Printing company Lexmark will be opening up a new route to market by partnering with traditional copying houses likes Itec, and Office Smart, to start off with.
Speaking on the eve of the official announcement, Lawrence van Namen, sales director for Lexmark`s channel partners and small and medium businesses, said the partnerships forms part of the company`s regional Value Print Partnership where cost-per-page agreements are entered into through local partners.
"With the convergence that is taking place between the copier and printer market, you have to merge your solutions," says Van Namen. "There is still a big demand for printing, but companies want to be able to fix their cost per pace and budget accordingly."
Van Namen explains this approach links to Lexmark`s overall 'print less, save more` approach, aimed at attracting long-term customers, and that the structure of the Value Print Partnership allows the company to monitor clients printing behaviour.
"This way we can see if the solution we sold them is working, and with this information we can then advise different clients."
Under the new partnership with the traditional copying houses, the likes of Itec will get access to a greater product range, while Lexmark will train up that company`s support staff to deliver on its service mandate.
Van Namen explains that, in this way, the Lexmark partners can differentiate themselves on improved service level agreements (SLAs), while the burden of servicing a wide range of clients is taken off the printing house`s shoulders.
While Lexmark will want to access new revenue streams through the copy houses, there is no guarantee that they will use Lexmark products in their sales pitches and solutions.
"It is a different channel for us and it`s a different product set for them - it works pretty well for both parties," concludes Van Namen.
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