Whatever you do don’t ever, and I do mean ever think of Sharp as a consumer company ever again. Sharp is on a mission to rebrand itself as a B2B company. Not that many in the channel or those who cover the channel ever thought they weren’t; we may have viewed Sharp first and foremost as a B2B company simply because we’ve been so immersed in the channel, but there was no ignoring the consumer side of the business either. There’s a new B2B mindset in town—and that was one of the key takeaways Sharp dealers left San Antonio with after last weekend’s Sharp dealer conference.
The meeting, with its theme “Relationships @ Work,” also presented dealers with an opportunity to meet Kazushi Mukai, executive managing officer of Sharp Corp., and as of October 2015, the new president of Sharp Business Solutions Company. Both Mr. Mukai and Doug Albregts, president Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America (SIICA), reinforced the company’s B2B focus at the beginning of the first day’s General Session along with a healthy dose of optimism as Albregts underscored Mr. Mukai’s comments, saying, “We’re entering into a new era, the worst is behind us, we’ve turned a corner, and Sharp is focused on becoming a B2B powerhouse.”
SIICA President Doug Albregts, is optimistic about Sharp’s future.
That’s still going to take some doing and strategies for helping to make that happen were outlined in San Antonio, including expanding relationships with key partners such as Tech Data, Clover Imaging Group, and Fujitsu whose executives participated in a General Session discussion on the second day of the meeting.
The evidence seems to indicate that Sharp is making the right moves whether it’s investing in software development through partnerships to help dealers drive their business, the requisite introduction of new products, or helping dealers get into Managed Network Services via a partnership with Continuum.
Everybody loves to talk numbers at these events and there were a few tossed around during the General Session. For instance, worldwide operating profits for the Business Solutions Group increased by 5 percent compared to the prior fiscal period. Globally, MFP revenues grew 6.5 percent over the prior period.
The numbers for SIICA are positive as well with the U.S. document business being one of the most profitable in its history over the last fiscal.
“SIICA grew its operating profit by 145 percent over the prior fiscal,” reported Albregts. “This is the sixth consecutive fiscal of operating income growth for SIICA. In spite of all the noise, that’s a hell of an accomplishment.”
With numbers like that, one can’t help but see the silver lining that’s enveloped Albregts and his team. However, he tempered that optimism with the following statement, “Each Sharp business unit must survive on its own and the Business Solutions Group has been doing that, and as we make money we at SIICA will benefit from continued investment from Japan.”
What’s next? What Albregts described as hyper-growth mode.
“As we think about hyper growth we have to consider this business is rapidly changing,” he said. “The copier makes all the money; it’s the road to continuous profitability, but the more diversified you are in your accounts the higher the likelihood of retaining that copier business which is where the profit is.”
One way Sharp plans to help dealers diversify is by being the facilitator of Managed Networked Solutions. “Not own a MNS company, but facilitate custom solutions that we will make available [to the dealer],” explained Albregts. “The reason here is we don’t believe in shoving a solution down your throat because it’s not a one size fits all solution. It limits your flexibility, limits your customer and your options, and it limits a point of entry into your customers. I believe this because I’ve watched our competitors who want access to your customers to sell them their solution, not yours. That to me makes absolutely no sense.”
Partnerships, or the operative word of the week, relationships, is what Albregts said will facilitate a custom solution for its dealer’s customers on one invoice as a means of retaining that copier business. If the customer needs integration capabilities he said that Sharp will be able to do that as well.
“Our relationships will facilitate the connections needed to help diversify your business,” emphasized Albregts.
An important element of this strategy is Sharp’s relationship with Tech Data, a relationship announced a few years ago when Albregts first started at Sharp. While not all dealers are down with that just yet and some of my analyst friends don’t quite understand the reasoning behind it, there remain high hopes at Sharp for making this work. That explains why the partnership was at the core of Albregts’ comments and was further underscored by an appearance at the Saturday morning General Session by Joe Qualia, president, the Americas, Tech Data Corp.
“Tech Data is the conduit for allowing Sharp to deliver on this philosophy,” stated Albregts. “Our vision is to transform Sharp. We own no IT company yet we facilitate a huge selection of solutions so you can transform your business your way.”
As far as Managed Network Services, Sharp will not be entering that space. That’s where the partnership with Continuum comes in.
“On MNS the goal of every manufacturer is to get you on their system and share your customer’s information with them,” said Mike Marusic, senior vice president marketing, service and supply chain, SIICA. “We don’t think that’s the right route. That’s why we partnered with Continuum, allowing you to have a third party IT company to work with rather than bring that data to Sharp.”
There was plenty of other items on the agenda in San Antonio, notably the announcement of 13 new products, including 10 mid-to-high-volume clean-sheet color devices in two variations (Advanced Series and Essentials Series), operating at speeds of 30-ppm, 35-ppm, 40-ppm, 50-ppm, and 60-ppm. What seemed to impress dealers was that each of the machines has the same engine design and uses the same toner across all models. Also worth noting is that each model offers high-speed scanning up to 200 images per minute and has a walkup motion sensor that starts up the machine with 10 seconds.
For more details on the new color products click here.
Two new high-speed monochrome Pro Series models were also unveiled—the MX-M1055 and MX-M1205 and are equipped with EFI’s latest Fiery technology. Each device also has Sharp’s 15.4-inch (diagonally measured) touch-screen display that offers full control of EFI’s Fiery Command Workstation at the operation panel of the machine. Also on display was a third high-speed Hercules product that outputs at 90 ppm.
The backbone of Sharp’s hardware and software remains the OSA platform. OSA was referenced numerous times throughout the Friday General Session and on the show floor in product demos and vertical demonstration areas. Without question it’s a critical component of the company’s products and a key differentiator in the marketplace and at the heart and soul of much of its hardware line. As one would expect there were a few references to Sharp Corporation’s financial struggles during the event. Certainly, one can continue to circulate rumors regarding Sharp’s demise, pass along tall tales, and just be plain cynical about the company’s ability to emerge from the well-document financial mess out of Japan. Or one can buy into the message Sharp executives emphasized in San Antonio, backed by the strong performance numbers of the Business Solutions Group here in the U.S. and worldwide. That sense of optimism is well warranted, particularly because it is shared by members of Sharp’s dealer community along with its Dealer Council. As Chris Black of RK Black observed in a dealer panel during Saturday morning’s General Session, “Long Live Sharp.”
With words like that Black is clearly not feeling blue about one of his key vendors. The same holds true for many other dealers who descended on San Antonio the first weekend in December. If the initiatives laid out during this three-day event are any indicator, expect to see many more positives coming out Sharp, the B2B company, from a product and channel perspective in the coming year.
