Deja Vu All Over Again

Over 2 1/2 years since a post and guess what...not much has changed.

I guess I'm just not one for keeping a blog going when there's nothing fresh to talk about.

Sure there are new players, lots of mergers and strategy changes, but really...has much changed?

It seems that the debate over "what is MPS" has finally died down, but the evolution of the business model that everyone talked about just doesn't seem to be as dramatic as it was made out to be.

Maybe it's just me, but I still see basically the same competitors (locally and nationally), I haven't seen 50% of copier dealers magically go out of business in my area, and, quite frankly, copier dealers still look pretty much the same to me.

Sure most are now servicing printers in addition to their copier OEMs of choice, but I know of very few that have completely abandoned their old business model. At the end of the day they're still selling boxes and billing for those sacred clicks.

The data point that hammers home the point for me is looking at Photizo's Hybrid Dealer Index. This is the measurement of the leaders in the MPS field...those who are moving towards the almighty Stage 4. Look at the data that is collected and tell me what you see.

Printers under contract
B/W clicks under contract
Color clicks under contract
Technicians per device

I thought those moving to Stage 4 were moving their clients away from print, managing networks, and managing business processes. If that's the case then what's the point of measuring MFP versus printer clicks??

Perhaps I'm a bit cynical here, but it appears to me that the vision has been lost by most. The revenue growth from printer clicks appears to have been enough to distract almost everyone from the big picture.

Now the conversation has moved to Managed Network Services. It's the salvation of the traditional copier dealer filled with untold riches and, by the way, if you're not in this business in 5 years you'll be shutting your doors.

This time they REALLY mean it...I think.