ASBIS | PRINTING

Fortifying Printing Business

AHMED NAIEM, SALES DIRECTOR, PRINTING, ASBIS MIDDLE EAST, ELABORATES ON THE SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIP WITH LEXMARK AND HOW THE FIRM AIMS TO GROW ITS PRINTING SOLUTIONS DIVISION TO NEW HEIGHTS OVER THE COMING QUARTERS. “Our relationships with the channel have also significantly helped us in our success as we sell 100 percent through our reseller partners. They are responsible for creating the demand for Lexmark business. We engage with our resellers and the vendor to jointly visit end-users, help close deals and deliver customer requirements. “ Can you share the biggest highlights at ASBIS Printing business over the last few quarters? We offer heavy-duty printers from Lexmark, which fulfil customer satisfaction with in-depth service, warranty and hi-yield toners. In the past year, together with our channel partners, we have deployed innovative printing solutions at some of the region’s biggest end-users’ premises such as Aramco, CCAD, Rajhi Bank, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Council in Kuwait. default, however, at ASBIS we are providing additional service and warranty support up to five years. We have several kinds of services based on what the customer needs such as on-site support, 24/7 support, labor and spare parts support and so on. We have service centers across the UAE with fully equipped service teams. Managed Print Services are designed to reduce the cost of printing and save more money in order to increase the profitability. Which are the primary verticals, ASBIS is focusing on with its Printing business? We are focusing in all segments from home user to enterprise customers. Lexmark was initially focusing on enterprise and corporate segments only. And now the vendor is launching products for the channel and small business users.

Our heavy -duty printers hail from IBM pedigree and technology. Recently Lexmark was sold to Chinese firms Apex Technology and Ninestar, both of which are owners of Lenovo today. Our partnership with Lexmark has developed successfully over the years. How have you grown the portfolio over the past year? What are the internal and external factors to which you attribute the success to? We are launching channel printers for home users and small offices following our professional printers for enterprise and corporate customers. Within ASBIS, we have full understanding from the management that we are dealing with a reliable and heavy-duty product. The management trusts the product and that is why they have placed the same trust on me to go to the market and improve the business. We have a strong relationship between ASBIS and Lexmark. We are Lexmark’s sole distributor for the GCC and the Middle East.

Our relationships with the channel have also significantly helped us in our success as we sell 100 percent through our reseller partners. They are responsible for creating the demand for Lexmark business. We engage with our resellers and the vendor to jointly visit end-users, help close deals and deliver customer requirements. The printing market continues to be valuable as many customers still depend on printed documents. Understanding the demand, we are offering our products with high-quality laser technology in order to give customers the security for their printed documents. We are also offering Print Managed Service Solutions, which fully secure their process and help them with their comprehensive printing needs. What is your value proposition to customers and partners? Customers have to keep in mind that aspects such as service, quality of printing, after-sales support, availability of toner and supplies cost money and are important to have a full-functional printer for heavy workloads. We carry the full range of printers and services and can offer customers the best experience without any interruptions to their operations. How is Managed Print Services accelerating partners’ businesses? How can they further enhance their margins with services? All Lexmark products are coming with 1-year service support by What do you believe is a challenge for partners today? It is a challenge today to carry out services in the appropriate turn around time. Customers are important and valuable for us, so we have to keep our spare parts and replacement machines ready in case it is required, so that customer business can go on without interruptions. How will ASBIS together with its channel network continue to innovate the printing space going forward? We are announcing new channel line-up, which fulfill channel and SMB requirement. We will provide more trainings to our resellers and enhance their product knowledge. Partners can also look forward to unique incentive programs from us. What is your message for partners and the market from GITEX 2019? We like to encourage our partners to increase their margins and profitability with Lexmark printers. They can boost productivity immensely and save on costs with the product line-up from Lexmark. We see huge profitability and future with Lexmark and will continue to engage and develop this partnership going forward.

GITEXEDITION | 26

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