By Amit Singh, CRN, January 6, 2012, 1300 hrs
HP India plans to aggressively extend its managed print services (MPS) to SMBs through channel partners. The company is targeting about 350 listed mid-market accounts for MPS in metro cities, and plans to extend the services in a phased manner to other cities.
“Over the last one year MPS has seen strong growth among enterprises. We expect SMBs to adopt this model to reduce printing costs, improve document processes, enhance employee productivity, and focus on their core strengths. We are focusing on the manufacturing, BFSI, retail and IT/ITeS verticals for now,” said Nitin Hiranandani, Director, LaserJet Enterprise Solutions, HP IPG.
While HP MPS for enterprises consists of end-to-end outsourcing of hardware, supplies and consumables, and software and services, the SMB MPS offering will have an option to outsource specific portions of the workflow. Partners will have the option to offer MPS in various models: customer lease, customer capex and channel lease. “Partners can choose a model to provide supplies and consumables while the customer owns the hardware. They may buy the hardware on the customer’s behalf and offer it on lease.”
As per IDC, the APEJ managed print services market was estimated at $530 million in 2010 and is expected to reach $990 million by 2014. According to the Photizo Group, India is the fastest-growing market for MPS in APAC with a CAGR of 20 percent from 2009 till 2014. According to AMI Partners, about 18 percent of the total printing business from SMBs in India comes from MPS; by 2015, almost 60 percent of the printing business will transform into MPS.
HP will support partners for the deployment of printers by providing pre-sales support including POC and pricing tools. The company is currently identifying partners from the existing HP partners, and also new ones with service network and capital capabilities. “Partner enablement will be completed in six months. We are imparting training on sales models, software solutions, and even structuring the financials of the contracts,” informed Hiranandani. |