OneSPARKS Podcast Episode 1 Series 2 - Transcript

Samsung Work Wonders Mini Series, Lifetime Support (Part 1 of 4)

Dave Harries [00:00:05] Hello and a very warm welcome to the OneSPARKS podcast. Today, our studios have been taken over by Samsung for a four-part mini-series discussing Samsung's Work Wonders campaign. During the series, we will be delving into the critical pillars of Samsung's business ecosystem: Security, Support, Solutions, and products. We'll be exploring how they help businesses overcome the barriers and blockages that inhibit productivity and profitability. Samsung's ecosystem is not about the individual products and services, but how they work together to deliver better business outcomes. And this mini-series will give you an insight into how this can be achieved. In today's episode, we will be discussing the Lifetime Support pillar of Samsung's Work Wonders. My name is Dave Harries, and with me to explain what this means for you as the customer. I have expert guest Paul Harris. He's the head of Mobile Channel Partners at Samsung. Welcome, Paul. It's nice to have you on the podcast. Before we get into the detail of this particular Lifetime Support pillar, I wonder if you could start by telling us what Work Wonders is and why it matters to businesses.

Paul Harris [00:01:19] Well, first of all, thanks, Dave, for having me along today to talk about this specific pillar within Work Wonders. So for context, we launched the Work Wonders campaign at the back end of last year. And the idea of the campaign is very much to focus on how technology can support British businesses. And really, it's around creating awareness of Samsung's business technology Solutions, Support and Security. And for some context, there are broadly 100,000 small and midsize enterprises that start up every quarter. So there's so much innovation there to be harnessed. But more to the point, there needs to be a programme and organisations like Samsung who play a critical role in helping these businesses get off the ground.

Dave Harries [00:02:03] So let's talk specifically about the Lifetime Support pillar. What is what does that mean in reality? What are we talking about with Lifetime Support?

Paul Harris [00:02:11] Well, it is a mixed bag of fantastic features that we can offer business customers. And I think leaning back to the ecosystem story, as mentioned, it's very much fundamental to Work Wonders within this pillar. So as a result of that, we've ensured that there is a B2B-centric support function to support the seamless use of our products and services. To go into a bit of detail, we have a B2B specific customer experience centre based up in Leeds and the kind of things they look after will be from things like processing, raising a case on any Samsung B2B product. Someone may call him with a query and they'll be able to help support that. Customers can call, they can email, they complete a can complete a self-service form online as well to get their query in. And again, that's backed by dedicated account management from myself. And there's also marketing business product specialist trainers as well over and above all of that that we can support. But again, some of those typical services will be just general queries around smartphone, tablet, wearable and laptop. Maybe more advanced technical support, so we have very dedicated and experienced second and third-line support experts who can help diagnose issues and fix those issues. They can help with simple things like unlocking devices where that's relevant. They can also, for example, look at how we can support a range of repair services from next-day swap-outs to actual doorstop repairs, which is, you know, a pretty unique feature in the B2B market from a manufacturer. And a whole range of other services and solutions as well that we can offer. But broadly, that is how the team are set up and they are very much a one-stop shop to support B2B customers in the full ecosystem of Samsung product.

Dave Harries [00:03:50] And I know that support is very important to business customers because obviously business interruption is a, you know, can be a major headache. So obviously it's excellent that you've got that dedicated team. But I also want to talk about something else that's important to businesses and that is security. So tell me a little bit about the issue surrounding security and how that works in this context.

Paul Harris [00:04:10] Yeah, it's a really important topic, clearly, for all businesses out there, particularly as we see more sophisticated ways that people out there are looking to infiltrate and compromise security and business. Now, I know we're going to be talking more and more specifically around the security topic in another podcast. However, just to give a broad overview: within Samsung we have a solution set called our Knox Suite of products. And you know, that's an area where we can help support customers. And just to give a very brief overview of what it is, it's very much market-proven, it's out there in the market, customers are using it. And it's designed to give businesses advance management, end-to-end security, and real strong flexibility to secure, deploy and manage devices throughout their lifecycle. So four key areas within our security platform are what we call our Knox platform for enterprise. So this enables our I.T administrators within customers to safeguard data at both the hardware and the software level. So that removes the risk of being compromised on any of the Samsung devices. The second one is what we call Knox mobile enrolment and that allows, again, these I.T. administrators within companies to bulk enroll devices into their enterprise or small business without the need for any kind of end-device management via the IMEI or any sort of specific endpoint verification that could be all done at once, which is really a unique feature. The third of the four key pillars within the security area is our Knox-managed solution. It's a super simple and lightweight EMM for I.T. administrators to monitor, manage devices, and secure corporate data across a number of operating systems. And the final one is what we call our Knox E-FOTA product within the Knox Suite and that allows organisations to remotely control firmware versions on mobile devices without the need for end-user interaction. So it's a real end-to-end seamless security solution that sits very much within our ecosystem and is fully supported by our B2B dedicated team, as I mentioned, up in Leeds.

Dave Harries [00:06:11] I know that will be a, you know, of a lot of comfort to people who are considering this system because, as I say, security is such a huge issue these days. But another issue, and I suppose it's related to security a bit, is about third party products, you know, and integration with other bits of kit basically that might be in the customer's system. So how does Samsung deal with that?

Paul Harris [00:06:32] So we are very much integrated with a multitude of third party partners from the likes of Google and Microsoft and others. But ultimately our back office support teams are able to support all of those technical management software solutions that plug into the Samsung ecosystem, whether it be smartphone, tablet, wearable, or even on our new PC laptop range. So it's very much an end-to-end solution whereby customers will be able to come to Samsung for that support without having the need to go to multiple touch points to get the support they need, even if they're using third parties. And we've seen that a number of examples certainly in business over the last year, 18 months, whereby a lot of public sector and a number of key verticals within the private sector are finding great benefit with this, because let's face it, there are a multitude of different I.T. systems and platforms that customers use. So it's really important that we try and simplify and untangle that the best we possibly can to make sure that the interaction with Samsung certainly is a seamless and as easy as possible.

Dave Harries [00:07:35] And talk to me a little bit about finance options, because I know that that's a sort of an integral part of this in terms of making it easy for businesses to sort of go down this road.

Paul Harris [00:07:44] Yeah, it's an interesting one. And I think if we're looking at the current economic climate where we're going through, coming through the exit of of COVID, we're learning to live with the sort of new normal, the hybrid working piece. And we're finding that a lot of businesses where they upscaled at the beginning of the pandemic, where they were, whereby they were rolling out lots of technology to make sure people could be working from home, etc. We're now starting to see a bit of a shift in the buying signals. Some customers are looking to sweat their assets longer, some just don't have budgets to upscale and where they need to. So I think from a financing perspective, so we have an area within our business called Samsung Capital and ultimately it's a funding solution whereby customers can procure from throughout the ecosystem, whether it's a finance or leasing solution available to them, whereby we would have a very preferential low interest rate, whereby customers would be able to take all the devices upfront. We would effectively then buy the units back and then we would then effectively lease it back to them on that base. It frees up capital, puts more money back in the bottom line for them to reinvest in their business as they start to re-energize themselves as we go into the new phase of working, as we exit the pandemic. And, of course, you know, not just that we're seeing the knock-on effects of the rise in the cost of living as well. And those are some concerns that not only affecting consumers but clearly critical to the concerns of business as well. So, you know, that again, is supported within our Lifetime Support kind of pillar, our customer services team, as well as our dedicated account team within our Samsung capital business, that fits within B2B, again plugs really nicely as an overlay into our wider ecosystem play.

Dave Harries [00:09:23] And I suppose with these finance options and with the Lifetime Support, I mean, effectively this sort of ecosystem is, is future proofed because you can, you know, as it develops, the customer can onboard those new developments.

Paul Harris [00:09:36] Yeah, that's right. And you know, we have clearly we have a very wide range of devices from a smartphone tablet wearable and also our PC range going from an entry level all the way up to ultra premium. But one area that very much fits as a sweet spot is our Enterprise Edition product, which again, we'll talk in a bit more detail on one of the other podcasts. But within that, it's effectively an extended lifecycle of that device when you look at what is happening in the consumer variants, so for example, you may have two like for like products, one is a consumer version, one is an enterprise edition version. And with the Enterprise Edition version, you get, as you said, a longer lifecycle with longer device support. So extended kind of manufacture support as well as security maintenance patches, which again for security is really important to make sure the latest updates are pushed over the edge to those key devices. And that can be up to five years depending on the device that is in range. So again, it's meaning that customers can sweat their assets longer and really make the most of the Samsung ecosystem without having to worry about the topic of security being compromised at any point.

Dave Harries [00:10:42] So just before we finish, Paul, I mean, summarise if you would for me how the Lifetime Support and all the things that go with that feed into the Work Wonders ecosystem and how that, you know, and what in the end, what are the benefits? How would you summarise the benefits for the customer?

Paul Harris [00:11:00] Critically, I mean, Work Wonders is a fantastic campaign and where we're pushing that and that's going to be a core theme within the Samsung B2B story moving forward. But coupled with our ecosystem, suite of services and solutions and products are also not going away. So I think the key take up for me is we will continue to evolve and innovate and bring out new products and services that will fit into the ecosystem. And I guess the point being is whilst we're doing that, we have the existing range, we're building on new devices at innovation. We have the right support function behind it to continue to service those older devices in range, plus support the onboarding or refresh of new devices as they come out. As we evolve, on a quarterly basis, whether it be through new flagship launches or upgrades to existing products. So I guess the message is very clear. We have a set up within our back office function to support what we're selling to our customers. And that back office function is simplified to make sure we're servicing in a way that's going to keep the way they work really seamless. And they don't have to worry about whether they have a problem with a Samsung. They don't have to worry. Oh, is that going to be, you know, something I have to worry about in a year or two? They know it's always there. And that's something that absolutely underpinning that support function within the Work Wonders campaign.

Dave Harries [00:12:12] You've been listening to the OneSPARKS podcast spotted by Onecom and taken over by Samsung for this special miniseries of the Work Wonders Campaign. I'm Dave Harries, and I've been talking to Paul Harris, the head of Mobile Channel Partners at Samsung. A reminder that you can listen to all four podcasts in this miniseries. Each episode deals with a different aspect of the Work Wonders pillars. Today we've been discussing Lifetime Support, but our other episodes deal with Seamless Working, Unrivalled Security, and finally, the Clever Devices that make all this possible. I hope you've enjoyed Paul's expert insight. Please see our show notes for a link to our website at www.onecom.co.uk/podcast where you can find out about everything mentioned in today's episode and links to the other podcasts. If you've enjoyed the podcast, then please subscribe and share with your friends and colleagues. In the meantime, stay safe and thanks for listening.