XEROX’sNEW CONSUMABLES MANAGEMENT SERVICE

[Anonymous]

Xerox launches Proactive Consumables Management service
Scheme prompts users to re-order supplies from reseller they bought printer from.
Xerox
has unveiled a service to help its resellers secure more of the
lucrative printer consumables business.Called Proactive Consumables
Management (PCM), the scheme alerts users before they run out of
consumables via a pop-up menu on the printer. This prompts them to
re-order the supplies directly from the reseller that they bought their
machine from. The software passes the serial number of the product to a
Xerox database, which then gets linked to the reseller’s web ordering
page.Darren Cassidy, Xerox UK’s general manager, told CRN: “We wanted
to give our customers an automated route to order consumables. The
benefit for our channel partners is that PCM automatically routes the
customer’s order through to the VAR that sold the hardware.“One of the
biggest issues for resellers that sell printer products is how to
retain an on-going supplies business. By making it a simple buying
decision for users, resellers will be the first contact for consumables
sales.”Leanne Gravil, branch manager at VAR CBC Computer Systems, said:
“The service sounds good in theory, but whether customers will actually
use PCM to order their consumables is another matter. We find that most
customers tend to have a supplier in place for their consumables:
usually a stationery company.”PCM will be available from November,
initially on Xerox’s new Phaser 6110 printer, but Cassidy hopes to
offer the service on all Xerox printers in the future.

[Author]

October 12, 2006 at 11:22 AM