CONVERGING MPS AND MANAGED IT
CONTINUED
and investment to develop and provide a service that would be truly competitive. “Clearly, the attraction of diversification is that it’s a way of growing the business faster. But, for the reasons already noted, it’s not an easy transition. It’s perhaps something that’s more likely to happen through strategic partnerships or acquisition than organically. “For an established managed print provider, working with or absorbing an established managed services business would provide instant credibility and an extended customer base. That’s going to be easier than building their own managed services capability and growing it from a standing start.” Advantages But while the move into managed IT can be difficult, it can be worth it for the advantages it gives to MPS providers and their customers. “The biggest advantage is customer stickiness,” says Nathan. “Clients increasingly want fewer vendors, tighter integration and a single point of accountability. MPS providers who can offer network support, endpoint security, cloud services, and print management under one umbrella become far more valuable. It also diversifies revenue and provides longer-term contracts with higher margins.” But managed IT is a crowded marketplace, so when MPS providers make the move, they must provide a point of difference to customers that can ensure they secure IT and print business from customers. “Their unique selling point lies in their existing trust and on-site presence,” says Nathan. “MPS providers are often already in the building, monitoring devices and engaging regularly. Leveraging that access to proactively assess IT pain points such as security vulnerabilities, patching gaps, or network congestion and offering solutions can open the door to new services. However, they must invest
in genuine IT expertise and not simply rebrand without substance. Clients will notice the difference.”
Continuing convergence Nathan expects that the trend of
convergence of MPS and IT services to continue in the future. “The convergence is not just a trend; it’s part of a broader move toward IT consolidation,” he explains. “With hybrid work, security challenges and digital workflows becoming central to business operations, clients want integrated solutions. “That said, success will depend on how seriously MPS providers commit to becoming IT experts, not just adding logos to a service sheet, but truly investing in the tools, people and processes that define high-performing MSPs.” Chris adds that in the future, we could see managed print and managed services being offered alongside each other by partners that are relatively small today, but already active in both areas. “Most IT partners are now offering some form of managed service, and they can easily provide a simple managed print option with a ready-to-run offering like our own OpenMPS service,” he adds. “This would provide a route into managed print, but without the effort of full diversification. “It’s certainly possible that these businesses will continue grow and expand both parts of their business in parallel and for these companies, offering both managed print and managed services side by side will be completely natural.” n
Nathan Charles head, customer experience
oryxalign.com
Chris Bates director – print and supplies, UK and Ireland
uk.tdsynnex.com
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