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You wouldn’t think a secondary supplier of office
technology would have its finger so squarely on
the pulse of what’s happening in the office
technology industry, but think again because
Muratec certainly gets it. At its September
National Dealer Meeting in Las Vegas the company
outlined its strategic initiatives, announced a
host of new products that will be introduced over
the next three years, and educated dealers about
the trends that will shape the future office
technology landscape.
The Muratec Difference  Muratec has done a superior job of creating a business model that makes it easy for dealers to do business with them. Plus dealers seem to respect and enjoy working with Muratec management, a team that understands the channel and the company’s role as a secondary supplier. Jim D’Emidio, President Despite these attributes the competition for preferred secondary provider status has become a little more intense even as certain manufacturers shift their attention away from the BTA channel or stumble and fall as they try and get a foothold into the channel. HP remains the company that everyone loves to hate and other secondary suppliers such as Brother and OKI Data have either moved away from the channel or seem to have less interest in the channel than they once did. Another competitor, Samsung, has had a difficult time gaining traction within the channel for a myriad of reasons. That leaves Lexmark as the most formidable secondary supplier and one that Muratec President Jim D’Emidio concedes has put together a good program and generally supports dealers the way they expect to be supported. “They’ve got their CPC and product costs down and what they’re telling dealers is exactly what we’re telling dealers, ‘Get the MPS and the rest of it, and use MFPs to replace printers,’” acknowledges D’Emidio. “We’re doing everything they’re doing with the exception of, ‘If you need to replace a printer, go with a ‘reman’ printer; no need for a new printer because it doesn’t really matter in an MPS engagement.’” Replacing printers with MFPs that also offer scanning and scan-to-email is what Muratec believes is the greatest opportunity for dealers in the future and the greatest opportunity for them to expand their engines in the field. “That is what we think is the ‘Aha!’ moment and that’s where they can place an engine and tie it into an existing copier lease,” says D’Emidio. “Now they have another hook into that customer for long-time  stability.”Muratec’s Open MPS Strategy Unless one’s head has been buried in the sand for the past three years or so, the future of the office technology dealer channel is without a doubt MPS, and Muratec is focusing on that future. That was a large part of the message they shared with dealers in Las Vegas in September. A commitment to managed print should go a long way towards changing long-standing perceptions of Muratec, and as D’Emidio points out, there’s a variety of perceptions circulating. MFX-2596 “There’s a group of dealers who still see us as a fax company and have a hard time seeing us transitioning into something else,” he says. “Then we have dealers who see us as a Segment 1 lower end, true secondary partner. Then we have a group who see us as something bigger—they’re smaller dealers who may not have a specific primary line and they source some things from distribution and some things from us. We’re hoping there’s a fourth group—the MPS group—who are not traditional BTA dealers but traditional printer VARs or MPS companies.” Muratec’s open MPS strategy is an important element of Muratec’s strategic plan and one they believe will have broad appeal. “To have a successful MPS program dealers need assessment, remanufactured toner, remanufactured printers, and the ability to service machines and printers outside their territories, and in some cases printers they didn’t have expertise on inside their territories,” explains D’Emidio. “We also offer a full line of A4 MFPs to replace printers for scanning.”  With Muratec’s MPS program, dealers can pick and choose the components that make the most sense for their dealership. For example, some dealers already have an assessment tool, but they may need access to remanufactured toner or the ability to service printers outside their area. This program allows them to do that. For those dealers who need access to remanufactured printers and assessment tools, Muratec has that for them. It’s not a one size fits all program, but a program that can be tailored to any dealer or reseller’s business model. MFX-C2700 Marking Your Territory D’Emidio has done his MPS homework attending industry events and talking to dealers. What he’s learned isn’t surprising for anyone following the industry. He acknowledges that companies like Muratec can’t beat HP on printing while adding that HP has gone on record as saying they no longer see a future for standalone printers which are giving way to MFPs. “I was sitting at this conference thinking, ‘HP says printers are going away to MFPs,’” recalls D’Emidio. “Well that’s what we do. We can’t beat HP on printing but we certainly can beat them on scanning, especially if you have an on ramp that’s even better.” The challenge is getting to those printers. “If you get the printer, the benefit is not so much that you’re selling toner, or you have the service, the benefit is you have this printer and when they need to upgrade, you’ll be the first one they try to upgrade with,” states D’Emidio. “If HP is correct, you’re not going to upgrade it with a printer you’re going to upgrade it with an MFP.”  With that in mind,
D’Emidio unveiled a new strategy at the conference
called “Mark Your Territory” that he hopes dealers
will take seriously and implement in their
accounts. The simple solution for marking their
territory is stickers with dealer contact
information that are placed on the devices within
that account. “If an MPS rep from a competitor walks into your account and sees your sticker on a printer, they’re going to walk away,” D’Emidio told his dealers back in September. “This is your copier customer and this is as much a defensive strategy as an offensive strategy. If you don’t do it someone else will.” MFX-C2828 The feedback D’Emidio has received on this common-sense strategy has been positive. Recently he heard from a dealer who is having his service techs mark their territory and whenever the dealership gets a call about an issue with that device, the tech receives a modest commission. Product Roadmap Despite the focus on MPS, Muratec is still in the hardware business and at the conference unveiled a variety of new products that will be introduced over the next three years. In addition to the requisite home-grown products the company is expanding their A3 and A4 product offerings with a little help from their OEM-partner friends—Konica Minolta and OKI Data. Add to that a heightened focus on solutions and services and it’s obvious this isn’t the Muratec that dealers were familiar with when they were simply a supplier of fax machines and low- to mid-range A4 devices. These products and initiatives should go a long way towards encouraging dealers to make Muratec their first choice when looking for a secondary product line. “That’s pretty good from a company that 15 years ago only sold fax machines,” states D’Emidio. “[Back then] our biggest technical jump was going from thermal to plain paper. That was excitement for us.” Internal development at Muratec remains focused on monochrome, but that doesn’t mean the company is ignoring color. In October they began shipping an A3 and an A4 color solution, both sourced from Konica Minolta. “We really believe from a color standpoint Konica Minolta has the best A3 color products in the market,” says Lou Stricklin, director of marketing. “We have a lot of dealers who sell Konica Minolta so obviously they’re not a target for these products, but we have a lot of smaller dealers who are looking for a strong color line and we think this is a good fit for them.” Expect to see a continued focus on A4 with the launch of three new products in this category next year code-named Sydney. The first model is a replacement for the MFX-1950. Muratec hopes this device will help them capture market share from Kyocera and Lexmark in the low-end A4 MFP category. The second model replaces the current MFX-2550 and MFX-2570. This product will offer more aggressive hardware pricing when compared to Muratec’s existing MFX-2550 and MFX-2570 without giving up reliability, functionality, and performance. The third model is a console MFP that will reportedly feature strong imaging performance, multiple paper trays, low CPC, and aggressive hardware pricing. Muratec differentiates their A4 machines from all-in-ones via the price point of consumables and durability of the device which translates to engine life and low maintenance costs. The intent is not to replace A3 devices, but to complement other devices in an office or small workgroup. Compact design, functionality and price will be advantages. Other enhancements include a new scanning design and a new document management solution for desktop faxing and scanning. What’s particularly unique about these devices is an MPS application that is designed for multi-vendor support. This application provides a connection to a cloud service and provides maintenance and usage information on a spreadsheet like Google docs and is collected from multiple locations. This can be accessed from the dealer’s office or the customer’s location. This application is considered a good fit for dealers who haven’t yet started an MPS program. Internal development will remain a priority as the company continues to develop A4 products to fill out their A4 line, including a device that will compete with HP devices at the extreme low-end of the market. Sydney Desktop models will be released in the second quarter of 2012. All will have modular design that will enable dealers to offer it as a desktop model, and then by adding features, build it up to a console model. The Sydney console model will help Muratec compete in the higher end of the A4 market. It replaces the MFX-2590. With this new concept users can add up to four trays. It also includes a large color touch panel, stapler, and embedded cloud-based connectivity. Meanwhile, a new engine will allow Muratec to lower the TCO. Additionally, they’re looking to increase the toner and drum yield. When the smoke clears, expect Muratec’s A3 lineup to grow by seven new models over the next three years starting with three new color models at 22-, 28-, and 36-ppm as well as four monochrome devices at speeds of 22-, 28-, 36-, and 42-ppm. The ultimate goal by broadening the line beyond those segments where Muratec has traditionally played in the past is for Muratec to be an alternative for dealers unhappy with their current primary or secondary OEM. By the end of 2012, Muratec will have released a total of 19 new products, including nine A4 mono, three A4 color, four A3 color and four A3 mono. How important are these products to Muratec’s existing dealer channel and new dealers? “For dealers who we consider our bigger dealers with a primary or two different primary lines, just because we have a couple of A3 products, they’re not going to drop a line, at least not yet,” says D’Emidio. “We’re a little unusual than your normal manufacturer. We expect dealers to cherry pick our line. The guys who want fax and low-end Segment 1, the guys who want higher end A4 may not buy the fax side of it, they have really good primary lines—Canon, Ricoh, Konica Minolta—and are not interested in our A3 offering, but the little guy that doesn’t have a primary line whose been buying NEC or Panasonic, that may be a fit for him. On the low end he may be carrying Brother and not want us thinking we may be too expensive. We’re not at all upset when a dealer says, ‘I just want to take these two machines from you.’ Actually we’re quite happy. We’re more about having dealers because as we believe the market consolidates and other people get out of the BTA channel we’ll look more and more as a promising secondary manufacturer to more and more dealers. And that’s when we expect to expand that product line into more A3 offerings.” It’s a Mod, Mod, Modular Design Another interesting product strategy unveiled in Vegas was a plan to develop and introduce products with a modular design that can be customized at the dealer level. This will reportedly shorten development time and allow Muratec to release at least 20 products over the next five years. The concept originated in Japan in reaction to Muratec’s expansion into the Chinese, European, and Eastern European markets. With this concept devices can be customized to each individual market. “Here in the U.S. price is important, but we’re looking to differentiate through scanning, connections into document management software, and MPS programs,” notes Stricklin. “We’re looking at it from a business solutions standpoint whereas in the Chinese market they’re looking at basic print, copy, fax functions. We are basically being told, ‘Here’s what we designed from a base MFP standpoint or base engine standpoint, what do you need to make it successful in your market?’” Energy Efficient Energy efficiency is another area where Muratec is looking to set themselves apart from competitors. The challenge of creating more energy efficient products is meeting energy saving specifications without affecting machine performance and the user experience. Two ways that Muratec intends to make their future products more efficient is with a new fuser along with next-generation duplex scanner technology. “This is something that’s coming up more and more, particularly in bid opportunities where companies have to report their carbon disclosure rating and want to know how many of the components use recyclable materials, how responsible is the manufacturer when recycling the products or remanufacturing the toner, recycling paper,” says Stricklin. “It’s something that’s really looked at more from a European or Japan market standpoint, but we’re really seeing it as being a differentiator here in the U.S. going forward.” In addition to making their devices more energy efficient and eco friendly, other areas of focus include ease of use, network connectivity, and compatibility with mobile applications. All of these initiatives along with a focus on managed services are expected to help Muratec grow its business in the MFP space where devices have become increasingly commoditized. With the enhanced interest across the industry and outside the industry in network security solutions, Muratec is ramping up efforts there as well. Some of those security solutions will be focused on mobile applications and expand to Wi-Fi communications in the future. Muratec is also working on new toner-saving technology that will reduce toner consumption by 12 percent without affecting image quality. That technology, however, is still 12-18 months away. Other product enhancements include handwriting character recognition at the MFP and improved scanner technology that will be included on all products introduced in 2012. During the conference, dealers were shown an animated representation of a new U-RADF that demonstrated how users can scan the front and back of a document at one time. Mobile communications and the proliferation of smart phones are also impacting the new crop of products coming out of Muratec. One example is the ability to receive fax transmissions in the cloud and retrieve that information via smart phone. Also on tap is the ability to scan documents directly into Evernote via the MFP. Remaining Relevant When all was said and done Muratec presented a strong message to their dealers at their conference and made great strides to remain relevant to their dealer channel. How confident is D’Emidio that these initiatives and new products will keep Muratec in the game going forward? “We have 500 dealers with 225 of those active every month,” responds D’Emidio. “As long as BTA is around we’ll have a channel and a channel that wants to sell those products as long as those products are credible for that channel.” He adds, “When I look at companies like Samsung who have incredibly more marketing money and engineering power and in some cases, more products than we do, they can’t get into the dealer channel because they haven’t paid the dues over the years. I’ve been with this company for 25 years and a lot of us have been here for 20+ years. We are a known quantity.” |
