Print.IT Reseller - issue 88

01732 759725 VOX POP 44 ...continued new things out on the cheap. As it’s such a simple process to carry out, some companies won’t do their due diligence as much and take on a new subscription without fully understanding it because it’s cheap to ‘have a go’ at. “With the subscription model, there can be huge benefits, but the downside is employees in a business going off in different directions using different services, without taking a step back and taking in a wider review of the model. “To sum up: subscription-based services provide a lower barrier to entry, with less scrutiny required, but, in reality, you might not get the full benefits envisaged and might have lots of people doing similar things. When thinking of an overarching strategy, it is important to consider where these subscription models fit within.” Mark Bailey, Managing Director, EBM Managed Services: “The traditional is changing for the better. The transactional model of print and IT devices has been fading for years. Even before COVID-19 hit, the vast majority of our customers were leasing their devices and IT alongside a support agreement. This gives customers certain tax breaks, frees up their cash flow and means that they can upgrade with ease, as well as ensuring that they can get reliable repairs/services, are in a better position to scale their requirements, and can reap the benefits of advancing technologies, including cloud solutions. “For sellers, it gives us the opportunity to grow relationships and retain customers as their leases come up for renewal. As it applies to print and IT, everything-as-a- service actually allows for a more vibrant market with greater opportunity to attract and retain business.” James Pittick, Director of B2B Indirect Sales, Canon UK & Ireland: “The adoption of as-a-service solutions has become a crucial component to the shift towards a subscription economy across the industry. TV on demand services have reshaped the consumer world and we are increasingly seeing a wider range of consumer businesses, from automotive dealers to coffee chains, offering some form of subscription model. “It has been suggested and now proven that the multi-tenant, cloud- based architecture of as-a-service provides businesses with a flexible and accessible work strategy that optimises the hybrid work environment. Scalable, easily procured user models hosted in the cloud and provided as a subscription service, are gaining particular popularity as they support the proliferation of agile working strategies.” Stuart Sykes, Managing Director, Sharp UK: “We are not seeing the desire to purchase on a subscription basis reach all sectors of the economy and so the As companies transition to hybrid work environments we’re seeing a rapid shift to cloud services, and our sector should embrace everything-as- a-service pull from clients is relatively small. For those print and IT resellers who are built upon recurring revenue streams, the subscription model opens up significant opportunity to turn those one-hit revenues into longer term recurring and stable annuities. So it is up to resellers to be creative, invest in the long-term and proactively offer clients something new.” Andy Johnson, Solutions and Alliance Partner Development, Brother UK: “Businesses are turning to technology to scale-up capacity and build resilience, but these investments are having to be balanced against the inflationary cost pressures that many firms are facing. “Making costs more predictable where possible can certainly help. In fact, our research found that almost half (46 per cent) of IT leads are prioritising it, and this is driving demand for software- as-a-service (SaaS) models. “In print, this is translating into a growing appetite for managed print services and this will only continue as more businesses settle into permanent hybrid working models.” Dave Prezzano, UK & Ireland Managing Director, HP Inc.: “The increased demand for everything-as-a-service has opened up a growth opportunity for companies to revaluate and reinvent their business model. The pandemic has had a material impact on the future of work, accelerating digital transformation, cloud adoption and the shift to as-a-service. The overarching signal to the market is the expectation that the print and IT sector provides flexible solutions. “As companies transition to hybrid work environments we’re seeing a rapid shift to cloud services, and our sector should embrace everything-as-a-service. Companies that prioritise and invest in hybrid work models will be able to adapt to changing business needs and employee expectations quickly and seamlessly, thereby facilitating services to customers that simplifies management, improves productivity and enables flexibility to scale. HP recently announced HP Managed Print Flex, a service which offers channel partners an opportunity to grow predictable print revenue and profit, without complexity and risk through bringing a managed print services subscription plan onto the cloud. With HP Managed Print Flex our customers and partners can arm their hybrid workers with the essential and secure print technology they need to be productive.” Mark Bailey James Pittick