Analysts Quocirca found that businesses would be happy with MPS providers offering extra services, such as IT management or production printing.
Louella Fernandes, Principal Analyst for Quocirca, wrote for IT Director about the company’s analysis of businesses and what they want from MPS providers. Asking whether providers could “become strategic partners beyond print”, Fernandes notes that MPS has “for some time been a misnomer” because it means “far more than just printers”.
With information and document management now in demand, alongside business process improvement, and with the MPS market “gain[ing] maturity”, many businesses using MPS are “looking for innovation to drive more business value”. At the same time, MPS providers are aware “they need to move beyond print”, and extending services “to encompass the print room, business processes and the IT infrastructure”.
Fernandes believes this is an opportunity for both “traditional print manufacturers” and “independent managed service partners” who can complement “core print expertise” with IT services, as costs continue to “place pressure on organisations to identify effective strategies for lowering spending”. These include vendor management, supplier consolidation and a “compelling value proposition” offered by said suppliers or vendors.
Research that Quocirca undertook has revealed “there is certainly an appetite” for using MPS providers for other parts of IT, specifically production printing, and 31 percent of businesses use one MPS provider for office and production print, while 46 percent “would be very interested” to do the same. Fernandes points out that “this presents an opportunity” for those providers in both sectors to “promote the benefits of an integrated MPS to existing customers”.
Benefits include “better utilisation of production devices”, “cross-channel personalised communications” and offering business process services (BPS) such as payroll and accounts payable. Around 20 percent of businesses surveyed used one provider each for MPS and BPS, but almost half were “very interested” in using one for both services. Another option is IT, with 26 percent using one provider for MPS and IT, and 45 percent indicating “strong interest” in one providing both.
Difficulties can include convincing in-house IT departments to “give up” processes, but advantages can be numerous if “there is clear governance and control”, while centralising services can “result in better relationships and improved service levels”. Fernandes concludes that many businesses are “willing to consider extended services from their MPS provider”, and that “the opportunity for MPS vendors to evolve beyond print has never been stronger”.