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MFPS
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“We had a meeting with a prospect
customer who said ’I love your smart
diagnostic app. I love the fact that I can
connect by a phone wirelessly, that I can turn
motors on and engage gears all through the
phone. And I love the fact that it gives me
an error code that I can click to get a video
on how to fix it. However, what I want to do
is reduce my cost to serve so I can pass the
benefits on to the customer, and I want to
do that remotely. Can you do that?’. And the
guys looked around the room and said ‘No,
we can’t’,” explained Ash.
What they should have said is ‘Not yet’.
For Korea quickly came up with a solution.
“Now, if your device fails, an app says
‘Call Service’. You push a button on the
screen and it connects to an operator who
can talk to you on the phone or through
the UI. They will ask you for a one-time
password so that they can remote control
your screen and see everything you do. If
all it needs is basic user intervention, they
can play a video on the UI. All error codes
are linked to 2,000 videos so the user
can watch an HD video showing how to
remedy the problem,” he said.
Birkett adds that this capability enables
service providers to fix many problems
remotely. “We can remote into a device and
change the firmware, BIOS settings etc., so
you have a type of remote serving capability
that wasn’t possible before. Common MPS
would tell you there had been a fuser fail,
and all you could do was despatch an
engineer with a new fuser cartridge. Now,
we know if the fuser failure is a timing issue
and can remote in, change the settings and
completely resolve the issue.”
Stronger relationships
Another way in which Samsung is
enhancing its MPS capability is by
extending the supplier relationships it has
at a corporate level. A recent example
being its strategic partnership with Nuance.
MPS providers know Nuance for its
imaging and print management solutions,
such as AutoStore, Equitrac and Safecom,
but Samsung has a much broader
engagement with the company, using
its speech technology in Samsung Smart
TVs and the S-Voice virtual assistant on
Samsung Galaxy smartphones, tablets and
smart watches. The two companies are
now extending the partnership to cover
print management.
This, says Birkett, will benefit Samsung
resellers in a number of ways. “The first
element is we are going to differentiate at
the application level. We understand that
Equitrac is Equitrac, Safecom is Safecom
and NSI is NSI, but we believe we have
sophisticated capabilities at the front
end to do something radical. This is not
yet a committed product, but imagine
walking up to a device and being able to
authenticate with your voice. The device
does voice-based authentication through
the Nuance cloud platform so that without
a card or anything you just walk up to
the device and say I want to print. That is
what we mean by differentiation at the
application layer,” he said.
“The second element is that we realise
a lot of our clients need an elevated level
Samsung Dealer Awards 2015
New Partner of the Year
FAXCO
A Samsung partner for two years, Faxco took the decision in February 2015
to embrace the Samsung connected workplace vision, leading to 400 A3
placements and, so far this year, 210 Android-powered MX placements.
Smart Print Partner of the Year
BLACK BOX SOLUTIONS
Black Box Solutions has made Samsung its sole partner for MPS and has
so far implemented more than 100 MX4 installation, increasing turnover to
£1.6 million from a standing start 18 months ago.
Irish Print Partner of the Year
JONES BUSINESS SYSTEMS
Based in the South-East of Ireland, this family run business specialises in
a number of areas including IT services, stationery, office furniture and
MPS – its main growth engine. Jones Business Systems is on track to be
Samsung Print’s Number One OA partner in Ireland for the third year
running, with double-digit growth in 2015.
Scottish Print Partner of the Year
FAXCO
Scotland is Samsung’s fastest growing territory and much of this is down
to the tremendous growth of Faxco. A traditional local supplier, Faxco has
built its business on the quality of its customer service and support. This is
reflected in a very stable MIF base with zero attrition.
Samsung Capital Partner of the Year
VISION
Samsung brought Samsung Capital financing to market to do more
business. By embracing it so wholeheartedly and influencing how leasing
contracts are structured, Vision has helped make Samsung Capital the
success it is.
Samsung Print Partner of the Year 2105
DANWOOD GROUP
Danwood has almost 20,000 Samsung installations in both the commercial
and public sectors. This year alone it has sold 1,500 A3 machines – a
300% increase – with one customer alone taking 100 MX7 MFPs. Its
relationship with Samsung is not just about sales but covers a number of
other areas including marketing and events.
...continued
of support with these solutions. Many are
not systems integrators, but are print and
copier companies that have grown up to
live in the IT world, so the contract also
includes an escalated support capability
directly from Nuance on a worldwide basis.
“The final element is go-to-market and
commercial, with fairly deep collaboration
between the Nuance and Samsung sales
and marketing teams to ensure that all
partners and individual countries take
maximum advantage of this agreement.
Nuance is putting in dedicated resources
at every level – development, support and
sales and marketing – for Samsung to call
upon to help with client engagement.”
This is one specific example of how the
diversity of Samsung’s business interests
is benefiting its printer partners. More
generally, Birkett points out that Samsung’s
leadership in mobile technologies and its
use of the Android platform on Samsung
smart MFPs mean that it and its channel
partners are well placed to shape, support
and profit from the evolving ‘connected
workplace’ of tomorrow.
“Print is not defining business
transformation; mobility and the cloud
are. They are driving end user experience
and they are driving how businesses
operate. That is the reality of the world.
However, print can be an inhibitor to
that transformation, if it is not integrated
correctly because of cultural differences
or legacy infrastructure. Smart businesses
are looking at how they can eliminate
barriers by making print part of the mobile
and cloud world. That’s Samsung’s unique
proposition for this market,” he said.
All error
codes are
linked to
2,000 videos
so the user
can watch
an HD video
showing how
to remedy the
problem.
