In today’s various highly competitive IT markets, it truly pays to recognize opportunity. As fundamentally important as that rule of business may be, CompTIA’s Managed Print Services (MPS) community understands it’s only one piece of the puzzle. Optimizing service, accumulating relevant experience and enhancing client connections are all key factors in keeping business-sustaining revenue flowing. The MPS community believes in the importance of improvement at all stages of business growth and how it can impact your ability to recognize and take advantage of opportunity, and in their meeting at AMM 2016, the group emphasized balance between exploring opportunities in new verticals with a commitment to seeking growth at every stage of business development.
The recently released CompTIA research report, IT Opportunities in the Professional Services Vertical, delivered a wealth of insight relevant to a wide variety of channel firms. Tim Herbert, CompTIA’s senior vice president of research, presented at the MPS community meeting, offering detailed insights concerning the specific market opportunities most relevant to managed print services. Focused specifically on the legal, accounting, marketing and PR agency sectors, the research revealed a demand for managed print services in key markets that has proven remarkably strong.
According to the numbers, with over 428,000 businesses encompassing 4.3 million workers, the professional services vertical offers a healthy pool of potential customers. More importantly, many of these firms are classified under small business designations, with the vast majority of firms employing fewer than 10 employees (roughly 87 percent) or 10-99 employees (roughly 11 percent). That means these firms most often work with either a partner or an individual IT person who handles all relevant responsibilities. As for the funds they’re investing in their IT needs? According to estimates from the Commerce Department’s 2013 Information and Communication Technology survey (the current available report with the most recent data), this segment invested approximately $7.7 billion in IT products and services during the study year.
So what does the mean for managed 
print services? Printers ranked the second most frequently cited “tech headache.” While the larger trend reveals there's been a reduction in printed page volumes, many aspects of the professional services sector remain paper intense. A sizable number rank a desire to upgrade hardware like printers in search of improved up-time as a key priority. Furthermore, day-to-day operations in many of these firms are highly dependent on their equipment. Contracts, tax documents, graphic design work—all retain some need for a hard copy. It follows that any disruption in the print process could prove incredibly detrimental to one of those firms, necessitating a dependence on a highly-responsive service provider.
Recognizing an Opportunity is Only the First Step
Understanding how to discover opportunity in verticals like this one are an important skill, one of a mix involved in the essential skill set that keeps MPS operations running. Of course recognizing opportunity is only the first step towards growth and new gains. It takes a dedication to all aspects of business when you’re looking to take your MPS offerings to the next step. Following the deep dive into the research, the community switched gears to address the session’s main topic, discussing tips and offering pointers and direction for growing MPS businesses at every stage. Much of the discussion revolved around familiar concerns, including:
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Common pain points for how to get started
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Lack of understanding on how to create a managed print services program
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Fear of how to structure and manage MPS contract
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Not knowing what to sell
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Not understanding which tools to use
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Questions about who to partner with
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The importance of sales and admin training
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How to present customers a value-based sale instead of a transactional
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Compensation concerns
Again and again, the community pointed to the importance of persistence and clarity, emphasizing that outsourced knowledge and rote phone introductions were symptoms of foundational business concerns. The managed print service industry is incredibly competitive, with those who can demonstrate noticeable advantages to end users apt to stake out key areas of the market. Indeed, the community fostered conversations that echoed the sentiment that quality of service and commitment to improvement were often recognized by customers as clear indicators of success in search of potential new service relationships.
Of course this was just the very tip of the deep discussions that circulated throughout the meeting, which covered a broad diversity of topics. The MPS community strives to support key goals that will drive their industry forward, and their focus this year will reflect a drive to accomplish that. Interested in learning more? Head to their page to find out about upcoming events and initiatives.
