Warren Hampton, General Manager of Networks for Samsung UK: “There were too many steps in the old support model, which slowed down the high-quality support we were able to offer our channel. So we’ve looked into ways of streamlining our service and come up with a new initiative that delivers support direct from our HQ team in Korea. We strongly believe this will give our UK distributors the control and autonomy needed to offer the best product support to our channel.”
Samsung expects this new initiative to be in place by the end of August, following the transfer of information and staff training.
Resellers should soon see an improvement in the level of support their distributors are able to offer. The business relationship between Samsung resellers and their distributors will not change.
Samsung expects this new initiative to be in place by the end of August, following the transfer of information and staff training.
John Bird, Head of UC Systems at Exertis explains “It’s business as usual from a sales and commercial perspective – channel partners will continue to receive the same high-quality service already provided by Exertis – a service offering that continues to grow and is underpinned by our recent £40M+ investment in our Burnley Bridge National Distribution Centre. If anything, channel partners are now ‘one link in the chain’ closer to the R&D centre in Korea, as UK distribution will escalate directly to the Korean HQ. In all honesty, today just under 2% of the Samsung support tickets Exertis receive require escalation. In theory, these escalations will now go directly to the manufacturers support and development specialists. As such, we envisage escalation resolution times will reduce significantly in the future”
“As part of this initiative, Distribution will be responsible for all aspects of the vendor relationship between Samsung HQ and the channel” adds Bird. “This strategy brings the UK into the same vendor, supplier and reseller relationship as other countries. It’s all about adding value to the proposition and brand as distribution are closer to the coalface – we can work directly with the reseller and end user to design the solution, which often comprises multiple technologies, allowing us to not only offer bespoke solutions but also install, maintain and offer helpdesk services on them as a white labelled service if required”
“As a Channel Only Distributor, we have worked with Samsung closely to ensure this strategic realignment of vendor relationships is not only a prioritised smooth transition but one that provides an overall enhanced level of service for the reseller – an ethos that is embedded in Exertis’ own mission statement ‘Driven to Deliver More”