2024: A Year of Surprises, Success, and New Beginnings
Well, that was a lot quicker than I imagined… one minute we were putting away the Christmas decorations in January, and the next were at the Royal Lancaster Hotel PIT awards in December having been shortlisted for awards in two categories. We were hoping to repeat our 2022 success as Channel Services Provider of the Year, and an entry for Software Product of the Year with our partners CloudQuote. Unfortunately, we were not successful, but I am still immensely proud of being shortlisted, as it rounded off a year of our evolution as we mark our 24th birthday as a company.
Evolution in so much as like the rest of the Managed Print Channel we are facing up to the declining page volumes, declining margins, and lack of the wow factor in a sector where it increasingly difficult to attract new talent in both the sales and technical areas. Not ideal circumstances for re-investing and developing new opportunities, but nevertheless they are there, as our end user customers embrace digitisation, move to automated processes, and look for efficiencies to mitigate the challenges in their sector, because we are all facing the same ones. Higher costs, a tight labour market and ever-increasing challenges from compliance, security, and technology. I have not even mentioned AI…
So how did this affect us in 2024. We continued to look for solutions that enhanced our partners productivity – like CloudQuote with it enhanced AI reporting capability which increase sales productivity. Identified solutions which can add layers of revenue and profitability to existing well established offering our partners already have in place – like Dynamic Connect which compliments existing print management systems( to be launched in 2025) , and improved our core offering of Device Management by upgrading a substantial amount of our Print Audit FM base to the award winning Printanista. We have also had our strongest growth on device management since 2012, – 7% on revenue and 5.5% in devices managed so clearly our device management customers are doing something right and we are helping them grow their businesses.
In terms of surprises none was bigger than a new entrant to the market, it is almost worth typing that again… a new entrant – as FujiFilm move into the European market with a two-pronged attack under their own branding and in partnership with Katun. See paragraph 2 for why this was a surprise… but they have ambitious targets a great reputation in APAC and from what I saw at their launch at the prestigious Leadenhall Building in early December a very impressive range… One to watch in 2025.
So final thoughts in 2024 – the channel partners continue to re-invent themselves with ingenuity and creativity at the heart of what they are bringing to the market. I am absolutely bowled over by the resilient optimism in the MPA market and how we always find a way to deliver what our customers need and step up to the challenge ahead.
Can’t wait for 2025 ….
Written by: Phil Madders, Director – PAE Business
PAE Business, established in 2000, is a prominent solutions and services provider in the Managed Print Services (MPS) and Managed Content Services (MCS) sectors, based in the United Kingdom. Operating across the EMEA region, PAE Business collaborates with market-leading, award-winning partners to deliver tailored solutions that provide resellers with a distinct competitive advantage to win more business.
