Who knew that a market long described as mature could become so dynamic in a relatively short time? But Bob Burnett believes that’s exactly what happened in the office realm, and the director of B2B solutions deployment and planning for Brother International is more than willing to adapt to the new office world order.
Brother International
Whether it’s remote, on premise or a combination of environments, Burnett sees the value in proffering a catalog of business enhancement solutions that speak to the work-from-anywhere philosophy. As centralized devices give way to a wider solutions spectrum, Burnett believes Brother is ideally positioned to help dealer reseller partners deliver next-generation imaging hardware and software to an increasingly distributed end-user client base.
We had the chance to sit down with Burnett and discuss the company’s experiences in 2021 and the ongoing challenges arising from the pandemic, along with the burgeoning A4 market and how the manufacturer is helping dealers drive hardware growth.
Tell us a little about Brother’s 2021 financial performance. What were some of the highlights during the past year, particularly in the dealer channel?
Burnett: Brother USA has enjoyed relatively strong and consistent performance despite the headwinds caused by the pandemic. In fact, Brother expanded its dealer network and added more channel partners in 2021, and we expect that growth to continue. We’ve been working closely with our channel partners and dealers to accurately forecast their needs, which has been critical as supply chain issues impact every manufacturer and business. I’m proud that Brother has been able to deliver on its commitments. Moreover, the adoption of new ways of working, such as hybrid workforces, the corporate home office or the low-touch office, have allowed Brother to innovate on its solutions and deliver world-class technology and performance. Our products and solutions fit the full spectrum of needs among our end-users, regardless of the physical working environment. We understand the changes happening within our core verticals and across corporate enterprises, and we’re committed to collaborating with our industry partners and dealer network to ensure we meet the needs of a very dynamic workforce.
One of the biggest talking points of the year was the supply chain challenges confronting many businesses on a global basis. What’s been the impact on Brother?
Burnett: As a successful multinational, Brother hasn’t been immune to the supply chain challenges affecting our industry. We’ve prioritized production as much as possible for our family of Workhorse products and this continues to be a focus for us. We’ve been successful in meeting demand, and despite supply chain challenges and dynamic shifts in how people are working, we continue to see increasing interest for our products and solutions. I believe that’s because Brother truly understands how to deliver the most value and a full spectrum of choices for our channel partners, dealers and ultimately, the end-user. Moving forward, we’ll continue to bring next-generation imaging technology hardware and software solutions to market. We plan to share more details on these products later this year or early in 2023.
How has Brother been able to balance the needs of its clients during this time?
Burnett: Brother has always incorporated channel and end-user feedback into its strategic planning process, but this year we’ve dedicated additional time and resources into our forecasting models. Our field teams have remained very busy in conducting end-user assessments, both on site and through virtual meetings. In fact, we haven’t seen any disruptions in that area of our business. Customers want to understand how the imaging fleet they’re managing today will be different from the fleet of tomorrow. And we want to ensure we’re meeting demand and living up to Brother’s unique “at your side” service commitments. One of the areas I’m most proud of is our ability to maintain Brother’s unique next-business-day replacement for priority accounts, even in the wake of supply chain challenges.
How would you characterize the market for A4 devices and the ongoing demand for work-from-home solutions?
Burnett: Brother had already anticipated a shift from A3 to A4 devices, but the pandemic and its impact on the workplace have accelerated that transition. I predict that the transition to A4 will continue to be one of the main issues impacting our industry as workflow needs and workplace issues remain in a dynamic state. And I’m confident that Brother has the best technology and partner ecosystem to make work from anywhere a reality. Many won’t be going back to a pre-COVID workplace environment, so the question becomes: do end-users and their IT departments have the capabilities to continuously support workflow needs over the long-term, with the right security to support these permanent shifts? I believe Brother is addressing these issues with the right combination of hardware and software solutions.
Talk a little about the consultative approach you’ve applied with dealers to help them flourish with A4 products. What do you see as the keys to success in their hardware growth?
Burnett: As workplace needs continue to shift, we want to ensure we’re proactively supporting our dealers and channel partners. Our deep commitment to forecasting and the adoption of the Brother Value Chain help inform our strategy and market approach for A4 products. We believe interest in A4 will continue to grow at a rapid pace. That’s why we’ve applied a consultative approach to extend corporate managed print services to accommodate workforce decentralization and address new security and service requirements, which our increasingly mobile world demands. Additional keys to success in A4 hardware growth include offerings such as e-signature apps, secure document management solutions and cloud storage.
How would you characterize the current market for scanners? What other opportunities do you view as prime for Brother to engage the dealer channel?
Burnett: Scanners are, quite simply, the workflow on-ramp for the decentralized and digital workforce of today. At Brother, we consider scanners to be a critical component of the work-from-anywhere lifestyle. Their popularity has risen not only because of hybrid work models, but also because more robust and secure cloud solutions have made it possible to collaborate globally and remotely, even from mobile devices. We’re working with all our channel partners and dealers to capitalize on this shift toward more digitalization in a decentralized workforce.
What can we expect to see from Brother in 2022 in terms of new product rollouts?
Burnett: Our focus at Brother is to prepare to bring the market next-generation technology that proactively meets the needs of our sales partners and the end-user. We expect to unveil some innovative new products designed to get more documents in the cloud at higher speeds. Specifically for the dealer channel, we have a new monochrome MFP and laser printer that’s designed for that corporate office we discussed, but with the small business in mind. We’re expecting to release in the spring. New B2B scanners are expected in that timeframe as well.
Is there anything new on the horizon from a program or partnership standpoint?
Burnett: We recently partnered with TrueSign to release exclusive scan-to-sign functionality for all Brother devices that support our Easy Scan to E-mail feature. This partnership allows us to better meet businesses’ needs for secure, economical and virtual business workflows in today’s increasingly remote work environment amid a growing demand for the digital signature business. In addition, Brother onboarded Kofax ControlSuite for select devices, giving health care administrators the ability to manage and govern documents securely and maintain a chain of custody by automatically tracking how documents are accessed and used. The Kofax solution dramatically enhances productivity by assisting employees with remote, low-level and time-consuming tasks. In the case of printing and scanning, for instance, this entails activities such as transferring data from a form (whether scanned or on paper), which can be an arduous and mistake-prone process. In sum, Brother’s new partnerships are focused on addressing document workflow needs for our new way of working.
What are Brother’s primary goals for 2022?
Burnett: While the workplace and world around us has dramatically changed, the strategic goals we have at Brother will remain constant. We’ll continue striving to bring world-class imaging technologies and solutions to the marketplace in order to best serve the changing needs and requirements of our end-users, and we’ll reaffirm our commitment to collaborating with our channel partners and dealer network to ensure their success. We’re constantly working on solutions/technology that help the work-from-anywhere approach to business or help an end-user right-size their technology stack for the future. It’s critical to have innovative solutions that support business continuity, security and efficacies in the new business workflow. The shifts that occurred as a result of the pandemic provided valuable lessons, and we’ve embraced this knowledge and feedback in order to better address the communications needs of our end-users. We’re innovating with the times, and I believe that Brother and our partners are in a strong position for the year ahead.
