If I’ve learned one thing after covering this industry for as long as I have, it’s never count anyone out and don’t believe all the rumors. Okay, that’s two things, but who’s counting?
Earlier this month I attended Sharp’s National Dealer Meeting in Orlando and as one might expect from Sharp over the years, it was a first-class affair. The theme was Tour De Force 2013, and after leaving Orlando there was no doubt in my mind that Sharp is still a force to be reckoned with.
What follows are my top 10 take homes from this year’s meeting that when taken cumulatively, underscore Sharp’s continued relevance to the dealer channel.
Sharp’s Business Solutions Division holds its own – After all the rumors and innuendo about Sharp’s survival thanks to the financial issues affecting its parent company, Sharp’s Business Solutions Division had revenues of $1.6 billion, up 14 percent from 2012. Better yet, SIICA President Doug Albregts reported that Sharp Corporation grew 9 percent in 2013 and is reporting positive net income for the fiscal year. “Things are good, you help make things good, but we’re not taking anything for granted,” said Albregts.
Sharp partners with Tech Data – This distribution partnership with Tech Data for Sharp was one of the more significant announcements coming out of Orlando. Albregts heavily emphasized that this is not an open distribution relationship, it’s for Sharp authorized dealers and partners only. The partnership is expected to reduce the time it takes for dealers to receive products from Sharp. According to Albregts, the goal is to do that in a two to five-day time frame while also allowing dealers to order third-party products from Sharp on the same invoice. Albregts added that this will give dealers an option to sell more products and services directly to their customers. To help sell this concept to the dealer audience, Albregts brought out Bob Dutkowsky, CEO of Tech Data along with Jeff Gau, CEO of Marco, one of the top dealers in the country, who has been doing business with Tech Data for 25 years. Gau said, “If you’re going to be in the IT space you’re going to need a partner. It’s going to work, it’s a good model.”
Sharp takes to the cloud – The introduction of Cloud Portal Office squarely targets the Sharp B2B channel and provides organizations with a software solution that allows mobile workers to share information and the organization to maintain control and security over the documents being shared. What’s notable about this cloud-based solution, which Sharp considers a differentiator, are the many capabilities it offers to the B2B channel. (See the News Bytes section for in-depth details on Cloud Portal Office.)
A continued commitment to interactive digital displays – Although there were mostly passing references to the interactive digital display systems during the General Session, these devices were prominently featured in the Product Showcase and set Sharp apart from most of the other OEMs. In a channel where multiple income streams have become critical to survival, Sharp dealers ought to appreciate the AQUOS BOARD interactive digital displays, a product category that most of their competitors don’t possess.
The introduction of Advanced Series and Essential Series MFPs – Here Sharp offers something for everyone, with everyone being users looking for MFPs with advanced capabilities and users who need more of a traditional MFP that copies, prints, and scans. The Advanced Series consists of the MX-M365N, MX-M465N, MX-M565N) monochrome workgroup MFPs and the Essentials Series consists of the MX-M364N, MX-M464N, and MX-M565N, a total of six new models that will appeal to both types of users. The Advanced Series models target sophisticated workflow environments and include a 10-inch tablet-style touchscreen, wireless networking, and retractable keyboard. They’re also Cloud Portal Office ready. The Essentials Series offer copying, networking printing, and network scanning without the fancy features of the Advanced Series.
Sharp makes a push for light production color – I’ve written about this before, but based on the square footage devoted to production products at the Product Showcase and Mike Marusic’s comments during the General Session, Sharp now has a strong, well-featured line of color production products, most notably the Pro Series MX-6500N and MX-7500N color document systems. Further illustrating Sharp’s seriousness about this product segment, a seminar, “How to Make Money Selling Production Color,” presented by EFI offered dealers insights into the color production space and strategies for successfully selling color production.
21st century service via MICAS – With the rollout of MICAS, Sharp now has a cloud service application that allows dealerships to automate the control and monitoring of Sharp devices through real-time service notifications and remote diagnostic capability. MICAS is described by Sharp as a content management system that will enhance the troubleshooting of MFPs and can reportedly pinpoint issues or errors with the assistance of printed and video content. The benefit to end users is increased first-call resolution. And that’s good for dealers too.
A strong partner presence – One constant at Sharp National Dealer Meetings has been a strong partner presence. In Orlando, 28 partners were scattered across the Product Showcase, including BEI Services, Compass Sales Solutions, DocuWare, Drivve, EFI, LMI Solutions, MaxxVault, Nuance, PaperCut, Prism Software, Protected Trust, and Square 9 Softworks just to name a few. For those keeping score, Sharp now has 171 partners here in the U.S. and 211 globally.
The introduction of Laura Blackmer to the dealer channel – SIICA’s new senior vice president, Channel Sales, has replaced the retired Rich Boomsma, and if first impressions are worth anything, seems to offer a breath of fresh air and a computer channel perspective to Sharp’s dealer channel based on her previous positions at HP and other technology companies. She’s still new—only with the company for less than six months at the time of the national dealer meeting—but has been logging thousands of frequent flier miles, meeting with Sharp dealers across the country and learning about their businesses. Based on my conversations with some of the industry analysts covering the event and dealers at the meeting, the general feeling was that this was a good hire.
A preview of the NEO Series desktop color printer – Briefly mentioned during the General Session and included in the Product Showcase in the shape of a non-working prototype, this 30-ppm desktop color A4 printer is in the development stage and slated for a March 2014 roll out. The plan is for it to come standard with OSA and built-in wireless. According to Marusic, the NEO Series will provide a competitive CPC and a dual-component supply strategy in a small footprint.
