Fujitsu Europe shifts strategy to SME area

Fujitsu Europe will revamp its channel operation as part of its refocus on the SME market and will step up its efforts to educate resellers.

The peripherals arm of the Japanese electronics giant will evolve its accreditation programme so that it will set standards for technical expertise in addition to the financial performance that resellers have to satisfy.

Terry Forrest, printer sales manager at Fujitsu Europe, said: 'At present we have three channels for three product areas. We need to increase the crossover between those channels, as well as convince our distributors that the message is valid.

'It won't happen overnight because we are asking for a change in the thought process - some will accept it and some won't.'

He added: 'We looked at the business and realised we had to differentiate ourselves from the competition. We are successful in three areas but we need to start building bridges between them.'

Speaking as the vendor unveiled a range of printers and scanners, John Goodyear, business development manager at Fujitsu Europe, urged resellers to revise their relationships with their small business customers.

'At the moment, large companies aren't talking to SMEs because the cost of communication is too high. We need to create a route for SMEs to buy into the document management market slowly because they can't afford such products all at once'.

'Resellers are currently at the margin of any business and they need to be able to lock customers into an ongoing deal. We're asking resellers to expand their thought processes beyond box-shifting,' he added.

However, Scott Henderson, marketing communications manager at Fujitsu distributor Cyberdesk, was unaware of the change in focus, but added: 'We wouldn't see it as that much of a change, but we are always looking at ways to improve our relationship with clients.'

Fujitsu is to sell its PCs via Tesco's Website - see page 16.