01732 759725 ONE-TO-ONE 46 Bryan Stone, Director at Business I.T. Systems Ltd (BITS), spoke to Michelle Ryder about the changes both in terms of technology and customer needs, he’s witnessed over the past ten years Step back in time providing IT support services to schools. “Canon approached us to develop a print management solution and that sort of marked our entry into the print sector. We launched a product called Callisto, which did really well for a number of years. “Software development had traditionally taken a back seat at BITS, but as the market shifted in terms of IT support, competition increased, schools wanted more for less and essentially it became a race to the bottom, we decided to go back to our roots,” Stone explained. A shift in strategy This shift in strategy saw BITS take some of the key components of the Callisto product and build on them to create a tool to collect meter readings and automate what was then a timeintensive manual process. “The market was really different ten years ago, MPS was not so commonplace and in the main dealers didn’t have the tools to deliver it, so what we were offering was in demand. We capitalised on the opportunity to go back to our roots in software development, to build on our base offering, add value and make sure we focused on integrations with back-office systems, to deliver increased flexibility” he added. Changing times Stone says that today, the MPS market is somewhat commoditised. “We have to differentiate and so our approach has been to further develop our print device management solution to add new features and functionality that dealers and their customers need. As such, our product development has been heavily focused on creating a number of new value-add features and functionality to our OneStop MPS Portal.” Compatibility and integration are key, as Stone explains: “Our customers want visibility over a number of areas such as stock availability, device Stone has racked up an impressive three decades in the print and IT industry. His first job with Canon in the early 90s saw him working as a programmer within the service department. He was responsible for redeveloping the OEM’s technology incentive scheme and managing a project to integrate service management systems into all branches. He recalls that his next role in the digital marketing department was very varied. “It was around the time that Canon launched its first digital mono devices and Fiery Controllers, and the marketing efforts demanded technical know-how,” he said. “I then moved onto the solutions side of the business with Canon Europe, before joining BITS.” When Stone joined BITS, the business’ focus was primarily on performance, job ticketing, billing, etc. Data is king, but often they are using a number of different systems for service management, CRM etc. and transferring data between disparate systems can be a pain. That was the issue we set out to solve, by enabling all of this information to appear seamlessly within OneStop.” Customer-centricity Stone argues that while print management systems are critical to a dealer’s ability to deliver MPS, they are also a cost to the business and one which can’t really be passed on to the end customer. “We want to help our customers to maximise their investment. That’s why we have added functionalities such as energy management which leverages smart plugs to enable customers to monitor and manage energy usage and environmental monitoring, which alerts users to changes in temperature, humidity and CO2 levels in offices for example. These additional features can be bolted-on to customer contracts as value-added extras and provide dealers with new revenue opportunities.” Challenge and opportunity After 30 years in the industry, Stone says the one constant has been change. “Our customers’ and their customers’ needs are continuously changing – which is both challenging and exciting,” he said. Businesses are time-poor at the moment and that is the biggest challenge of all. “They know that adopting new technology/solutions will save them time and money, but they don’t have the time to stop and look into things! Looking to the future, we will continue to build on our offering, to understand our customers’ changing needs and find new ways to help them streamline service delivery and add value to their offering,” he concluded. www.bits.uk.com Bryan Stone
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