SHARP
CONTINUED
Constant evolution While Sharp is constantly evolving, so does Colin. He has had a long career in the sector, but has constantly adapted to the changing nature of IT. Back in 1992, he co-founded IT business Complete IT, which he ran until July 2019, when it was sold to Sharp in the UK. As part of the deal, he joined Sharp too. Since March 2021, in addition to being managing director of Sharp IT Services UK, he has also been Sharp’s vice president of IT Services for Europe, responsible for the expansion of IT services throughout Europe for Sharp. Change is something he is used to – and that he relishes, and always seeks to be at the cutting edge of technology, just as Sharp does. Print As mentioned, Sharp is expanding its services to include more IT services, and many print vendors are doing similar throughout Europe, Colin says. This is being done in part in the UK to offset the largely flat print market – although it varies in other countries, Colin notes. “But, of course, each print vendor is looking for increased market share to boost their revenues in print too,” he adds. “Some sectors still have a large demand for print, such as education, which is why in the UK, Sharp has a strong presence in the education market. “By expanding their service, they can maximise their value and maximise
Colin adds that it is crucial that Sharp makes its partners and clients aware that they need to be ready for AI. “They must be confident that their data is structured in the right way internally, that if they do deploy AI, it’s not going to uncover any information that shouldn’t be uncovered by people within your organisation,” he says. “Additionally, AI policies need to be created. The use of AI needs to be mandated within an organisation properly, so there’s lots of areas that we can add value to our clients and our prospects around AI.” Colin adds that demand for AI is currently more from larger businesses. “SMBs are not necessarily going to be the early adopters of it, a lot are waiting and watching to see its impact. But we do have clients that have purchased Copilot and are using it and coming to us for advice. We see AI as a snowball that will gain momentum quite quickly. We need to be ready, and have the skills in place to offer the right advice to our clients so they can maximise Copilot and other AI tools out there. But with Copilot, being a Microsoft partner, we are ready to help our clients to get maximum value from it. As I mentioned, its about helping them to work smarter, that’s what it’s about. “It’s about the mundane stuff that can potentially be done by AI – such as transcriptions or notes from meetings – allowing the team to focus on the higher value add tasks and deliver to their clients.”
We see AI as a snowball that will gain momentum quite quickly. We need to be ready, and have the skills in place to offer the right advice to our clients so they can maximise Copilot and other AI tools out there. “
”
16
Powered by FlippingBook