Managed Print Services : The MPS Edge

Document management is a critical function and in the era of convergence, any
form of digital communication right from digital office files to emails has to
be managed intelligently. While document management makes for the entire
lifecycle management of the enterprise document workflow, the management of
printers constitutes a key component in document management.

In this backdrop, over the years, the industry has seen the evolution of
newer methods in optimally managing the printing infrastructure. One such model
is managed print services (MPS). Probably WeP can be considered a pioneer in
this space with its on-demand and pay-per-use of print. In time, other vendors
have jumped into the bandwagon despite the total addressable market for MPS
still remaining largely untapped. The three leading players in the space are
Xerox Global Services, HP and WeP.

The MPS Market

A look at the MPS landscape reveals its segmentation across total document
outsourcing to enterprise print management. While the former takes into account
the entire document workflow, the latter addresses the printing needs of the
enterprises. Traditionally, players like HP are into standalone printing sales
and for large deployments has taken a solutions approach. But with the untapped
market potential, HP has forayed into MPS and its now part of its balanced
deployment strategy.

According to Nitin Hiranandani, director, enterprise sales and services,
Imaging and Printing Group (IPG), HP India, HP Managed Print Services can help
enterprise customers to leverage 10-30% cost reduction while simplifying the
management of their imaging and printing environment, and focus on their core
business.

Before offering our MPS services, we do a complete audit of the enterprise
print patterns and study the print volumes generated by various work groups and
suggest the best possible print regime.

Based on the enterprise print requirements, HP offers a range of MPS
services. Says Hiranandani, The beauty of balanced deployments is that
enterprises can manage their printing and imaging infrastructure with
tailor-made solutions, thats scalable to future demands too. HPs includes
five key servicesassessment services; financial and procurement; transition and
implementation; support; and document workflow services.

Meanwhile companies like Xerox adopt a document outsourcing model which has a
component called Office Document Assessment (ODA). According to Mark Petit,
executive director, Xerox Global Services, We segment the document lifecycle
patterns and evolve a solution that best matches the requirements. The ODA is a
component of our document outsourcing services and our model makes for complete
transformation of the enterprise document workflow by ushering greater
manageability and huge cost savings.

Companies like Xerox and HP are considerably upping their ante in this space
and the ongoing recession augurs well for them. The down economy has pushed many
companies to explore cost effective information management methods. Clearly
managed printing services tops high on their agenda. According to IDC, 90% of
companies cannot estimate their document costs, yet they spend as much as 15% of
their revenue on document related activities. The same IDC study also reveals
that of those organizations that cant estimate their document costs, 60% have
started initiatives to reduce those costs.

What makes MPS more ideal is the management agility enterprises get. Print
management despite coming into the domain of the CIO, is a big pain and its not
the CIOs core area. Through MPS CIOs can have tighter control on their document
output costs and at the same time liberate themselves from the elementary job of
managing and buying various printer assets. Another driver for MPS is in
managing obsolescence. Through total print outsourcing, the managed service
provider upgrades the devices and thus, the enterprise need not worry about
product upgrades. Moreover, enterprises do not want to create fixed device
assets that will become redundant as new technologies come to fore. For
instance, the current printer might get repositioned due to new technology or
the user wants to reposition a printer that was until a couple of months ago
perfectly fine. It is a CIOs nightmare to invest in a technology that is not
useful in a couple of months down the line. This is one of the major USPs of
print outsourcing.

Way Forward

The concept of MPS is not new in India and the entry of players like HP
signifies that there is a big market potential. But the current trend is more
toward total document outsourcing than just print. If we take the print part
alone the traditional pay-per-output model still holds good and is ideal for the
SMB space. From the large enterprise perspective, one of the biggest challenges
they face is managing the various print technologies, and this alone is a good
enough reason for them turning to managed print infrastructure. But while
selecting a managed print services partner, a CIO has to be very careful in
deciding whether the services offered will take the enterprise to a truly
managed level.

In the Indian context, the MPS is beginning to become mainstream. SMBs have
long adopted MPS and thanks to companies like WeP which has sowed the seeds of
MPS. While MPS will never become a threat to standalone printer sales, it will
continue to grow as vendors like HP and Xerox pitch on the ease of fleet
management through MPS. But it can become a threat when total document
outsourcing gains more ground. Moreover, some observers feel that there can
never be total outsourcing of print and other document assets as with some
verticals like BFSI, there is an element of confidentiality that calls for
in-premise self managed printers. Thats a miniscule population and will not
impact MPS much. Moreover, in security intensive scenarios, careful planning by
the CIO is needed when managing the security issues. Also among the larger
audiences, there is some confusion between AMC and MPS. These are totally
different. In a typical MPS service, what differentiates it from AMC is the
ownership. The service provider takes care of the entire lifecycle of the
printer and maps each and every printer and puts an optimal print output
strategy.

Going by the market intelligence forecasts, MPS is set to grow and large
enterprises will benefit the most as the print and the device diversity is the
most here. Large enterprise will increasingly look at various models of MPS and
will create a document management strategy that liberates them from the
day-to-day managing of the device and document management problems. The biggest
benefits enterprises of all sizes derive is the high degree of agility and
scalability in print, thats unheard of in an area like printing. The road ahead
for MPS looks promising and its surely on the growth path.

Shrikanth G

shrikanthg@cybermedia.co.in