Lexmark courts ISV channel for advantage

Print vendor looks to a 'solutions' approach, hopes to inspire partners

Business printer maker Lexmark is aiming to partner developers that can introduce a range of compatible applications.

As part of its Solutions Advantage channel programme announced this month, the vendor is seeking partners that can help it improve its software offerings.

Martin Fairman, UK and Ireland channel director at Lexmark, said the declining margins from hardware had meant a refocus for the printer manufacturer.

"What we want to do is enable our partners to, I guess, come on the same journey as Lexmark," he said.

That means training, through an initiative called Solutions Academy, and educating partners to show customers how managed print and other software add-ons can help them.

"Partners really want to get into solutions but no manufacturer at the moment is helping them understand the marketplace and where it is going," Fairman (pictured) said.

"[Partners] have all been very capable and doing a good job at selling products and technology, but with solutions there isn't necessarily a price you can promote or something; it has to be more consultative."

Assistance from Lexmark via Solutions Advantage can also be combined with its managed print services (MPS) offering, and can suit SMBs' target markets as well as larger customers, he indicated.

Fairman said he believed the new channel programme will help Lexmark take market share from competitors.

Meanwhile, the vendor recently made its tenth software acquisition in its quest to itself become more "solutions"-oriented. It is also interested in partnering with firms that have developed or are developing relevant print-related applications, he said.

"We have 30 or 40 software applications available now on the platform," Fairman said.

IDC's worldwide hardcopy peripherals market tracker results for Q4 of 2013 put HP, Canon, Epson, Brother and Samsung as the world's top five print vendors.

Lexmark came under the "others" category with combined Q4 2013 shipments of 3.9m units – under a third of the number of printers sold by market leader HP.