As a business entirely focused on sales through the channel, a key focus for us is helping you identify your customers’ changing needs and developing products and solutions that enable you to take advantage of the latest market trends.

WorkCentre 3550

Last week we extended our range with the launch of the WorkCentre 3550, the Phaser 6700 and the revolutionary Phaser 7800 – a printer which we believe delivers a ‘new gold standard in colour printing’.  We’re particularly excited about these new printers and are confident that they will provide you with opportunities to reach out to both new and existing target markets, further maximising growth and profitability.

Over the coming period, the colour market is expected to grow by 40%[1] and this growth is predominantly in the value product segment which provides higher ongoing annuity for channel partners.  We are also seeing more and more businesses demanding outstanding colour printing at an affordable price – with this new range businesses no longer have to compromise.

The Phaser 7800 is without doubt the best colour office printer I have ever seen. This device is top of its class and is targeted at creative professionals and businesses that have high quality printing requirements.  This is a premium machine that is packed with industry leading colour tools, unrivalled media handling capabilities (up to 350gsm) and a range of professional finishing options.

The Phaser 7800 presents a new opportunity for channel partners to grow their market share, not only in the high end graphic colour segment but also with organisations wanting to affordably produce high volumes of commercial quality graphics-based printing in-house.

Phaser 6700

With the Phaser 6700 we set out to deliver a machine that sets new benchmarks in print quality, ease of use, productivity and power consumption. In fact, the Phaser 6700 is the highest resolution A4 colour printer in its class (2400 x 1200 dpi).  With this printer channel partners can capitalise on sales opportunities presented by busy SMBs and large workgroups with high monthly colour print volumes.

We know that monochrome still accounts for three of every four multifunction printers sold so with the WorkCentre 3550 we set about delivering a high performance machine that helps businesses increase productivity.  This device offers multi-tasking capabilities, intuitive document management features and of course fast print speeds.  Recognising that businesses are always watching their bottom line, this device helps to save money by offering a low total cost of ownership and providing certainty around ongoing costs.  With the WorkCentre 3550 multifunction device we are reentering a market space that we have not participated in for over three years but boy, we’re making an entrance!

After talking to some of our partners at last week’s training, I can already tell that they are excited about the opportunities that these new printers offer, and so am I.

Which new printer do you think provides your business with the most opportunities? I look forward to hearing your feedback.

Brian was in Sydney last week to introduce the Phaser 7800 and share his experiences with the device with Fuji Xerox staff and selected channel partners.

Last week marked the launch of Fuji Xerox Printers’ new flagship printer, the Phaser 7800, to the Australia and New Zealand market.

I have been with Xerox for more than ten years now and I can honestly say that I have never been more excited about a product launch.  This revolutionary device most certainly delivers a new ‘gold standard’ in colour printing and opens up new market and revenue opportunities for channel partners.

The Phaser 7800 is simply without peer, providing office and graphic arts printing capabilities in one device.  It offers industry-leading colour quality tools, unrivalled media handling capabilities (up to 350gsm) and a range of premium finishing options.  Better still, it is also extremely easy to use.

I know creative pros and business users alike will be impressed with Phaser 7800’s print quality. Throughout the course of last week selected staff, media, channel partners and potential new end-customers saw the printer in action. There’s just one word that summed up their response – wow. 

The Phaser 7800 gives users the ability to produce vibrant, commercial quality print materials in-house – something they may have previously had to outsource to an external print house.  Printing in-house allows users to cut costs and gain more control over output.  Furthermore, with productivity a key concern for most businesses, having the ability to print accurate proofs in-house can accelerate the entire production process.

For you, the Phaser 7800 presents high margin opportunities and, when coupled with an effective MPS solution, can offer strong ongoing annuity.  You now have a market-leading product to not only target the graphic arts market but to capitalise on the rapidly expanding business colour market, which is tipped to increase by 40 percent over the coming period.

The opportunities within both horizontal and vertical markets are endless; from fast paced advertising agencies, packaging designers and marketing departments looking to print high quality proofs and materials in-house, to businesses such as real estate agents, entertainment venues and retailers seeking an affordable way to print vibrant and eye-catching promotional materials.

The Phaser 7800 was launched in North America in November and the response has already been phenomenal.  Take a look at this clip featuring one of our customers, NORTH creative agency, and you will see why I am so excited about the Australian and New Zealand launch of the Phaser 7800 – NORTH case study

Further information about the Phaser 7800, its features and benefits can be found at www.fujixeroxprinters.com/phaser_7800

Each year the speed of business accelerates and this year will be no different. If your business is anything like ours, then you have no doubt already hit the ground running.

Having said that, I can’t stress enough the importance of dedicating some time in January to plan how you will achieve success over the coming 12 months. It’s probably the only chance you’ll have before the phone starts ringing, the emails start pouring in and priorities shift from planning to tactics.

Here are a few things to consider.

Things you can do internally
•    Reduce the amount of vendors you deal with – right across your business. This might sound like an obvious one coming from me but it will help focus your energies and enable you to leverage the full spectrum of resources made available by your chosen vendors.
•    Invest in training for your sales people. Great sales people aren’t simply born that way, they’re trained. If you do have some strong sales people in your team, pair them up with less experienced members so they have the opportunity to learn.
•    Develop a strategy story for your team(s) that they all understand and buy in to. Set measurable goals. Regularly update and review progress.

Things you can do externally
•    Communicate regularly with your customers and understand why they do business with you. If they leave, understand why.
•    See if there is a common vertical market in your customer base. Real estate, graphic design, restaurants, accounting firms and retail are just some verticals which come to mind but there are many more. Look for ways to leverage your strength with your common vertical.
•    Find a market you don’t participate in and learn about it. Can you create a point of difference, add value to this niche and build a new market?

If you had to identify one thing that is an absolute ‘must-do’ for your business in the next 12 months what would it be?  How do you plan to achieve your goals?

As we take time in our summer break to enjoy the sun, sand and surf, many of us will reflect on the past year and start to consider opportunities which can help market our business better or to new channels in the new year.

One such opportunity is social media, which can play an important role in establishing effective customer relationships and keeping up regular communication with end customers.

In fact, at the recent Gartner IT Symposium on the Gold Coast, social media was mentioned as one of three major IT trends – the cloud and mobility were the others – so you really can’t afford to miss out.

Need further evidence? A recent study found that Twitter is already used by 91% of B2B marketers, with LinkedIn a close second. On the flip side, when it comes to converting conversations into customers, LinkedIn leads the charge, generating twice as many business leads as the popular micro-blogging site.

Here are some other key reasons why you should consider adopting social media in 2012:

• Mobility: Social media is creating immediacy and mobility with information and news.  As such, many end customers now rely on social media as an information resource.  Social media tools such as LinkedIn provide another way for you to reach out and communicate with your end customers.

• Contacts: As a channel partner, social media can assist in managing existing contacts and building new relationships.  For example with LinkedIn, you can create online relationships with customers, link up with company profiles and join industry discussion groups.

• Understanding and thought leadership: Sharing information through social media tools can help you establish yourself as a ‘thought leader’ on matters relating to your customers.  Furthermore, communicating with end customers online can help you to better understand your customers’ requirements.

• Prospects: Social media can deliver real tangible benefits by allowing you to research information on prospective customers. What are they passionate about? What are their frustrations? How could you step in and help their business?

• Cost:  Social media is very cost effective and you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars to get started.  With most social media tools a basic account can be set up for free. Get started and try whatever application best suits your business – that is, the social media platform that your customers are most comfortable interacting with you on. It could be Twitter, LinkedIn or even Facebook.

Fuji Xerox Printers’ has recently launched a dedicated group for our channel partners on the business social media platform, LinkedIn. This is a place that we can share information with you and discuss new products, industry trends, news or business advice. If you haven’t already joined the conversation, I invite you to do so – Join the Fuji Xerox Channel Partner Forum on LinkedIn

Chances are if you’re reading this blog, you’ve already started to dabble in social media. What is your preferred social media platform? Have you engaged with your customers through social media already? I would love to hear about your experiences.

The end of the year is an important time to reflect, reassess and reenergise. While the business world takes an all-too-momentary break, it’s a great opportunity to evaluate your business strengths and weaknesses. How could you do better business in 2012? What trends do you need to watch? Where do your market opportunities lie? What should you keep doing? What should you change?

In this first post on our new Fuji Xerox Printer Channel blog, I would like to touch on some of the key trends which I anticipate will impact your business in 2012 and provide some action points for your consideration.

Managed print
Leading the trends for 2012 will be the increasing prevalence of managed print services (MPS) – but be aware, you won’t be the only one to recognise the benefits on offer. Like you, your competitors will also be trying to capture all the print devices on a network and if your install base is not covered under a contract, you could be fighting a rearguard action.
Action: Develop a strategy to move your customers onto PagePack and protect your install base.

Internet sales
E-tailing continues to grow at aggressive rates and the grey market poses a significant threat. For traditional resellers who have sold on value, it will become more challenging to justify your margins against internet-based resellers.
Action: Demonstrate to your customers why they should continue to purchase through your business – regularly! If you do lose customers, find out why. Price might not be the only factor. Your great opportunity is to focus on personal customer service, something your online competition can’t offer.

Margin erosion
Unfortunately as prices fall, so do the real margins you can retain. This is the inherent danger of selling on price alone.
Action: The only way you can retain a margin is by selling a solution. Ask your customers what would make their life easier, aim to solve their problems. Don’t talk printers, talk printing, productivity and business outcomes.

Marketing over-drive
How many messages do you receive every day? How many did you send directly to the trash? Enough said really.
Action: When it comes to marketing messages, remember the three c’s – clear, consistent, cut-through. Perhaps consider an incentive or call to action to ensure your message has clout. Ask about participating in Connect – our co-funded marketing and lead generation program.

Social media
A recent study reported that social media communication has become the most influential for business purchases globally, ahead of face-to-face meetings, conferences, client entertaining or traditional trade advertising.
Action: While you should always consider your customer’s preferred communication channels, you do need to consider a social media strategy. LinkedIn may be a good place to start networking with your customers.

What other trends do you think will impact your business in 2012? What will you do to leverage the opportunities and counter the challenges? I welcome your thoughts.

The end of the year has rushed up again.  As we collectively cross the metaphoric finishing line and head directly to the beach, country, mountains or a hammock in the backyard for the summer break, it’s worth reflecting on the year that’s been and the opportunities in front of us in 2012.

At every turn this year we’ve looked for ways to bolster our support for our channel partners and help them succeed in a marketplace that has seen significant change.

Traditionally the printer market has seen the bulk of units sales in the 20 pages per minute and under range. Increasingly we are seeing the emergence of the revenue market, which is 21 pages per minute and above. This is being driven by the acceptance of machines like our 55-page-per minute 5005d, the ColorQube products and the C305 – all which meet increased business demand for higher performance machines at exactly the right time.

These high volume, state-of-the art machines don’t come with a hefty price tag, and business customers for their part are looking for multifunction performance.  As a result, through our partners’ efforts, more than 70 per cent of revenue is now driven from the 21 page per minute and above sector. This trend will only increase – up to 200 per cent in some segments in the next 12 months.

The business customer is king

Just as we have seen the price of LCD and plasma televisions fall, the business customer has never been better off.  With printers dropping in price and increasing in performance, businesses regard buying high performance multifunction devices as a ‘no brainer’ and the rise of distributed printing has resulted.  That is, businesses are ready and able to make purchases quickly, and often in multiple lots, to drive the print function to whichever business units, departments or workgroups need them.  The level of capital required to do this is relatively low – and while the business customer still wants a quality, reputable solution, they don’t need to build the full business case they once did.

So what else has changed?

The rise of managed print services has become much more evident this year.  Vendors of all sizes are looking for ways to build revenue annuities from their client base, rather than relying on one-off capital purchases and financing revenue.  For many of our partners, the ability to offer their clients a managed service offering, not only lets them build more permanent and trusted relationships with their SME accounts, it also creates longer term revenue streams and builds a defensive barrier against competitors looking to attack their client base.

The big break though for our partners is the ability to offer managed print services to even the smallest clients while still offering them a competitive, flexible and fully featured service.  This is not something that has been widely available to SME customers before but Fuji Xerox Printer Channel is leading the way with PagePack.  The market is responding very well to this offer and it’s been great to see many partners use this as a platform for the next phase of their own growth.

Ironically, what’s driving the need for managed print services is directly related to the same phenomenon we see with the demand for our high performance range of products.  The rise of distributed printing has lead to a proliferation of devices which, to increase productivity and reduce costs, need to be managed efficiently and effectively.

What does all this mean for Fuji Xerox Printer Channel and its partners?  Well, while we take some well deserved time off over summer, we can expect the market place to be even hotter when we return.  Early in 2012 we are set to launch a series of products designed to establish a new ‘Gold Standard’ in the print industry and there’s no sign that business is slowing down.

Fuji Xerox Printer Channel has a strong cost-saving, quality and productivity story to tell and thanks to the reach, experience, knowledge and support of our channel partners, it looks like another exciting year ahead.