The Scan advantage
Fujitsu’s document scanner arm, PFU, is preparing to intensify its attack on the Irish market having inked a distribution deal with Total Import Solutions (TiS). The cork-based company describes itself as “Ireland’s leading Irish distributor of IT and AV products”. TiS stocks more than 1200 products from a range of vendors including Fujitsu, Canon, Philips, Toshiba and Verbatim. Fujitsu has been engaged in the document imaging scanner business for more than 25 years and generates an annual turnover of over $1 billion (€881 million).
Commenting on the partnership with Total Import Solutions, Adrian Cafferkey, country manager Ireland, PFU EMEA Ltd says: “I am seeing first-hand the market drivers, the potential and desire for the benefits that document management can offer and am very excited about the opportunities, particularly around the solution piece that will help grow the market and enable companies to take that next step on their digital transformation journey.”
He adds that it will “be a pleasure to work with TiS to market our scanners through the recruitment and education of resellers”. The vendor and distributor will be hosting an event in February 2019 to help partners “understand the scan proposition, the opportunities and to meet with some key ISV partners offering a complete Scan/Extract/Release solution”.
He describes Ireland as “a very important market for us and we hope to leverage further success and growth by taking advantage of the considerable skill sets of TiS, its substantial expertise, knowledge and impressive partner base to extend the reach of our best in class products, solutions and service offerings”.
Perfect complement
Conor McCloskey, head of marketing at TiS, says the distributor is delighted to have taken on Fujitsu’s scanner range, describing it as “a perfect complement to the company’s existing vendor line up. There is huge potential and a lot of opportunity here”.
He reveals that the relationship between the vendor and distributor “has already got off to a great start with the winning of a government tender to supply fi-7700 scanner models to the Department of Social Protection. This is a key area of business for PFU and takes advantage of TiS’ considerable experience in government procurement.”
The distributor has been on the Government Framework to supply notebook and desktop computers with Fujitsu CCD (Client Computer Device) for several years. The vendor and TiS have a longstanding relationship dating back to a distribution agreement for Fujitsu’s laptops and desktops in March 2013. The strength of the relationship is highlighted in a recent deal for Fujitsu to supply more than 7,000 Fujitsu Celsius Workstation PCs to schools across Ireland, as part of a contract with the Department of Education and Skills, worth circa €7.5 million (“the largest single workstation order ever fulfilled by Fujitsu in Europe”).
New appointment
TiS has appointed Clive Vincent, one of the distributor’s most senior account managers, as product manager for Fujitsu Scan. Vincent, who has been in the business for well over 10 years, has been heavily involved in the successful launch of many significant brands into the Irish market, most recently Philips Professional Display and Commercial pro TV.
Vincent believes there is “an obvious cross-over with Fujitsu Scan and commercial customers, along with existing digital conversion and document management business”. He can be contacted at: (085) 108 3662 clive@Totalimports.ie
Fujitsu’s scanner range covers the full gamut of products from personal to compact, desktop, portable devices to departmental and production scanners that can help organisations of all sizes with their document capture needs. To back this up, Fujitsu’s Imaging Channel Programme has been designed to help partners understand the vendor’s proposition, how it is positioned and how to target vertical markets.
The programme’s objective is to help partners:
• Realise the full potential of the imaging and digitisation market;
• Sharpen their competitive edge;
• Open new doors, close more deals and drive margins;
• Connect with Fujitsu’s imaging partner ecosystem;
• Differentiate their business
The programme includes webinars, co-branded brochures and other marketing materials, as well as product toolkits, product selection configurators and automatic social media content. Partners also gain access to Fujitsu’s special promotions and sales lead pipeline.
Scan benefits
Fujitsu is keen to highlight the benefits of scanning compared to the cost of paper-based processing. The vendor argues that the benefits are not just confined to the cost of the paper and printing, but also include things such as the time it takes someone to walk to a printer to get a printed copy and walk back. Scanning also eliminates the need for paper filing and archiving.
Image quality is much higher from a dedicated scanner than from using the scanner in a multifunction device/printer. In addition, a scanner can capture the content of a document and not just the image. With the right software, documents can be scanned and converted to editable Word, Excel or PowerPoint files. Scanned documents can be organised better, much faster and more easily than paper documents. Also, many document scanning systems integrate with business applications to allow faster access and the ability to share information in real-time
In addition, Fujitsu can provide partners with strong arguments concerning the cost benefits of deploying a scanner compared to a MFD/MFP. The vendor quotes research from AIIM that showed a scanner could pay for itself within nine months for a five-person company and generate savings of €200 within the first 12 months. Scanners are also becoming more intuitive and easier to use out of the box, making them far more suitable for SMEs.
Scanners have a strong attraction for SMEs looking to become more efficient, work smarter and save money. There is an impressive list of benefits to be gained from scanning documents. They range from saving money, productivity gains, better collaboration, smarter working, space savings, legal admissibility, disaster recovery planning and improved retention of documents and records.
Resellers interested in selling or deploying document management solutions should register with the vendor’s channel community at:
www.imaging-channel-program.com
Get in touch with Cafferkey at adrian.cafferkey@uk.fujitsu.com or contact TiS.
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