Michelle Ryder caught up with Andy Muskett, Director of Channel Partners at Xerox, to find out more about the company’s strategy to simplify its print business, expand its partner network, and offer differentiated products and services including advanced analytics and AI-assisted solutions
Michelle Ryder (MR): At the beginning of this year, Xerox announced a new operating model and organisational structure to further its ‘reinvention’. Can you explain more about how this will translate across the print business?
Andy Muskett (AM): Part of our reinvention really is around strengthening the core business of print, whilst we build on print as a vehicle to achieve revenue profit through the expansion of other services into the partner community that we serve today, and also future different types of partner communities as well. The proposition is around trying to improve their clients’ workplace productivity, security and sustainability needs – those are the three pillars of our foundation or if you like, our go-to- market value proposition.
Last year globally, we began to de-invest or de-emphasise our focus on what was not core to Xerox’s print, digital and IT services strategy. The focus in Q1 was very much around simplifying the operating model. We have transitioned from geographical lines of business to create a business unit or channel-led operating model, a move that has seen us focus on simplifying both our routes to market and internal processes and consolidating our sales and marketing product development services into one team. It was important to ensure that the organisation was restructured to make sure that the people that are developing the products and the people that are developing the marketing programs, were all reporting into the same person that the sales function report into as well.
At the same time, we created what we call Global Business Services, to drive enterprise-wide efficiency and scalability with centrally coordinated internal processes leveraging shared capabilities and platforms.
MR: What does your role as Director of Channel Partners involve?
AM: Xerox plans to continue geographic simplification in the next year and we’ve already seen a strategy shift towards partner-led distribution in some countries. In the UK, under the new model, I look after the entire channel – this includes our mono-brand Xerox concessionaires as well as our multi- brand partners – traditional MFP office copier dealers that have partnerships with other OEMs as well.
In addition to that I’m responsible for all of our MPS services that go through the channel, as well as what we call our velocity channel, which is IT solution providers and e-commerce partners – so the likes of Amazon, Ebuyer, Printerland etc.
MR: How many partners do you transact with?
AM: We operate with anywhere between 1,500 and 1,700 organisations, that could be a small partner who’s buying consumables from our authorised distributors, or they could be a large mono branded partner, like Xeretec for example.
MR: In what areas do you see growth potential for the Xerox brand?
AM: We’ve certainly got growth opportunities within the traditional transactional print marketplace. Xerox has strong market share in the production environment. We have sub optimal market share in the A4 space and we have a desire to grow our market share in that area. To do that we need a compelling proposition in terms of price to the client, but at the same time, we need a wide breadth of channel partners that will get the Xerox proposition and increase the reach that we have into clients.
SMB customers are moving from A3 to A4, from single-function to multifunction devices and we’re also seeing growth in the monochrome space where customers really want that mix of colour and mono A4 and A3 products.
Xerox ConnectKey technology brings added value benefit to clients, particularly in the A3 space, but not so much in the A4 space. So, we have been taking this technology further down our product range and we will continue to do that. We know that customers will be buying A4 products and building in ConnectKey capabilities will help us broaden our reach in that space and will also give us access potentially to more partner clients that we are obviously looking for.
MR: So, are you are looking to recruit new partners?
AM: Yes absolutely. We know that there’s been a trend of IT providers moving
into print and vice versa, although print providers aren’t moving into IT services at the same pace. So, we think there’s a lot more that we could do with our mono branded partners, of course, and they will remain key to our success. But at the same time, we’re looking for growth by expanding our multi-brand partners, if they are a right fit, and are on the same trajectory in terms of the value proposition that we want to bring to clients.
We also see an opportunity for us to bring our value proposition to IT solution providers as well, as the products become much more solution-centric as opposed to transactionally- centric.
MR: How does Xerox set out to differentiate?
AM: I’d say the SMB market is really a sort of sweet spot for everybody and we are focusing on how we differentiate here, especially with the ConnectKey app ecosystem, which extends the
MFP beyond just printing and scanning and allows customers to integrate into solutions like Salesforce, Concur, etc. That’s why we are working on bringing that capability down into the A4 space.
Xerox aims to differentiate in the SMB market in four key areas – ConnectKey apps, workflow automation via Workflow Central, advanced analytics, and Workplace Cloud our own print management solution.
MR: And you have just announced the launch of the first AI-assisted MFPs.
AM: Yes, the AltaLink 8200 series is the first product with AI-assisted apps bundled in. The MFPs arrive pre-loaded with AI-enabled applications that enable users to quickly summarise documents, convert handwritten notes, and automatically redact sensitive documents. We’ve got a range of colour and monochrome products and they will be available in the market from early September.
The devices also feature some advanced accessibility and advanced security capabilities built-in. We’ve created security templates such as default out of the box, medium, or high security locked in. So, we’re aiding and assisting customers in making those decisions – do they want good, better or great security as it were. The hardware functionalities are fairly similar to what we have today, but it’s all about the control of the technology, the usability, the productivity, and the security aspects we’re building into the suite of products, now and in the future.
MR: So, why should a dealer partner with Xerox?
AM: We’ve conducted extensive research into understanding the requirements of a small to medium customer business. Our proposition goes beyond just print and when you look at what the customer’s business challenges are, they are very much around doing more with less, improving security, and ensuring that the suppliers that they deal with have a sustainability message that they can align to. And in that respect, we feel very comfortable that our value proposition to the small and medium client is very much linked to what it is those clients are looking for. So, if you’re a partner looking for a manufacturer that’s closely aligned to the requirements of what their customers are telling them, then we’re very confident that we are a good fit.
My team of account managers are very focused on strategic business planning, planning for growth and planning for the future. We’re very much aligned to ensuring that if you partner with Xerox, then you do it because it’s going to increase the value of your own business as well.
It’s about us following a strategy that’s closely aligned to the partner’s strategy and are they interested in the digital and IT services that Xerox might be able to bring to them like RPA? We have an RPA offering in the US and we’re beginning to bring that into the European marketplace. And that is an additional thread to our bow that we like to think that perhaps other print manufacturers haven’t brought to the multi-brand channel.
