France : HP has chosen broadliner Actebis as partner for the launch of its HP SPS (Smart Printing Services) packs in the country. These packs are dedicated to SMBs owning less than 50 print hardware. They include hardware, print supplies and after sales support. They are available as 3- to 5-year contracts with quarterly billing, and cover the full range of HP print hardware.
So far, HP had in France only sixty OPS partners, which are dedicated to fixed price-per-page services. With its SPS packs, HP intends to address the mass of dealers which are not used to market those services, and businesses for which the cost model of traditional contracts is not appropriate. ‘Compared to traditional fixed price-per-page contracts, SPS packs are not renewed tacitly and invoiced is limited to actual supply use,’ explains Nicolas Aubert, printing professional commercial director at HP France.
Resellers which market SPS packs will receive at the beginning of the contract a commission based on all supplies which ought to be used during the contract period. This should allow them to multiply by up to five their margins, compared to the mere sale of printing equipment. HP manages effective service delivery (supplies and support), through specialized partners.
In France, SPS pack distribution has been assigned to broadliner Actebis, which already does almost half of its business in the country with HP. Actebis was chosen by HP because it has, since 2 years, managed to build a successful service-providing business, especially around Orange and SFR DSL subscriptions : “we have built up a dedicated tool which is connected to our ERP and enables us to pay commissions very quickly : resellers particularly appreciate this”, explains Margot Coudert, services BU manager.
In EMEA, HP already markets its SPS services through some distributors : Tarsus and Drive Control Corporation in South Africa, Actebis in Germany and CCD in the UK. However, all distribute traditional SPS services to non-OPS resellers. SPS pack is therefore a real new initiative, which is for the time being exclusive to France. However, it is most of all an attempt to democratize SPS services. Therefore, if successful, HP does not hide its wish to extend this new service to the rest of Europe…