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Will Dell’s ProManage Derail Your MPS Strategy?

By Ken Stewart on April 21, 2009

dell_logo_new_emea Today, everything is being monitored. No, I’m not talking about “Big Brother” either. While programs like Tivoli and what used to be called OpenView have been available for quite some time, the costs of managing and monitoring network nodes have come down dramatically – enough for even the smallest of companies to afford.

With tools like Silverback or LogMeIn, affordability is no longer the objection. And now Dell rolls out its newest offering, ProManage Managed Services.

Dell ProManage-Managed Services proactively monitors IT networks 24/7/365 to cut technology costs and complexity, stop downtime and increase employee productivity. Risk-free Dell ProManage-Managed Services start at $9 per month with no upfront investment or long-term contract required

With so many companies looking to cut costs, outsourcing is the new black – again. But it goes beyond just staff augmentation and into skill augmentation. This heralds a larger movement by companies well positioned to off-set specific skills deficits within small-to-medium (SMB) businesses.

What else does this sound like?

Why managed print services (MPS), of course. But what is the offset between managed print services solely focusing upon output device optimization (and possibly some electronic document management) and managing all of the peripherals – and infrastructure?

Perhaps a case can be made either way, but be careful of pitching your “total solution” because against this, it might not be considered so “total” anymore. While you and I both know it’s a horse of a different color, I would leave you with one question:

Is the future of MPS simply a sub-component of the total management architecture a client would desire – or even require?

Ken Stewart’s website, ChangeForge, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology in an information-centric world. Ken is also the founder of Seeking the Son. He is always interested in connecting; To discover the many ways you may connect with him, visit him at DandyID.


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Ken Stewart

People-focused, business-minded, technology-savvy leader who likes to ask: "Why?"

  • Umm...yeah!

    The IT guys are stealing MPS - where have I heard that before...let me think...oh yeah, here:

    http://bit.ly/ZWMHq

    Remember back when copiers just started to connect to networks and how all those sales managers would tell their copier reps they needed "...to talk to the IT guys, they are deciding what goes on the network..." well, most copier reps were and still are intimidated by IT folks.

    So, one day, MPS will be part of a MSP's portfolio - very simple - and there will be no more copier reps - http://bit.ly/8cY1N

    As for Dell - no big deal - the big boys are going to roll on through this MSP niche, I don't know how well Dell will fare...
  • Michael_Josefowicz
    What do people think of taking a different approach. The idea is to look at Managed Print Services to expand into managing an organizations total print buy. There are a couple of huge BPO's that grew from outsourced print management.

    So instead of taking on IT directly, go for the print piece. it's very visible, it's a pain in the butt for almost every organization. Lots of pain to taken away. Given that the software is only going to get easier and easier, and therefore cheaper and cheaper, the margins are going to have to be small. Plus the IT people will make your life miserable.

    So manage the print piece. Bring in Google Apps and other SaaS offerings and keep printing stuff at the workgroup, the CRD or the commercial pay for print folks.
  • Michael, if I'm hearing you correctly, you are advocating not changing anything, just outsourcing printing?
  • Michael_Josefowicz
    Short answer yes but...there is nothing "just" about outsourcing printing. I assume any MPS looks at most internal print process, and walks away saying " How could any serious organization be so inefficient." Meanwhile the IT people must have an attitude that says "Big deal, it's just printing. And such a ridiculous waste of time. Everything should be online anyway. If only our users weren't so stupid!"

    It's a similar story with print any organization produces. The real hard part is getting into the "document management" of the to be printed document. That's where the savings are.

    Let me give what might seem a self serving example but I think it makes the point. Years ago I did a gig with Met Life. We used the same vendor they have been using for years. With the same team that produced the product. The bill for the previous year's project was about $900K. By just managing the approval process to eliminate a gezillion unnecesary proofs and dumb meetings and a couple of common sense (to a professional) design adjustments the same job was purchased for $600K.

    All it needed was a little project management.

    Print for many organizations is high drama, lots of overtime and unnecessary stress that can turn into big bucks. Buying print is not sending out for lowest bid. It's putting the systems in place to collaborate and process manage.

    I would assume that on a conceptual level it must be very similar to MPS. Only the document to be managed is produced on an output device called a commercial printer.
  • Wow, you hit that spot on. In point of fact, the higher levels of MPS, according to a select few at this point, is actually beginning to extend into your example in very deep integrations and after trust has been established at the level of "buying print."

    I love how you contrast the opinions from vendor/partner and victim/client ;-) That's why I do what I do. When I came to work for my current employer almost 6 years ago now, I hated printing. I knew the position could be elevated and even though I still get called "the printer guy" or the "the copier guy" I now know this shows a lack of education on my clients' behalf as I bring PM methodologies to the table and help to focus the sales group during the delicate phase of delivering upon their promises.
  • Michael_Josefowicz
    How cool! I should have known you were somehow in the print game.I spent 30 years being the "printer." It's the original Rodney Dangerfield job. No respect. But printing is where the rubber meets the road on communication. What I love about printing is that it's the place where all the idiotic things people do become visible.

    When you do real Print/ PM on high stakes projects you get to try to manage real life. Envy, fear, creativity, intelligence, generosity, the joy of victory, The agony of defeat. The downside is that only other printers/PMs appreciate it. The only time you get noticed is when something screws up. It's like the copier everybody takes for granted until the paper jams. Then it's the "damn the copier."

    Everybody else thinks it's just printing. Since I lived in commercial print I don't know MPS. But if they could focus organizing print, all of print, they're in the best possible position for organizing communications.

    My own passion is fixing high school education at the bottom of the high school pyramid. I'm positive that the key to it is replacing textbooks with customized print. That would crack open education to MPS and fix a lot the education problem at the same time in real time. I know this sounds like bull, but I'll do a post about how it works so you can see how I think it plays out.
  • You guys are either going paranoid or just trolling for blog content. Managed Services is a concept not a product. It is applicable to any thing that can/needs to be managed to increase utilization. But dont take my word for it our good friends at wikipedia define it as

    Managed services is the practice of transferring day-to-day related management responsibility as a strategic method for improved effective and efficient operations. The person or organization who owns or has direct oversight of the organization or system being managed is referred to as the offerer, client, or customer. The person or organization that accepts and provides the managed service is regarded as the service provider.
  • You answered my call yourself, Max, and have supported mine and Greg's assertion that Managed PRINT Services are simply going to become Managed Services... Outsourcing non-core competencies has been practiced for a long time by IT partners and vendors. I was part of the aggressive contract the Navy and Marine Corps rolled out to outsource all CONUS computer operations and allow us to focus on field deployments in support of our primary mission, WAR - not running a base in the US.

    And again, MPS IS a program or process, not a concept ;-)

    To effectively run programs you must have human resources and apply technology smartly.
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