Xerox South Africa has been given the distributorship rights, including full responsibility for marketing, sales and support, for a number of Xerox`s African partners. Previously run out of the UK and Dubai, the following African countries now fall under Xerox SA`s control - Angola, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Seychelles and Mauritius.
"Xerox SA has been a solid performer, and it makes good business sense to run the Xerox distribution network from its South African engine. Landing the distributorship means that Xerox SA can extend its reach into other African countries," says Donald Goldfain, Financial Director of Xerox SA.
Richard Lisbey, general manager of indirect channels at Xerox SA, comments: "Due to our strong local experience in supporting entrepreneurial-driven channel businesses, we believe that we can offer logistical and other support from SA which will allow African operators to capitalise quicker and better on opportunities in their market."
Xerox SA will take over the existing Xerox network of businesses, which are independently run entities, in these African countries.
Xerox SA`s growth of its local channel through its traditional dealer network and more recent metropolitan-based concessionaire programme, has seen the company grow its channel revenues year on year by 25%. Xerox`s concessionaires are independently run businesses responsible for selling in specific regions to small and medium-sized organisations.
"We envisage, even with these African countries starting off a low base, growing these regions by no less than 20% year on year over the next two years," says Lisbey.
"Despite economic and political issues facing some of these countries, the markets are still growing. The operation in Botswana has dominant market share including the sale of high volume equipment into corporate and governmental accounts.
"Xerox has a dominant market share in Zimbabwe, Madagascar and Malawi as well, and we believe the growth sectors in all countries include government, corporate, banks and telecommunications companies," he says.
Xerox SA will focus on developing opportunities in these markets by supporting the roll-out of its higher-margin Printing Systems Group solutions - its document management solutions and high volume laser printers, and has appointed a dedicated specialist to handle this business.
In addition, Xerox SA believes that its outsourcing offering - which allows companies to outsource their document management on- or off-site - will provide further growth in the regions.
"The services side of the business, in particular outsourcing, has grown to an international multi-billion dollar enterprise, with double-digit growth every year. We believe that there are many opportunities in the African countries which will help our operators to reinforce their existing relationships with top-end customers, and will also assist them in attacking opposition installations," believes Lisbey.
"The services side will also give them sustained revenue contracts which otherwise might not have been possible. Xerox SA has a dedicated person looking for these opportunities in these countries, as well as doing the training required to help our African distributors to identify and capture this business."
Commenting on the ability of Xerox SA`s infrastructure to cope with the change, Lisbey adds that the company has set up separate facilities with a highly skilled team to support their endeavours.
He says that Xerox SA has already been providing a measure of support into these countries, including both technical and sales training from their Isando head office, and accordingly a familiarity with the African operations is already in place.
Future support will include business and financial support and guidance, dedicated account management, administration and technical and product support.
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