Can Lexmark Beat the Big Boys?

Can Lexmark Beat the Big Boys?

Lexmark has been the center of many recent conversations. Are they an acquisition target? Can they survive given their size relative to industry behemoth’s HP, Xerox, Ricoh and Canon? Can Lexmark compete against larger rivals when offering global managed print service engagements? How will they create a competitive advantage against much larger rivals?

This past week I attended a briefing with the executive team at Lexmark, hosted at their corporate headquarters in Lexington, Kentucky to answer many of these questions. It is clear that Lexmark is operating with a new mandate given the increasing openness and transparency, which is a welcome breath of fresh air.

If you haven’t been watching closely, you might missed Lexmark’s increasing wins of MPS engagements. In fact, they’ve has had 20 wins with Fortune 500 accounts in the last 18 months. They also claim to have taken a leadership position in the “smart MFP” segment ($1,000+ A4 MFP’s). In addition, Lexmark has been investing heavily in MPS infrastructure for the last 10 years. And of course, there is the fairly recent acquisition of Perceptive Software, a leading provider of ECM software.

So can they compete against much larger rivals?

Yes. In fact, Lexmark has a unique competitive advantage – their long history of vertical market focus. When you combine their deep vertical market expertise with strong global MPS delivery capabilities, Lexmark is in a unique position to deliver highly differentiated, compelling business transformation solutions. In fact, Lexmark has been doing this for years with little fanfare, but significant results in improving customer business processes.

In our discussions with corporate decision makers, we typically hear feedback that while Xerox and HP are viewed as having significant advantages due to their scale and global presence, Lexmark can be more flexible in developing and deploying solutions. Clearly Lexmark has deep vertical expertise and industry insight, but does this make up for size?

Read full analysis here.

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