We can now talk about color pages, in the down the street model (500-1,500 color pages per month) what would be the average color cost per page, according to a poll we had on the print4pay hotel forums that average would be about

Photizo Transform 2013 "Why You Need to be There"

Last year I was able to attend the Transform 2012 Global event in Orlando.  This year Transform 2013 date is May 6th-9th in Phoenix, Arizona.

Whether your focus is  Managed Print Services,  Managed Network, Mobile Print, VAR, or the traditional MFP/MFP dealer we're all focused on bringing new products, adding new revenue streams and services to our clients and prospects. The Photizo Transform event  allows for us to network with others and educate ourselves through the many educational speakers that will speak at this years event.

You may ask yourself "what's in it for me", it's the practical education from expert speakers that will enable your company to enable that  next new revenue stream, the ability to network with your peers, share ideas and inspirations.

I can tell you that I was impressed with last years event so much so that I made a commitment to attend the 2013 event come hell or high water.  What I like best about the event is that you're not getting the same old line of BS from the manufacturers shows.  I've attended two events this year that had keynote speakers from two major imaging manufacturers and both told the same dam story about a services led industry, the only difference from the two was their accents.  Manufacturer shows push their own agendas, thus attending a Photizo Transform show is  refreshing to hear from speakers that have no skin in the game when it comes to your business.

We all know our industry in changing rapidly, and some pundits claim that we'll have more change in the next 4-5 years than we've had in the last 25 years.

I'll be there and hope to see you there.

-=Good Selling=-

BTA Winter Break " Office Dealer Retreat to Orlando"

The Business Technology Association's (BTA) Southeast district will host it's annual Winter Break event at the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando on February 8th and 9th of this year.

This will be my second BTA district event and I'm looking forward to getting the heck out of New Jersey for a few days and enjoy some decent weather.  Registration starts at Noon on the 8th and at 1PM Martin Brodigan CEO of Ricoh Americas Corp will kick off the even with the keynote presentation.

I'm a big fan of these events, and not just for the networking with other dealers and vendors. I'll also get the chance to sit in on 5 Educational Sessions.

Presenters for this event will be John Hamilton, President of Service Strategies Corp and lead a presentation for "Why is Service Quality Difficult to Manage?

Doug Johnson, Senior VP of Supplies Network will speak about "MPS Operational Excellence-The Key to MPS Profitability"

Milton Bartley, President & CEO of Image Quest will enlighten us with "adapting Leadership to Capitalize with Managed Services"

Sally Brause, Director of Human Resources Consulting of Great America Financial Services will present "You Be the Judge: How Would You Resolve These Challenging Human Resources Issues?"

In addition we'll also be captivated with Greg Walters and Jennifer Shutwell of Walters & Shutwell for "Parlaying MPS & Mobility".

The event will end at 6PM on Satuday and there is also an evening event for the BTA members.  Keep in mind that you don't have to be a BTA member in order to attend, yes it will cost a few extra dollars however it is money well spent.  BTA is your Association that supports Dealer initiatives, education, legal services and much more.  I recommend you take a trip here to learn more about the event and more about how BTA can help your Dealership.

-=Good Selling=-

Has The Time Come for Sales People to be Paid on Click Revenue?

In the world of MPS (Managed Print Service), commission for clicks is the common method pay compensation for reps.  Most time commissions are paid off the monthly revenue click from systems that our under a MPS agreement and in some cases commissions are paid one time for the first months worth of billing.

The copier commission world is a completely different story, reps are paid either paid on the percentage of gross profit or a percentage of the revenue for each copier that is sold.

Traditionally copier reps can also make commissions on the maintenance or cost per page agreement, the commissions range from 5%-10% of the annual agreement. In recent months I've heard some grumblings that dealers are pulling back and not offering commissions on maintenance agreements or cost per page programs.  Which I find surprising since maintenance and cost per page agreements are the life blood of the dealership.

If I were not getting a commission to sell a cost per page agreement or a maintenance agreement I would hard pressed to sell an agreement at the time of the sale.  Matter of fact, if I thought the break and fix model was better for the customer I would make the recommendation to go that way, my thought process is why muddy the waters and fight the battle with pricing on the maintenance or cost per page agreement if I'm not getting paid on that.

Personally, I would like to see some kind of ongoing

12 Days of Christmas "What my Copier Company Offered to Me"

I have two of these, one my wife did and I did another. I got her point of view, typical office worker scenario. My wife helped me with some of these and thank you dear!

We'll see which one is liked best by all of you!

On the 12th day of Christmas, my Copier Company offered to me:

12 Document Management Solutions

On the 11th day of Christmas, my Copier
Company gave to me:

11 Cartridges of Toner

On the 10th day of Christmas, my Copier Company gave to me:

10 Boxes of Staples

On the 9th day of Christmas, my Copier Company gave to me:

9 Ways to Save Paper

On the 8th day of Christmas, my Copier Company gave to me:

8 Boxes of Paper

On the 7th day of Christmas, my Copier Company gave to me:

7 More Invoices

On the 6th day of Christmas, my Copier Company gave to me:

6 New Print Drivers

On the 5th day of Christmas, my Copier Company gave to me:

5 New Proposals

On the 4th day of Christmas, my Copier Company gave to me:

4 Buy it now end of month emails

On the 3rd day of Christmas, my Copier Company gave to me:

3 more phone calls for end of quarter sales

On the 2nd day of Christmas, my Copier Company gave to me:

2 New Broken Copiers

On the 1st day of Christmas, my Copier Company gave to me:

1 Print Management  Service Plan for all

-=Good Selling=-

7 Cold Calling Tips for Managed Print Services

Some of us like it and most of us of don’t like it. It’s the COLD CALL.

I like to call it GOLD CALLING!  It's usually the day from hell or the day to have find some GOLDEN accounts. If you've been doing it as long as I have, you've had success and have found some of your best accounts this way!

I must say the most daunting task is to open a door where you can’t see what is on the other side, will there be rejection or jubilation! Most times it will be rejection. Get use to it, its part of the job and comes with the territory. Attitude, Attitude and more tude will help you overcome the rejection and plow ahead. You always must keep in mind that you are there to give them a better solution or a better way of doing things, and if they are not interested then that’s their loss!

What, I hate most is a NO SOLICITING sign on the door. I think it’s rude and vulgar, every single one of these companies sell something to someone. Full speed ahead right? You may want to think twice about this and send the owner or CEO a fedex letter or package. That will get their attention.
Here are a few tips to get you going.

Tip: If someone won't provide you with a business card, get out your phone and take a picture of the company name on the business directory.

Make Quality Cold Calls

Make a plan to visit those companies you'd like to do business with. Before you’re on your merry way, do some research on those companies via the Internet. Find out the name of the CEO, CFO or the principal, find out what they do and who they do business with. When you're in the office, ask for help. “Can you help me? I like to know who is the person who takes care of your managing your documents”, then ask for additional help such as “When I speak to him or her, can you help with some additional information so I can be prepared when we speak” Your main objective is to get the “right” name and you also may want to ask what the best time to contact that person is.

Send Literature

As soon as you get back to the office, send an opening letter and some literature. Be specific when you are going to call that person such as naming the date and the time of the phone call. Get more attention by ending the letter next day air, it may cost a little however for the right account it may well open the door!

Follow up call

Remember that date and time that you gave them for the follow up call. Use it to your advantage and stage your call at the precise time you said you would. Even if you don’t get through, the message will leave a big impression that you followed up when you said you would.

Create Interest in the first 5 seconds

Hello Mr. or Mrs. Smith. Our company specializes in the cost reduction with managing the printed page. Most companies do not know how much document printing is costing them. We'd like to present a cost free analysis of your existing costs and make recommendations for improvement if needed.

ABC (Always Be Cold Calling)

Over the years I have found Cold Calling to be the best way to find new business. Try some vertical market cold calling next time. For instance let’s say you want to focus on the Managed Print Services. Do the research on the Internet in your territory and pick out ten firms that you think would need your services. Vertical Market Cold Calls are awesome, the more you do, the more you’ll become proficient in their needs and applications.

Tip: Ask the receptionist for help, state that you're new and your objective is to just get the name of the correct contact person. Always as for help!


-=Good Selling=-

Any ideas for new leads for Print Management Solutions?

The above title was taken from a thread I found on linkedin. I'm assuming the person is asking the group for new ideas for Print Management leads.  Of course the solutions part may mean the utilization of print management software like Print Audit, Preton, etc...  The person who posted the thread works for a company that sells print and copy management solutions.  There were some replies to this thread however all of them were not related to a "new idea for print management leads".

I paid a visit to the web site of the company that the person who posted the thread works for.  The web site was as generic as you can get for copiers, printers, document management etc.  It's no wonder that the sales person is looking for new ideas, one look at the web site would tell me that the website is not generating any leads.

So, what can be some new ideas to generate print management leads for this person?

1. Dang, put something on the website that tells your potential prospects or existing customers that you are in that business (print management).

2. You need to enable your current customers to

Can Your Dealership Profit through the Click Charge ECM?

Darn tootin!  I wrote about the Intellenetics Enterprise Content Management solution a few weeks ago during Photizo's Global Transform show in Orlando this year.  BTW, I recommend that all MFP dealers try and make this show next year in Scottsdale, and don't rely on the data and information your MFP manufacturer is feeding you is the right solution for making a profit.

A few days ago I was treated to a Mano-a-mano webinar with the folks at Intellenetics about their "Click Charge" ECM solution that is designed for the MFP and MPS dealer channel.  Here's a few interesting items I picked up. Hmmm.....

All right seems these notes will be from memory because I misplaced the note pad that had the notes! 

• Branding is available
• Dealer Billing per month and then Dealer bills end user with MU
• Direct Billing to customer and royalties paid back to dealer
• Public portion of ECM allows users to search on their documents

And that's about all I can remember with my notes, not a big deal because Intellenetics will conduct a private webinar on July 19th for Print4Pay Hotel Members.  After I viewed the webinar a few days ago I asked them to tweak a few things and that will tell your more about the billing, and branding options along with the revenue stream royalties and the up charge for billing. 

If I had my own dealership (which I don't), I would be rolling this out to all of my SMB accounts.  First I would call them and ask them for a short 15 minutes about a new product and service we are launching. I would schedule this for one day of the week, like a Thursday and set 4-5 appointments each day.  I would then have a power point presentation set-up.  I would then guide them through the FAB (remember FAB, Feature, Advantage and Benefit),  and of course at the end when they ask how much this will this cost I will have TWO plans available.  A Premium Plan where we charge a base monthly fee and scan click charge (could be quarterly), where we (dealer) controls the uploading to the Cloud, and the indexing, and we would then train the end user on how to retrieve the documents.  The second plan would be Basic Plan, where we charge a monthly (could be quarterly) base fee and scan click charge, we would train the customer on how to index, upload and retrieve the files.

Remember it's not about the big sale, it's about the click and the ongoing annuity stream.  Most SMB accounts are scanning to a wndows based file folder and then placing documents (that are not OCR'd or in  indexed) in nested folders. If you can find the pain, which there is with this type of format you can bring home the bacon and have the best of both worlds by capturing the scans and the print clicks.  Keep in mind that Dealers have been reluctant to charge for scans because they were afraid that they would lose print clicks to the competitors who did not charge for scans. But in this scenario  you are presenting value of the ECM system and the benefit of accessing those files from the cloud.

Recently, I've been scheduling appointments for our new services, and with every appointment each customer either asked for a quote or additional information about a pain that we discovered on the appointment.  The moral of the story is to keep introducing new products and services to your existing accounts, they are a gold mine of they have pain in their business process.  

Please go here for the exclusive P4P Hotel webinar for Intellenetics "Can Your Dealership Profit through Click Charge ECM.

=-Good Selling=-

Top 7 Solutions @ Transform 2012 DOCassess @ #5

I've been a little backed up lately with providing the last three "cool" solutions from the Global Transform Photizo show in Orlando last month. But, I'm back on track and the #5 slot goes to DOCassess. Now, while I'm not an expert with MPS, however I've been doing MFP fleet assessments for years many years.  One nice tip when doing assessments is try to visit every printer if you can and find out who uses that printer, and then interview them about the media requirements that they have. This information is very handy if you are upgrading the fleet, and also opens the door for additional print work flow opportunities such as print stream management.

This blogs a little different from the rest,  I actually asked Mike Lamoth to list some bullet points for his solution and I loved the fact that last bullet point addresses work flow so that you may be able to uncover work flow opportunities!

As Managed Print Services gains more momentum globally the need to have reps articulate whats involved with MPS, how it differs from the past "over promos under deliver" and actually perform a professional assessment so they can actually speak more intelligently about the customers environment has become a necessity. Not to mention, the Dealer or OEM is now on the hook because they are telling the customer I will manage your print environment for $$. So they require reliable resources to help them understand the TRUE picture and not pie in the sky.

What was once a nice to have has become a must have and that’s an assessment tool.

One of the biggest complaints I hear from dealer principles is that many of the tools in the market require an analyst to use and the dealer can't afford an analyst for every rep. So we developed a sales aid and an assessment tool for all sales reps to use.

How does DOCassess differ:

• Ease of use
• We have incorporated a Print Environment Balanced Score Card as a sales aid – this allows the rep to meet with the customer and discuss their print environment by asking 22 related questions. At the end the customers score will fall into one of three categories giving them some industry stats and suggesting they move forward with an assessment.
• Two types of assessments – Surface Level for SMB (small to medium business) and Advanced which goes so far as to offer individual device TCO's, a sophisticated carbon calculator, and much more.
• Interview section to asked end users questions that will uncover process and workflow improvements

One of the strongest financial sections in the market providing detailed current vs proposed options, blended service, financial comparison down to a CPC (cost per copy) etc.

 

Take a trip here to find out more about DOCassess.

 

-=Good Selling=-

Top 7 Solutions @ Transform 2012 Print Audit Premier @ #4

Remember the Photizo Global transform Conference in Orlando?  Many vendors had excellent solutions for MPS and MFP vendors or as I like to say "We help companies put information on paper". 
Print Audit especially their Print Audit Premier Program is far an away the best SaaS solution that I've come across for MPS and MFP vendors!  Print Audit had the vision to package licenses of  Print Audit Facilities Manager, Print Audit 6, Print Audit Assessor, Print Audit Secure, Print Audit Embedded, Print Audit Rapid Assessment Key for one low monthly fee!  If you'd like to know more about the program please click Print Audit Premier .

So, where's the value?  The value to me (I used to own a dealership) is that I can sell the software for a monthly fee per device or I can built the software in to my current maintenance agreement billing. The model that I like best is the cost per page, you've gotta do the math, however adding .005 or .01 for every page printed or copied can generate a lot of revenue in a short amount of time.  Not only does this provide an ongoing revenue stream but your dealership will remain sticky in the account, meaning when the lease of the copiers or printers comes up for renewal, do you really think that the customer will go to another vendor if they lose the licenses to anyone of the Print Audit programs that we offered? 

As MSP amd MFP vendors manage the prints on the device, why can't we manage the software charge to the customer for a low monthly per device fee or the cost per page billing?  There's zero up front cost to the customer!  As vendors we could bill the maintenance, installation and professional fees for a monthly fee, charge the customer a one time fee or build it into the cost per page billing.  On another thought, let's say you're in on a new account, they have no need for MPS, hardware or services, but you've got a hit with let's say Print Audit 6.  They need 50 licenses, what would be easier to get approved a purchase order for $10,000 (guesstimate) or $4 per month per license for 60 months?  My quess and what I'd like to present is the $4 per month per license.

What I've seen over the years especially with lean times still among us (did you know that Obama stated the other day that "the private sector is doing fine", let him work my job for a month or so and then tell me how the private sector is) companies would like to have the benefits of the software solutions but are holding back because of the upfront cost.   Print Audit Premier gives us a unique way to have a creative financial software solution that will benefit the customer and the dealer.

BTW, yes Print Audit is a sponsor of the Print4Pay Hotel and I'm proud that the Print4Pay Hotel is partnered with one of the best Managed Print Corporations in the world!

-=Good Selling=-

Ricoh MP 301SPF Review

Whoa! Ricoh may have finally almost gotten it right with the new MP 301SPF system!

Kudos for bring this A4 31 page per minute system to market; with an MSRP of only $2,960  (or $2.00 a day for a lease) you get a lot of bang for the buck!  Network Color Scan, Network Print, Network Fax, Walk up Fax, and Copy all in a neat footprint that covers a space of 19.0 x17.7x18.1 (WXDXH). 

However the REALLY BIG NEWS is that the new MP 301SPF which will scan color, print, copy and fax in black follows the A3 (systems that print 11x17) cost per page model for toner!!!  Get this; the cost per page for black toner based on MSRP is only .0041! Nice, very nice indeed!!

It’s my understanding that the MP 301SPF will be the replacement for the MP201SPF. I hate to see the MP 201SPF go, however I believe the MP301SPF is an excellent replacement choice.

Basically, there’s a lot that I like about this system and I’m exciting to have this in our product line.  There’s so much that I like I just can’t fit them all in this blog.  The likes far outweigh the dislikes!

What I Don’t Like:

Retraction, it just came to my attention that the system will be capable of scanning mixed sized originals, even I make mistakes, the 52 page manual only has one small line stating that the system will accept mixed sizes for letter and legal. The document feeder in the brochure seems to be the same that was used for the MPC 305 which did not have the ability to scan mixed sized document, special thanx to Grandma T for pointing this out to me! BTW, I also went through the 207 page operator manual and there was no mention of mized size scanning or copying.

User Interface Screen:  What’s with the 4.3” inch color LCD?  Color LCD screens are cheap!  Why skimp on something that is used every day,  when it comes to LCD screens BIGGER is always better

Wireless Card (option):  Ricoh, have you all gone mad?  The MSRP for the wireless card is $593?? Why even offer one for that type of price?  Best bet is to pick up a wireless router with an Ethernet port and direct connect to the MP 301SPF and it will cost you $80 or so.

What I like:

Batch Scan: Nice feature for a value system, batch scanning allows you to scan the more than 50 originals into a single file.  You’ll select the batch scan feature before you scan and when the document feeder empties you just add the additional pages.

ARDF (automatic reversing document feeder), enables users to automatically scan two sided originals, nice and it was much needed with the A4’s.

Scan Speed:  For the price, 31 pages per minute black @ 300dpi and 21 pages per minute @ 300DPI for full color.  Nice that Ricoh is now quoting scan speeds at 300 dpi and not 200 dpi.

Document Server:  The Document Server is a feature I’ve been talking up for years, the MP 301SPF can store up to 3,000 pages and can really reduce costs if used properly in the office.  I instruct users to put their most popular forms, or information on the document server.  This eliminates the time to find the file and print to the local printer and also reduces cost because you would print to the MPC305 instead of the higher cost local printer.  Plus, if people are constantly asking you to re-print documents (which decrease your productivity), you can point them to Document Server and have them print the documents themselves.

Scheduled Print:  Set the time to print and away you go, excellent feature for workgroups!

Auto Job Promotion:  It’s about time!!  I love this feature; too many times in the office I’ll send a document that is a mismatch meaning the paper orientation maybe the wrong way or I selected the wrong paper size and or the wrong media. If I did not go to the system to clear the print job, no one else could print.  The Auto Job Promotion allows the print job error to be parked and allows others to print!  Nice.

Scan2PDF/A: Is a file format and ISO Standard for long-term archiving of documents.

Access2Cloud:  The browser card is an option and is needed to connect to cloud solutions, it’s only $170 but well worth the cost especially for scanning to MS 365 with UDOCX!

Scan2folder, scan2email, scan2cloud, scan2documentserver plus you can also set up scan2dropbox (you can do this on your own and is not a Ricoh solution)

What Should Have Been Added:

·    Document Feeder that can sense mixed sizes of originals, thus you could put letter and legal documents in the feeder, scan them to a folder and when you open the document you have both letter and legal size scanned pages.

·      Larger Color LCD Screen

·     Wireless Card as a Standard feature,  go figure I can buy a wireless printer from staples or Office Max for $200$300 or so and they have standard wireless print, why oh why does the wireless card for the MP 301SPF cost almost $600!!

·     Browser Card as a Standard feature.

Tips:

·        You’ll need to add the HDD (hard disk drive) in order to have Internet fax, LAN Fax, IP fax and Forwarding to email.

-=Good Selling=-

Top 7 Solutions @ Transform 2012 PretonSaver @ #2

Big isn't always better right?  While on the Exhibitor Floor I came across PretonSaver. PretonSaver is a SaaS software solution that offers an innovative way to lower your fixed toner costs with toner optimization. 

Here's a quote from the brochure I picked up "Pixel Optimization is Preton's patent-pending technology that optimizes toner consumption by identifying and deleting overlapping pixels. By intelligently removing unnecessary pixels. Pixel Optimizer saves as much as 35% in toner and ink without visibly impacting quality"

At the booth Preton had sample books printing with using their toner optimization software, so far I've only had the chance to review the 10% toner optimization.  The booklet showed the print with zero optimization and then 10% optimization.  Hey, 10% seemed darn good.  The PretonSaver will allow MPS vendors or end users to extend the life of the toner cartridges. Thus creating additional profit for the MPS provider or additional savings for the end user.
As a subscription service, PretonSaver can comfortably fit into the pay-as-you-print pricing schemes of MPSs. The pricing for the PretonSaver service is based on the same chargeable clicks that an MPS is charging to customers.

Features at a Glance:

• Toner and ink optimization
• Print reports and statistics
• Print rules and policies
• Page coverage reporting
• Remote meter collection
• Real-time device service alerts
• Supplies level information
• Automated reports

I was also able to get some additional information about PretonSaver.  PretonSaver installs on the server, and the individual users can control the amount of of savings they desire.  Quality won't be degraded with up to 30% text and 10% photo (variable).   All in all, the samples in the book were greatly appreciated since anyone can claim a savings, with the book I was able to see the changes with the print optimizer software.  Preton also has a pretty cool ROI calculator, you'll need to give them your email address however I think that's a fair trade off for the value of the report.  Here's the link PretonSaver ROI Calculator.

If you're looking for a way to increase profits and or extend the life of your consumables I would definitely check out PretonSaver and see what they have to offer. You can also download a FREE trial here.

BTW, PretonSaver is not an advertiser for the Print4Pay Hotel, just a really cool solution that sets you apart from your compeititors.

-=Good Selling=-

Top 7 Solutions @ Transform 2012 Conference "Intellinetics @ #1"

Cost Per Page Billing for Document Management Services

Photiizo’s Global Transform has concluded for 2012.  I'll be attending the conference in Scottsdale for 2013. 

About two months ago I wrote a blog about "Managed Documents the Next Big Thing" which I related to Managed Print.  The thought was to have an MFP connect to the cloud, and then scan documents directly to a cloud based document management system or a folder in the cloud.  After the documents were there the dealer would then manage the documents to have them indexed, OCR’d.  The dealer could then charge either a monthly fee for the service or a click charge that could be added to the existing maintenance agreement.  The benefit to the customer would be no upfront cost, no training (except to retrieve the documents), no internal IT support, and no maintenance fees.  The dealer could then remain “more sticky” in the account and offer the value added service.

While at the Transform Conference I ran across an Enterprise Content Management solution that was right up my alley.  The Intellivue ECM platform from Intellenetics is available as a cost- per-page model where you pay a low monthly fee based on the number of pages you use to the software to manage.  There is no upfront cost!  Billing would be enabled on a cost per page model, there would be one cost per page for a black scan and one cost per page (higher than the black cost) for a color scan, the reasoning for the higher cost for the color is that the color scan created a larger file size. With this SaaS solution a company can realize and immediate return on investment from the first month Intellivue is deployed.

Another excellent benefit to the dealer is that they can charge professional services for the installation and training to the end user. I’m more of a fan of the dealer performing the indexing of the documents for the end user and I’m not entirely sure this can be accomplished with Intellivue.  I will be making a call to them to see if there is a way this can be done.

The concept is for the user to scan2file from the MFP, the user would then index the file and submit to the ECM on the cloud (this is the part I’d like to see the dealer do so you it could be a seem less solution for the customer and you would be able to bill professional services).  Intellivue then retains the document for Archival in the Cloud or Premise Solution.  Intellivue would then create a monthly total of Pages in the Archival tabulate the monthly bill based on the cost per page.  Intellivue can then feed the monthly page totals and cost to the MPS billing software (I’m hoping that this will also work with MFP billing software).  You MPS software would then generate the total bill including line items for hardware, supplies, services and Intellivue.  Royalties are paid to the reseller from the ECM revenues collected.

The power of this solution is that there is no upfront cost and I see Intellivue as a tremendous value for the SMB customer.  For too long the SMB customer has shied away from content management due to the upfront cost, the training, the IT infrastructure and the thought that they would have to dedicate and employee to operate the software.

BTW, this is the first blog in a series of 7 for the top 7 solutions at Transform 2012 Conference.

-=Good Selling=-

Transform 2012 Conference "Hotter Than Ever"

Day one had passed and then day two, and overall, I'm impressed with the event. I actually ran into a few Print4Pay Hotel members and finally after all of these years got to meet Lee Rummage from RJ Young. When I tell you the Transform Conference was HOT, well it was that and then some, just about 1PM there was a huge brush file that developed only a mile away on Route 4.  Traffic is bad enough in the Orlando area and this fire had four or five choppers in the sky and flames that were reaching 30 feet high (I'll be posting the video on the p4p forums in the next few days).

On Wednesday evening Oki hosted the evening reception @ Hiltons Signature Island. Food, drinks and networking, at this time I also had to the chance to meet Greg Walters (Death of the Copier) and now the newly elected President of the MPSA. I also ran across many new contacts and believe it or not many readers of the mfpsolutions blog.

I also had the chance to speak with Tim Brien from Oki, Lou Stricklin, Carl Mica and Jim D'emidio (President) all from Muratec. On another note representatives from Ricoh, Canon, Xerox, Oki, Lexmark and KonicaMinolta were in attendance. however there were no shows from Sharp and Toshiba....think about it.

On Thursday morning Ken Schmidt (Former Director of Harley-Davidson) presented and engaging keynote address about customers and how you need to break the mold and have them start talking about your company. Thursday evening we were rounded up and attended an event at the Orlando Harley Davidson dealership. Boy did that bring back memories of my 1980 Harley Roadster/Sportster.

There were also 16 different talk track seminars slated for Thursday and another 13 for Friday. I didn't have the chance to attend any of these because I was busy on the show floor along with a Press Luncheon/Press Tour and still had to close my month since we close on the 24th of the month.

I was also able to talk with Adobe about Leanprint (if your a Print4Pay Hotel member we have something special from Adobe in the next week or so), Preton about their SaaS toner optimazation software, Great America with Collabrance, Print Audit with their Premier program, ESP with an awesome new product that will allow you to do an enery assessment for all devices that are plugged in (even water coolers and refridgerators), Falcon Technologies with an awesome Cloud Ipad Sales Software app, BEI Service Providers, Oki and their Total Managed Print Solution and Intellenetics which has an awesome Cloud Based Document Management System that is......so unique that I'll have a blog dedicated to the solution.

Other partners in attendance American PrinterWare, BTA, ChannelEyes, CompTia, Digital Gateway, DocSolid, ENX Magazine, FMAudit, HP, In-Map, Intel, Intronics, Genius Bytes, Global Printer Services, LMI, Lexmark, Mirrored Image, MPSA, MWAi, N-Able, Newfield IT, Nuance, ODC, Parts Now, PREO, PrintFleet, PowerSource, Ricoh, Supplies Network, Synnex, The Imaging Channel, Xerox and YSoft.

I'm a copier guy, never really got into MPS (cause my dealership only dabbled in it), but like everyone else I know what MPS is about. MPS is facing the same set of issues as the MFP industry, so called declining page volumes, lower profits and how can we change in order to be prepared for the future.

I can see the convergence of elite/hybrid MFP and MPS dealers/companies that are or will make the transformation to MSP (Managed Service Provider). So while a lot of the talk track seminars were centered around MPS there were also a few that centered around MSP.

So, far I've enjoyed every minute of this show, I also wondered why there were not more MFP dealers here. We all put toner on paper right?

Forget about ITEX, forget about the Dealer shows, if you want the real spin on what's going on with the imaging industry (remember we put toner on paper) you all need to make the trip to Scottsdale, AZ next year. Whether your engaged with MPS, or MFP's we all put toner on paper. Photizo is committed to helping those that put toner on paper to become more successful, more profitable and enlightening us on the latest trends and technologies that affect our business model.

If you're considering going to a show next year I would highly recommend the Transform 2013 which will be held in Scottsdale, AZ next year.

By the numbers from Photizo:

Global Imaging Market:

$120B global hardware market revenue predicted in 2015 (forecast 360, June 2011)
1% rate of global hardware market revenue decline between 2010 and 2015 (forecast 360, June 2011)
$118B size of global supplies market in 2015 (forecast 360, December 2012)
2% growth rate of global supplies market between 2010 and 2015 (forecast 360, December 2012)
$78B global MPS market revenue in 2015 (2011 MPS Market Size, Share and Forecast Report)
20% rate of global MPS Market revenue growth between 2010 and 2015 (2011 MPS Market Size, Share and Forecast Report)
9 out of 10 most rapid MPS expansions are taking place in less developed regions like Asia Pacific, and Latin America.

More MPS:
$725 average cost per year, per employee to print (pre-MPS)
30% average percent of savings after implementing an MPS program
60% average reduction of hardcopy fleet carbon emissions after implementing MPS
50% percentage of office printing revenue expected to be under MPS contract by 2014
3rd rank of MPS engagements in relation to other IT projects
12% amount of IT budget represented by printing

Stay tuned for my top 7 solutions I liked from the Transform 2012 show.

-=Good Selling=-