Partner content: Kingsfield's Matt Green on building a Microsoft Surface business
CRN met with Kingsfield’s Matt Green and Kira Tarbutt to discuss how its award-winning Microsoft Surface success has been built on valuable relationships as much as it has high quality devices.
Matt Green, Modern Workspace Manager at Kingsfield, may have joined the reseller just 18 months ago but he boasts nearly 27 years in the channel, including stints at Insight and Citrix. He now sells "all things Microsoft", including their Surface devices. He joined CRN, alongside his "right hand", Microsoft Account Manager Kira Tarbutt, to discuss why they're so enthusiastic about their Microsoft Surface partnership.
It didn't take long for Green to get Kingsfield to recognise the value of being a Surface reseller. Last year, the initiative saw them win Microsoft Surface's worldwide Rising Partner of the Year Award.
"When I joined Kingsfield, we made a decision. I sat down with my managing director Brian Boys, to discuss moving to Surface. At that point we were selling all vendors but we were particularly impressed by the Surface portfolio and the changes that had happened over the previous three or four years."
Putting the end user first
One of the key differences, Green maintains, lies in Surface's approach to designing and specifying its products.
"The reason I picked Surface is, after having worked with clients for over 20 years, I realised Surface is a different conversation.
"Where I love Surface, and where I think my clients love Surface, is they've taken the personas of end users and seen how they worked. If you have mobile workers, or someone who is going to be sat at a desk 24/7, or someone who's hybrid – they have built devices around those people. Whereas, I feel with their competitors it's just paint by numbers."
Green believes these user experience benefits resonate with both the public sector and commercial clients. For him, it's about taking their software strategy and extending that prioritisation of productivity and usability to the hardware.
So, let's have a Microsoft device. What do we use all day? We use Microsoft 365, we use Teams, we use Outlook. Well, lo and behold, they work better with a Surface device than anything else."
The culmination of this thinking lies in the burgeoning power of Copilot. It looks set to shake up current refresh plans and priorities, propelling Surface into contention for many more deployments.
Why Copilot is a growth driver
"With Copilot coming along, I have never seen such a positive response compared to Copilot and how that's going to work with Surface. That's a bit of a game-changer to be perfectly honest and it's an exciting thing to be talking about.
"We have clients that were going to be buying particular devices that are now holding off because they want to get up to speed with Copilot and look to buy the new range of AI devices.
"I think if I was in charge of a council, a hospital or large school at the moment, I would be waiting to get the AI devices. What we're seeing is the cost is not that big of a difference between the Laptop 5 and Laptop 6. I think Copilot and AI are going to be a huge driver of device purchase and refreshes."
For these kinds of large organisations, the productivity benefits offered by Copilot look set to scale dramatically over entire endpoint estates. Kira Tarbutt says this isn't lost on Kingsfield's clients.
"Last week we had a conversation with a customer and they explained how, when looking at new roles, they now do so with the understanding that they will have Copilot. So, some things that took them three or four hours previously are now taking them 10 minutes. They couldn't imagine going back to not having those Copilot licences.
"I think it's going to be very interesting over the next six months to see how that shapes the market for device purchases as well."
Green shares this excitement, and believes the new hardware Surface and their semi-conductor partners are bringing to market are having a real impact.
"With the new devices with the new chipset and the NPU that's available on the Pro 10 and the Laptop 6, it's just massively extended battery life. That's still very important to a lot of people. Someone like me, who is out and about 24/7, I just don't want to be worried about where the next plug is."
CRN's own research has found that Employees today are typically more opinionated about, and demanding off, the devices they are equipped with. Green's own experience echoes this.
"I think badge is always important. We all like a nice badge. We all drive particular cars, often because of the badge. And, when you've got a nice Microsoft Surface badge on the back of the device and you give that to an employee, they do feel like they've been valued. They haven't just been given something that everybody has.
"I'm working at the moment with a very large council that might move from one particular vendor to Surface and one of the drivers around that is staff retention, making people feel worthwhile that they've been given a premium device."
The Microsoft Surface partner chain
For Green, the importance of recognising and valuing expertise also counts when it comes to Working with the Microsoft Surface team.
"I think the key and the thing that we did when we decided to go with Surface was really get engaged with the Surface Sales Specialists (SSP) and to be as close to them as possible – for them to understand our opportunities and for us to understand theirs."
This support, Green maintains, extends to financial incentives and events too.
"The rebates are really good from Microsoft. Then you have the SWIF workshops (Surface Workshop Investment Fund) we're able to do with our clients. They're really important. Microsoft helps us co-fund events at organisations where we bring in an SSP or an expert to talk about the software side. Then we do a run-through, and we provide some lunch. You get a whole load of people in the room."
On the other side of the partner chain, Kingsfield now has the relationships it needs to support its business and ESG ambitions.
"In everything we've done Microsoft has key partners. Like N2S, who help with recycling, CHG that help with leasing, and Silver Wing has been doing the catalogue. We've got together with those organisations so we can provide our customers with the full portfolio.
"The large council I'm currently talking to need to remove 4,000 devices from another manufacturer when they move to Surface. I'm in a position now, working with N2S, where I'm able to provide them with value for those devices and also show them where they will end up. We're taking some of those devices and giving them to charities within the council area."
Total cost of ownership
Green believes the longevity of Surface devices will only increase the appeal for public sector organisations as the government looks to make 20 per cent of issued devices ‘second user'. This feeds into a shift in mindset amongst Kingsfield customers when it comes to total cost of ownership (TCO). Tarbutt says customers are recognising the Surface's ability to retain value.
"When we're having conversations about purchasing devices or giving value back at the end of that device's initial life, the Surface device's fair market value is typically more than the average manufacturer. You can return additional value to the customer at the end of term. Or, when we're working with leasing partners, that cost is reduced massively."
When asked what advice he would have for resellers looking to dip a toe into the world of Microsoft Surface, Matt Green was, again, eager to emphasise the value of business relationships.
"Someone once said to me when I started in sales, ‘it is relationships, relationships, relationships'. And I've never ever forgotten that. It's all about building the relationships with the people at Surface. They're very engaging, they're easy to speak to, they want you to find them opportunities. There's only one of them. And, I think that is the key for anybody that is getting involved with Surface.
"And I would advise anybody that was starting up and trying to get into Surface now, really think about the commercial sector. That's the big drive for me next year."
To find out more about the benefits of being a Microsoft Surface partner click here.
This post is sponsored by Microsoft.