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10
Printer People
Doing things differently
Samsung Electronics has appointed Mark Ash as General Manager
for the UK & Ireland Print division. Previously Corporate & Public
Sector Sales Manager at Xerox UK, Mark will be responsible for
executing Samsung print division‘s unit and revenue plan for 2013
and strengthening its presence in the B2B market.
Mark Ash told
PrintIT Reseller
that his main focus was to develop
stronger relationships with IT resellers and distributors by providing them
with the products, solutions, tools and support needed to drive sales.
As part of this process, Samsung will be recruiting new staff.
“It‘s people that make things work. Product specialists, marketing,
service technicians, pre-sales, engineers: we are investing in all those
areas. We are also investing in vertical markets and will have a significantly
enhanced B2B vertical sales operation in the UK,” he said.
Mark stressed that this exists solely to generate business for channel
partners. “Unlike all of our Tier 1 peers, who have their own salesforces,
Samsung is entirely channel-centric. Our people will drive demand for
Samsung, but when it comes to delivering the product that will be done by
dealers or resellers.”
As well as strengthening Samsung‘s own business generation activities,
Mark is urging resellers to do the same with theirs.
“We are encouraging dealers to broaden their horizons. We know it‘s
a competitive market, so why not look at alternative revenue streams. If
you have a relationship with an IT director in a hospital, say, and you are
supplying 200 printers, what about putting Samsung displays in there as
well and digital signage in public areas and waiting rooms. There is no
reason you can‘t do that.”
Mark views the breadth of Samsung‘s product portfolio, in particular its
expertise in display technologies, tablets and smartphones, as a key selling
point and advises resellers to exploit the Galaxy and Smart TV brands when
selling printers.
“We are not looking at print in isolation: we are a lot more than
print. If you look at Samsung we are strong in TVs, smartphones, tablets,
notebooks and displays, in digital convergence and consumerisation. Print
is only one component,” he said.
This is not purely a marketing position, but reflects the realities of
Samsung product development, from Android-like printer displays to
mobile printing apps and NFC-enabled printers. According to Mark, it also
informs the company‘s approach to managed print services.
“In terms of MPS, Samsung really is coming of age in the B2B
marketplace. We are not as established as Tier 1 vendors with mature
strategies, but we are taking a robust approach and we are doing things
differently: 24% of businesses have some form of mobile-enabled
processes and, working with partners like Ringdale, we are looking at
how you integrate mobile phones and tablets with MPS. Every other MPS
focuses on using notebooks and desktops to print from.”
To find out more about Samsung‘s new print strategy, turn to page 32.
n
Brother UK has appointed
Michael
Anderson
as Market Development Manager
to help reseller partners capitalise on new
sales opportunities across the company‘s
portfolio of printing, scanning, labelling and
communication solutions. Anderson will be
responsible for the development of Brother’s
channel and category marketing strategy
and customer sales initiatives. He will report
to Brother UK’s Head of Marketing, James
Lawton-Hill.
n
ECi Software Solutions has made
Adam
Stockwell
Managing Director of ECi Europe.
He joins ECi from Staples Europe where, as
European Director for Managed Print Services
(MPS), he was responsible for developing
Staples‘ strategic plan to enter the European
MPS market. He was also a member of the
Staples Global Strategy team for MPS. Joining
him will be Director of Development Stephen
Howes, who will be responsible for managing
the development of products for Europe
and driving innovation in ECi Europe’s next
generation product offerings.
n
Bruce Davie
has been appointed
Commercial Director of Manchester-based
Xerox Concessionaire ZenOffice. He was
formerly Regional Director at Spicers.
Following a 15% rise in group turnover to
£10.5 million, ZenOffice has also expanded
its MPS team with the appointments of
Wayne Phillips
(right)
as senior account
manager and
Ashley Parkinson
(left)
as
Business Development Manager. ZenOffice
became an authorised reseller of Xerox
managed print services in January 2012.
n
Danny Molhoek
is replacing Gary
Bourland as Lexmark‘s Country General
Manager for the United Kingdom and
Ireland. He was previously Director
and General Manager for Lexmark in
Central and Eastern Europe, Turkey, the
Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS) and Israel. Since joining Lexmark
in 1998, Danny has held several senior
positions, including General Manager of
the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.
Gary Bourland is moving back to Lexmark‘s
HQ in Lexington, Kentucky.
n
Steve Hibbert
, former UK Group Sales
Director and CEO of Danwood USA, will
be joining Apogee’s Senior Management
Team as Strategy Director. Reporting
directly to Apogee’s Board, Steve’s focus
will be to grow Apogee’s business in
Europe and help realise the company‘s
ambition to become the UK’s largest
independent Managed Document Services
specialist.
Mark Ash: Exploit the Samsung brand