01732 759725
36
VOX POP
“Cloud solutions liberate IT resources
whilst rationalising server hardware and
improving reliability, as the cloud by its very
nature is resilient and backed up. Cloud is
scalable and more agile than traditional
printing. It reduces costs by enhancing
the Opex model over a traditional Capex
financial model, optimises document-
intensive business processes and deploys
new innovations like cloud scanning and
mobile printing.”
Andy Johnson:
“In a recent study,
IDC found that the mobile workforce in
Western Europe will grow from 96 million
workers in 2014 to 143 million workers
by 2018, representing a 7% increase. That
means 75% of the total Western European
workforce will be mobile. The UK is actually
ahead of the game when it comes to
mobile working; it’s estimated that 82% of
the UK workforce will be mobile by 2018
(about 27 million people).
“The above shows the scale of the
opportunity, but it’s also a value-add. If a
business is thinking of implementing this
way of working, then a reseller could help
future proof their technology by upselling
them to a cloud-connected device.”
Jason Cort:
“Cloud print is an obvious
extension of the trends today for increased
mobile working, expected by Generation
Cloud. It is driven by customer demand and
the tendency towards BYOD. However, our
view is that the major driver is convenience
due to ease of use and ready access to
documents, especially ones actually stored
in the cloud or on mobile devices.”
Mark Robinson:
“A recent Canon study
across more than 1,000 small businesses
highlighted that a third of UK owners have
an appetite for cloud-based printing, and
almost half would like additional mobile
solutions for printing. This shows that
selling cloud printing to smaller businesses
can open up huge revenue opportunities
for resellers.
“The proliferation of mobile-friendly
websites, the digital app landscape and the
preferred consumption of content through
mobile devices have changed the way
people work and no reseller can afford to
ignore this trend.
“Helping organisations to become
mobile-ready is a big revenue opportunity
that also positions resellers as trusted
partners that understand business
challenges and can help overcome them.
When it comes to cloud printing, their remit
could stretch from implementing simple,
out-of-the-box cloud printing hardware and
software, to the development of dedicated
cloud printing apps for smartphones and
tablets, and sophisticated print security and
document management services, which
allow employees and guests to capture,
edit, manage and share critical information
through their mobile devices.”
Donna Marley:
“In some cases it will add
value to the sale or help protect against
margin erosion on the hardware, and in
others it can create new revenue streams
for the partner in much the same way as
a Service Contract (Xerox PagePack for
example). So yes, resellers should embrace
not only cloud print solutions but also the
multitude of other cloud-based solutions
out there. The business world is fast
adopting many of these to move forward
and is willing to listen to any partner that
can make that transition seamless.”
Wayne Snell:
“With smartphones edging
ahead of laptops for the first time as the
preferred devices for connecting online,
office devices that support printing from
mobile devices and offer the ability to print
documents from the web via cloud servers
will be more attractive to an increasingly
mobile workforce.”
How can dealers promote cloud
solutions to their customers?
Eddie Ginja:
“Resellers are starting to
promote this service as part of their portfolio.
We are assisting them by rebranding our
collateral, including a video
.
youtube.com/watch?v=qQxNDv7IzNE. Over
and above this, we are supporting their sales
staff in training and on specific end-customer
meetings.”
Andy Johnson:
“Educating the customer
is key, explaining about cloud printing,
how easy it is and how it will streamline
processes and contribute to efficiency and
productivity. It’s all about the questions you
ask. A simple one is simply to say: ‘Would
it be helpful if you could print whilst on the
move?’.”
Jason Cort:
“Cloud print solutions take a
number of forms, but one area to address
might be to allay customer fears about
the security of placing documents in the
cloud and how easy it is to work with
those documents today. Examples of this
could be Google Docs, MSOffice 365, Box.
net and many others. A useful comparison
can be drawn when considering the risks
and costs to a business of keeping all
information on local servers/PCs contrasted
with using hardened and reliable cloud
services provided under strong SLAs.”
Mark Robinson:
“The widespread
adoption of mobile devices for work is
sometimes said to have led to a 24-hour
working culture that is compromising our
work-life balance. However, resellers can
argue that some of the most productive
work happens on mobiles away from the
distractions of meetings and interruptions
by co-workers.
“Executives might feel their best work
is done from 7 to 8 a.m. during their
daily commute. Employees might feel
that the ability to work remotely actually
helps them juggle work with family life,
as they can leave work early and catch
up on work tasks later. Cloud printing
apps give users the flexibility to process
business documents directly from a mobile
device when they can be most productive,
whether at home, on the go, or in the
office. They are a real productivity driver.”
Donna Marley:
“We offer our partners
many different tools to help promote our
products and solutions, from documentation
explaining current market drivers to customer
case studies. Additionally, we provide event
builder and marketing toolkits so they can
invite their customers to demonstrations
in their showrooms or virtually, including
hosting webinars or online training, to
ensure they fully understand the solutions
on offer. We are also just about to launch
an easy to use interactive tool to illustrate
customer challenges and how certain
solutions can add value, fix problems and/or
improve a sale.”
Wayne Snell:
“Our reseller partners can
easily demonstrate to customers how simply
we can ‘connect’ to this cloud world. Using
the web browser option installed in the
ineo device, end users can gain access to
our connector shop – dStore – to download
the connector of choice directly to the MFP.
A wealth of information is available for our
ineo Connector Apps via our web site. There
are also brochures for our reseller partners
to utilise for local promotion.”
Briefly summarise your cloud offer.
Eddie Ginja:
“Our cloud offer has been
live in the UK since January 2015. We
are launching this in Europe starting
September 2015.
“In summary, cloud printing technology
is really clever, but the way it works is
brilliantly simple. In basic terms, it is an
...continued
continued...
Jason Cort,
Director of Product
Planning and
Marketing,
Sharp Europe
Mark Robinson,
Market Business
Developer,
Canon
Cloud is
scalable
and more
agile than
traditional
printing
