Something to Talk About: Industry Reps Gather at BLI Summit

BLI recently hosted representatives from 10 OEMs at its 2014 A3/A4 TAC (Testing Advisory Committee) Meeting, during which the topics of vertical markets and mobile printing were discussed at length. With countless years of industry experience in the room, the full-day event also included dialogue about the future of software and BLI’s redesigned Lab Test Report.

The previous three TAC Meetings, the first of which was in 2006, had a heavy emphasis on BLI test methods, as the company has forever been fixed on keeping up with changing needs. While a portion of the agenda at this year’s gathering was still dedicated to lab procedures on the hardware side, BLI opened up the conversation so participants could weigh in on key trends and the company’s publications, too. The result was an engaged crowd—from Brother, Canon, Lexmark, Konica Minolta, KYOCERA, OKI, Ricoh, Samsung, Sharp, and Xerox—that wasn’t shy about sharing knowledge and insight.

To mirror the current selling strategy of many vendors, BLI spent the morning session focusing on vertical markets and solutions. On both fronts, the majority of attendees were quick to say that the goal is to start each and every potential sale with a needs-based assessment that discovers all the problems in a specific office—once that’s addressed, then hardware can be added to the equation. Support was also expressed for vertical market coverage on a platform rather than an individual product basis, as well as for vertical market-oriented software and device testing.

Because solutions are the biggest part of the vertical market message, a similar theme emerged once the dialogue shifted to software. So many dealers, the OEM reps said, have a difficult time understanding what solutions aim to do and how they do it, thus they aren’t equipped to sell and support systems ranging from cost recovery to document management. To help dealers become familiar, faster, with how specific features of solutions can help their customers, participants suggested a pain points grid highlighting how a given solution could address those, and situational use cases for various features for users that might be different  depending on vertical market, horizontal function within the vertical, and size of organization, to name a few. Attendeess homed in on critical areas such as compatibility and scalability, and they agreed that simple connectors, as well as simple apps that run at the control panel, would fit better in BLI’s hardware reports rather than warranting a standalone solution report.

Mobile printing—one of the hottest subjects du jour in the industry—was highlighted near the outset of the meeting. By and large, the reps said that: this functionality is still very much in its infancy (right now ease of use isn’t great, but usage will increase as ease of use improves); security was another issue impeding greater use of mobile printing, as it can be hard to track; and the mobile trend generally skews younger, but it’s also proved popular at the C level, with a high percentage of executives being early adopters.

Hardware took center stage in the afternoon. First, BLI presented its redesigned Lab Test Report, slated to make its debut in the coming months. BLI explained the thought process behind the reorganization of categories (to better satisfy all constituents, including many departments at the OEMs, business customers, administrators, end users, and more), the new tabular format (opens the door to an ever-increasing number of bliQ Side-by-Side Comparisons), and the granularity that comes with using gauges and meters (devices can now be, for instance, on the high or low end of Very Good, rather than just Very Good). The attendees concurred that all these aspects—not to mention the fresh look-and-feel—ease navigation so readers can more quickly find what they’re after.

While it may have been reserved for the final segment of the day, feedback on device testing continues to be a critical part of TAC Meetings. Based on what was said at previous gatherings, BLI has implemented a number of enhancements to keep its methods relevant. And at this year’s TAC, once again, the attendees provided comments galore about lab procedures, here’s a taste…

• Differentiation in hardware performance is definitely still alive and kicking
• Participants were supportive of BLI’s idea to add a week of real-world, low-volume testing to the beginning of reliability testing
• BLI proposed a plan to add multi-set productivity testing using a 3-page original, in addition to the traditional 10-page document, with attendees noting that it will reveal interesting differences in device performance, and that each test represents a different workflow process
• Regarding BLI’s desire to add a scan image quality evaluation, participants urged capturing files from both the glass and feeder
• Copying may have diminished in importance over the years, but it’s not going away, particularly in vertical markets such as education and legal;  thus while there seemed to be general agreement with placing less weight on copying, reps said copy productivity and image quality testing shouldn’t be eliminated outright
• Attendees supported eliminating toner yield testing

The abundant feedback at this year’s TAC gives BLI a lot to work with as it strives to stay ahead of the curve, continue to meet market needs and deliver tools to help everyone in the industry.

Representatives from 10 OEMs gathered in June for BLI's 2014 A3/A4 TAC Meeting.