VCI ANNOUNCES NEW STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH PRINTMIB UK

STEVENAGE, HERTFORDSHIRE and CREWE, CHESHIRE - APRIL 2009 - VCI, the leading developer of service management solutions for the office equipment marketplace, has entered into a strategic partnership with PrintMIB UK. This will enable office equipment dealers to use data collected via PrintMIB to automatically produce meter reading invoices, process supplies orders and raise new service calls in Service Accent with little or no user-intervention required.

"The move to remote collection of valuable volume and usage statistics is becoming a key factor for office equipment dealers who need to reduce costs, increase efficiency and provide outstanding service to their customers. These new features give dealers complete visibility of not only their own equipment but also almost all other network print devices in use in their customers’ business." commented Tony Milford, Managing Director of VCi. "The enhanced Print Management module for Service Accent is designed to make previously time-consuming and potential error-strewn phone, fax or email data collection a thing of the past and can ensure that dealers are able to offer their customers the highest levels of service whilst improving cash-flow and providing vital usage information to enable them to increase sales and provide a genuine value-added service to their clients."

"This strategic partnership with VCI is a natural fit, the combined system delivers the lifeblood of any dealer; the timely accurate collection of meters for billing, reduced cost, improved cash flow and an enhanced service to the end user" comments Matt Allcock Sales Director for PrintMIB UK

"This is a real opportunity for UK dealers to step into the growing Managed Print Solutions (MPS) market Our operations both in the UK and the United States show us that increasing pressure on sales margins and lack of credit means dealers are now focusing on capturing page counts leading them away from the hardware, price centric sale. In addition to cementing in any existing base MPS is proving to be a key differentiator from the competition. We have found that dealers who deploy an MPS benefit from a consultative sales process by not only capturing more service revenues but even more profitable hardware sales. PrintMIB UK have a range of tools to assist sales teams to successfully sell into the MPS market. If you have ever wondered what the competition is doing deploy PrintMIB and you will soon be able to see exactly what equipment they have on a customer’s network; device discovery is a big part of what PrintMIB is all about. The automation offered by Service Accent and PrintMIB ensures that dealers can offer an MPS and reduce their cost for billing whilst substantially growing their service base"