Lexmark VP Discusses Lexmark’s Biggest Product Launch Ever, Channel Strategy

Earlier this month, CRN interviewed Sammy Kinlaw, who was appointed Lexmark’s new vice president of worldwide channel and OEM sales earlier in February of this year, and will oversee Lexmark’s massive product overhaul that will begin in June and continue over the summer.

Kinlaw told CRN: “It’s the biggest rollout in five years – 92-plus percent of the product lines are turning over. Our channel partners will also have an opportunity to take advantage of a tool suite and solutions based on the cloud between device management, print management and cloud connectivity.”

Kinlaw, who was previously an executive at PC maker Lenovo, explained:

“It’s always been a Lexmark-led solution. Now it can be a channel-led solution. The keys to the kingdom, we’re giving a copy of to our [partners]. The growth from the company is expected to come from the channel.

Our goal is to enable our partners to do what we’ve been doing directly, meaning us talking to the end user – that’s a difference-maker. You couple that with the biggest product announcement that we’ve ever had with more coverage in the channel, with perhaps a refined incentive package that allows them to sell up the stack without having baggage for a lot of problems. The inhibitors, from the feedback I’ve received from partners, have been more along the lines of process. All those things can be fixed. If it’s a process issue, we’ll fix it or stop doing it. If it’s a coverage model issue, I’m going to change it.”

Note that Wirth Consulting visited with Lexmark executives last week, and will have more on Lexmark’s new product line and other announcements in the new few weeks.

More Resources

• May 2018: Lexmark Printers, Copier/MFPs Achieve Hardcopy Common Criteria Certification
• April 2018: Lexmark Focuses on Faster Print and Scan Speeds, Higher Toner Yields, and More with New A4 Models
• April 2018: Lexmark Opens Lexmark Marketing Hub for Partners
• March 2018: New Lexmark Pharmacy Order Assistant Minimizes Outdated Fax Communications
• January 2018: New Lexmark MFP Kiosk for Government Provides Document-Capture, Print-on-Demand, Forms Repository
• December 2017: Lexmark’s New Patient Communication Solution Provides Color Printing, Print-on-Demand for Healthcare
• January 2018: Former Lenovo Exec Kinlaw to Join Lexmark