News in the Channel - November 2022

REVIEW OF 2022

Greg Mack , sales manager, UK, Ireland and Middle East, Vivitek In 2022, The education sector had been quite resilient until the energy crisis started to dominate

because products aren’t available. Vivitek has been working on detailed planning with the channel and has been able to provide most orders in time. We expect this to continue in 2023. Despite the economic challenges, there’s still a heavy focus on sustainability. Customers are taking a long-term view and making more eco-friendly purchases. They’re more interested in energy efficiency, sustainability and how easily products can be recycled at the end of their useful life. However, rising prices and inflation mean that purchasing decisions are being delayed or postponed, which impact the whole ecosystem. Forecasting becomes less predictable, and the channel gets nervous about over supply in the face of a lack of demand. Looking ahead we’re being very cautious. The events in Ukraine combined with the related energy crisis will pretty much dictate the economic backdrop for as long as they last. While there’s little we can do to impact that, we can work to address some of the other factors, like the skills, raw material and chip shortage. With those challenges tackled and more robust supply chains in place, we’re optimistic that the second half of 2023 will be better than the first.

financial decision making. Budgets were set earlier in the year and, since then, they have seen costs escalate. Many are having to choose between ‘heating and eating’; that means many AV or IT purchasing plans have been quashed. It’s now that purchasing decisions taken as recently as 24 months ago will be felt; education institutions that invested in durable, energy efficient solutions with long warranties, will be able to ride out this storm. Despite those challenges, and probably because of its value proposition, Vivitek still made good inroads into the education sector in 2022. The corporate space performed well too, as organisations adapted their IT and AV strategies to accommodate the shift to hybrid working. Also during this year, the effect of chip shortages, aligned with the skills shortage and rising cost of raw materials have filtered from OEMs through to the channel and customers. Therefore, trends have centred on addressing and countering them to fulfil customer orders. The chip shortage has been a source of frustration for many; customers placing orders have been dissuaded from doing so

Greg Mack Vivitek

vivitek.eu

Steve Holmes , EMEA & America’s regional director & GM, PaperCut Against an extremely challenging backdrop, PaperCut is set to end 2022 stronger than it

somewhat dashed by subsequent events. It will take time for consumer and business confidence to return. The economic crisis may also be detrimental to the focus on the environment, sustainability and overall ESG goals, which should be always front of mind. This means many customers are rethinking their purchasing decisions. Either they’re questioning whether they’re better off keeping existing assets and saving money, or their budgets can’t stretch to match increased prices. I think we must accept that the start of 2023 will be tough for many businesses, not least if we’re still dealing with the energy crisis and rising inflation. Even if those challenges spill into the second half of 2023, I’m optimistic we will start to see an appreciable bounce-back when some of the other issues – like the supply chain crisis, skills shortage and access to raw materials – are resolved. Ahead of that, we’ve already seen promising progress at PaperCut, and we’re quietly confident we can build on the growth we’ve enjoyed this year. Businesses transitioning to the cloud will carry the channel through some of the challenges, even if end users are not buying new hardware. It’s likely we’ll see them take this time to help customers continue their migration to cloud platforms to enjoy the benefits that brings.

entered it. All the efficiency drives we initiated to ensure PaperCut and our customers coped with the pandemic are still helping to navigate the energy crisis as well as the skills and chip shortage. The post-pandemic fall-out, the energy and supply chain crisis have all played a role in reshaping customers’ decision-making processes and their requirements. Value and rapid return on investment aligned with near immediate benefits are now in the frame when it comes to customers assessing and evaluating new solutions. When customers had budget to invest, the channel has often been hampered by production delays caused by the chip and raw material shortage. We’re also seeing more organisations ‘sweat their assets’, in part due to the supply chain problems, which is triggering another trend of 12-month warranty and maintenance renewals. Understandably, organisations want to make the most of their investments, and we see this with devices like MFDs. They were under-utilised during the pandemic and now the life that’s left in them is now being put to good use to get maximum value from the investment. In many ways, it has been a frustrating year for customers, the channel, ISVs and OEMs alike. The post-pandemic optimism we all felt has been

Steve Holmes PaperCut

papercut.com