Remember when the industry was MPS crazy?
That’s all everybody seemed to talk about whether or not the channel was ready to go to market with it or not. Of course that’s the way it is with any new technology or service. Hype, hype, and more hype, and then it becomes what one might call a traditional service offering.
Even though everyone in the document imaging industry seems to know what MPS is today, or at least should know, it’s still a talking point at conferences, in conversations with OEMs, aftermarket suppliers, and leasing companies. The reason being, so many resellers have tried and failed at it while there’s also a significant reseller population who have yet to add MPS to their menu of service offerings. Also contributing to the ongoing discussion of MPS is a growing number of resellers who have achieved success in this segment, including plenty who are more than willing to share their knowledge with their peers in the industry.
It’s safe to say that MPS with its 10+ year history is well established in the document imaging/office technology channel. Maybe it wasn’t known as MPS in the early days, and in some cases the definition of MPS has been misconstrued by many in the industry, leading in some cases to unrealized riches, but all the same, those who have been offering it for several years have learned some valuable lessons along the way.
That’s why we continue to write about MPS here in ENX.
This month’s feature, “MPS History Lessons” examines how the industry perception and the market perception of MPS has changed over the past several years as well as how the MPS offering itself has changed. We also examine some of the lessons learned from the pioneers in the industry—resellers, OEMS, services and supplies companies, and industry consultants who have been instrumental in raising the profile of MPS to where it is today.
Our MPS coverage this month can also be found on our website (www.enxmag.com) and in our newsletter, ENX The Week in Imaging, with articles that outline common pitfalls encountered by those entering the MPS space along with observations from MPS advocates as to whether or not it’s too late to get into the MPS game if you aren’t in it already.
Not to give anything away, but one thing is obvious after listening to the MPS advocates, and that is MPS is here to stay, which means this is one topic that we’ll all be talking about and reading about for the foreseeable future.
