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DIGITAL DISRUPTION
It is more
important than
ever before
that dealers
approach new
opportunities
in a consultative
manner
Jason Cort,
Director of Product Planning and
Marketing,
Sharp Europe
more flexible and family friendly working
practices. To reflect this, products that
complement this trend such as compact
and wireless printers will be popular with
resellers’ customers. There are also new
products to complement social behaviour,
namely HP’s new machine for social media
printing to print pictures on sticky backed
paper to display and personalise any
environment. AirPrint is also set to become
more commonly used across all working
environments, whether it is within a
corporate environment or a home office.”
“IT services will become a key
differentiator between competing office
equipment resellers and IT service
providers as SMBs seek value-added
professional IT service providers and source
more hardware paid for ‘as a service’.
“Businesses want to deal with fewer
suppliers who understand their company
and their industry and can provide full
solutions – hardware, software and
servicing. This presents an opportunity
for us and our dealers to become more
than a manufacturer and supplier and
instead be a trusted partner; going beyond
selling print or visual devices to providing
consultancy, solutions and services to
create real long-term business value.
“The rising cost of print amid the
general increase in costs for many aspects
of businesses could depress print further
and increase the shift away from print to
digital. Particularly in the Public Sector
we are seeing an increasing appetite
for digitalisation, as a reflection of the
changing information consumption
habits of today’s students and millennial
workforce. And key organisations, such
as the NHS, are setting ambitious targets
to automate and digitalise processes,
in an effort to reduce waste, costs and
environmental footprints.
“However, MPS vendors should also be
able to turn this into competitive advantage
with the cost control and cost down value
proposition. By introducing devices or
products that connect to each other rather
than functioning in isolation, the process of
storing, sharing and handling information
is easier and more efficient. It is therefore
up to manufacturers to equip dealers
with these different avenues and services,
as well as any necessary training and
for dealers to help end-users realise the
potential of improved processes achieved
through an integrated approach.”
“
Volume:
I think technology and a more
consultative approach to paper generation
and movement will continue to reduce
office print volume. We are seeing a 5 to
7% decline in the market in the Nordics
which tends to lead the way in Europe in
terms of technology usage.
“
Client Approach:
For the reason above I
believe it is more important than ever before
that dealers approach new opportunities
in a consultative manner. Over the last 12
months I have developed an engagement
process which we share with our dealers to
help them get a full understanding of their
clients’ business and needs. We have also
spent time understanding our dealers’ goals
and set joint objectives and actions to help
them achieve them.
“
Pricing:
The weak value of the GBP
could halt the decrease in street pricing
for hardware, as many manufacturers are
struggling to maintain margins in the face
of a weak pound. However, new entrants
to the office print market could potentially
‘UBERise’ our market. To build contingency
against this we have continued to focus on
the development of dealers’ capabilities
and also introduce new products to their
portfolio. For example, we have recently
run a series of workshops for our MFP
dealers on the AP (Barcode & Label print)
market to introduce the opportunity and
help them create diversity in their client
offering.
“
Product:
The way we use technology
to improve business processes continues
to drive product development. I also
believe EDM and workflow software
such as Planet Press, will continue to
grow their market. As more and more
organisations try to manage larger volumes
of data, managing it is fast becoming
as much of an issue as it was managing
paper archives. EDM products are being
developed to appeal to a wider audience
and how our devices interface with these
products will be essential to our growth
over the next five years.
“
Environment:
I think we will start to
see more environmentally aware products
and schemes in the coming months, as we
become more aware of the damage that
we are causing to the planet, consumers
will be driven towards more eco-friendly
products and services. We have seen a
huge rise in interest in our carbon offset
scheme and more and more clients are
choosing suppliers that are taking the
environmental issues seriously.”
“Over the past two years, many resellers
have already made the jump from
conducting transactional business to selling
solutions, often in the form of managed
print services. However, moving into 2017,
partners need to make another shift which
emphasises additional solutions in the form
of apps and other software that integrates
continued...
Carl Day,
Sales Director Indirect
Division,
Toshiba Tec UK
...continued
Jason Cort
Director of Product Planning
and Marketing
Sharp Europe
Carl Day
Sales Director Indirect Division
Toshiba Tec UK
Eddie Ginja
Head of Innovation
KYOCERA Document Solutions
Businesses want to deal
with fewer suppliers who
understand their company
