Managed Print Services Heats Up
You know you're on to something when your industry starts getting tracked by the respected folks at International Data Corporation (IDC). Seems the esteemed researchers have discovered the Managed Print Services trend and just released a major assessment of the industry.
"Managed print services is a game-changing trend that will have significant impact on the hardcopy market well into the future," said Michael Orasin, research manager, Hardcopy Software and Services for IDC. "The growth of print services will continue to escalate as companies of all sizes comprehend the savings that can be realized under such programs and vendors compete to gain share. The majority of vendors are either aggressively investing in services that they have had in place for several years or, seeing the adoption trend, working to initiate competitive programs to remain relevant."
The report, IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Managed Print Services 2010 Hardcopy Vendor Analysis (IDC #222872), evaluates the current capabilities and future strategies of 10 vendors. Current capabilities include each vendor's menu of services, how well a vendor delivers and executes these services, and how well these services align to customer needs. The future strategy evaluation focuses on each vendor's high-level strategic decisions and underlying assumptions about offerings, customer segments, business, and go-to-market plans for the next three to five years. The vendors included in the analysis are Canon, HP, Konica Minolta, Lexmark, Océ, OKI Data, Pitney Bowes, Ricoh/IKON, Toshiba, and Xerox/Fuji Xerox.
The IDC MarketScape methodology placed Xerox, HP, and Ricoh/IKON in the "Leaders" category. The companies were recognized for their robust portfolios and well-defined go-to-market strategies targeting growth in both direct and indirect channels. These companies have also embraced cloud computing architectures as a means of delivering scalable, consistent managed print services to both large enterprises and SMBs. The assessment acknowledged Ricoh/IKON's deep expertise in the managed services market and a well thought out set of offerings.
The report, of course, has tons more data, but it will cost you to take a deeper look. Hey, all that respect and esteem come at a price. But Doc says that if you’re considering a big contract in the Managed Print Services category, it might be well worth a look.