PRINT
IT
RESELLER.UK
39
Q&A
with our partners a lot simpler.
A very good example is how we
work with partners on end customer
bids and tender responses. We put a lot
of investment into our pricing systems,
particularly for printing, where our pricing
and discount structure is now standardised.
This helps partners produce consistent
price lists for their business; they know that
they will get a structured discount and a
consistent discount according to the types
of product and volumes that they’re going
to purchase. We call that the HP integrated
quoting tool, and that’s just one very small
example of how we have become simpler
to do business with and clearer in terms
of the margin and return that partners are
going to get for their customers.
One of the things we’ve really worked
hard on over the last year is making sure
there’s some consistency and a lot faster
response around pricing requests or discount
requests from our resellers. Typically, we
can now provide a response to any tender
support or discount request within the hour.
About 80% of those requests are right first
time, so in the vast majority of cases resellers
don’t have to escalate them. That makes a
huge difference when you’re dealing with a
business the size of HP, particularly with the
amount of printing technology that we fulfil
on a daily basis.
PITR:
What do you see as key areas
of differentiation between HP and its
competitors?
Sawyer
:
We have a very strong pedigree of
being consistent, predictable and transparent
in how we work with our channel, and we
offer a broad range of very, very cost-
competitive devices. We’ve put a lot of
investment into our laser portfolio and into
what we call our PageWide ink technology,
which is really disruptive and allows
our partners to take a very competitive
proposition to their end customers and say
something different to them based on the
technology that we’ve got.
The other big area we are looking into,
which HP really prides itself on, is security.
From laptops through to A3 devices, we
feel that we’ve got one of the best, if not
the best, security proposition in the world.
The HP security video featuring Christian
Slater explains a little more about our
vision and the reason why security in
business is so important
PITR:
What training have you
provided your new resellers?
Sawyer
:
We’ve spent the last few
months training our partners on all of
our new portfolio. We invest about $1
billion globally into print technology,
so it’s important we train them in what
we do. Over the next 4-6 weeks, we are
visiting every one of our channel partners
across every one of their sales locations
and training their sales people on the
reasons why a customer should purchase
HP technology in collaboration with their
offering as a service delivery partner.
PITR:
What do you think will be the
big trends in 2017?
Sawyer
:
We work with 20,000 corporate
customers in the UK. While things like
managed print services and contract-
based sales used to be very much focused
on the top 200 or 300 businesses, we
now ask all our customers about their
interest in managed print. More and more
businesses, no matter how big or small, are
interested in taking the capital expenditure
of print away and focusing more on
an operational expenditure model. In
addition, there’s a lot of legislation coming
in, particularly around data and client
confidentiality, which
we are responding to
with a better, more
comprehensive offering
around security.
Commercial diversifies
Businesses services
company the
Commercial Group
is launching a new
Technology division
headed up by
Amanda Harrington.
PITR
asked her
how it differs
from Commercial’s
existing IT services
business.
“Commercial
Technology’s purpose
is to sell hardware and technology, to sell the box. Whereas
IT services sell cyber security, disaster recovery and
business continuity planning i.e. more intelligent hardware
integration, the Technology division will be selling laptops,
PCs, printers, day-to-day products that our customers are
currently buying from a different source.
“Our technology division will work in collaboration with
IT services. When I talk to IT managers about their plans
for the next 18 months, whether they will need new PC
servers or any other kit and what they’re doing with their
old kit, there’s bound to be an opportunity for our IT services
division. For example, if the client is opening a new office
and needs a helpdesk, I would call our IT services team and
set up a meeting.
“Commercial has sold technology products before, what
I class as low hanging fruit – the ones and the twos and the
bits and the bobs. The difference with us is that we’re here
to help the client choose what’s fit for purpose and works
best with the software programs running in the background.
Once we understand the customer’s IT requirements, we
work closely with vendors and partners. If my team doesn’t
have all the answers, our partners certainly will.
“We’re launching the Technology division in the summer
but have already helped a few clients while setting it up.
One customer in broadcasting wanted a document scanning
solution for four locations. I spoke to different vendors, we
identified the customers needs, we made sure they had seed
units to test before purchasing, we sent people out to help
install them and six weeks later they purchased the goods.
We’re not just there to take the order.
“We will go out and meet clients face to face and will
also be selling 10,000 lines through our online portal where
customers can also buy stationery, print and web to print.
Unlike online retailers
we help customers make
the right IT procurement
decisions and prevent
them wasting time and
money on the wrong
equipment.”
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co.uk
Amanda Harrington
