Print in the Channel sat down with Rich Barfield, EMEA product marketing manager, ATS Division and Jack Byrne, EMEA senior channel marketing manager, to check up on Zebra Technologies and hear their plans for the year ahead.
Q: Who are Zebra Technologies? And do you only sell desktop printers?
Rich Barfield (RB): At its heart Zebra is a specialist barcode technology company, with a long legacy in this industry that dates back over 50 years. In fact, the company was founded some years before the first barcode was used commercially, in 1974 on a pack of Wrigley’s chewing gum in Marsh’s Supermarket in Troy, Ohio.
Zebra has a rich history of innovations and market firsts. For example, the first handheld laser scanner in 1979, the first barcode printer in 1982, the first laser-scannable 2D barcode in 1991, and the first wearable computer in 1997. It’s a long list, all of which has helped us become a market leader in thermal barcode print, labelling and scanning technology which, alongside our mobile computing portfolio, are still at the core of our business.
Barcode hardware and technology is still our primary focus. Despite that, the last decade has seen significant growth and diversification with the addition of newer technologies to complement our core offerings including wearables, machine vision, even robotics.
Q: OK, so it sounds like there’s a lot more to Zebra than desktop printers. What else does Zebra have to offer in the print and labelling space?
RB: Zebra offers arguably the most comprehensive portfolio. If you’ve already read our cover article, then you’ll appreciate that we can provide a printer for just about every task and budget in three other key categories of print hardware.
Starting with industrial printers. These are the 24/7 workhorses, rugged in their design and created for the high-volume demands. The ZT600 series are the premium, feature-rich models, with the ZT400 series being the sweet spot balance of capability vs. budget. In the last year, we’ve refreshed our value-tier offerings and the ZT111 entry model and the ZT231 are proving to be very popular superstars with a lot of customers.
Within this category you’ll also find the 24/7/365 workhorses; our print engines. We have a superb network of over 300 print engine specialist partners across the EMEA region who depend on our ZE511 and ZE521 print engines as the beating heart of high-volume, fully automated print and apply solutions, that ensures your online purchases arrive at your front door.
The next category is mobile print, which does what it says on the tin; printers you take with you. With these devices you will find USB charging, for on-the-go and in-cab power up, Bluetooth and NFC connectivity, as well as Radio frequency identification (RFID), Linerless and Healthcare, and Rugged versions.
Finally, there are our card printers, that print everything from ID badges to loyalty and debit cards. There are also specialty ribbons that can be used for incorporating card security features, such as colour-shifting or 3D effects. RFID and smart card encoding are also available, which proved of specific interest through the pandemic when contactless access control became critically important.
Q: What solutions does Zebra provide beyond hardware?
RB: Beyond the hardware we have Zebra Certified Supplies, which enhances our labelling capability for our customers. Printing supplies can impact everything from printhead lifespan to operational efficiency. That’s why we design, produce and rigorously pre-test our own line of thermal printing supplies to ensure consistent, optimised performance in your Zebra printer – and peace of mind for you.
We have an expansive suite of supplies products that incorporate receipt papers, ribbons, tags, labels, RFID, wristbands and we have just launched a new category called Environmental Sensors, with temperature monitoring being the initial line of products. Our stocked offering of printing supplies now features over 650 SKUs, all ready to order off the shelf, with a minimum order quantity of just one box. That’s a killer USP.
As proud as we are of our hardware legacy, we also recognise the benefits of enabling our partners and customers with software solutions that add value. It’s hard to believe, but Link-OS and Print DNA are celebrating 10 years since they were introduced to the Zebra portfolio. Link-OS is our one-of-a-kind printer operating system, providing a common platform for our Print DNA ecosystem of dedicated print applications to run.
Applications such as PrintSecure, which empower customers to easily configure their printers to use secure connections, block unwanted access and ensure their data and infrastructure are protected. Printer Emulations, on-printer apps that allow Print DNA capable printers to use a variety of printer command languages, enabling a seamless drop-in of new, smarter Zebra printers to mixed fleets. Or Printer Profile Manager Enterprise, our full featured remote printer management solution.
These applications and many others have all supported our transition towards becoming a solution provider, aligning with the direction of Zebra over the past decade.
Q: How has Zebra made that transition to a solution provider?
RB: Ever since our acquisition of the Motorola Solutions Enterprise business in 2014, we have continued to develop and evolve into a solutions provider. Today we are recognised as an industry leader in enterprise mobile computing, barcode scanning, specialty printing, RFID readers and RFID printing, workforce management and indoor location services.
Part of that transition has been aided by an active programme of acquisitions and alliances. Since Motorola, we’ve continued to strategically enhance our capability and offerings. For example, we expanded our rugged tablets provision with the acquisition of Xplore in 2018. Retail is one of our core verticals that we serve and the addition of Reflexis Systems in 2020 has accelerated our value to that sector, with intelligent workforce management and execution solutions. Our acquisition of Temptime and their expertise in time-temperature monitoring solutions has laid the foundations for our new Environmental Sensors division. And, of course, Fetch Robotics in 2021 and Matrox Imaging in 2022 are the drivers behind our diversification into the autonomous mobile robots (AMR) sector and Machine Vision.
As much as I would like to pat ourselves on the back, we’ve not achieved this development and growth in isolation. I referenced alliances as well as acquisitions being part of the strategy, and perhaps the biggest alliance has been from our channel.
Q: How important is the channel for Zebra Technologies?
Jack Byrne, EMEA senior channel marketing manager (JB): Our channel is at the heart of our business. We are a channel centric company, with over 10,000 channel partners serving more than 190 countries worldwide. Zebra’s success is in partnership with many of our fantastic partners who serve our customers supplying end-to-end solutions across all our portfolio. PartnerConnect, which is seven years old this month, is recognised as an industry-leading partner program.
Q: What exactly is PartnerConnect?
JB: When you join PartnerConnect as a reseller, you’re able to bring your customers the industry’s widest portfolio of products dedicated to enhanced productivity, optimised operations and empowered workers. At the same time, you gain access to new resources that help you build a stronger pipeline and close more deals. You establish credibility that helps you get in the door, and you have new ways to build your team’s technical expertise, so you can support customers effectively pre- and post-sale.
Zebra rewards your investment in expertise with unique programme specialisations focused on key technologies, services and vertical markets. You’ll gain access to additional benefits like bigger discounts, rebates, a customisable partner logo and more.
Q: How has Zebra business been through the last few years, with the pandemic?
RB: Prior to 2020, we had significant strength and stability. Being in such a good position heading into that storm really helped us weather the problems tech providers who had the sucker punch that followed the pandemic with the chip shortages had to deal with.
As well as a great culture we have a very agile organisation at Zebra, both of which were pivotal to us being able to continue supporting our channel. Pre-pandemic we were very aligned and engaged with our channel, with lots of events and face-to-face networking activities. Our agility meant we were able to switch stance, to offer more webinars remotely, virtual events and Zoom meetings, all of which were invaluable in keeping our channel informed, educated and, in some instances, even entertained.
I think it worked. Our channel paid us back by delivering business through a difficult time – desktop print was certainly a highlight for us through the pandemic. A knock-on effect that we benefited from was with so many people furloughed or working from home, the reliance on the supply chain, online retail and logistics deliveries rapidly escalated. As everyone needed and wanted more “stuff” delivered to their front door, that all meant more boxes to ship and track. More boxes equal more labels, more labels equal more desktop printers and our channel was ready to oblige.
Q: So what’s next for Zebra?
RB: I think if I must sum up what’s next in one word, that would be maturity. The last 50 years or so has been a journey. I can just about remember the days before the barcode was a mainstay. Reaping the overtime that came with the evening and weekend stock-takes with pen and paper. How far we have grown in such a comparatively short space of time.
Yet we still see significant inefficiencies. We still see too many people using pen and paper, or redundant processes and equipment, where an investment in the right partner, the right tech, the right solution would swiftly return dividends.
We’ve seen and modelled this in our own Warehouse Vision Study when our insights showed that 71% of decision-makers are accelerating the timelines of their modernisation projects, or plan to within a year. And more recently with The Modern Store by Zebra framework for retail, which aims to deliver more engaged associates, optimised inventory, and an elevated customer experience as the core outcomes.
We’ve seen, lived and breathed this too within Zebra. From our own humble beginnings, leading the charge to digitise the tracking of asset and inventory, to the modern day, with our central EMEA distribution hub in Heerenveen. Across the whole site you will find examples of Zebra technology and solutions including wearable mobile computers, heads-up-display glasses, RFID printers, fixed industrial scanning all working together to deliver the most efficient process, orchestrated via the help of location and workforce management solutions.
It’s not just the technology, or the processes, or the data, insights and actions that are maturing. We’re finding the channel is maturing also. We see as much diversity in the complexity, capability, service and solutions offerings in our channel as we do in our own technology portfolio.
Q: How can I get involved?
JB: Customers’ expectation of a purchasing journey is changing, and we are seeing a trend of customers expecting to be able to purchase in different ways. As we look to develop our omnichannel experience, we are always keen to hear from different resellers and learn about different sales channels that exist. Reselling Zebra products and solutions offers you a great opportunity to be on board with our market-leading product and supplies portfolio and best-in-class services.
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