Monthly Discussion: Is MPS the business model all remanufacturers should be adopting?

Is Managed Print Service (MPS) the business model all remanufacturers should be adopting in order to make their business more profitable?

Feel free to share your thoughts with 42,574 readers of Recycling Times magazine around the world. We’d like to publish your opinion in the next edition of our magazine.

People are commenting on LinkedIn. Make your own comments as well!

@Luke Goldberg from MSE

The short reply is no; not every company can or should adopt MPS. First of all many struggle morphing from transactional to solution based and you cannot do it with the same sales staff that is used to the instant gratification in transactional sales. MPS requires a totally different approach that sometimes increases the sales cycle to 18 months. 2nd; MPS adoption should not be a knee jerk reaction to trends, it should be based on real need such as losing sales to other Mps providers or demand from customers. 3rd; MPS isn’t right for all end users, you need to learn to profile your customers to see if MPS is right for them, many smaller companies don’t need it and are perfectly happy with toner and service.

Bottom line; MPS has many positives; its contractual, the dealer chooses the consumables, it enabled dealers to scale business up into larger enterprises we couldn’t get before etc… That said; it is absolutely not for every company and many cannot and shouldn’t look to turn their business on end to adopt a model that isn’t right for them or for their customers and staff. There needs to be more thoughtful questioning on this versus just headlong plunging into uncharted waters.

@Mitchell Filby from First Rock Consulting Pty Ltd

MPS is not only about the hardware device & the physical attributes such as toner consumables, spare parts, warranties & on site support. They are certainly a part of the play within the MPS model. MPS extends past the physical aspects. We now are seeing the next building blocks of MPS where managing the images (content) through a business process either to execute or add to a business outcome. Furthermore we are seeing organisations trying to adapt faster & become more agile to consumer behaviour therefore processes, technology & change around users will be the new shift in focus for early leaders of MPS. This new focus is still someway away for remanufactures and therefore the question is not really about adopting so much it’s more about the relevance or where you want to play & position yourself in the larger Eco-system of MPS – imaging world.