A Closer Look at the Magic Quadrant
A few weeks ago, Gartner released its 2011 “Magic Quadrant for Managed Print Services, Worldwide” report, and the subsequent press releases from MPS providers who made the list started flying in.
Of course, it included all the big names – HP, Xerox, Ricoh, etc. But many other MPS providers apparently didn’t make the cut – begging the question of what sort of inclusion/exclusion criteria Gartner uses to determine which companies end up in the Magic Quadrant and where.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t get my hands on the actual report, as it comes with a hefty price tag, but I was able to find some key information from last year’s report. And although some of it might have changed for the 2011 “Magic Quadrant for Managed Print Services, Worldwide,” I think this gives a pretty good look at Gartner’s evaluation process.
Within the extensive report, Gartner listed its inclusion criteria, noting, “Only vendors that meet all the following criteria are included.” The list consists of:
- “Is able to provide the equipment (via lease or as a procurement service)
- Provides the supplies
- Performs the break/fix and preventive maintenance
- Provides the technical support
- Provides MPS in two or more world regions to at least one customer. The customer must be verifiable and have at least 500 MPS users. The regions are North America; Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA); Asia/Pacific (including Japan); and Latin America.
- Provides the long-term tracking and management of the printer/MFP fleet
- Performs the initial assessment(s)
- Buys back or disposes of existing equipment that is being replaced, if this is required
- Bills on a per-page or per-seat basis”
The exclusion criteria were much more concise. Gartner said, “The inclusion criteria exclude print-related services that fall short of MPS. These include traditional, narrowly drawn copier contracts, certain retail printer service packages, and most infrastructure outsourcing contracts. Some genuine MPS providers also did not qualify because they do not serve multiregional customers in a unified way.”
With this criteria and evaluation process, the 2010 Magic Quadrant broke down as follows: Xerox, Ricoh and HP were in the Leaders Quadrant; Lexmark, Canon, Pitney Bowes and Toshiba were placed in the Challengers Quadrant; and Océ and Konica Minolta were named Niche Players. The Visionaries Quadrant was empty. “At the current level of market maturity, there are no Visionaries in this Magic Quadrant,” the report explained.
Gartner does point out that just because a company is named a “Leader” in the Magic Quadrant doesn’t mean that it is the only choice for the customer. “All selections are buyer-specific,” the report said, “so vendors in the Challengers, Visionaries or Niche Players quadrants may sometimes be a better match for your requirements.” The report goes on to say that customers who aren’t ready to go global, customers who are primarily interested in reducing costs and devices, smaller organizations, or customers looking for more attentive providers should seek out the companies in the Challengers, Visionaries and Niche Players Quadrants.
Now, I have not been covering the managed print services industry for long, but throughout these past few years, I have come across many managed print providers (some of which have been snatched up by these Magic Quadrant companies) that seem like they should be sitting next to the likes of HP, Xerox and Ricoh – maybe not in the Leaders Quadrant, maybe not even in the Challengers Quadrant, but definitely evaluated and placed somewhere in the Magic Quadrant.
Gartner’s 2010 “Magic Quadrant for Managed Print Services, Worldwide” report is extremely detailed, well-researched and well-organized, but with so many managed print options available today (and ones that were available in 2010), it seems a bit absurd to have only included nine companies in the report.
I have no doubt that the 2011 Magic Quadrant is just as thorough, and perhaps there were a few more companies that made the cut in 2011. As I said before, I have not seen the full report; I have only seen the press releases from HP, Xerox, Océ, Canon and Ricoh. The Imaging Channel congratulates the companies that did make it into the 2011 Magic Quadrant. We just hope to see a more extensive and diverse list in 2012.
Posted by Katherine Fernelius on 11/08/2011