Latest Trends and Developments, Future Glimpse | ENX Magazine QA with Laryssa Alexander, President of ECI’s Field Service Division

When discussing software solutions that fortify dealers and their end-user clients, it’s difficult to wrap one’s arms around the totality of offerings on the market. Taking an extended walk down the list of major and meaningful titles is like an Academy Award winner trying to remember everyone to thank during the acceptance speech—some are bound to be forgotten.

Instead, we’ve chosen a different approach. We’re calling to the “stage” some of the people who make the business of doing business possible. And we can’t stress the quantifier “some” enough; this is but a sampling of the hundreds of solutions at your disposal. We asked three simple questions of these providers to yield some semblance of market trends: What’s new? What’s hot? And what’s next? Now is the time to invest in technology to turn risks into advantages and capture growth. 

What’s new?

Last year, ECI introduced Printanista, an all-in-one solution that combines the strengths of our existing print management products (FMAudit, PrintFleet, Print Audit) to give customers the industry’s most comprehensive device management system for MPS. The advanced data collection agent (DCA) within Printanista provides customers with the most thorough device data collection available. This release also includes agnostic support for USB printers that don’t report via SNMP, and remote device connection to allow for troubleshooting and device configuration adjustments without having to send a technician on site.

What’s hot? 

ECI continues to see enormous opportunity in cloud computing. More organizations are attempting to get a handle on their IT spending and reduce operating overhead. Cloud-based SaaS offerings allow them to have the latest technology and most up-to-date systems that can scale with their growth without the up-front investments and maintenance obligations. Since we specialize in cloud computing, our customers don’t have to, which relieves them of the time, money and resources typically invested in tasks such as vulnerability assessments, penetration testing, and data backup and protection. Those actions on their own can cost a small business thousand every year.

What’s next? 

System integrations and data analytics are in the spotlight right now. ECI is always looking to create more seamless workflows and richer experiences that provide more value so customers can reap more benefits from the technology. ECI’s office technology products collect a vast amount of data that, when arranged and presented logically, will provide a wealth of insight to customers to help them understand the profitability of their MPS programs. By looking at the combined data of these sources, ECI can help customers analyze every aspect of their organization so they can make better decisions.

This article was published in the October issue of ENX Magazine.