enx magazine

Barry Deuschle, Rick Bock, Jeff Sapp and Sherlock Washington repeatedly heard these comments as they demonstrated the features of their PrintMIB products at the PrintMIB booth at the ITEX tradeshow.

The simple answer to “What is PrintMIB?” is a meter collection device that quickly and easily collects, records and transfers meter readings from customers networked print devices printing equipment. This is accomplished without any software having to be installed on the computer running the scans. The PrintMIB Meter Read Key™, selling to dealers for $249, can be a very effective sales tool in doing a simple site assessment, as well as an economical way to accurately acquire meter readings. Print capturing devices are becoming a common tool for maintenance agreement billing.

But that is just the tip of the iceberg of PrintMIB Meter Read Key’s usefulness. The ability for PrintMIB USB key to help your sales team is often overlooked. Use of it can instantly allow your marketing reps to appear very knowledgeable and technology savvy when used on a current or future customer’s networked system. By simply plugging the key into the end user’s USB port, the PrintMIB software collects, displays and stores to a database, the following on all SNMP compliant print devices connected to a customer’s network, usually in less than 60 seconds.

EXAMPLE OF OUTPUT

?Serial number ?Manufacturer ?Model ?IP Address ?Mac Address ?Page counts (mono, color, 2 sided) ?Color/mono print device Type ?Supplies part numbers and percentage of toner life remaining ?Console Screen Message

Results are quickly displayed on the screen and written to the keys database eliminating the need to waste time roaming the office printing out test pages. There is no need to walk around finding individual pieces of equipment to run test pages in order to collect meter reads.

PrintMIB Meter Read Key™ can provide instant equipment and usage knowledge for a visiting sales rep. It is very easy to do a complete equipment audit in seconds. The sales person can go into a cold account and do a simple site assessment in a minute and reveal to the client that they have the technology that will allow them to begin to intimately understand their needs. There is no limit to the number of pieces of equipment that can be read and stored. The sales rep can set up another appointment for 2 to 4 weeks in the future to return for a follow-up meter read. At this point the rep can use PrintMIB’s reporting tools to show not only the print environment as it exists but also the changes that have occurred since previous scans. This will then provide the necessary information needed to propose new equipment recommendations, a bundled print management program or an in-house shift of default printers.

This type of detailed print analysis will increase the credibility of your sales rep. Rather than asking the client about their usage, the sales rep can accurately and intelligently discuss the client’s needs. Performing an information seeking scan has a negligible impact on the client’s network and only reads information provided by a particular device. PrintMIB Meter Read Key™ never attempts to write any values to the end users device. Results from scans are only saved to the database located on the USB key and never transmitted anywhere else without the user initiating it.

After the sale, each subsequent scan by the sales rep builds a more accurate history of device usage. By running the comparison reports, the sale rep can professionally advise the customer on how to get the most out of their Copiers, MFP's, Printers and FAX Machines as well as total cost of ownership.

Another popular report, Discovered/Missing Devices, will identify any missing equipment that was formerly on the network as well as highlight any newly discovered devices. This is especially helpful to the client in a large equipment atmosphere. Being able to quickly and accurately identify missing equipment often helps the end-user be able to follow-up on misplaced equipment before it becomes untraceable.

PrintMIB Meter Read Key™ allows you to sell yourself first, sell your Company second and then sell the solution.

Other creative ways the PrintMIB Meter Read Key can be used, is to award them to quota attaining sales people. You will find that it can be more economical than Mont Blanc pens & best of all, the meter read key will help your over achievers continue to attain quota and set the mark for the rest to follow. The USB key can be custom inscribed with your companies name, logo, or any other information you request. The permanently attached swivel cover automatically prevents having to deal with lost end caps or damaged port attachment mechanisms.

To get a bit more technical: PrintMIB requires Microsoft Windows 2000, XP or 2003; TCP/IP networking, Power User rights or higher to run the program (only the first time it is used on a particular workstation) and Internet access if collected information is to be sent off site. Currently, PrintMIB supports all major manufacturers including: Brother, Canon, Dell, Epson, Fujitsu, Gestetner, Hewlett Packard, Hitachi, IBM, Konica-Minolta, Kyocera Mita, Lanier, Lexmark, OKI Data, Panasonic, QMS, Ricoh, Samsung, Savin, Sharp, Source Technologies, Tektronix, Toshiba and Xerox.

What sets apart the PrintMIB meter read key from the rest is how the Historical scan data is organized. The PrintMIB software uses a 3 tiered structure containing Clients, Locations and Devices. Multiple Clients may have unlimited locations and Locations can have unlimited devices spread across multiple IP address ranges.

Setting up unique Clients and Locations provides the ability to logically and simply store multiple scans for each location. Stored scans can be opened from the Client Administrator for viewing and can also be used for comparative analysis between multiple stored scans.

PrintMIB can perform two types of scans. The “Stored Scan” can be performed and then written to the database or the “Q-Scan” can be informational only to get a quick snapshot of the network. Both types of scan are displayed in the Scan Results window.

Items will show up in red when a supply (toner) level is low.

The PrintMIB Meter Read Key provides quick, accurate, unlimited and easy to use meter reads, asset management and supply usage history at an excellent price. There are NO hidden or recurring monthly charges to use the PrintMIB software, nor are there any charges for technical support.

Also being offered is QuickMIB, a Remote Meter Collection Software product selling to the dealer community for $49. QuickMIB collects meter reads and remotely sends them from the customer to the dealer (or leasing company) in an encrypted email that can be easily imported into your accounting or reporting program. This eliminates the need for the dealer or leasing company to have to repeatedly call, fax or email the end user for accurate meter readings. Both you and your client will no longer have to deal with the annoying task of periodic meter monitoring.

Later this year, PrintMIB plans to release a “Collection Server” targeted at customers with multiple Meter Read Keys. This software will facilitate the consolidation of data stored on multiple keys into a central database.

PrintMIB maintains a direct sales and support staff that is committed to helping the dealer make the value added sale. PrintMIB’s sales staff and application engineers are able to customize requirements to functions and recommend semi or full custom solutions. PrintMIB supports all their products with ongoing technical support, warranty coverage and complete documentation packages. PrintMIB’s staff is always willing to be responsive to your client’s needs.

PrintMIB invests over 50% of all its software royalties to further research and development of the software products needed by our ever-changing industry. This level of financial and intellectual investments ensures PrintMIB software will remain on the cutting edge of office solution dealer needs.

PrintMIB’s close contact with the document printing industry enables them to be responsive to your ever-changing market place. Their ongoing relationship with print device suppliers, resellers and users enables PrintMIB’s staff a unique knowledge and understanding of the difficulties faced by each. This commitment to proactive excellence enables PrintMIB to continue to develop and provide powerful, practical and economical print capture solutions.

Technical support is available:

Monday – Friday 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM EST @ 1.866.722.6642

PrintMIB, LLC www.printmib.com

email: sales@printmib.com or support@printmib.com

Profile Archive Issues

2006

Free Tech Tips

All Articles are also in

word document

Printable Versions -

PRINT

www.enxmag.com

40,000 COPIES MAILED OUT EACH MONTH * FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO IMAGING INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS * COMPANY & BUSINESS PROFILE MONTHLY FEATURES