Toshiba Joins MPSA to Help Expand Scope of Its Market Presence
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc., has joined the Managed Print Services Association (MPSA) as a Platinum Member. Toshiba America Business Solutions is an independent operating company of Toshiba Corporation, one of the world’s largest electronics and electrical equipment companies and a leading managed print services provider with experts that help organizations take control of document security, workflow and print environments. The company expects to benefit from its association with the MPSA by contributing to ongoing discussions and networking opportunities as well as taking advantage of the organizations’ many other membership benefits.
“In the long-term, we believe our MPSA membership will pay dividends as Toshiba continues expanding the scope of its MPS business as this segment evolves and finds new audiences,” said Bill Melo, vice president of marketing, services & solutions at Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc. “MPS has been a part of Toshiba's business strategy for more than seven years. As the copier industry matures and starts to decline, we realize that MPS provides our dealers the greatest opportunity to grow their business. We have been educating our dealer network on MPS for many years and are committed to helping them build the infrastructure to support an MPS sales strategy.”
Becoming a Platinum Corporate Member of the MPSA aligns with Toshiba’s presence as nationwide MPS experts. MPSA President Joe Barganier believes Toshiba and the MPSA share the goal of staying at the forefront of the MPS arena.
“As a company that has led the MPS field for many years, Toshiba’s knowledge, experience and leadership should be an asset to the MPSA community,” said MPSA President, Joe Barganier. “Toshiba’s commitment to Platinum-level support shows its belief in the importance of MPS as a business model, and its willingness to invest in programs that contribute to the growth of the industry.”
As a leader in MPS since 2001, one of the greatest challenges Toshiba has seen is striving to educate the vast number of people who do not understand what MPS means.
“There is a lot of ongoing confusion among decision makers and end users,” Melo said. “We hope to help raise the awareness of MPS among today’s businesses, which may be struggling to properly manage their documents, as well as to sustain this category and help develop it into the next generation of business solutions. Educating our audience about programs such as Toshiba’s Encompass, for example, will showcase the value of a company optimizing its fleet of printers and managing its print environment. In some cases, our end-users are showing savings as high as 60 percent.”
Melo believes that in the current economy, CIOs are taking a more strategic seat in solving business problems, as well as finance and purchasing being charged with reducing costs. Toshiba has found that now is the ideal time to move the discussion from one that’s price-driven to savings conversation – which is where MPS comes in. In the coming year, Toshiba believes there is room for growth in MPS activity.
“We've found that there is great opportunity with medium-sized businesses,” added Melo, referring to organizations with between six-to 25 copiers and 51- to-250 printers. “The selling cycle is much shorter than an enterprise, and they reap significant savings from moving to an MPS program.”