IT Decisions—Make Sure You Can Live With It
In talking with customers recently, I found it interesting what kinds of things drive their decision making around printers and mfp's. We, in the industry, are guilty of focusing on a few specs or a few details that probably get too much attention at the expense of things that really make a difference to the users through the life of the product with the customer. Therefore, we have trained our customers to make decisions based on those specs.
I couldn't help but think of the analogy of when we pick our life partners. There are specs that are very easy to comprehend: height, weight, hair color, maybe even speed...but these do not tell us much about what it is going to be like to live with that person. I see the same thing with printers and mfps. Those specs are there, but most of the time, they are not the important ones that tell us what it is going to be like living in the office with the product. How many interventions, how easy it is to use, how reliable, how much can I use it to do things my way vs. how much do I have to change to do it the machine's way. Many of the attributes that make a product nice and productive to "live with" are not in the specs used to make the decision, nor are they often times even found in a trial.
I encourage people, when buying products, to get beyond the typical specs and think about what the real work that needs to be done and how the product will fit into their environment. It is going to be part of your workplace for a while. How easy will it, in fact, be to live with?
Dave Bates
Vice President, Product Marketing
Xerox Office Group
Comments
Making the analogy between picking our MFPs and picking our life partners made me laugh out loud! Not just because of the similarities you mentioned, but because of all the ones you didn't. It’s true that when we look for a life partner (or an MFP), all too often we make a decision based on our immediate needs without thinking how those needs might increase or change in the foreseeable future. We fall head over heels in love with a particular feature set, and sign on the dotted line before taking a good hard look at what ALL of our needs are now, and what they are likely to be down the road. If we haven't taken the big picture into consideration, then, when the honeymoon is over, and reality sets in, we might find ourselves asking, “Is that all there is?”
The other thought that popped into my head was, “you don't just marry the person, and you marry the family.” Before walking down the aisle, decision makers should consider how the “family” will support you if, and when problems arise in the “marriage.” Will the family take the position that “it’s your problem now,” or will they continue to work with you to help solve those unforeseen problems long after the wedding day?
As Xerox begins courting more and more suitors in the SMB market, I believe it can alleviate a lot of wedding day jitters, not only by helping decision makers fully examine their needs, but by offering one of the best prenuptial agreements in the industry. Xerox’s Total Satisfaction Guarantee will provide a great deal of reassurance to those nervous brides and grooms who might otherwise hesitate to commit, because they fear a costly divorce if things don't work out. It will also provide a "good faith" incentive for both parties to work on the marriage, should problems arise in the future.
Ruth Ann Kordell
Senior Analyst
Industry Analysts, Inc.
www.industryanalysts.com
Posted by: Ruth Ann Kordell | May 14, 2007 01:40 PM