july2017

276 277 Copier Service and Office Supply for Copy, Print, and Multifunction Systems DE NOVO INK www.godenovo.com | 800-277-1724 We are a Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business dedicated to being a premier service and supply vendor for digital copy, print and multi-function systems by delivering effective, efficient, and respectful customer service. time-and-materials basis.Ahospital,for instance,may have hundreds of different maintenance contracts scattered about the organization; all high-margin contracts for theOEMs.Remi eliminates those,sys- tematicallymoving themonto one contract.If Remi continues to use theOEMs,they’ll still get paid to provide service on a time-and-materials basis.They may forego a high profit margin under the Remi model,but it’s better for the customer to pay through a program,wheremaintenance is onlypaid for as required. Schuster says,“It was really JackWelsh of GEwho revolutionized the thinking.He sawthe service side of the business as a huge profit generator for the organization.So,you can assume if they’re trying to sell you awarrantyat Best Buy,it’s veryprofitable. That’s whywe are able to exist becausewe can pay for every repair,provide a discount to our client,and still have enough left over to run a business. Howison gives the example of a hospital buying a maintenance contract from on OEM for a CTma- chine and paying $100,000 per year,whether the machine has a failure or not.“What we’re doing is taking that ‘pay an excessive amount for no fail- ure’ out of the equation.Offering a fixed cost, so it’s easier to budget without surprises.We charge $75,000, and incur whatever happens underneath that.Most often the charges that come into us are under $75,000, that’s howmuch margin there is.On the other side,we may incur $150,000 in repair charges, so we take all the financial risk for the customer, provide them upfront guaranteed THE REMI GROUP savings, and one number to call. “For the future,we want to grow in the U.S. and beyond.As technology continues to improve, there will be more electronic devices to be covered, and we’ll be trying to gain market share. In our busi- ness core model,we collect a lot of useful data. Right now,we’re looking at ways to use the data and knowledge base to help customers withmore than just amaintenance contract.We can consult on capital asset purchases,streamlining the process, leasing newequipment-different services that we’re just on the cusp of providing to themarket.” Schuster acknowledges,“For a long time,we would have viewed ourselves as a product com- pany. In the next five years,we’re moving towards becoming a consultative solutions company.We have States that come to us, now,with equipment issues–part of it might be the procurement process; part of it might be the choices available. Theyaskus to help find a solution,becausemany times,theydon’t have the resources to solve the problem.”