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Print.IT Reseller 0870 903 9500 26
Phil Matthews of Kanban believes
so. Based on almost twenty years’
experience in the printer business,
he has developed new software
for the reseller channel that allows
their customers to monitor mixed
feets and, based on current usage
patterns, forecast what consumables
will need replacing in a given period.
The web-based supplies portal doesn’t
just provide information on the status of
consumables: it also measures device/
feet utilisation; energy consumption of
individual devices; the cost per page; the
reliability of devices; and depreciation.
Established technology
The software is based on established
technology that has been around for more
than a decade and is used by major MPS
providers. However, this is the frst time
that it has been used to build a hosted
solution for small and medium-sized
businesses, with a focus on reducing
the time and cost of selling and buying
supplies.
Matthews says that Kanban is ideal
for businesses that want to reduce print
costs and ineffciencies but either don’t
want to be tied to a contract or, because
of their feet size, don’t warrant a fully
fedged MPS solution (though it can also
be used by larger feets to collect baseline
data needed to make the transition to a
full MPS.)
“When I was at my previous company
we spent $100,000 on research
corroborating Gartner’s view that MPS will
cover 30% of the market. This leaves 70%
buying hardware, consumables and service
outside MPS,” he said. “Furthermore,
many copier vendor MPS implementations
only cover MFDs, leaving the customer to
manage its printers.”
Kanban provides such organisations
with forecasts on their future consumables
requirements, enabling them to purchase,
say, a month’s supply in advance so that
when a cartridge runs out there is a
replacement in stock. In this way, it frees
them from the expense and ineffciencies
of reactionary, ad hoc consumables
purchases and gives them the potential
to negotiate favourable pricing from a
supplier.
Better relationships
Currently, Kanban only supplies the portal
to the trade as a hosted service, so the
only way an end user can get hold of it is
if a reseller provides it to them as part of
their service. This begs the question, why
would they want to do that if it gives the
customer the power to negotiate better
prices?
The answer in a nutshell is loyalty:
by giving this tool to customers and
empowering them to run their feet and
purchase their supplies more effciently, a
reseller makes it more likely that they will
win repeat orders for consumables (the
portal supports automatic consumables
re-ordering for contract customers). Having
information on the energy consumption,
performance and running costs of devices
will also enable a reseller to provide
consultancy and develop deeper, longer-
lasting relationships with customers.
Forecasting for proft
A key attribute of Kanban is its forecasting
function, which allows a supplier to
aggregate all the replacement supplies
a customer will need in a given period
in one delivery. Other solutions used by
MPS providers respond to alerts from
individual devices. Each order is fulflled
and despatched within the contractual
time-frame.
“A lot of customers come to us because
they are dissatisfed with alert-driven tools.
If you only respond to alerts you have
chaos and the cost to the reseller supplying
the service is higher than it needs to be.
Forecasts allow you to aggregate orders
and ship at lower rates, which saves time
and money,” Matthews explained.
It also gives supplies companies vital
market intelligence that according to
Matthews’ estimates can improve the
performance of a telesales department by
as much as 1000%. If you can see how
many cartridges a business is likely to need
in the next four weeks, it makes selling to
that business much easier as every call is a
qualifed call.
Kanban will also forecast and
supply multiple cartridges if the system
determines that heavily used machines
will need additional replenishments in the
period. As Matthews says: “You can’t do
that with alerts.”
Of course, Kanban will only be of value
if a customer is happy to have its printer
feet monitored in this way, but Matthews
believes that the benefts to end users are
so great that most are. He argues that
supplies companies could even use the
cloud-based portal as a selling point to
attract new customers.
“I believe that over the coming
months customers are going to have far
more choice in all areas of offce print
procurement and management. The cloud
isn’t about off-site hardware or alternative
software licensing models; it’s about
delivering the same specialised platforms
and process effciency that has transformed
procurement, processes and service
delivery in other industries. These advances
and customers’ economic constraints are
already driving change across all areas
of the imaging industry with progressive
channel partners at all levels getting ready
to up their game.”
www.kanbanmps.com
info@kanbanmps.com
supplies portal
Do your customers
need an MPS after all?
Is MPS always the best
route to go down or is there
another way businesses can
improve day-to-day device
management? Could taking
charge of consumables
purchasing on its own be
enough to bring big savings?
...it makes
selling
to that
business
much
easier
as every
call is a
qualifed
call.