Print.IT Reseller - issue 80

VOX POP 01732 759725 46 customers. This extension of our MPS is designed to seamlessly integrate into existing setups, giving IT managers oversight of all devices, whether they’re in a central office, or independent from where people work, directly meeting the needs of a dispersed hybrid workforce.” Martin Roberts: “For supplies and consumables to be delivered to different home addresses for employees would be beneficial. Thinking about our customers, if their employees need to buy consumables and supplies, then that multi-account management system is necessary – that clearly shows their spend and who is buying what equipment etc. “If we had really good account management tools that would give users insight into their spend and enable them to easily manage the replenishment process – that would be incredibly useful.” Steve Holmes: “When the pandemic kicked off, companies with robust contingency plans to support hybrid working should have already reviewed their MPS contract to ensure that it covers home-based devices, or at least renegotiated their MPS contract to include it. In line with this, they should have already updated their print policies, too. Failure to address these critical areas runs the risk of taking us back to the dark ages of unmanaged print and all the problems it presented; spiralling print and consumables costs, an increased carbon footprint and, of course, patchy print security. “Given the excellent progress that so many companies have made in bringing control to their print in an office environment, it would be disappointing to see all of that unravel because they have overlooked the impact that working from home will have on print.” www.pinnaclecos.co.uk www.workflo-solutions.co.uk www.sharp.co.uk www.officefox.co.uk www.lexbusiness.co.uk www.brother.co.uk www.neuways.com www.papercut.com to provide vendors with the scalable products and solutions so that they are enabled to meet the changing demands.” David Warrington: “Absolutely and thankfully we have OEM partners that recognise that. The A4 market is one many OEMS walked away from in favour of more profitable A3. A4 became a necessary evil rather than a true business offering. It has meant some of our partners have fallen behind as a direct result while others such as Epson and HP have taken advantage of the swing by providing the business technology to satisfy this requirement. “We have actually picked up a lot of traction by not just focusing on consumable delivery and service, but in physically powering the technology. It is still a grey area for business but it is almost becoming the norm now for my clients to ask about energy usage. Their employees have seen a dramatic uplift in energy bills since being at home more and this is a big concern. Being able to provide ink-based technology that runs at 95% less consumption than older laser tech has been a huge and I have to say surprising win for us.” Sam Elphick: “Indeed, our home working clients have given fantastic feedback about the Lexmark Go Line printers, particularly how easy the devices are to install, their small footprint and usability. Obviously the difference is the running costs on these devices is higher, but up to now our clients have accepted this, but it would be good if OEMs could come up with a solution which combats the costing differences for this grade of machine.” Mike Mulholland: “Delivering MPS solutions that support home working is a natural step forward for the print IT sector. “To help partners deliver MPS systems suited for home working, we added small office and home office devices to our MPS portfolio in June last year – offering free remote installation for partners’ Failure to address these critical areas runs the risk of taking us back to the dark ages of unmanaged print and all the problems it presented ...continued Martin Roberts Sam Elphick Mike Mulholland