Eric Crump, Director, Strategic Alliances, FollowMe Team at Ringdale spoke to Michelle Ryder about the changes both in terms of technology and customer needs, he’s witnessed over the past ten years.
Crump has racked up a quarter century within the print sector working both in the US and the EMEA region. In addition to his role as Director, Strategic Alliances, FollowMe Team at Ringdale, he is also an executive board member at the Managed Print Services Association and has been a judge at the PrintIT Awards since we launched in 2020.
Looking back to the beginning of his career, he said that his first year in the print sector was both challenging and exciting. “The main thing that attracted me to the sector was the opportunity to work with a competitive team solving problems and winning large contracts for public sector customers. In my first year, our team achieved 125 per cent of quota.”
Crump’s first job was working as a presales engineer for Lexmark selling to US state and local government organisations, schools and universities. “I was working with end-users and resellers in ten states across the southeast from Maryland to Florida to Kentucky,” he explained.
Focus on outcome-oriented solutions
Not surprisingly, Crump agrees that the go-to-market strategy for managed print services has undergone a significant change in recent years. “There is much greater focus on outcome-oriented solutions tailored to meet the specific document needs of each business. In particular, there has been a shift from a product-centric approach to a more consultative, customerfocused approach as a result of today’s dynamic marketplace, where the modern workplace is constantly evolving,” he commented. As competition in the enterprise MPS market intensifies, Crump believes that providing a superior customer experience has become a critical differentiator.
“This requires a deep understanding of each customer’s unique needs and challenges, and the ability to deliver flexible, tailored solutions that meet those needs. In addition, MPS providers must prioritise delivering a full lifecycle, consultative experience, at every level, from the initial engagement through to ongoing support and reviews,” he counsels.
Key priorities
Over the past decade, data privacy and security, in particular, have become key priorities for almost every business. “As a consequence, it is essential for MPS providers to have a comprehensive and flexible security offering and access to technical experts to differentiate their services.
By doing so, they can demonstrate their commitment to protecting their customers’ sensitive information and complying with regulatory compliance requirements in a dynamic market environment,” he continued.
Crump argues that the needs of enterprise managed print services customers have undergone significant changes over the past ten years as the market has matured and in particular, adapted to the recent global events.
“The rapidly changing landscape of the modern workplace, along with a range of geopolitical factors such as supply chain disruptions, international relations, security and sustainability considerations, has transformed the requirements for printing and document management, in a way that is unique to each industry and customer,” he explained.
“Organisations and employees are continuing to adapt to a new way of working, whether in the office, remotely or a combination of both. Consequently, they are still in a ‘discovery’ phase and identifying their evolving needs and assessing infrastructure options; for example, onpremise, cloud-based or hybrid cloud.
While employees may be printing in a similar manner as they did before, when returning to the office, organisations are keen to optimise and transform their business processes and infrastructure to stay ahead of the curve. This will likely lead to new and different approaches to printing.”
The future of managed print services
The opportunity to work collaboratively with customers, partners, and industry leaders to solve the challenges they face is what excites Crump most about the future of managed print services.
“This is what initially drew me to this field 25 years ago, and the opportunity to make a real impact and contribute to the success of our clients and partners continues to be a source of inspiration and motivation. By being attentive to customer needs and delivering solutions that meet them where they are, I am confident that we can create a brighter future for all,” he concluded.
