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PRINT.IT
01732 759725
VOX POP
And this is now: A Kyocera
TaskAlfa 3510i MFP from 2014
Matt Goodall,
Service Director,
Office Evolution
Phil Jones
Managing
Director,
Brother UK Ltd
Rob Attryde,
Head of
Marketing,
KYOCERA
Document
Solutions UK Ltd
“There is also too much jargon
with multiple meanings. Take
Managed Print Services (MPS)
for example. We provide an MPS
solution very much in sync with how
research organisations such as IDC
and Gartner define the term. We are
providing control, pro-active support
and the ability to implement and
manage a print policy with active
management of both devices and
users. For other suppliers, it can
simply mean providing consumables
for printers on a cost-per-print basis
– not a Managed Print Service in my
book, but certainly sold as such. We
should be clear what we mean; avoid
jargon; and if we must use it then
clarify what we mean.”
Matt Goodall, Service Director,
Office Evolution:
“Jargon in our
industry often sends prospective
customers into a state of confusion.
The convergence of technologies
has left end users confused as to
what they are actually purchasing;
many aren’t sure if they are buying a
printer, a copier, a scanner, a fax or
indeed all of the above. So, clear and
concise product information from
the sales team is essential. Making
sure a full evaluation of a customer’s
needs is undertaken before offering
advice will always help.
“As with many industries, using
buzz words often leaves the client
confused. Yet, we are still supplying
largely the same product. So why
don’t we use the word copier? Quite
simply because that isn’t what the
customer is getting. For many years
scanning has been standard on
machines, which led to fax options
and, of course, USB and network
connectivity for printing.
“Many of our customers refer
to the products we supply by the
main function that they use. So we
often get calls along the lines of “I’m
phoning about the scanner” or “the
big printer”!
“Nowadays it’s the solutions side
of the business that often leads to
the sale of hardware – the ability
to control documents, functionality
and access is key to large and mid-
sized businesses. But all smaller
businesses are interested in is the
functionality of the product.
“Another consideration in our
industry is the stigma of being a
copier salesman – it’s closely aligned
to being a double-glazing salesman.
Past TV programmes highlighting
long and unreasonable leases and
poor practice may have encouraged
companies to look for new
terminology! Is copier a dirty word
nowadays? Probably! The modern
industry bears no resemblance to the
industry of the nineties, and terms
such as solutions provider, document
management specialist and the like
avoid the old stigma.
“As for us, we avoid the use of
job titles completely; the customer
knows why we are there!”
Phil Jones Managing Director,
Brother UK Ltd:
“The industry
itself lives on buzzwords and
acronyms from both the vendor
side and CIO side. In my view, this
is due to the rapid acceleration of
product portfolios and changing
working practices, plus procurement
preferences with a higher bias to
services. Let’s also not shy away from
the fact that some vendors want to
invent new packages or re-package
existing services to keep their sales
pitches fresh!
“I’m all for simplicity wherever
possible. Twenty five years ago we
simply talked features and benefits,
and the bottom line is that nothing
has changed except the labels. A
solution is simply the pain you can
remove through a product/service-
related deployment.
“The further you go up the stack
in terms of business size, the more
jargon tends to exist or get used.
Successful relationships come
as a by-product of establishing
the common language of desired
outcomes with the right customer
narrative, regardless of how it gets
dressed up in industry narrative.”
Rob Attryde, Head of Marketing,
KYOCERA Document Solutions UK
Ltd:
“MFPs, MPS, MDS are industry
jargon and despite the industry’s
best efforts to educate end users
they still don’t slip off the tongue.
“People still refer to the copier
because it’s an historical term. The
thing you bought that sat in the corner
was the copier and you ran copies off
on it. Then people recognised it could
be networked and they started to
print from it, as well as make copies.
So it’s more down to habit than
anything else, because the industry
simply hasn’t come up with a catchy
differentiating name for the device.
“There is a trend to call the device
a printer because while it can copy,
printing and scanning tend to be the
more commonly used functions. Not
so distant future generations will be
so used to digital and soft copies
they won’t expect to see anything
printed out – that will seem archaic.
At KYOCERA we already focus on
solutions to business problems; the
machine itself is only the enabler.”
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