Samsung and Westcoast are encouraging resellers from outside the AV sector to explore new opportunities in the connected workplace
On March 7, Westcoast and Samsung invited resellers/MSPs to the Samsung KX Experience Space at Coal Drops Yard, King’s Cross to learn about opportunities in reselling displays for the connected workplace.
Samsung’s range covers every requirement from desktop monitors and signage to huge video walls, but as Westcoast AV Director Richard Carr explained, the support provided by Samsung and Westcoast, its largest UK distributor, is just as important – especially for resellers looking to add displays to their product offering.
He said: “Our mission at Westcoast is to help you uncover the opportunity that AV and the connected workplace can bring to you and your customers and your business. It isn’t just about selling a screen or a monitor. It’s that whole solution and that whole ecosystem that goes around it that we want to help you deliver.”
Carr described the opportunity in AV and the connected workplace as “absolutely vast”, pointing out that the global AV market is growing by 8% annually, driven by high growth categories such as video walls (with sales forecast to double in the next couple of years), digital signage in stadiums and offices, the connected workplace and connected buildings and IoT.
He added that with more than £100 million in annual AV sales, Westcoast is well placed to help resellers capitalise on these opportunities, citing its growing AV business team, which is there to help with sales opportunities, its world-class logistics, including its new warehouse facility in Andover, and the Westcoast Rewards programme which incentivises resellers’ sales teams to sell AV.
Uniquely positioned
Graham Little, Head of the Display Practice at Samsung UK, explained how Samsung’s display practice plays well with several mega trends, including sustainability.
He pointed out that over last 18 months, the vendor has reduced the depth of its large format displays by 20%, which has allowed it to put five displays on a pallet rather than four. With two million Samsung displays shipped each year, this represents a significant saving from both a logistics and an environmental perspective.
Energy efficiency has also been enhanced, with Samsung’s Micro LED display The Wall being 40% more economical from a power perspective than a traditional LED display.
He added that Samsung is uniquely positioned to help organisations create a working environment designed to attract and retain the best workers by providing high quality products at every touch point in an individual’s day. With every type of endpoint in its range – smartphone, tablet, monitor, flip display, digital signage, immersive large format display – Samsung can provide users with a seamless ‘connected workplace’ experience whether they are gathering information, absorbing information, receiving information or utilising technology to deliver information.
Samsung empowers resellers to maximise the opportunities enabled by its broad product range through the Samsung One partner programme launched about 18 months ago with Samsung’s MX business – mobile, tablet and laptop – and now extended to its AV practice.
Already used by 660 partners and 4,500 individuals, the online platform and mobile app encompasses everything from commercial features, such as a deal book that allows resellers to protect and ring- fence opportunities they’ve worked on, to rewards & rebates and training and certification, with a choice of 28,000 courses.
Samsung One has four tiers – registered, authorised, advanced and elite – and at each level the partner receives more benefits in respect to training, account management, commercial rebates, deal-book registration and access to pre-sales support.
Little described Samsung One as “a real opportunity for new partners to come in at a time when we’ve got a dedicated programme that our partners haven’t had before”.
Strength in depth
Steve Robertson, Head of Samsung End User Business Development Team, gave more details of the particular strengths of the Samsung Display business. These include:
Product choice. Covering monitors (for desktop use and command
and control), smart signage (from 13in to 90in), videowalls (up to 98in) and LED displays, from traditional LED to pioneering Micro LED (now on its third iteration) and outdoor LED, Samsung has an impressively wide display range.
Solutions and services. Alongside its product offering, Samsung offers extensive solutions and services including financing options through Samsung Capital that let you spread the cost of projects; the Samsung magicINFO content management system for digital signage; remote management of Samsung displays and existing estates; blue glove installation and pre and post-sales service and support that enables resellers to meet their customers’ needs even if they don’t have expertise and consultancy in-house; and on-site support, with a customisable warranty package offering either next business day swap-out or repair.
People. Samsung has a big channel team, with dedicated distribution and channel account management; pre-sales and solutions architects; an end customer-facing team that sits across various verticals including corporate, quick service retail, retail, digital at home, stadiums and
other areas; product managers; marketing; and 85 customer experience specialists who primarily offer a post-sales service but can help with pre-sales if needed.
IoT – SmartThings. SmartThings, the largest aggregator of IoT devices, lets you control all devices – washing machine, lights, TV etc. – from a smartphone. It has 230 million registered users and 120 million active users.
So far, it has 110 million connected devices, of which 86 million are from Samsung and 24 million from other brands. As well as supporting device interoperability through SmartThings, Samsung is one of four founding members of Matter, along with Amazon, Google and Apple, which is driving global standards in smart device interoperability.
Robertson said that Samsung has pledged that by the end of this year every one of its domestic devices will be IoT-enabled and he expects that commitment to find its way into Samsung’s commercial devices too. “We are already able to connect via SmartThings to control them, to turn them on and off and basic remote management. Imagine how powerful that can be when you start linking it into building management systems, especially for facilities managers who are KPI’d on how they are going to reduce costs,” he said.
The Wall MicroLED product. Suitable for boardrooms or large reception areas, The Wall is available in 110- inch or two 146-inch models and costs nearly £63,000 for an all-in-one LED with install. Installation takes just two hours and Samsung can handhold resellers through the whole process. This encompasses everything from a pre-installation site survey and site-readiness check to installation, post-installation verification, on-site support and an admin system health check.
To find out more about how Samsung and Westcoast can help you add displays and other AV products to your offering, please visit
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