01732 759725 30 personal identifiable information from documents. The pricing structure is still to be determined, however according to MacLean, it will be simple and support partners to consult with customers, add value, drive savings, and earn additional revenue. Helping partners to differentiate and grow One of the overriding messages across the event was the focus Lexmark places on helping its partners to differentiate and grow, summed up by Melanie Hudson, Senior Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer who said: “Lexmark’s value lies in our partners. We’re winning and growing together.” Danny Molhoek, VP of EMEA Sales talked about the need for partners to embrace a paradigm shift and in support of that, he outlined fresh new elements of its BSD program and how it’s designed to be about much more than the price of the hardware and click. Lexmark has simplified its threetier BSD partner program, introducing new benefits for Silver partners, enhanced benefits for Gold partners, and expanded benefits for Diamond partners. In addition, the vendor has built in A3, options, and extended warranty discounts for all BSD partners, and announced it is moving away from complex promotions. Following the formal briefings and hands-on sessions, partners were invited to enjoy a fantastic dinner in the magnificent setting of Frankfurt’s old Opera House (Alte Oper). www.lexmark.co.uk As Iain MacLean, Director of Professional Services explains, so long as there is an internet connection, partners can enroll devices in the cloud, download software, install security settings, solutions – whatever they need. “All partners have access to Lexmark Cloud Fleet Management (CFM), it’s foundational to their business. That’s why, the end goal is to fully automate the deployment process, currently these tasks require pressing a few buttons, but we are working towards further enhancements to CFM which will further simplify everything – that’s what we mean when we talk about disruptive technology,” he explained. AI-powered cloud solutions MacLean continued: “There are currently three components to Lexmark Cloud Services (LCS) – Cloud Connector, Solution Manager and Translation Assistant. What we are doing is adding in more functionality and converging it all into the new AI-powered Lexmark Cloud Solution Centre, giving partners the opportunity to resell and monetise cloud-based solutions. LCS now provides a unified cloud architecture that helps partners and customers efficiently manage their devices; secure and optimise their output and workflows; and generate new revenue opportunities. The new Cloud Solution Centre streamlines document workflows with capture, process and routing capabilities and incorporates three main AI-powered features – OCR – for creating searchable documents; translation services to convert documents into the desired language – (this is similar to the Translation Assistant launched last year but is now performed in the cloud); and redaction capabilities to remove sensitive or are placed in a number of chambers replicating the most extreme conditions from freezing cold, to extreme heat, to high altitude. With service margins tight, easy serviceability is also a key criterion for partners. “We build our devices to last, which helps take out service costs for our partners, and we also dramatically made things simpler,” White explained. “Lexmark printers and MFPs have one access panel; we don’t dual layer components, which makes it much easier and quicker to remove and replace parts, and some lifetime parts can handle well in excess of 1.5 million pages. Partners also don’t need to spend days on in-person training to learn how to service our devices. They can simply complete an online training course and they’re ready to go,” he added. Cloud-ready Cloud-based remote diagnostic and repair functionality further simplifies the service piece, removing the requirement to physically be on a customer’s site. The firmware is cloud-ready, so after a one-time set up via Lexmark’s cloudbased portal, partners can remotely manage customers’ fleets without needing to be onsite or on the same local network. EVENTS …continued Melanie Hudson Iain MacLean
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