New Samsung VP Of Enterprise Sales Talks Channel Opportunities

Samsung's enterprise division experienced an 86 percent growth in revenue in the first half of 2013. Taylor said nearly 100 percent of the sales, with the exception of a few direct sales through businesses like Time Warner Cable, came through the channel.

Taylor told partners Samsung's enterprise focus is on verticals and mobility. The company has created several tools for partners to utilize to boost sales, including a revamped website and an enterprise briefing center, opened on July 1, 2013.

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The website, Taylor said, received a recent face-lift, ensuring a look and feel geared toward enterprise partners and their customers, rather than the previous consumer-driven website.

According to Taylor, the 7,000-square-foot enterprise briefing center located in Ridgefield Park, N.J., is a flexible meeting space with six zones modeled after six verticals: hospitality, financial services, retail, healthcare, education and a business boardroom. Each zone is set up to demonstrate to customers how Samsung hardware, paired with software, can create a total solution in a specific place. Taylor encouraged partners to bring customers to the space for a demonstration.

Jason Ulm, vice president of channel and wholesale sales at Appia, an Indianapolis-based solution provider, said he is seeing high demand for Samsung products and is impressed with the idea of the enterprise briefing center.

"Generally, a demonstration room is just a big space full of products that aren't set up in the actual vertical environment," Ulm said. He said the real-world models give partners an edge by showing customers exactly how the final solution will appear in his or her workplace.

The problem, Ulm said, is that many partners are too small to justify flying clients to the center, an issue regional demonstration centers could resolve.

Bill Sterbinsky, director of F1 Computer Solution, a Warrenton, Va.-based solution provider, said his experience with Samsung has occurred in the digital signage space.

F1 Computer Solution used HD Samsung monitors to run content for an advertising company over baggage carousels at both the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.

"We're interested in taking a look at Samsung as an option for some of our lower-end solutions," Sterbinsky said. He added his company currently only uses Samsung hardware for its higher-end deals.

Sterbinsky said he would consider taking clients to Ridgefield Park, N.J., for a demonstration. Most partners, Sterbinsky said, would have to have a big opportunity to make the trip worth the expense.

Taylor said of Samsung's product lineup, the company could use U.S. partner help in promoting printing solutions, an area Samsung is No. 1 in the world, but not in the U.S.

PUBLISHED AUG. 20, 2013