One could say that Mike Marusic, the president and CEO of Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America, revealed a devious side of himself during June’s national dealer meeting (NDM) at the Wynn Las Vegas. Yet, he expressed amazement that the company’s top-secret plans to unveil a six-color digital production press were kept under wraps before nearly 800 customers, partners and press members flocked to see it for themselves. So maybe Marusic even surprised himself.
The 120-plus ppm monster unit and its as-yet revealed technology partner only scratched the surface of numerous product and partnership revelations in April. The light production Polaris Pro line was given a refresh, with speeds in the 70-80 ppm ballpark. A quartet of A4 units that boast many A3-esque features are en route. ConnectWise is providing heightened security for Sharp MFPs and printers, bolstered by its Security Information and Event Management monitoring. And Synnapx Manage was added to the fold for managing multiple devices across numerous platforms—all directed through a single dashboard.
Tack on the strength of Sharp’s relationship with TD SYNNEX and Marusic pondering the possibilities generative AI may hold for the future, and it all adds up to one exhaustive agenda. It’s no wonder why Sharp dealers continue to enjoy solid growth; there’s no dearth of opportunities to scale with the OEM. Talk of diversification through Dynabook laptops and NEC displays almost seemed an afterthought, although it wasn’t—the fresh fireworks just overshadowed them.
Marusic barely had time to unpack when ENX Magazine sat down with him to discuss the NDM, the six-color production unit and critical new partnerships. What’s new with the OEM from a product standpoint, however, pales in comparison to the challenge that lies ahead. The NDM offered the theme “Where Opportunity Meets Execution,” and frankly, Sharp has more than its share of action items to execute in ensuring the new production unit is ready to roll by the end of the calendar year. Marusic has issued the promises, and it’s now time for the manufacturer to deliver.
Walk us through the highlights of Sharp’s 2022 financial performance. How did the company perform in relation to the goals and expectations you set?
Marusic: We had a good year. We keep stretching our targets, because with so much uncertainty, you don’t want to get complacent. Sharp saw great growth—our channel business was up double digits. That’s pretty strong considering we’ve been growing for the last couple years. There haven’t been any huge dips followed by recovery; it’s more about that continuation of growth. I think that’s been quite positive. That steady growth resonates with dealers. Also, seeing our dealers grow faster than the market is really our goal. Sharp Corporation is very happy with our numbers, and more importantly, our dealers are happy with what they’re seeing.
What stands out as some of the watershed moments for Sharp in 2022? What resonated the most with you?
Marusic: It’s hard to pick out that a-hah moment. It’s a lot of little things piling on that gets me excited. As we started building out that concept of those puzzle pieces, that’s really how my mind has been working. All of those little pieces start coming together. There were some big meetings in 2022 that triggered the announcements we made at the dealer meeting. Coming out of those meetings, we felt pretty positive about the direction. We could tell at that moment that it’s going to be really good for Sharp. Another thing: toward the end of 2022, as we saw the supply chain easing and our competitors were getting product, that was a telling moment as to how well we advanced. The business had shifted our way during the supply chain issues, but it didn’t shift back to competitors after it improved, which was extremely positive. That told me the things we’d been doing for dealers were paying dividends, and that they’re happy with us. It was during COVID and the supply chain challenges that dealers had the opportunity to see the caliber of partner we are. They saw that regardless of any crisis the industry might endure, they can count on Sharp.
Obviously, a lot of time and energy went into making the national dealer meeting (NDM) a success. What did you hope to accomplish in Las Vegas?
Marusic: We were trying to present ourselves as the top-tier document player, which was important to us, and show how a lot of the things we’ve done the last couple of years underscores that belief. All the products, the A4, and obviously the production product were big hits. The second thing was making sure dealers understood that we’re the best play in the industry when it comes to diversification. We have all the other categories and products, but at the core, we’re a document company; our dealers are document dealers. But when they’re ready to diversify, we’re probably their best option. We asked attendees afterward if we had moved forward in these areas.
The NDM came just six months after a series of roadshows last fall, which represented the first in-person events for Sharp since late 2019. What was the primary messaging you wanted to convey?
Marusic: They build on each other. I view the roadshows differently than the dealer meeting. The road show is really about getting the pulse of our dealer community, getting feedback and having more one-on-one conversations. We can have more sessions with dealers in which they tell us what’s right or wrong; the plus is that you can read their faces and see what they think. For us, the NDM is the continuation of a message regarding what we’re trying to do as a company, to build out our document lineup, and then become a better partner as dealers transform their business. There are so many ways of doing that. From our standpoint, it was “Here’s what we’re thinking on the roadshow. Are we on the right track?” Where we got affirmation, we took a more aggressive approach. When people said maybe that’s not what we’re ready for, we backed off a little bit for our dealer meeting. Then we put it all together. I think the consistency of our message is resonating with dealers. I don’t think they like to see us bouncing around, where in one meeting we’re going in one direction, and in the next meeting, we’re going in a different one. Dealers like to see that consistency.
Although you’re still processing feedback from the guests in attendance, what are some of the initial takeaways your dealer partners have shared with you?
Marusic: I’m kind of a cynic. My first impulse is to wonder what went wrong. But I think the feedback has been positive. I always judge things two ways. When you pass someone in the hallway, obviously they’re going to say, “Great job.” People are courteous by nature, so when a friend says that to me, I don’t know if that’s a true indicator. But when a dealer that I don’t have a really tight relationship with stops me and says something specific that they liked about the meeting or brings up a positive, that to me says they really got something valuable out of the meeting. I heard a lot of that this time, which was really exciting. I think the proof is in the pudding over the next couple months; we’ll see if dealers can enact some of the things we were promoting.
Much of the attention in Vegas was centered on Sharp’s massive new production machine. Can you walk us through the project’s development, your collaboration with the partner and the training/support system you’re amassing?
Marusic: We’re still going to be a little coy about [the partner], but many people can surmise where it originated. I think we clearly caught the industry off guard with that one, which was great. We kept it really secret here at Sharp; we had a small team working on it for some time. The dealers were surprised we launched the product, and I was surprised they didn’t know it was coming. It’s really hard to keep something that big quiet. We don’t typically go into the details of OEM partnerships, for obvious reasons. I think the dealers were excited about the product not only in terms of what it can do for them opportunity-wise, but also that it shows the commitment and the confidence others have in Sharp and the Sharp dealer community to partner with us. They liked that Sharp wanted to get into production to fill in that blank spot in our lineup. Now the hard work begins, and we have a lot to do before launch. The positive is we kept things quiet and were able to progress without others knowing about it. The negative is that we’re probably not as ready as we’d like to be. We have a lot of training that we need to do, and there’s much to be done in building out a support infrastructure. We have it all laid out, now we just have to do it.
We introduced Polaris Pro, and we joked that the new model would have been a great production product rollout in a normal meeting, but it ended up being overshadowed. The production press is a completely different animal, and for Sharp, this summer is going to be about building up those capabilities. I can assure all the dealers we’re going to make all the necessary investments to do what’s needed. We’re going to build out that support. We have to execute on it. I’m really excited about what that will look like at the end of the year. Certainly, the dealers’ initial reaction was phenomenal.
Given the late 2023/early 2024 launch, is it too soon for to talk about projections and goals?
Marusic: It is in some ways. I wouldn’t be able to share because it involves two publicly traded companies. What surprised me at the meeting was the feedback of dealers. We didn’t anticipate they would adopt the product, but now they’re very much interested. When I told one dealer that we have a lot of work ahead of us in building things out, he replied, “I can give you some training manuals, because they’re all about how to sell against that product.” He felt it was the right product for us. I think we’re going to get more dealers participating than we originally anticipated. Towards the second half of the year, we’ll go into the details of what we really think is the right number and target to sell.
Earlier this year, Sharp announced a strategic partnership with Kodak Alaris to provide that company’s complete portfolio. Tell us a little about how this agreement developed and how Kodak Alaris can address the needs of your direct branches and dealer partners.
Marusic: There’s an area of document management where it goes beyond the MFP, scanning and some of the things we do. Getting a partner that has the capabilities we’re looking for in addition to the type of relationship Alaris needs was important. It’s a partnership the dealer community can embrace and leverage themselves. This gave us a great opportunity that aligned with what we do with TD SYNNEX, our partner in the document space. It all came together in a nice way. We’ve adopted Kodak Alaris for our direct operations—they’re all selling them now. We encourage the dealers to do so as well. Obviously, some may have their own partners, but we’ve vetted them and made sure that our software and the things we’re trying to do will align with what they’re trying to do.
Speaking of partnerships, you also announced the agreement with ConnectWise. Talk about the value of bringing ConnectWise into the full IT stack.
Marusic: I had two large dealers come to me after NDM and say we kind of snuck this under the wire with all the other announcements. I think they’re really going to leverage it. At any meeting or event in our industry, they talk about managed network services and getting into IT services. We’ve used ConnectWise for a number of years, and we began to realize there’s this intersection where no one’s really managing the print stream on the network. It’s a different part of what’s going through the network and where you’re checking for vulnerabilities. It became an opportunity to have an interest in where we manage that print stream. There’s the saying that you want to be a good network citizen, and a good citizen looks out for the neighbors. Now print devices can be part of that neighborly love, looking out for the company’s network security system. That was positive for us because we saw it all gelled. Partnering with ConnectWise really gives the dealers the most popular partner in the channel for MNS, so that linkage becomes immediate. It’s set up as a gateway towards full MNS, so you can select our way of print security and have a recurring revenue stream, and it contributes to network security. Then you can go all in with MNS. Most importantly, it’s a great conversation with the IT manager. It’s the number-one concern; solving their problems in something such as print really changes the conversation and lets you talk about your MPS program. All those pieces come together, and no matter which way a dealer wants to approach it, they can be an MPS person who wants to go into MNS, and this is kind of a gateway. Or if they’re in MNS and want to do more MPS, it’s a gateway for that as well. This is one of those linchpin puzzle pieces that a lot of other pieces connect to.
Where do you see the best recurring revenue opportunities?
Marusic: I think on the IT side, the laptop itself isn’t the highest-margin product, but that can connect dealers into recurring revenue on software and managed services. And as they get deeper into the customer, they can get more involved in other projects [the end-user] is doing. Laptops and security can empower dealers to get involved with clients’ remote work. I really see laptops as that hidden gem that can open the door to other opportunities. That’s one of the reasons we’re working so closely with TD SYNNEX; they have the connectors to make recurring revenue and the procurement of software happen.
Is there anything else on the horizon from a program or partnership standpoint?
Marusic: Right now, there are a couple more things we’re working on, but we’re not there yet. For us, the most important thing is the execution aspect that we discussed at the meeting. A lot of what we planned going into the dealer meeting was accomplished. I have a whiteboard in my office, and about eight months before the meeting, I had a list of things I wanted to get done before the show. Rarely do I get more than 50-60% of the action items completed, but we were over 90%. There were only two things we didn’t finalize.
Talk about the goals you have for the balance of 2023.
Marusic: You can’t go out and announce a production press product and not be able to execute on it. There will be a lot of work, and I’d say it’s our number-one goal. Even with all the things we introduced at the meeting, we still have a laptop business and the display business—categories that dealers can support with their customers. When I look at the offering of a Sharp dealer, or a dual-line Sharp dealer, and Sharp itself, no one else can touch this. Nobody can really address all the different aspects of how people view information.
We track the growth numbers for dealers that are diversifying very carefully, and we have specific goals. I’d like to see 50% of our dealers regularly engaged in selling these other categories that Sharp offers. If we can hit that number for the year, I think that would qualify as a successful year. For one, that would mean we hit our number, and two, it’s really going to make our dealers stronger. Selling laptops and displays in addition to our printers and MFPs means they’re going deeper and stronger with their customers. In turn, that makes Sharp stronger. If we can get production out effectively and successfully and execute on selling these other categories, it will make for a great year.
