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INTERVIEW
SCANNERS
20
What the customer wants
the trajectory of the scan market, with
businesses seeking integrated solutions
rather than products that stand in
isolation. With scanner use most common
among business functions like customer
communications and accounts payable,
scanners have to have a role within
workflow strategies and need to include
features like cloud connectivity and
integration with internal systems to drive
efficiency.”
Brother UK is encouraging resellers
to develop a more solutions-based
approach to scanner sales to meet
strong demand in SMEs for technology
integration.
In a recent survey of 400 decision-
makers and IT purchasers in SMEs with
fewer than 250 employees, quality and
speed were ranked as the most important
purchasing criteria, followed closely by
network connectivity and a simple user
interface.
However, the ability to integrate with
electronic document management systems
also ranked highly, reflecting the need for
improved efficiency in document capture/
workflow to support the needs of a more
mobile, flexible workforce and growing
compliance requirements.
Commenting on the findings, Nick
Gosden, Head of Scanner Category at
Brother UK, said: “These findings confirm
New research from Brother highlights what customers look for in a scanner
He added: “There’s a clear opportunity
for resellers to broaden their scanner
offering into a solutions-based approach.
The findings show that in order to do
that, it’s more important than ever for the
channel to have a robust understanding
of potential end-user environments and
where different scanner models can add
value to access potential growth.”
Brother’s survey revealed that SMEs
scan an average of 114 documents per
day, 39% of which are digitised to meet
confidential, legal or regulatory standards.
Almost half (44%) of respondents scan
directly to a network server; 27% scan
to the cloud; and 19% to a document
management system.
Almost half (45%) use a dedicated
scanner, compared to 34% who use a
floor-standing MFP and 21% who use a
desktop MFP.
...continued
TR
:
How do you select which IT resellers
and AV partners to work with?
KH:
We evaluate each partner and assess
their appetite to move into this area,
their capabilities and their commitment.
The potential reach is to 150 of Ricoh’s
OA partners – the ones best set up for
solutions sales – and our initial ambition is
to work actively with around 25 or 30 IT /
AV partners.
TR
:
Is the market opening up for
resellers that might not have considered
vidoconferencing before?
KH:
This kind of technology has been
around for a number of year, but historically
it’s been very costly – it’s required a lot of
specialist resource in terms of selling and
installation and a lot of investment from
the end customer to finance the capital
cost of the equipment. The technology
we have now has a lower cost and more
flexibility, so the customer doesn’t need
to have a fixed infrastructure, such as a
videoconferencing room. This is opening up
the market.
TR
:
Can you give me some idea of the
scale of the savings on offer.
KH:
It depends on the specification, but
you are talking about tens of thousands of
pounds worth of savings if a customer with
an older legacy system gets to the point
of renewal. The key thing for us, though,
is to reach customers that don’t yet have
this type of technology. For them, it’s more
about the ongoing savings versus the
traditional method of collaborating, which
involves costly travel and a reduction in
productivity. This is a brilliant opportunity
for the SME marketplace, where historically
these things would have been out of reach
from a cost, technology and infrastructure
perspective.
TR
:
What are the key benefits to
IT resellers in taking on Ricoh’s
communication solutions?
KH:
Firstly, it gives them the ability to
partner with one of the leading office
technology providers – IT resellers can
get a lot of leverage from the strength of
our brand. Then, from a product point of
view, the technology we have developed
sits quite uniquely in the market place.
The other key thing for IT resellers and OA
partners is that they get an annuity stream
from selling 24 x 7 airtime contracts. A
customer who buys VC hardware for their
meeting room will also buy a quarterly or
annual airtime contract for each concurrent
user, giving unlimited airtime and no
additional charges however much they use
the system.
TR
:
And for existing OA dealers, your
communication portfolio presumably
adds another string to their bow and
more opportunity to embed themselves
with customers.
KH:
Yes, absolutely. The MPS marketplace
is becoming more and more commoditised
and there has been a land grab to move
customers from a basic click contract to an
all-embracing MPS offering. For us, the next
step is to link in communication services
to broaden the gains that we can make for
customers in terms of cost-savings and
productivity and to make our partners more
‘sticky’ with customers and able to capture
more business.
Scanner use is
most common
among business
functions like
customer
communications
and accounts
payable
