Print.IT Reseller - issue 57

01732 759725 40 HOT TOPIC Continued... In today’s climate where hardware is a commodity and winning new business is reliant on leading with a solutions-centric approach, does the traditional OEM rebate model based on unit sales need to change? Is it time for change? This topic came up over lunch with Toni Gibiino, Marketing Director at ABC Managed Business Solutions. His opinion is that the model is broken and it’s time to change. “The industry has changed dramatically, hardware is now a commodity, the revenue opportunity lies within software, solutions and service. The overriding message from the OEMs is that partners should be selling solutions and providing IT services – but yet they continue to reward partners with rebates based on unit sales.” Gibiino argues that there is a disparity in what vendors are asking their partners to do and how they reward them. “With most of the brands, the offer is centred on the hardware with the exception of HP to a lesser extent, as their portfolio is more diverse, which makes it easier to have a conversation with a customer around IT if you’ve got the internal mechanisms to capitalise on their portfolio,” he said, adding: “Very few vendors are rewarding solutions sales on the back of hardware sales – unless it’s their own solution, when there is something in it for them, even though the market has moved on and their partners are stuck with shrinking print volume with the only real way to grow is through MIF acquisition.” He continued: “Print is in decline, the DX economy has disrupted the traditional print industry and whilst vendors are providing training to help partners upskill, the reality is that many don’t do enough business outside of their core business, to be real experts in new areas and taking chances can be expensive and risky.” Flexibility I posed the same question during a call with Mark Ash, who recently joined Altodigital as Chief Sales and Marketing Officer from HP. He agreed that the rebate structure does need to change, but as to how it should change he thinks that both the OEM and the channel partner need to be flexible. “The notion of a partnership programme is that the programme should be simple, easy to implement, easy to claim for both parties. Otherwise you tie yourself up in knots. But the mechanics of it should actually deliver what both the manufacturer and the partner need,” he said, adding: “If you look at what we did in Samsung for example, we were looking to grow our A3 business and so we didn’t focus on volume alone, instead we focused on rewarding people for driving A3 sales.” Ash also noted that across the supply chain, distribution partners, A to B is now A to Z “It’s not enough to shift a box from A to B anymore, that has become commoditised, it’s about A to Z. At Brother UK we continue to focus our resources to resellers that add value in the overall supply chain, particularly in the delivery of services or solutions to complex client requirements in the managed services arena.” Phil Jones, Managing Director, Brother UK Mark Ash Toni Gibiino The notion of a partnership programme is that the programme should be simple, easy to implement, easy to claim for both parties