Johannesburg, 13 May 2021
The death of the printer has long been predicted, but instead of fading away into the technology history books, print devices continue to fill a critical space in both the business and personal space.
This continued strength is the result of continual evolution, adapting to the ever-changing needs of the market. The shift to remote working – something that has been predicted for years but which came to the fore over the past year – has seen the resurgence of a need for high-quality multifunction devices to support the growth in remote workers.
Gavin Anderson, HP Print Lead for Print at Axiz, explains that to ensure customers can access the products and services they need, the role of the partner has never been more critical. “We’ve seen a massive increase in demand over the past year from a diverse range of sectors, including financial services, education and government. The requirements aren’t uniform and, as such, it requires a flexible and agile approach from our partners to understand each need and deliver an appropriate solution. A one-size-fits-all approach simply doesn’t work anymore.”
Constantly evolving market
This change in market demands means there are increasing demands on IT service providers to understand and meet customer requirements. “Whether it’s a school that needs 10 printers at a single location or a large company that needs 3 000 devices for their remote workforce, there’s a lot of additional complexity, and this is where we’re able to support our partners,” explains Anderson.
Axiz’s strong relationship with HP means they have an in-depth understanding of the product portfolio to ensure they are in a position to enable their partners to match the right solution to a specific requirement. “We don’t focus on providing every product that HP provides,” he says. “Rather we’ve carefully curated our product offering to ensure that we can meet the evolving market needs, focusing on the mid-range of printers. This includes the HP Neverstop series of Laser printers that have an innovative toner reload kit, much like the HP Smart Ink Tank printers, which make printing more efficient and affordable in the long run.”
Annelee Le Grange, General Manager for HP at Axiz, says: “We’ve built up a team focused on helping our partners meet the needs of their customers. This has given us the insight into how best to respond to specific requests and we’re able to assist our partners with this, including responding to tenders.
"We’ve found that because of the complexity of some tender documents, our partners need guidance to offer a comprehensive solution that covers the costs of additional support services and add-ons that might have been missed. Tapping into the expertise of our team around crafting large deals, both in the public and private sector, can help them avoid these pitfalls,” Le Grange says.
In these uncertain and challenging times, Axiz has seen an increase in global hardware constraints, which meant that the organisation have had to adapt faster to online digital enablement to offer its partners alternative options and assist them in managing their customers' expectation
African reach
This expertise isn’t limited to the South African market. Through Axiz’s extensive African footprint, they’ve established a reputation as a trusted distributor for their African partners. “Our fulfilment capability across the continent has resulted in many partners coming to us first, as they trust in our ability to deliver, irrespective of the size of the deal.”
Axiz sees massive opportunities for growth within the African market and has made this market a focus area to see them become the leaders in distribution into the rest of Africa.
The ability of Axiz to help their partners continue to grow their service and product offering is a part of the company’s DNA. “Whether it’s new partners or those we have a longstanding relationship with, we’re committed to building them up, helping them find new opportunities and giving them access to our expertise to drive business success,” Anderson concludes.
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