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No-one gives a toss about green things, say Lexmark users
Round table diners won’t chew the fad
U.K.
OCT 2007 :LIKE ALL IT INDUSTRY vendors, Lexmark loves to bang the
marketing drum about all things green and productivity. Like all
printer makers, it is obsessed with feeds and speeds of its inkjets and
lasers.So the firm invited an audience of high profile end users to one
of Soho’s swankiest restaurants, for a lunch and a summit. And kindly
invited The INQUIRER in to meet some real humans for a change.But
the end users were in no mood to accept any greens.They stubbornly
refused to chew the fad.For appetisers there was a polite discussion
about the effectiveness of colour documents. The man from Lexmark’s
points went over very well.But as the hors d’oevres arrived, the
atmosphere suddenly changed. Perhaps it was the prospect of eating
snails from their shells.A productivity expert suddenly knocked over
the sweet trolley (metaphorically speaking). “IT vendors are always
banging on about green issues. We don’t give a monkey’s about green
issues,” he ejaculated.This prompted host Guy Clapperton to ask “Has
Jeremy Clarkson just walked in.”But it was too late, the revolt had
started. “Saving the planet is a very low priority,” agreed a music
impressario.“Being green is turning your PC off when you go
home,” asserted an accountant called Nigel.As the main course arrived,
one man nearly spat out his pancietta when the Carbon Trust was
mentioned. “It’s a great idea, but the execution is terrible,” he said,
reasonably enough. He could have stopped there, but he had to overegg
the pudding. “It’s a bureaucrat’s paradise. There’s some real numpties
involved.”Lexmark’s Gareth Kirkshaw gazed meditatively at the dessert
menu, as the conversation moved on to the government’s plans to clobber
small businesses with capital gains taxes, while allowing the rich to
save up to buy a peerage. We were definitely onto duties outside of his
job description.Suddenly, as the wine glasses were being topped up, a
Buy to Let entrepreneur had a corker of an idea. “Here, why don’t you
change your business model? Make a really expensive printer, but with
cheap consumables?” That wouldn’t put Lexmark out on a limb, would
it?On that bombshell Lexmark waved away the wine waiter and called for
the bill.Are all end user forums like this?
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