Outsourcing! Say it isn’t so. . .
A recent article on outsourcing in Europe discussed how several countries have not adopted outsourcing of back-office functions as readily as many would expect. Outsourcing is quite popular and growing rapidly in the UK, however, this has not been the case for many of the Western European countries such as Germany, France, Italy and Spain. The article discussed that two of the main barriers are world view and incompatibility. World view refers to the cultural climate that disagrees with outsourcing jobs when local professionals should be given the first option. Incompatibility refers to how outsourcing can be challenging due to the vast cultural difference across Europe. The article discussed how incompatibility is typically a true concern for individuals at a local level. In other words, a company local to France may not want to outsource due to a fear of incompatibility, but multinational companies in Europe may not have the same fear due to the fact that they are already facing these same challenges by operating in multiple countries.
The question that comes to mind is, how does this view on outsourcing apply to MPS? MPS is essentially outsourcing the management of the print and copy fleet. According to Photizo’s 2010 MPS Forecast, MPS in Europe is growing quite rapidly, so much so that by the end of 2013, Europe is expected to pass North America in total MPS revenue! An interesting corollary to this article was the fact that the UK was the fastest growing country in Western Europe in Photizo’s 2010 forecast, but contradictory to the article, Photizo’s Forecast found that Germany and France followed the U.K. in managed print services.
There are a couple reasons MPS is better received than outsourcing in general.
- Managing printers/copiers is a burden – IT departments are not meant to focus solely on imaging devices, and companies do not usually hire people for this purpose alone. Through MPS, IT departments are able to focus more on strategic initiatives.
- MPS saves money and gains efficiency – Outsourcing does this as well, but no one is getting fired due to MPS.
- Green initiatives – Europe tends to have strong view on environmental sustainability. MPS can help the environment through the consolidation of devices and electronic document management.
There’s some reasons why MPS is outpacing the outsourcing market in Western Europe. What are your thoughts?
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