Competitive Differentiation Through MPS Consultative Services
Witzig The Office Company offers everything needed for a holistic, efficient office environment. As a large office furniture company based in Switzerland, Witzig also offers their clients a variety of office products and supplies. Their second business unit is focused on office technology: printing and other communication technologies such as Beamer, flat screens and other multimedia. Their third business unit deals with office supplies and consumables, from pens to toner cartridges.
- The Commoditization of Printers
- The Demand for Convenient Printing
- Consultative Service as a Competitive Differentiator
The Commoditization of Printers
Witzig was originally a traditional copier reseller, oriented on Canon and Konica Minolta products, with a strong, professional service organisation and a significant customer base within the eastern part of Switzerland. Witzig had been offering managed print services for a long time; however, this was dedicated to copiers and MFP's. Jens Björnsen, Managing Director for Witzig, notes that click charges are coming under pressure more and more, particularly in Switzerland. Jens states, "Devices are exchangeable and are losing their importance in the agenda of customers. Additionally, the price of a printer is nearly zero, and therefore there is no pain anymore in having a printer or small MFP on every desk. The value of service is similarly declining, because for all of these inexpensive devices, no special service is required."
The problem Witzig discovered was that the majority of their click based page volume was moving towards local devices. A price war resulted: Witzig and their copier competitors tried to survive with a continuously shrinking margin while the printer business was growing at a double digit rate.
The Demand for Convenient Printing
Jens reflects back on the trend towards convenient printing. "That was for me a very clear sign for change," he states. "Customers want to communicate, and part of their communication flows over printed paper. But that's all. They don’t have any interest in managing printer fleets or ordering supplies every week for their printers. But they have to cut costs."
Witzig chose PrintFleet software to power their eFleet program, and they were impressed with the ease of installing the technology. Due to the simple architecture of PrintFleet's software, Witzig was up and running in one day. Jens states, "PrintFleet's business model allows us to run our MPS solution without big investments or large risks regarding IT infrastructure or long-term contracts." Because the software is intuitive and easy to understand, Witzig's staff quickly learned how to use it. As Witzig is a Canon dealer, PrintFleet's support for Canon devices was an important feature when comparing remote monitoring solutions. Jens states, "The ease of use, extensive device support, and ready to market package made our decision to partner with PrintFleet very simple."
"Customers want to communicate, and part of their communication flows over printed paper. But that's all. They don't have any interest in managing printer fleets or ordering supplies every week for their printers. But they have to cut costs."
Jens notes the eFleet solution can work for any office, however, they focus on companies that have between 50 and 500 PC workstations. Their strategy is straight-forward: instead of selling new devices as they had with their copier-based strategy, Witzig offers to manage heterogeneous printer fleets. Jens notes that this strategy is successful, because most customers have experienced unsuccessful attempts at consolidation and standardization; over time this simply doesn't work well.
Consultative Service as a Competitive Differentiator
Witzig's second step is to install PrintFleet in order to find out what is really happening with the customer's printing environment. After one or two months, Witzig will return with a detailed report and suggestions for how to improve the situation for the short and long term. Gradually, Witzig takes over the management and operations of the entire copier and printer fleet. After a phase of stabilization, they plan to replace or redeploy devices wherever it makes sense.
Witzig's solution has proven beneficial for their customers as well. For one particular client, Witzig has brought cost savings of 24% or 100,000 CHF ($87,161 USD). Witzig helped reduce their devices from 148 to 105, and were able to sell 55 Canon multifunction devices and 50 Lexmark printers.
Based on figures from all of Witzig's installations thus far, Jens believes they could easily grow their business within their current customer base between 20% and 30% just by adding the printer business to their click contracts. PrintFleet has helped Witzig get to the next stage of maturity with their solution and service business. Jens states, "We are now more the trusted advisor than the general copier reseller. We learned a lot about processes involved in printing, and the driving applications, and I am quite sure that all this knowhow will be extremely wealthy in the near future."
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