Print IT Reseller - issue 48

PRINT IT RESELLER.UK 41 VOX POP traction with ‘one-cost’ for IT and Print in an ‘as a service’ model, which will keep things simple from an end-users’ cost and management perspective. “Print volumes as a whole will continue to fall, maybe not as much as the 10 per cent we have seen recently as there is a leaning toward physical marketing opposed to electronic, which in part will grow colour volumes; especially as colour has never been more affordable. Here again those in a ‘Trusted Advisor’ role will be helping businesses to benefit correctly from print – with consideration of course given to reduction in volumes but not at the exclusion of wider business aims. There needs to be more focus on the value of print to a business and not what the cost is. An internal strategic print policy can be daunting requiring input and support from multiple layers and departments, but a good partner with the ‘right customer’ can help achieve this... interestingly the reported biggest disconnect in terms of importance vs. delivery from a customer experience is ‘providing staff that proactively collaborate with them’ – will 2018 be the year where end-users select their providers more on value than price? “With the enterprise market being mature and somewhat commoditised, there will be more focus on mid-market and SMB and many battles will be fought there.” www.nbg.co.uk Michael George, CEO, Continuum “In 2018, the number one reason that service providers will be fired by their end- customers and a new one will be hired will be security. Clients expect that their service providers are taking every necessary step to secure them against cyberthreats. But, an escalating threat landscape means that there is a new set of attack vectors that those clients aren’t prepared for and a growing portfolio of security tools that they’re not paying for. “Service providers are going to face difficult conversations with their clients, in which they need to explain how the threat has changed and what the clients now need to be protected. These will be challenging, but with the marketplace rapidly retooling and retraining to meet this demand, these service providers must either face the difficult conversation or face being unseated by a more capable rival. “External factors are at play here, too. While 2017’s massive data breaches stole the headlines for a day or two, their effects will be felt for months and years to come as the stolen data is traded and exploited on the dark web well into 2018. Service providers need to decide if they want to have these tough conversations now, or in the aftermath of an attack, their clients thought they were protected against. This is a place where smart IT Service Providers can dislocate the market by leading with a comprehensive and effective security solution. “Service providers seeking the opportunity to be acquired in 2018 need to focus on their sales ability, or avoid getting caught in an M&A ‘no-man’s-land.’ Acquirers are now paying a premium for providers that have either a sales capacity or a cost-effective service delivery capacity. If a provider isn’t excelling at either, they’ll be left in no-man’s-land and will struggle to survive in a market that’s consolidating at a rapid pace. Providers need to shift their organisational focus and economics from service delivery to becoming better in-tune with their market and selling against their needs, or they could struggle to survive beyond 2019.” www.continuum.net While 2017’s massive data breaches stole the headlines for a day or two, their effects will be felt for months and years to come as the stolen data is traded and exploited on the dark web well into 2018 well in this space with their technical aptitude and by virtue of their ‘Trusted Advisor’ position with end-user clients. True service providers should be helping their customers create a living breathing strategic internal print policy document for the business which not only helps with reduction in volume but considers the business needs more holistically. “There will of course be many discussions around GDPR in the first half and wider security considerations – the MFP has long been overlooked by many from a threat perspective – yet it is often an unsecured point of entry (or exit if you consider data leaks) to a customer’s IT infrastructure. Another play to the IT reseller side of the tracks. Although just as the traditional IT reseller has been challenged to add managed print to their portfolio it has proved an even bigger jump for print resellers to add IT services – so maybe more IT acquisitions by the MPS players in 2018 in a reversal of seeing the big IT players buy print businesses over recent times. I also believe we will start to see a true ‘cost per seat’ model gain Sebastiaan Crebolder, Pinnacle Document Solutions