Jennie Fisher
GreatAmerica Leasing Corp. prides itself on being a company that’s in touch with its clients.
Over the past several years, the Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based financing company – which partners with many office equipment companies – has consistently offered an increasing number of non-financial services. These include remote monitor software, human resources services, and its latest effort, a managed IT service called Collabrance.
“We really work to stay on top of where the industry is at and how we can improve our services,” says Jennie Fisher, senior vice president and general manager of GreatAmerica’s office equipment division.
So it didn’t come as a great shock when GreatAmerica recently won a 2012 MPSA Leadership Awards in the “Professional Services” category. The awards were presented Friday, May 25 at the TRANSFORM 2012 conference, during a special lunch hosted by the MPSA.
The annual competition, now in its fourth year, is open to any company or vendor involved in MPS. Entries were selected by six judges from the MPSA board of directors, who took into account MPS best practices, operational fit, flexibility and growth, and a variety of other factors. The winners spanned the globe, ranging from the corn-fed GreatAmerica to SmartPrint Fleet Management of Queensland, Australia, which won in the “Regional MPS Provider” category.
Great America’s offerings go beyond that of a typical finance business. Fisher says their clients have a wide-range of needs that aren’t limited to the financial, and GreatAmerica has long felt that it could best serve these clients by broadening its horizons. A perfect example is Collabrance, which helps GreatAmerica’s telecommunication, information technology and office equipment customers be the IT department for their small business customers. The program’s features include a 24-hour help desk, data protection, and trouble-shooting service. “We do pretty much everything,” states Fisher.
This is the second time GreatAmerica has won in this category, having won once before in 2010. Josie Heskje, director of strategic marketing for GreatAmerica’s office equipment group, adds the award is a great honor that reflects all the hard work GreatAmerica has done for its customers.
“GreatAmerica has been helping customers be more successful for almost a decade,” Heskje says. “We’ve made a big commitment over time to help our dealers be as successful as possible.”
GreatAmerica was one of two honored companies collecting its second MPSA award. AUXILIO, with offices in Mission Viejo, Ca. and Plymouth Meeting, Pa., is the other.
Below is a complete list of the honorees:
GreatAmerica Leasing Corp. (http://greatamerica.com); Category: Professional Services – Organization with more than one full time employee providing training, research or consultancy.
Preo Software, Inc. (/”> preosoftware.com); Category: Software Provider – Organization that develops software for MPS, whether sales management, device management, user management, service management or billing.
Auxilio (http://auxilioinc.com/); Category: Independent MPS Provider: Organization that has no reseller agreement with one or more manufacturers such as facility management companies, IT managed services providers, consumable distributors/retailers with direct or channel MPS programs.
SmartPrint Fleet Management (http://www.smartprint.net.au/); Category – Regional MPS Provider – Non-US organization selling managed print services not owned by a manufacturer, but may be tied to reselling one or more brands; includes consumable resellers with an MPS offering. Smartprint Fleet Management is the first MPSA Leadership winner from Australia.
ARC Document Solutions (http://http://www.e-arc.com/); Category: Indirect/Reseller Award – Organization selling managed print services which is not owned by a manufacturer but may be tied to reselling one or more brands; includes consumable resellers with an MPS offering.
Kyocera Mita (www.kyoceradocumentsolutions.co.uk); Category: Direct/OEM – An organization selling managed print services, which is owned directly or indirectly by a manufacturer (includes branches and any subsidiaries)
