Our friends at Wikipedia tell us that a synapse is a structure that permits a neuron (or nerve cell) to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another neuron or to the target effector cell. Our friends at Sharp, meanwhile, tell us that its Synappx platform enhances a workspace’s ability to connect office technology and collaborative systems in response to the growing movement toward mobile work.
And while it might not work as quickly as a nerve impulse, the Synappx can trigger all the operating platforms necessary to connect on-site and remote individuals into a collaborative environment, a sometimes clunky process that takes, on average, 12 minutes to complete.
The Synappx and Windows collaboration display (WCD) were arguably the cornerstone pieces of Sharp’s dealer meeting, which took place Oct. 2-3 at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. More than 1,000 dealers, vendor partners, press and analysts converged on Sharp’s showcase event, which carried the theme “Own It.”
The “Own It” philosophy was driven home repeatedly during the opening remarks of several Sharp executives. John Sheehan, the company’s recently-minted senior vice president of B2B channel sales, recalled how the manufacturer talked about its plans for the smart office two years ago at the dealer meetings in Phoenix, and outlined its goals.
At that time, Sharp pledged to listen to customers and its dealer council. The manufacturer went on trips and did a number of road shows. And despite an extremely tough market, Sharp enjoyed tremendous growth.
Now, with the Synappx and WCD at their disposal, Sheehan charged dealers with the task of leveraging these technologies in a three-pronged approach: own the technology transformation, own the growth from that technology and own the customer relationship.
“The technology transformation is approaching and everybody needs to take part in it,” Sheehan advised.
Changing Fortunes
The past two years have offered contrasting financial fortunes for the venerable manufacturer. Mike Marusic, president and CEO of Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America (SIICA), pointed out that at the Phoenix meeting, the company had endured 10 consecutive quarters of recording a loss. On this day, however, he was happy to report the company is riding an 11-quarter profitability streak. In fact, the last two years have been among Sharp’s most profitable during the last 20 years.
In 2018, while the market declined 2% in unit placements, Sharp experienced 12% year-over-year growth. And through the first six months of 2019, although the market declined 4 ½%, Sharp was up 9%. A4 products experienced a 66% boost, while the Sharp AQUOS BOARD reaped a 12% increase. In September, the company notched 116% year-over-year growth.
“The market is tough, but in any difficult time, there is great opportunity,” Marusic observed.
The success Sharp has enjoyed is due in no small part to its relationship with Foxconn Technology Group, a $150 billion Taiwan-based electronics behemoth whose considerable relationships with many technology heavyweights, including Microsoft, helped facilitate the development of the WCD. It has helped foster and further Sharp’s vision for the smart office and a growing circle of technology the manufacturer will continue to roll out to customers.
And not that Sharp is disavowing itself from the MFP theater; in fact, it touted along a wide variety of A3 and A4 machines in its product showcase. But Marusic wants dealers to think about the smart office big picture and the many ways in which dealers can engage their clients.
“The value is not in the price of a click, but how you can own their business,” he said.
Sharp made a concerted effort to bring in the perspectives of a wide variety of its executives. Bob Madaio, vice president of marketing, and Shane Coffey, vice president, product management, were joined by Allison Holmes, product management specialist, as they discussed the company’s recognitions by The Cannata Report (Best Copier Manufacturer, Best in Class) and Buyers Lab (2019 Copier MFP Line of the Year). They also discussed Sharp’s commitment to IT and security features.
Mehryn Corrigan, associate director, Alliance Partner Marketing, talked about the company’s burgeoning display platform. The market certainly has a thirst for display; she quoted a statistic that 70% of meetings in the future will be held remotely. She added that 62% of businesses use three-plus collaboration platforms, with a total of 8 billion online meeting minutes per day.
That dovetailed into a discussion on the WCD, which had a coming-out party of sorts this past June during InfoComm 2019. The WCD is a 70” interactive 4K display with built-in microphone, 4K camera and IoT sensor hub. Backed by the company’s experience and success with the AQUOS BOARD, the WCD leverages Microsoft’s 365, Teams and the Azure Cloud platform and provides insight to meeting room conditions (such as temperature) and usage.
Tony Titone, senior marketing manager at Sharp Electronics, gave an overview of the company’s laptop and monitor offerings. Sharp acquired the Dynabook line, a fixture in laptop development since 1985, from Toshiba. The product showcase had a sampling of the four models exclusive to the dealer channel, along with 18 standard models. On the monitor side, Toshiba has 22”, 24” and 27” models for diverse customer needs.
Phone Power
Vince Janelli, associate vice president, software product management, and Michelle Redmond, product manager—applications and platform, had the pleasure of introducing the Synappx platform for the smart office. It consists of three apps: Meeting, Go and Workspaces. Meeting includes a calendar function and Alexa voice to pare down and simplify the traditional 12-minute process to start the meeting. Go enables users to scale content easily to a large display, scan documents and release print jobs from an MFP, completely from a mobile device. WorkSpaces allows for the tracking of meeting room utilization and gauges atmospheric conditions (such as temperature) and provides actionable analytics.
“The question is, how do we make it easier for people to use the device from their mobile phone as they’re moving around the office?” Janelli told ENX Magazine. “That was the genesis behind it. The phone is the one piece of technology people always have with them, so why not be able to share something directly on the board without having to log into something? From my phone, I can open a browser, go to a website, access my Dropbox, my OneDrive, whatever file and get my content. But nobody wants to enter their password and credentials on the board. One, it’s a little clumsy, and two, it’s not the best kind of security.
“That’s what we’re thinking, based on how customers use our devices and the feedback that we’re getting. How do we make it easy for users to work with them? The same thing goes with the printer; it’s about moving through the office and what I can do with my mobile phone. Why can’t I release a job, why do I have to log in at the device? We’re making it easier to do things both for the user and the service provider.”
Users should not be focused on the mechanics of the meeting, he added, but rather the substance of the collaboration. “The technology should not get in the way of the things I want to do,” Janelli remarked. “And we need to offer different modalities, different ways for people to interact with our technology. You can do it manually, from the UI of the device/copier, you can do it from your mobile phone. You can also do it using voice. So there’s something in there for everybody.”
While it will take a while to get a broader perspective on how the platform will be received, Janelli noted that customers have shown strong interest in the early stages of the release. “There’s a lot of excitement about it and dealers are really spending the time here at the product fair as well as in the seminars to really understand how they can internalize this into their own selling process,” he said. “The dealers see this as a logical next step to adding value to the spaces that they’re already in.”
Back to the Future: Another eye-grabber in the product showcase was the Sharp See-Through Display. It is truly the essence of WYSIWYG technology; when inactive, the display is essentially a clear window into a meeting room. When activated, the display flashed various images. At first blush, the display looks like an even better fit for a retailer’s window, such as a mall store. It will carry a price tag of roughly $1,000.
Next week: More on day two of the Sharp dealer meeting.
