While the overall IT Managed Services market continues to grow rapidly in India — this space is witnessing the emergence of specific niche areas within the IT managed services market. Analysts are observing a trend where organizations are breaking up their IT infrastructure management engagements into specific areas and outsourcing them to vendors that specialize in handling a specific function. Hot niche areas that are emerging in the managed IT services space include Managed Print Services, Managed Security Services and Managed Storage Services.

Printing ROI

Perhaps, the most established niche is the Managed Print Services (MPS) space, which is dominated by vendors such as HP, Canon and Xerox. Reports by independent research and analyst firms confirm this demand. A report by Forrester Research estimates that the MPS market in Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) will grow to USD 1 billion by 2012. The Indian market is expected to be the fastest growing market in the region, with a CAGR of 22.6 percent. Similarly, a report by the Photizo Group estimates that the managed print services market in India is growing at CAGR of 51 percent, and is expected to be worth Rs 1,530 crore in 2012.

While CIOs have traditionally looked at squeezing costs from their IT infrastructure, printing is one function that has traditionally been overlooked. Specialist players in this space are evangelizing clients on the huge cost efficiencies that can be gained by availing Managed Print Services. For example, pre- and post-analysis of some of HP’s managed print services customers’ imaging and printing operations reveal energy savings ranging between 30 percent and 80 percent, and reductions in paper consumption to the tune of millions of pages.

“Over the years, organizations have realized that delegating their printing and imaging portfolio will help them save 15-30 percent in cost,” opines Shekhar Agrawal, Director - Managed Enterprise Solutions, HP IPG.

A similar opinion is shared by Vishal Awal, Executive Director - Services, Xerox South Asia. He reveals that enterprises spend up to 2 percent of their revenues on running printers, copiers, scanners, fax machines and other devices that are often energy inefficient. “An office print optimization strategy can reduce this expenditure by as much as 15-25 percent while also decreasing energy consumed and waste generated. Additionally, employee productivity can be enhanced due to efficient management of print operations, and via innovative features like mobile and cloud-based printing.”

In India, there are several examples of firms that have shown that MPS delivers proven ROI. For example, by outsourcing its printing needs and management to Canon, mid-sized firm, MindTree, achieved more than 50 percent decrease in paper consumption and 25 percent reduction in printing costs, as well as savings of over USD 62,000. Similarly, KPO firm, Evalueserve, has been able to save approximately 40 percent of paper usage due to forced duplex printing enabled by MPS. The firm has also managed to reduce the number of printers from 54 to 25, as the new arrangement provides the firm secure printing, which in turn allows the firm to share printers between multiple groups. The new printers consume low energy as compared to old printers, leading to 70 percent savings on electricity costs.