The OEM is seeking to “better position its channel partners as differentiated service providers” partly by pushing document security, according to CRN.
Following Xerox’s recent inaugural Security Summit, attended by over 200 vendors, dealers, customers and agents, the OEM’s strategy to use document security as a tool for enhancing the position of its channel partners has been highlighted.
According to Chris Gallagher, a print management consultant at Chicago’s Green Office Partner, a range of “additional security threats exist around printers”, but Xerox’s partnerships with Cisco and McAfee “have helped it meet the U.S. government’s rigorous FedRAMP standards”. In addition, the leveraging of the OEM’s managed print services has enabled his own business to “manage more than 2,000 machines across 34 states with a staff of fewer than 20 employees.”
“The printer security page on my website gets 20 times more traffic than any other page,” Gallagher explained. “Everybody’s trying to sell copiers, and if they’re a little bit smarter, they’re trying to sell managed print services.”
Mike Feldman, Executive Vice President and President of North American operations at Xerox, revealed that “as SMB customers increasingly find themselves becoming victims of cybercrime […] partners have a prime opportunity to educate themselves, dedicate resources to security and develop expertise.”
“We’ve seen some groups do this and it’s paying off, helping them differentiate in the marketplace,” he said.
Feldman went on to say that he “expects managed security services to continue being an integral part of the Xerox MPS portfolio as agents and dealers look to add more value-added services to their sales accounts.”
Terry Greenan Jr., Vice President at Greenan Business Products, revealed that the rise of IoT-enabled devices “has heightened customer awareness of print security needs” and noted his belief that “security can be the gateway to net new business as executive-level decision-makers become more involved in technology purchase decisions.”
“Partners tend to sell into smaller businesses that may have unsophisticated support staffs,” explained Steve Hoover, Xerox’s CTO and Senior Vice President. “If you built a lot of capabilities but they’re not being utilised, have you really helped people? We put a lot of emphasis on ease of use. We put in a security software agent to walk people through and easily implement the security features that are on the device. We have gotten a lot of really positive feedback from our partners and resellers about that. That helps them provide that to their customers, and that’s a real differentiator.”
