VOX POP
PRINT
IT
RESELLER.UK
35
SOLUTIONS
How successful have you been in
making the transition from hardware
to solutions?
Sam Elphick
,
Sales Manager,
Lex
Business Equipment Ltd:
“Making the
transition from traditional hardware sales
to promoting and selling solutions and
software was quite a big step for us as a
company. As a traditional office equipment
reseller, solutions sales opened up a new
door, not just for our sales team but also
for our service technicians.
“The most important thing was to
make our customers aware of the fact that
we can offer more than just the equipment,
and that we can in fact improve efficiency
within their businesses and automate
processes that would usually be quite
laborious.”
Andrew Jones
,
Sales Director,
1st Office Equipment:
“We have
carefully introduced solutions with
appropriate training to match the sales
teams’ requirements. This has made the
transition both acceptable to the sales
team and, more importantly, relatively
pain-free for the end user to implement.”
Alpesh Unalkat
,
Managing Director,
Managed Print Services,
Capita
Document & Information Services:
“Capita was an early adopter in making
the transition from hardware sales to
true solutions, beginning this approach
in the mid-nineties (as Right Document
Solutions). Our success in this field comes
from close and consultative relationships
with clients. We identify how their
businesses work and design a bespoke
print solution that meets their business
requirements and drives efficiency and
productivity. This incorporates, but is not
limited to, hardware, which becomes an
‘enabler’ rather than the solution itself.”
Gary Downey
,
Group Marketing Director,
Balreed:
“We have always positioned our
managed services as delivering a stable
infrastructure onto which solutions that
Many resellers are well advanced in the evolution from hardware
supplier to solutions and services provider. In this month’s
vox pop,
PITR
asks the panel about making this transition and
specifically about the growing importance of mobility and BYOD.
Upwardly
mobile
improve control and workflow should be
built. So it’s always been a natural one-two
combination, but we have noticed an
increased adoption rate from buyers in
recent years.”
Julian Stafford
,
Managing Director,
Midshire Business Systems Northern:
“We had to make the transition from
hardware to solutions as the technology
developed, so our customers are enabled
to get the best out of their multifunctional
devices. We employ solutions specialists
and have also launched full-blown IT
services, so that’s helped improve our
whole offering as a business and service
provider. We are very pleased with our
success so far; we have sold far more
machines because of our solution and
IT strategy and we expect this trend to
continue and gather pace over the next
few years.”
Mark Smyth
,
Operations Director,
Vision:
“Vision has enjoyed significant success
with Managed Printing Solutions, with
some incredible, large wins in the public
and private sector. However, we have
experienced reluctance from clients to
embrace more SaaS-based products and
applications, resulting in a slower transition
in some cases. We have continued to
develop this key area of our business.”
What proportion of your business
revenue is now generated through
the supply of solutions and services
as opposed to hardware sales, and
what do you predict for the future?
Sam Elphick:
“As a relative newcomer
to the world of solutions sales, we are
We have
experienced
reluctance
from clients
to embrace
more SaaS-
based
products and
applications
continued...
Sam Elphick,
Sales Manager,
Lex Business
Equipment Ltd.
Andrew Jones,
Sales Director,
1st Office Equipment
