The Benefits of Beta Testing

As the market continues to grow and change, printers continue to look for new ways to place themselves above the competition. These changes could happen in a number of ways from introducing products and services to adding things that no one has ever seen before. The latter is the crux of the beta testing movement. Although beta testing is not a new concept, it is on the rise as being one way to boosts one’s appearance and offerings to potential and existing clients.

Simply defined, beta testing, also known as early marketing, is when a vendor places a newly developed product or piece of equipment into a commercial atmosphere for testing purposes. The tests will help the company to iron out any bugs or issues the product might have, determine what works well, and what could be improved. The shop uses the equipment in every day executions as well as new and innovative ways to determine the quality and value of the product in the commercial workplace. The vendor takes and processes the information at the end of the beta testing period. After any changes are made, the product can be re-tested or put out on the market.

“There is added value not just to the clients but to the people who work here as well.” That statement came from Regan Mahoney, general manager of Splash!, a San Francisco-based creative agency that works as a frequent beta tester for HP products. The most recent item tested at Splash was the HP Designjet L65500 printer, a large-format printer.

Getting Involved
Getting involved in the HP beta testing program was an easy transition for Splash to make. Splash and HP have worked together for many years. Splash was a frequent buyer of HP products; in turn, HP was a client of Splash’s when it came to creating unique marketing materials.

Mahoney states that beta testing has been a great opportunity. “We like to test new stuff and we like to solve problems,” Mahoney said. “It’s been great for us.”

According to Dennis Amorosano, Canon U.S.A. senior director solutions marketing and business support, “Generally, customers who participate in beta testing activities come from Canon’s existing customer base, either through our direct sales organization or existing Canon Authorized Dealers.”

Arnon Cohen of HP’s Indigo division said, “Being part of a beta program is
an opportunity to influence and shape the products that are in the front of the digital printing revolution and allows a print service provider to use the latest technology and get a competitive advantage.”

Kevin Horey, vice president, Production Solutions Product Marketing, Xerox Corp., said, “Xerox considers a number of factors when selecting an Early Customer Acceptance Testing (ECAT) customer, including whether the customer uses Xerox equipment or not, geography, type of business (quick printer, commercial printer, in-plant), monthly projected volume, etc. “

Who is best suited to becoming a beta tester? Mahoney feels that the ideal tester is one that has a variety of needs. “If a company is strictly a print service provider it probably doesn’t make a lot of sense,” said Mahoney. As a creative agency, Splash has more opportunities to use the product in unique marketing efforts. Rather than using the equipment to run a thousand of something, Splash focuses on using the equipment to create that one of a kind product. “We are always looking out for new materials,” said Mahoney. “We want to give our clients the newest and the best. If we stay ahead of what’s new we can give our clients what they need to best promote their products and services.”

Benefits and Successes
There are obvious benefits to participating in a beta program, but what about the cost? For the most part, there is little cost to the tester.

HP’s Cohen said, “The investment for the customer is more on the side of operator training and the time that is required for providing in-depth feedback.” Cohen is quick to point out, however, that cost is not much of a factor. “In most of the cases, customers choose to join a beta because they want to be ahead of the technology curve and take advantage of new capabilities that do not exist in the market yet.”

Amorosano said, “Canon does not charge any fees to participate in our beta testing programs with the sole exception being extended beta testing, in which case, we reserve the right to charge for consumables.”

“Costs vary depending on the program,” said Horey. “Customers should plan to pay for the consumables (toner, developer, etc) required to operate the equipment.”

In some cases, the consumables involved may already be in the shop’s inventory or are products the company was considering anyway. This is especially true of the ever-changing green technologies. In Splash’s case, green technology fit in perfectly with their beta test as well as their existing company philosophy.

While the benefits of a beta testing program are obvious to the equipment and product manufacturers, what are the benefits to the beta testers and their customers? The answer varies almost as much as the reason for participating in the program. Some people are merely interested in new technology while others may see it as an opportunity to further their own businesses through the product being tested.

”Although the primary intent of Canon’s beta testing program is not typically to focus on increasing print shop revenue, there are scenarios in which Canon’s testing programs have been designed to provide input concerning product performance and gain insight addressing the marketability of produced output,” said Amorosano.

Past successes have allowed Canon to further explore the beta testing market. Beta testing is a critical part of the launch activities associated with all new hardware and software product offerings, with a particular emphasis on advance testing of print production systems.

Canon’s beta testing programs are managed by the Canon Systems and Technical Support Division through the assignment of dedicated project management and field technical support resources. Detailed testing criteria are established in advance of a particular test, with customers selected for their ability to utilize the Canon solution in concert with these criteria. Canon’s beta test programs vary in length depending upon the specific product offering and in some production printing cases, can last as long as six months.

As part of the beta testing process, customers agree to provide detailed feedback to Canon’s technical and marketing personnel on a scheduled basis, with this information becoming part of Canon’s go-to-market planning.

HP has also run a large number of beta programs, many of which have been featured at Splash. The most recent major beta programs include:

White ink for the HP Indigo 5500—the only white ink available for sheet-fed digital presses. This took place at 11 sites in Europe and North America.

New software versions for Indigo 7000 and Indigo 5500—these versions included new features as well as productivity enhancement improvements.

Binary Image Developer (BID) recycling—in this beta we tested a service for reusing HP Indigo presses’ consumable press developer component. The beta test took place in Europe and involved more than 20 customers.

Not to be left out of the loop, Xerox has also run hundreds of programs in the past. Horey stated, “Major product initiatives such as the Xerox DocuTech, Xerox Nuvera Production Systems and the Xerox iGen3 and iGen4 Presses are examples of product platforms that have gone through the ECAT process. The successes of these tests have enabled Xerox to achieve an accelerated time to market and gain crucial customer insight into the products.”