GITEX 2012 INTERVIEWS ITU TELECOM World 2012 - Teletimes

The business, the operationsand IT will have to work togetherin bringing the hardware,the application and the underlyingservice, whether that isfixing products that break orthe airtime etc. into the handsof the user.Our business is B2B and ourbusiness is based on puttingthe right tool for the job intothe hands of the user and oneof the areas that we have to bevery careful of is putting thewrong tool into the hands ofthe user. And in the area of mobiletelephony in particular thetemptation to put the wrongdevice in the hands of the useris great because it looks likesuch a low cost option. But thetotal cost of ownership and thereturn on investment can bedestroyed by the wrong typeof device. So for example if yousee our device the CK3.TT - Could you elaborate moreon your business and the toolsthat you are providing?IS - Intermec is a global leaderin auto id. That is the identificationand data capture orproduce as it travels throughthe supply chain from point ofproduction be that a manufacturingplant or a farm all theway through the supply chaintill the point of consumption.Intermec is involved with thetracking and tracing of all that.Everything to do with the barcode and everything to do withdata capture. When you get onto an aeroplane, you boardingpass is being printed by anintermec printer, your bag tagwould be printed by our printerand as it travels through a logisticscenter, it will be trackedand traced all the way through.We are the only company inthe world that has the breathof portfolio from scanningtechnologies, rugged mobilecomputers and printing technologies.TT - What specifically are theproducts that you offer to theIT and telecom companies inthe region?IS - We represent a major newbusiness opportunity for theICT in the region. And thereason that we represent thisbig opportunity is that todaymost mainstream ICT resellersthink of mobility as lap tops orsmart-phones. And this is whatI call white collar mobility.Where we contribute is theblue collar mobility which is forthe general workforce. So thatrepresents a huge opportunityfor IT resellers because franklythere is not a lot of margin inmobile desktop computers orconnections. It is very difficultto wrap services and valuearound these.However our type of ICT is stillvery profit rich for resellers.It’s still very much solutionoriented. Our rugged mobilecomputing has to have an application.These are all differentand largely these are unique toeach customer’s business andrequire customization.TT - In your own personalopinion how would you makea comparison between thetablets and the rugged mobilephones?IS - Intermec has been aroundfor 46 years and have been oneof the founders of the barcodeindustry. We have moreintellectual property and morepatents and more expertise inbarcode and RFID technologythan any other company inthe world. So this isn’t a newbusiness area. But the questionwe get asked all the timeis whether smart-phone andtables represent a threat or anopportunity for us.We think that it is an opportunity.The reason for this is thatsmart devices represent anexpectation of much greatermobility by everybody. Theother thing that ICT especiallyis benefiting from is thatcustomers also expect rapidapplication development anddeployment. The introductionof these devices means that everyoneexpects more mobilityand faster app development.But that brings with it complexity-in terms of handling datatraffic, and security, asset management.If you’re deployingmobile devices, the breakagerate or the failure rate becomesvery important especially inharsh environments where youhave environmental extremes.In this case our technology isbuilt for the purpose- the righttool for the job.If you have the wrong tool forthe job, the issue is not howmuch it costs you to buy thedevice. The issue is how manydevices are out of service becausethey have to be repaired.That is the total cost of ownershipissue that customers arefacing.The smart-phone an opportunitybut what happens tocustomers is that after theyhave bought the device thatthey have bought the wrongdevice. You have not think notjust about the attractiveness ofthe tablet but also about how itis going to be used and in whatextremes of environmental anduser behaviours are going toaffect the total cost of ownership.TT - Can you tell us about yourgo-to-market strategy?IS - Our global model is partnerIntermec has been around for 46 years and have been one of the foundersof the barcode industry. We have more intellectual property and morepatents and more expertise in barcode and RFID technology than anyother company in the world.based. We do have a smallnumber of global accountswhich are large global customerswho in some geographieswe deal with directly. But inmost geographies we deal withthem indirectly.This is because even largecompanies do not have theexpertise necessary for thelocal markets. And this is the‘global’ ability- global capabilitywith local delivery. We dealwith a number of local partnersand we have a global partnerprogram that is consistentaround the world. More than80% of our business is transactedthough the channel and ourmodel is very dependent onskilled and capable partners.TT - Can you name some partners?IS - Mirnah Technology Systems,Danway, Data CaptureSystems, SOTI, Unlimited andSPAN Group.TT - Basically your equipmentis not going to end users but tocompanies?IS - We focus on four main de-34 November 2012www.teletimesinternational.com