Panasonic Australia is going after the corporate market and has launched a new business unit, Panasonic Business Systems Australia (PBSA), dedicated to meeting the specific needs of the corporate sector.
The company launched the new business arm in an effort to expand its business beyond the consumer market where the majority of its customers reside.
The vendor recognised the need for a new division with a go-to-market strategy and technology sets dedicated to the corporate market if it was to make a significant impact.
PBSA will offer its enterprise customers specialised technology bundles, 24-hour support services and finance options such as premium maintenance agreements on certain products and finance support for any technology set costing more than $A2500.
"We expect to grow our SME, corporate and government business 400 % over the next 12 months," said Greg Sampson, strategic marketing manager for Panasonic Business Systems Australia at a media presentation in Sydney last week.
"The launch of PBSA is the end result of an extensive research project into the emerging trends in SME and corporate purchasing habits," Sampson said. "Through our research we found companies increasingly want to buy both solutions and appropriately bundled technology sets, while minimising the number of suppliers. We also found that larger SMEs and mid-sized companies are demanding a solutions approach from a single supplier of products and services to reduce operating costs and contribute directly to the bottom line."
PBSA will offer product solution sets including IT products, presentation solutions, document management solutions and communications products that are designed specifically for business and government customers.
Panasonic has also released several new products that will be added to PBSA's product arsenal including: their latest version of ruggedised notebook, the Toughbook Light W2, that will be launched in October; a 42-inch plasma panel that partners with a streaming box to deliver video streaming on broadband with content controlled by one central server; the WORKio digital imaging platform that can copy, print, scan and fax, connect to a LAN out of box and has been designed for SMEs; and a high-speed DVD Multi Drive that will be marketed as five distinct product offerings.
Sampson said that PBSA's strategy was to continue to rely on Panasonic's channel to grow its SME customer base and, through the support of an internal business development group and by developing go-to-market solutions for vertical markets, would assist its channel in making inroads in to corporate and local government sectors.
Panasonic will initially target hospitality, professional and education verticals and will concentrate on other niche market segments further down the track.
The company said it would provide its channel partners with increased support through an enhanced channel program that would provide both dealers and distributors with a higher level of account support.