*NEWS*XEROX EYES BIG CHANNEL EXPANSION

[Anonymous]

Xerox’s Mulcahy Eyes Big Channel Expansion
Xerox
Chairman and chief executive officer Anne Mulcahy said the document
technology giant is gearing up for one of the largest expansions of its
channel sales ever.Specifically, Xerox is targeting robust growth in
the small- and midsize-business segment by increasing its number of
solution provider partners and by doing more business with current
partners, Mulcahy told CRN in an interview.The Stamford, Conn.-based
vendor plans to discuss initiatives with solution providers later this
month at a conference with channel partners, she said, adding that a
key focus will be to drive document management solutions into SMB
accounts.”We’re going to focus on the document management space,”
Mulcahy said. “The intent is to bring a lot of rationalising and
capability to fleets of devices through the kinds of assessment
services and office services software that can be deployed across
different types of technologies.”To that end, Xerox aims to partner
with VARs on a framework that includes technology such as workflow
software, hands-on services and utilities, in addition to the vendor’s
core hardware, supplies and consulting offerings.”A lot of our software
is embedded in either our services offerings or in the technology
itself as value-added services,” Mulcahy said, pointing to Xerox
technology such as DocuShare.Xerox and
its rivals – Hewlett-Packard, Lexmark, Oki Data and others – have been
locked in a fierce battle for channel and SMB market share, with
each offering various consulting and service solutions on top of
hardware and supplies. But the market is evolving, and some companies
are finding it difficult to make the transition.IBM, for example,
announced last month that it was getting out of the printer business by
selling its Infoprint operations to Ricoh through a joint venture.
Dell, which entered the printer business several years ago and has been
a major OEM customer of companies like Lexmark and Fuji-Xerox, is
attempting to move from the low-end part of the market to a more
profitable, higher-end segment.Through that turbulence, Mulcahy sees a
growth opportunity for Xerox in SMB sales through solution
providers.Mulcahy began tipping Xerox’s new channel strategy last
month, when she told financial analysts about plans for significant
channel expansion in 2007. In addition, the company plans a major
rollout of products during the year. Later this month in Orlando, Fla.,
she and other Xerox executives plan to meet with a group of solution
providers to give more specifics of the company’s plans and road
map.”For the reseller as well as Xerox, we’re looking for incremental
revenues,” Mulcahy said. “The output market is one where the majority
of the profit comes from the aftermarket. We’re not creating a huge
dependency on profitability at the box level. It’s going to be about
lifetime profitability.”Xerox has 9,000 reseller partners, about a
third of which are “deeply engaged partners with regard to product
distribution,” Mulcahy said.Last year, Xerox began rolling out a
version of its Xerox Office Productivity Advisor (XOPA) tool to some
solution providers as a way to help the channel provide workflow and
document consulting services. The vendor also expanded its Solutions
Advantage program into several U.S. regions to assist VARs in
delivering solutions with hardware. Xerox is looking to expand on those
efforts as Mulcahy and other company executives prepare to meet with
channel partners.”We’re deeply embedded with Xerox,” said Tom
Mettenbrink, sales manager at Computer Concepts, a Grand Island,
Neb.-based solution provider. Xerox’s plans sound bullish for the
channel, particularly in light of its price competitiveness in the SMB
space with other vendors, he noted.”I would say we’re priced as
competitively as we’ve ever been,” Mettenbrink said. He added that he
doesn’t believe Xerox’s plan to add partners would result in channel
conflict or competition with other VARs.

[Author]

February 12, 2007 at 11:37 AM