Print.IT - issue 49

PRINT.IT 33 www.printitmag.co.uk BUSINESS SOLUTIONS Expanded MFP range This optimism is also evident in the Sharp Business Solutions Group, one of five business units in Sharp Corporation. Sharp’s B2B MFP and display business has always been profitable, but its parent company’s financial problems meant that in recent years it wasn’t able to reinvest profits in its own operations. The financial stability that Foxconn brings has changed that and given Sharp the freedom to reinvest in its Business Solutions Group – a good example in the UK being its acquisition of the Midshire dealership – and to accelerate its product development. Examples on the MFP side include the introduction of a range of A4 printers/MFPs, filling a historic gap in the company’s product portfolio; a new range of A3 MFPs; and a new light production colour device – the first to offer full bleed, edge-to-edge printing of A3 pages saving customers the time and expense of printing and then trimming SRA3 pages. With the launch of these products, Sharp now has a common interface, print driver, software, supplies and accessories across its entire range. This gives customers the same experience from desktop devices right the way through to light production MFPs, making it easier for them to standardise business operations and document workflows. Volume AV range Sid Stanley, General Manager Europe – Visual Solutions, says that Foxconn’s manufacturing efficiency has also enabled Sharp to strengthen its AV offering, which accounts for just 10% of Business Solutions Group’s revenue, but has grown by 150% since 2014. “Sharp positions itself as a premium brand and for a long time, because of that and the fact that we had no money, we didn’t enter the volume categories where the numbers are generally great, but the profit margins are very slim. What we were able to do very quickly with Foxconn is introduce a volume range (the PNQ range of large screen monitors). Because we had the right product at the right price, we instantly went from zero to 15% market share,” he said. “At the same time, Foxconn said ‘let’s be innovative and enter the emerging huddle space’, so we launched two huddle screens and that was 100% incremental business. The huddle concept is still emerging, but that’s an application we have decided to back and will continue to back as users adopt it. Neither of these things would have been possible prior to Foxconn.” Technology leadership As well as filling gaps in its product portfolio, Sharp is using Foxconn’s resources to position itself at the forefront of technological innovation, notably in 8K display technologies and what Sharp calls AIoT, a blending of Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things. Two examples highlighted at Sharp Inspire 2018 were the 8K Studio, which brought together an 8K camcorder and 8K display to capture and display life-like images in incredible detail (Sharp has also launched 8K TVs in China and Japan – the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are due to be broadcast in 8K); and the Sharp Digital Assistant, which uses artificial intelligence and Internet of Things technologies to make knowledge workers more productive. For Sid Stanley, both are technology leadership statements that Sharp wasn’t in a position to make before. He said: “Once you introduce financial stability to an organisation, it can start re-investing in R&D. You also become energised and move from defence and survival, which is where Sharp was prior to Foxconn, to attack and proactivity. You start seeing strategic intent and vision coming through, both in terms where you are heading and how you will get there with your products.” He added: “8K is a classic leadership statement: ‘This is where we will be in the 2020s, but let’s become brilliant at it now while it’s an emerging technology’. There’s a big cost and we are not going to get our money back for a long time, but being a leader in 8K, I think, is the basis and foundation for a lot of future success.” It is also consistent with Sharp’s strategy to develop products and solutions that enable customers to digitise their operations. In this context, Mr Ashida pointed out that the extra detail and clarity provided by 8K technology would enable a doctor to view images broadcast from an operating theatre and conduct operating procedures remotely; security staff to view footage of a crowd scene and zoom in on a single individual with no loss of detail; and building maintenance operatives to view the smallest details, such as a malfunctioning sprinkler nozzle, from video footage capture with a drone-mounted 8K camera. The Sharp Digital Assistant uses artificial intelligence and Internet of Things technologies to make knowledge workers more productive Continued... A real leadership statement: the Sharp 8K Studio