PRINT
PRINT
IT
RESELLER.UK
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PITR:
So you still have a large
number of registered partners who
sell Dell printers.
McNally:
Yes. And also some Premier
Partners that sell Dell printers. But in
order to identify and nurture partners that
are like-minded, we have developed this
programme so that we can give them
specific support.
PITR:
What attracts them to Dell?
McNally:
Dell is a great brand. We provide
a good, broad portfolio of products – not
just on the imaging side, but end-to-end,
from the document to the data centre.
We have a great understanding of the IT
market. We work very strongly with public
sector, large enterprise and SME type
accounts, and we will work with those
partners who can show competencies in
those areas. That's what really attracts
them to work with Dell. They see Dell as a
fantastic opportunity to provide end-to-
end solutions. As print resellers look to
expand their offering, it seems natural to
come in as a print partner and progress to
selling IT solutions.
PITR:
What proportion of Dell printer
sales are now through the channel?
McNally:
About 60% of our sales of print
hardware go through the channel. That
surprises a lot of people. We moved into
the channel about five years ago and were
one of the first lines of business to go and
work with distribution. We have a good
network of distributors in the UK including
three strong hardware distributors (Tech
Data, Ingram and Exertis) and two supplies
distributors (Advent Exertis and Westcoast).
Together with the Strategic Imaging
Partner Programme, this has enabled us to
grow our business quite successfully.
PITR:
Who do you have your
OEM agreement with now?
McNally:
We OEM with Lexmark,
Samsung and Fuji Xerox. They manufacture
our products for us, but the products
themselves are Dell-designed. We develop
a lot of the IP ourselves and use those
three partners to manufacture for us. With
our Fall launch you will see a lot more
colour products coming out and they are
mainly manufactured by Fuji Xerox.
PITR:
Are you active in the A3 MFP
market, as well as A4?
McNally:
We introduced three new
categories in May around everyday
printing, cloud printing and smart printing.
As we go forward we will have a series of
printers that have an 'e' prefix, meaning
it's an everyday printer; an 'h' prefix
denoting that it is a cloud printer – the
'h' stands for Dell Document Hub or
Dell Printer Hub; and the smart series
will be prefixed with an 's'. We have 22
products, ranging from everyday, single
function desktop printers to an A3 colour
multifunctional with workflow solutions
embedded into the device. We've got a
single function A3 colour device and a
multifunctional A3 colour device.
PITR:
Are you planning to launch
more A3 models?
McNally:
It's under consideration. At the
moment, we are focusing our effort around
cloud. You will see a lot more products
coming out that are cloud-enabled. We
believe that's one of Dell's strong points.
The type of customers that we work
with – small businesses, SMEs and public
sector organisations – are looking to the
cloud as a means to access information
and data, and we make that easy. So, a lot
of our development is around cloud and
connection to the cloud, not necessarily at
the A3 end of the market.
PITR:
Is the cloud where you have a
lot of your IP?
McNally:
Yes, we have something called
Dell Document Hub. We see that as a
fantastic platform to enable small and
medium-sized businesses to go and work
with the cloud and gain access to the
cloud and document management in the
cloud. You will see more developments
around that as we go forward.
...continued
Spring launch
In October Dell is unveiling a raft of new products at Munich's
Oktoberfest, which we will be reporting on in the next issue. This
follows Dell's spring/summer launch in May, when it introduced
a new imaging portfolio featuring a number of productivity
boosting features for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs).
May's highlights include the Dell Printer Hub, an all-in-one printer
console that integrates printer functions and cloud connectivity into one
interface; four new E-series devices that simplify everyday printing and
imaging tasks; and the new Dell Smart Printer, a single function network-
ready mono printer with built-in security features.
The Dell Printer Hub console de-clutters the computer desktop by
displaying multiple applications in one intuitive interface. These include
printer utilities, such as the Scan Manager; customised short-cuts for
common scanning
jobs; proactive alerts
for low toner status
and printer software/
firmware updates;
and connectivity to
the Dell Document
Hub.
Dell Document Hub offers easy
sharing and printing of content from Box,
Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive and
Microsoft SharePoint Online 2013, plus access to cloud-based Optical
Character Recognition software so that users can edit scanned documents.
In addition, a Dell Document Hub app provides convenient printing from a
variety of mobile devices.
The new E-series devices include a single function mono printer with
wireless and duplex as standard (the E310dw); two 26ppm wireless mono
MFPs (the E514dw and the E515dw with fax); and a four-in-one, 18ppm,
wireless colour MFP (the E525W with ADF).
The Dell Smart Printer (the S2810dn) is designed for small workgroups
in SMEs with managed IT environments. A large internal memory of 1GB
enables it to process large and complex files and support Private/Public
Mailbox Print, Proof Printing and Secure Print release. The printer has print
speeds of up to 35 ppm and a convenient LCD panel with 10-digit keypad.
continued...
We work
very strongly
with public
sector, large
enterprise
and SME type
accounts, and
we will work
with those
partners who
can show
competencies
in those
areas.
