Print IT Reseller - issue 60

It’s important for our resellers to know they can count on us to provide them with specialist support complement the in-house account management team providing a range of additional services, such as co-attending end-user sites to assist in specifying a solution, providing training and liaising between the manufacturer and reseller to define and refine bids and tenders. “Winning in the public sector can often be a time-consuming and at times frustrating process,” Smith said, adding: “It’s important for our resellers to know they can count on us to provide them with specialist support.” Smith cited the usual practice of public sector tenders requiring three quotes. “There have been times when our customers have spent lots of time specifying and designing a solution, trialling at an end-user’s site, even providing training, and then at the eleventh hour, the potential customer goes to tender and it’s clear that the end decision will be made on price. We don’t want our customers to lose out and we will do everything we can to support them, ensuring they secure public sector pricing, and get the solutions and technical support they need to win,” he said. Strong relationships As with the print OEMs, the distie has also forged strong relationships with its scanner manufacturer partners. Close collaboration with its vendor partners, according to Smith, delivers added value to its resellers every day. One great example is an opportunity one of its resellers recently had to provide a document scanning solution to a public sector agency. “This was a big opportunity and one that came with a number of unique challenges,” Smith explained. “Essentially the end-customer required an imprinter to be installed on the scanners and the length of documents it was looking to scan could not be accommodated via a regular ADF.” Midwich worked with the manufacturer to come up with a solution that would address the potential customer’s requirements and one that ensured its reseller won the deal. “We were able to support our reseller by facilitating the pre-install of the ancillary part on the scanner. So the imprinter was installed prior to delivery to the end-customer, meaning that the scanners could be smoothly deployed and up and running from day one. Our technical specialists also collaborated with the OEM to spec a small tweak to the ADF which would enable the customer to scan the longer-sized documents,” Smith explained. New opportunities With a wide range of technologies on offer to the channel, Midwich is also helping its resellers to upsell and cross-sell complementary products. Smith said: “We are looking at creative ways to partner up technologies. For example, within the education sector, we are bundling up book scanners with interactive screens and presenting it as a solution for teachers to digitise pupils’ work and then monitor progress throughout the year.” Midwich is essentially a one- stop shop for hardware, solutions, consumables and spare parts throughout the life of each product. The trade-only company is committed to ensuring that its customers receive the highest standards of service and offers a large stock holding, public sector pricing and the ability to direct ship to end-users. would be a conservative estimate of public sector distribution business on scanners.” Smith argues that the hardware is just the tip of the iceberg. “The scan division is set up to provide the channel with a really broad offer,” he said. Midwich is a distributor of all leading brands including Brother, Canon, Epson, Alaris, Fujitsu, Panasonic and Visioneer. It also offers software solutions such as Kofax and Alaris Capture Pro, and alongside that can facilitate service plans, providing a true one-stop shop for its resellers. “Another string to our bow is a number of complementary smaller brands such as Silex who provide network converter boxes for document scanners, as well as a tie-up with Wicks and Wilson for large format scanning and industrial applications,” Smith said. Area of specialisation As with the print division, document scanning is an area of specialisation for Midwich. External sales specialists BUSINESS BRIEFING PRINT IT RESELLER.UK 37 Matt Smith, Senior Product Manager For more information please visit www.midwich.com , or contact [email protected] 01379 649266 or [email protected] 01379 649264.