Printing & Imaging Blog

According to Hewlett-Packard, signs of end-user MPS interest is being revealed in its internal research, and as a result the company is increasing its efforts to work with partners to be able to meet this growing demand, says Mark Quiroz, director of sales strategy and channels, global enterprise business, for Hewlett-Packard’s Imaging and Printing Group.

The prime driver for end users is a chance to save money, in part by consolidating the number of devices they operate and manage. In most end-user environments, “a lot of these assets are now underutilized," Quiroz explains. "[With MPS], there’s an opportunity to migrate from centralized copiers and a desktop printers to printer-based MFPs. That’s where you can get the best of both worlds.”

He concedes, however, that some solution providers remain leery about making big investments of time and money to increase their services practices. “When you have an existing business model that has been very successful, branching out into this contractual selling style is uncharted territory, so by its very nature it’s risky,” he explains.

To help ease the transition, HP is working with partners to evaluate services-oriented business models and make the necessary changes to their companies. In the future, change may become a necessity rather than a philosophical choice, he adds. “The data we are getting back is that customers are looking to procure [printing services] in the managed services format, and we need to be cognizant of that,” Quiroz says. “We’re seeing this not only from large corporations. It’s trickling down into the SMB market.”