Print.IT Reseller - issue 61

01732 759725 Q&A 24 Lexmark is targeting double-digit growth within the channel. Sammy Kinlaw, Vice President, Worldwide Channel and OEM Sales, spoke to PrintIT Reseller about reshaping the company’s channel programmes and go to market strategy in a bid to capture share within the growing SMB sector Lexmark looks to the channel for growth only happens every four to five years in print. We have also introduced the Two Series line of printers and Lexmark Cloud Services (see page 18); enhanced the value story; doubled down on our security messaging and expanded coverage for the channel. I’m not changing for the sake of changing, I’m changing because this is where the market is going and in order to achieve growth, you have to approach new partners and new end-users and promote our product lines in different ways. That doesn’t lessen focus on our heritage, it just opens up the aperture for a new world that Lexmark was not in before. PITR : What growth are you targeting and what is your strategy? SK: I did an initial analysis of the number of buying partners we had and what I quickly realised was that we were certainly within the 80/20 rule. We want to continue to grow with the partners we have, but this showed me very quickly that the number of buying partners needed to increase. Lexmark currently has single-digit market share in Europe and we are looking to achieve double-digit growth year on year. It’s a marathon not a sprint and we’re making big bets on the channel to realise that goal. We are looking to realise a 20 per cent growth in the number of buying partners. Product line expansion is key here. The launch of the Lexmark Two Series has doubled our addressable market. According to IDC, worldwide within the A4 space there were 30 million products sold in 2018, Lexmark’s previous product line competed in about a third of that market. Now, with the introduction of the Two Series, we have a place in two-thirds of that market. I think it’s important to point out that while we’re talking about entry-level products, it doesn’t reduce our focus on value statement, so the reliability, the scalability, the security aspect of what made Lexmark products legendary and which allowed us to grow in the enterprise space, also resonates in the entry-level market. With the Two Series we are effectively bringing enterprise scale strengths to a new line of printers designed for the SMB market. So the security features available in our mid-range and high-end products is the same exact security offering as in the Two Series. With security breaches prevalent today, any endpoint device that’s connected has vulnerabilities, which makes the need to offer end-users a secure print environment key – for a partner choosing which manufacturer to represent, that has to be a consideration. PITR : How are you reshaping your offer to the channel to attract a new breed of partner? SK: We need growth in this new addressable market, so primarily we are looking to attract partners focused on the growing part of the market which is SMB. PrintIT Reseller (PITR) : You are just over a year into your tenure at Lexmark, why did you decide to join? Sammy Kinlaw (SK): I joined the company from Lenovo where I led the Americas channels for 13 years. Leaving was not easy, but there were a couple of reasons why I joined Lexmark. When I looked at the baseline, everything related to product reviews was really favourable, but what I felt was missing was a strong channel direction. We had a great product offer but a go to market strategy that needed to be refined. I don’t think we had a consistent message on a worldwide platform of how we go to market and what were our steps for growth. So I decided to take on the task and 13 months later, the one constant has been change. PITR : What has changed? SK: Everything has changed – from programmes, to product offer, to coverage models worldwide. Last year, the company completed a refresh of over 90 per cent of its hardware – that Continued...