Among the many roles Keypoint Intelligence seeks to embrace is identifying opportunities that can lead to growth for office technology dealerships. The Fairfield, New Jersey-based global market intelligence firm and product test lab—with offices in the United Kingdom, China and Japan—strategically combs the business universe to provide intelligence while also developing tangible products that allow dealers to ferret out new or enhanced methods of doing business.
One such element is the company’s UVERCE platform, which has been on the market for more than a year. It’s aimed at enabling channel dealers to offer an end-to-end ecommerce solution that leverages all the market intelligence information that manufacturers and distributors have made available. A complementary tool, quote iQ, provides valuable pricing information that can help dealers reduce the internal time it takes for deals to be proffered.
The office technology industry-specific UVERCE tool serves multiple purposes. Dealers can provide a way for clients to search, select and transact a deal for the more commoditized items within their catalog. The tool can also be leveraged to offer anything and everything a dealer sells—all with the option to list pricing. Additionally, it serves as a lead-generation tool for sales representatives while saving time and enabling reps to focus on larger transactions.
Simply put, UVERCE has the capability to furnish a comprehensive buying experience through a dealer’s website. As Anthony Sci—president and CEO of Keypoint Intelligence—explains, UVERCE’s potential can follow as far as the dealer desires. In an age when buyers are increasingly embracing the Amazon B2C model of search, customize and purchase, Sci believes it behooves dealers to incorporate an ecommerce function to capitalize on a growing segment that desires the ability to transact without human interaction. We sat down with Sci to learn more about how UVERCE can serve multiple masters, all while securing more business for dealers.
Talk a little about the genesis of the UVERCE platform, the motivation behind its creation and the team that helped put it all together. How long did it take to develop?
Sci: I’ve been with Keypoint Intelligence for two years, and the product was being developed before I arrived. It really arose from a client need to move into ecommerce, but were lacking an industry-specific tool. The great thing is we have a bunch of dealer clients from bliQ who gave us feedback as to what they’d want in an ecommerce tool. Some of those components include the configurator, comparisons and a way to communicate with the customer via chat box or remote-in. It was the brainchild of our business development group, CTO Chris Jones and Randy Dazo, who were the cornerstones for the development of UVERCE. It took about two years before we brought it to market. UVERCE came to market early, then we got feedback from customers wanting more in the tool, which we added. It’s been live for a little more than a year.
Obviously, UVERCE differs from many other third-party solutions in that it’s specifically tailored toward the dealer community. Provide a glimpse at some of the industry-specific aspects that dealers would find appealing.
Sci: Number one, people want the ability to compare different products. Users have the ability to build product, so they can tailor it to specification. In our industry, adding accessories and extras is always a tough thing to do, so getting that right was important. Our rules-based configurator ensures users won’t make an error with their configuration. Also, if you don’t know what you’re looking for and you’re new to this, there are a couple ways to search for products. In this case, users can answer five or six questions, and the system makes suggestions for you. Or, if you know a specific product, the system shows users that product and a category up and a category down, thus expanding their options.
Another differentiator is we have the ability to lease—which was a popular request from dealers—through an agreement with GreatAmerica. Also, although dealers started with just A3 and A4, the platform has grown to include managed IT, software, water, coffee and mailing equipment. Anything that the dealers sell, they have the ability to put up a product catalog and also have a total ecommerce solution. Another key is the ability to have pricing or just request the quote on it. That gives the dealer the flexibility to set up the ecommerce site any way they choose. It’s designed to provide the best customer experience. The dealers know their customers well, so they can custom-fit the solution to their needs.
Do you find dealers prefer having the pricing, or do they prefer the request for quote?
Sci: Right now, it’s probably 50/50…not total pricing. Many dealers have chosen to do A3 segment one and A4 with pricing, which are the more commoditized products. As they go up into more solutions-based equipment, dealers have a request for quote. It’s really changed from where it started, when dealers went back and forth around the question of putting pricing online, to becoming a lead-generation tool. That more accurately describes how dealers view it. A website should be the hub of your business in 2023, and ecommerce can truly be the cornerstone of a website.
How does UVERCE work?
Sci: UVERCE is an iFrame that appears when a visitor clicks on the dealer’s product catalog. It brings visitors to the feature page that can be set up to the dealer’s specifications. The dealers can include any specials they want to promote, and they can feature used equipment, which tends to be the highest gross-profit products in their catalog. On the left side of the feature page is the menu list, where products can be filtered by manufacturer, color/black and white machines, speeds, price and various other criteria.
There are two separate tools. UVERCE is the ecommerce customer-facing tool on the website, and the other is quote iQ, an internal tool that dealers use for pricing. In a webinar I did with Dan Cooper of Novatech, he mentioned that salespeople expend a lot of time developing pricing on Excel spreadsheets. They worked with us to develop quote iQ. An enterprise deal that used to take several hours, sometimes days, takes only a couple of minutes. We had input on both products from dealers.
Another key is the ability to have pricing or just request the quote on it. That gives the dealer the flexibility to set up the ecommerce site any way they choose. It’s designed to provide the best customer experience.
– Anthony Sci, Keypoint Intelligence
GreatAmerica, which has an API for UVERCE, has been with us since the beginning. We only have GreatAmerca in the drop-down menu because 99% of dealers use white-label leasing. GreatAmerica has the biggest technological advances when it comes to leasing, notifications and approvals, so we went with them.
Was including managed IT a more difficult proposition from a design standpoint?
Sci: Our platform uses open APIs, so as long as a distributor has an API, we just pull right from it to see inventoried machines and do direct shipping—everything dealers and their clients are seeking. Dealers don’t have to worry about new products coming out. As long as a new product is in our bliQ portfolio, we have it updated. We’ve really mastered how to get information into our system and into product catalogs on the dealer’s website so they can show their entire product line. We have a solid understanding of what a dealer goes through on a daily basis, and that’s been helpful in relating to their challenges when it comes to ecommerce, pricing, margins and sales reps worrying about losing a potential sale.
What were some of the enhancements made to UVERCE based on the feedback you received from dealers?
Sci: The ability to have sales reps walk through the steps with the client was something they requested. There were also calls for the ability to put specific models in or use search engines if they didn’t know what they were seeking. Those search engines were important. The ability to keep adding product was important as well. It really started as an A3/A4 vehicle, and it’s expanded to supplies, software and managed IT. We keep getting requests for more and more things such as water, coffee and mailing equipment. Another key is the ability to integrate more into the workflow of their CRM. We have agreements with AgentDealer for various connectors that integrate into their CRM to make workflow easier and seamless as orders come into the system.
It seems that UVERCE has a higher calling than simply being a vehicle for offering commoditized products online; it appears to have a role in enabling sales reps to be more efficient and effective. What should the dealers’ goal be with ecommerce?
Sci: It’s important for your website to be the hub of your business, so how do you drive traffic to it? Your website is your identity. Statistics tell us that 80% of people will go on a website three to five times before they contact the salesperson. Seventy percent of that 80% are millennials, and they’ve grown up with all manner of technology. They’re not used to going to salespeople—they’re used to ordering online.
How you set up the website is really important, and employing the UVERCE ecommerce platform, for one, gives you total coverage of your territory. In my 35 years, this is the worst job market that I’ve ever seen for recruiting people, and every dealer I talk to is looking for people. Being able to provide total territory coverage goes a long way toward addressing that personnel issue.
Are there any considerations dealers need to take into account, such as territorial infringement?
Sci: The beauty is you can enter the ZIP codes for whatever dealership is serving those counties. When the end-user goes to check out, if it’s a county or ZIP that the dealer doesn’t cover, it won’t let the customer proceed with the order. There are also other dealers, mainly printer dealers, who have no territory restrictions, so they’re less likely to have those restrictions on their website.
How would you characterize the investment required for dealers to implement a true ecommerce system? Is there a certain revenue floor where it becomes cost-prohibitive?
Sci: The cost to implement an ecommerce site is much less than people may think. There are two components to the financial outlay. First is a customization fee that’s based on request for information and what the dealer wants done. The second part is a monthly fee. We have dealers ranging from a million dollars in annual sales to several hundred million dollars using the UVERCE platform, so it’s affordable. It provides brand identity and gets the dealer’s products out there. And it’s being embraced—it’s truly gaining momentum. Last year, we had some conversations with dealers, but this year we’re holding several every week. It’s definitely on dealers’ minds.
With no dearth of competition from online sources such as Amazon, OEMs and other resellers, what’s the key to scaling beyond SEO optimization, marketing and social media campaigns?
Sci: After we have an initial conversation and the dealer indicates interest in moving forward, we ask them to bring their marketing and IT people into the fold. We then discuss their overall marketing strategy as it pertains to the website. We have a comprehensive menu of blogs—we publish three to five per week—that clients can access. Our research and analytics are also available; UVERCE provides a wealth of analytics that are built into the system. But the main thrust is determining their overall marketing strategy. How is it driving visitors to their website? Novatech’s Dan Cooper pointed out that people are staying on their website longer than they did previously now that they have UVERCE.
You’ve spoken to a lot of dealers. What are some of the more common objections you’re hearing from owners who are hesitant to pull the trigger with UVERCE/ecommerce?
Sci: Our industry is a little slow to market on certain things. Consider the fact that Amazon has been around for 20 years and we, as an industry, are just starting to talk about ecommerce in 2023. We grew up in this industry embracing relationship selling—looking eye to eye, shaking someone’s hand and building a relationship. Embracing change has been the hardest part. The second aspect is how it’s going to affect the culture of an organization and how it’s going to be looked at by the dealer’s salespeople. I think we’ve really gotten that under control. Do you really want your salespeople talking about commoditized pricing of products? The sales reps understand that if it’s done right, they’ll be getting leads out of the platform. It’s important to understand that this can be set up as a whole ecommerce experience from start to finish, to the point where human interaction is unnecessary. Buyers can sign the dealership’s service contract, they can sign a managed IT, and it can all be DocuSign-ed without any human interaction. It’s up to dealers how involved they want it to go.
We find that dealers want that on a limited basis. So while UVERCE is capable of doing a full ecommerce experience, the dealerships are electing not to put segments two, three, four and five pricing on their websites. It’s interesting to note that the manufacturers have helped support this in the dealer channel through their co-op programs. But many dealers prefer just to list the pricing on printers and add the request for quote on the higher-segment products. I think the biggest evolution has been using it as a lead-generating tool as much as an ecommerce experience.
While B2B and B2C transactions are different animals, millennials and Gen Z buyers are more conditioned toward researching and buying online without any human interaction. As these younger generations take on a more prominent role as buyers within their businesses, won’t that provide an advantage for dealers who embrace using ecommerce platforms?
Sci: I have three children 31 years of age and younger, and they all prefer to make transactions that don’t require human interaction. I tell a lot of dealer owners that there’s X-percentage of people who just don’t want to deal with salespeople. As they get older, they’ll be more influential as buyers. However, consider this: decision-makers themselves have those younger influencers already looking online for product. These influencers will go back to the owner and report what they found and how much it will cost. Depending on the price level, most owners probably don’t want to be bothered with getting involved in the purchase. So they’ll green-light the suggestion made by the younger influencer.
We have dealers ranging from a million dollars in annual sales to several hundred million dollars using the UVERCE platform, so it’s affordable. It provides brand identity and gets the dealer’s products out there. And it’s being embraced—it’s truly gaining momentum.
– Anthony Sci, Keypoint Intelligence
I constantly tell dealers that 25%-33% of clients, which I think is a conservative estimate, just want to make purchases without any human interaction. My personal opinion is there’s a difference between B2B and B2C, and I don’t think ours is a B2C market. Our market is different from Amazon. But I do think there’s an element of B2C coming into it. So my question to dealers is, why would you not want to participate in that percentage of people who just want to buy online? You’re eliminating that market if you don’t have an ecommerce solution.
Over the next two years, what percentage of dealers do you think will incorporate an ecommerce solution into their websites?
Sci: I would say 50%-75% of dealers within the next two years will have ecommerce solutions. Everybody’s talking about it now, which is a far cry from just a year ago. Now it’s all about executing. I think there are enough influential dealers who have ecommerce solutions, and when word starts to spread, more dealers will feel like they need to have it. Not everyone will have pricing, but they’ll want to have some degree of ecommerce on their websites.
What are the goals you set for UVERCE in 2023?
Sci: We don’t reveal sales figures, but I can say that while I couldn’t get people on the phone last year to have a conversation about UVERCE, we’re talking to a lot of people in 2023. To give you an idea about volume, we have 15 people in our IT department, and there’s a four- to five-month wait for development of the ecommerce customized solution.
