It’s a story Bob Burnett has heard before. For years, customers and prospects have employed Brother International products for home use, raving about their quality and reliability. The manufacturer’s wares are ubiquitous, and it needs no introduction from a branding standpoint. The true battleground, however, resides in the office environment.
Burnett, the company’s director of B2B solutions deployment and planning, sees the tide shifting from a perception standpoint. Brother continues to garner office mindshare, and Burnett has taken the reins of chief evangelist to share the company’s story and value proposition to dispel the home office product-only pigeonhole.
It’s not enough to have an industry-leading support function for the dealer channel, although Brother has that area covered. What Burnett and Co. are banking on is a bold, unprecedented and aggressive game plan that targets the enterprise-level customer. A portfolio of eight new laser printers is designed to address the drastic page count reductions, a reality in the hybrid work environment. It’s not about providing an A3 alternative; it’s an acknowledgement that certain environments require a right-sizing to align with print needs.
Add in a Value Subscription Program that can act as a quasi-MPS program for a certain customer niche, an expansion of its SOHO portfolio geared toward work from home, and a stellar line of scanner offerings, and it all equates to a compelling value proposition that demonstrates value well beyond the consumer space in which Brother has long thrived. Burnett speaks to Brother’s plan of attack and how it was strategically blended into the company’s dealer meeting in San Diego. The OEM has plans to continue growing and insists on bringing its dealer partners along for the ride.
Provide some insight into Brother’s financial performance during the past 12 months. What were some of the variables that played into how the company performed?
Burnett: We enjoyed solid year-over-year growth in 2022, and we’re already seeing positive activity in 2023 during the month of January.
We’ve continued to see positive movement with our channel partners in the market for SMB-type products. It’s been quite encouraging, especially with the announcement of the new enterprise products and the Brother Workhorse small-office/home-office models as we expand that family. Adding subscription service capabilities to our products is another area that’s produced momentum as we move forward.
What were some of the highlights for Brother during the past year?
Burnett: The biggest one is the exciting new enterprise laser devices. Those machines are game changers for Brother, as we’ve never had any in the enterprise space before. These models address the changing market needs for more decentralized print. That market is shifting around as people come back to the office. There’s no consistency with in-office operations; it varies depending on geography, market size and the size of the companies. In some parts of the country, workers remained in the office [during the pandemic] or were only out a couple of weeks. At the other end of the spectrum, some companies aren’t back in the office at all.
We’re focusing on that sweet spot—the middle, hybrid range of working in the office and remotely. They may be doing two or three days in the office and work remotely the rest of the time. The question becomes: is the demand still there for the capacity they had in that particular location? Do they need to rethink what they’re paying for and possibly reduce their print capacity? I think our enterprise machines help address that demand from the end-user customer and give our channel partners something to sell them to re-balance that fleet. It’s a different world today; not everybody’s in the office, and print volumes are down.
Let’s talk about Brother’s 2022 dealer meeting in San Diego last November. What were some of the biggest takeaways, and what guidance did you provide your dealer partners?
Burnett: San Diego was great. We had more than 100 people in attendance, and it was amazing to see that level of turnout. All the channel partners are really excited about the new enterprise color lasers we announced at the event, particularly the exclusive versions for the dealer community. The feedback we received from our current dealers and the new ones experiencing the Brother family for the first time was tremendous. They love how we differentiate not only through strong products, but also the level of support we provide. Our teams will accompany them on site assessments at customer locations. We provide assistance through our custom solutions team, and our sales team provides support to dealers to help their teams gain more sales.
Our dealer message centered on the expansion of the Brother Workhorse family and going into the enterprise space with our color laser products. In addition to our core products, we encouraged them to address work-from-home needs and take advantage of the shifts in the market to provide inkjet as opposed to laser technology. We’ve got a bigger spectrum of products with the Workhorse family, providing more opportunities for our dealers to change client environments.
We also talked about Brother’s history. We’ve always had an SMB play for selling into those customers, but we never really had a focus in that area or a focus for the dealer community. That changed about 10 years back. Initially, we had a product that was OK, but it really didn’t meet the needs of the channel partner—it didn’t have enough volume, capacities and feature sets. We only had a couple of models, each of which was kind of a one-trick pony. But we listened to the dealers and expanded the lineup, and this is a continuation of that story. We made them more robust, added more security, bettered the print quality and lowered the total cost of ownership. It’s all about expanding, giving dealers more tools to work with and keeping an eye on where the markets are moving.
COVID blew things up and changed the way people do business. It’s important to more strongly address decentralized print and provide tools that speak to working from anywhere. Remote work has always been there, and COVID only amplified it. Now, we’ve given dealers a full family of products, solutions and support to address that for their customers.
Last fall, Brother rolled out its Value Subscription Program (VSP), something of an alternative to managed print services. Talk about the need you saw for print-as-a-service in a segment of the marketplace.
Burnett: That’s another area that fits into the tool bag of what customers need. Print has always been a headache for IT professionals, something they don’t want to deal with. Now the IT managers have to control their remote workers, keep the data secure and manage how they share documents. That pushed print even farther down on their priority list. But the reality is, print and scan becomes a higher security risk once you start operating with a more dispersed workforce. You’re no longer inside four walls; you have to protect everything from everywhere.
Our Value Subscription Program fits into that narrative by taking the burden off the IT professionals and even off the channel. It works on two fronts. For the end-user, it takes away the full print burden—they don’t have to worry about hardware or supplies; it’s all taken care of for them. For the channel partner, it allows them to reach a different customer. Larger dealers may evaluate a one- or two-unit deal and conclude that it’s not worth their time and effort to put it under an MPS agreement. Instead of walking away from the deal or taking it transactional and losing out on the toner business, now they have the option of our VSP. The beauty of it is we manage it, but the channel sells it. Now the channel gets a piece of the pie and keeps that customer in the fold, and they can keep that good, contractual business and get an annuity out of it. It’s a rental program, so Brother owns the product. Dealers don’t have to stock any toner. The VSP really addresses a niche in the market.
We launched this in October last year. We’re really in a launch mode between the VSP, the new enterprise models and the new lower-end products, driving awareness within the channel. We’ve received a lot of requests to have me and my team visit dealers and explain these new offerings to dealers’ sales teams.
What was the feedback you received on VSP in San Diego?
Burnett: There was a lot of interest and curiosity about it, because it’s something that’s a little bit outside their wheelhouse. The big dealers do MPS every day and have their own flat fee, but the mid-tier to smaller dealerships may need a little more help and support from Brother. This is a way for them to get in the game, level the playing field and have an MPS without that massive investment that’s required to manage it. And for the bigger guys, again, this gives them a way to keep customers in the fold on small deals and enjoy that continuous revenue stream. We handle it all—ship the machines, take care of the supplies and provide a next-business-day replacement unit when needed.
Late last year, Brother unveiled eight new business laser printers for the medium and large work groups. Talk about the feedback you received from dealers and the market that spurred this rollout.
Burnett: The response has been tremendous. Dealers love the color output; they say it’s the best they’ve ever seen out of a laser printer, especially in this level category. They love how we’ve taken the security capabilities to another level. That’s particularly important to the enterprise customer, which tends to have more stringent security policies. Having security certification from Buyers Lab only reinforces the narrative. It’s going to open the door for channel partners to gain entry into larger corporate entities. And again, our dealers are enjoying a level of support from the Brother team that they just don’t see from other vendors. When you’re solving a big pain point for the end-customer, the topic of price starts to drop down on their priority list, because that problem-solving is a huge value to them. When you can make that a differentiator, it makes Brother and the channel partner stickier with that end-customer, which is a win-win for everybody.
This marks a bit of a new foray into the enterprise realm for Brother. Tell us a little about the goals you’ve set.
Burnett: We’ve been looking at the market and what we felt were the changes it was experiencing. So far, our hypothesis is proving true as far as the hybrid workspace and decentralized environment. The days of printing 60,000 pages a month on a single machine are dwindling, and you really need to be more decentralized with smaller devices. The same holds true for 11×17” prints and all the finishing capabilities. The demand and desire to pay for hole punches and saddle-stitched product just isn’t what it used to be. How many clients really need those capabilities anymore? Our new devices address today’s needs, and our goal is to capture some of that enterprise business. We’re not saying we’re going to replace all the A3s. It’s all about right-sizing the fleet for that customer. If our channel partners aren’t talking to their end-customers about right-sizing their fleet, someone from a competitor will. That’s our message to the channel: make sure you’re right-sizing your customer’s fleet to continue the growth of the business and the relationship with your customers. If your customers feel as if they’re getting taken advantage of, they’re going to start looking elsewhere. It’s important for dealers to do right by the client.
As supply chain issues continue to improve and the degree of work-from-home activity gains more clarity, what will be the keys to growth for both Brother and its dealer partners?
Burnett: It’s all about getting the word out on the street, helping dealers and channel partners communicate the Brother message, story and value proposition regarding what we bring to the table to help solve pain points. It’s the reliability of our product, the quality of our output and the levels of security. For years, end-users would talk about having Brother products in their homes and mention how well they work and that they love them, but they didn’t consider us when they were looking to put devices in their corporate spaces. That tide is starting to shift. Clients are being more receptive. When Brother comes to the table and shows them the products and services we can give them, it’s an eye-opener. They’ll say, “Wow, I didn’t know.” Once we get in front of them and tell that story, nine times out of 10, it’s a win. We build that trust and relationship with them.
What can we expect to see this year from Brother in terms of new product rollouts?
Burnett: Stay tuned. There’s always something new on the horizon; just how far out that is, I really can’t speak to it. As I mentioned earlier, we’re still in launch mode and are sounding the bell about the enterprise lines, the lower-end machines, Workhorse inkjet, our line of scanners and the VSP. That’s our core team’s focus right now. It’s all about getting the word out, making people aware and generating excitement.
Is there anything new on the horizon from a program or partnership standpoint?
Burnett: Nothing I can speak to at the moment. We’re continuing to evaluate what the market demands are, and our goal is always to partner with best-in-class providers and solutions. In the past, we’ve worked with Papercut and the Kofax Control suite, and we have Canon and NTware products as well. TroyRX is a partner of ours in the health care space. We have a digital signature partner with TrueSign. We want those best-in-breed partners to integrate with and share a solution for our customers. The market will dictate the direction we take.
What are your goals and what do you hope to accomplish in 2023?
Burnett: Success in my eyes is always a happy customer. If we can really change what a customer is doing, solving a pain point and bringing them a benefit, that’s a goal. That’s a win. It’s continued growth in the SMB and enterprise segments, driving awareness and continuing to bring into the Brother family the channel partners/dealers that have our shared vision and are looking for ways to generate new revenue streams and grow their business. We want to be that partner to help dealers grow and expand into spaces that maybe they weren’t in before. It can be the VSP, inkjet models, enterprise color laser—it’s something that’s different from the regular A3 copier. That gives channel partners/dealers a different avenue to go down with their customers. We think 2023 is going to be a good year for the launch of these machines.
