ORLANDO – With the recent appointment of a new country manager, handheld manufacturer Psion Teklogix is preparing to enhance its channel presence in Canada over the next year.
However, Canadian resellers were noticeably absent at this month’s second annual customer and partner conference here, which was attended by 122 customers and 52 U.S. partners.
As the company begins to build its VAR network in Canada, Psion Teklogix Americas president Rob Douglas admitted that the Canadian-based company hadn’t pushed itself nationally.
But, he added, “we are now applying ourselves.”
To lead the Canadian contingent, Douglas hired Bertrand Martelle who had been with competitor Intermec Technologies for 15 years, including the last five years as the company’s eastern Canadian sales manager.
“Bertrand is very channel savvy, it’s in his DNA,” said Douglas. “He knows the importance of the channel and I wanted someone who could help our channel partners be successful and understand their needs.”
One of Martelle’s key strategies since joining Psion last November has been to match U.S. partners with local resellers or integrators in cities like Toronto and Montreal.
“A lot of major Canadian software partners are going into the U.S.,” he said. “If you have a strong solution, the Canadian market isn’t big enough so they want to expand. At the same time, U.S. partners come into Canada but find it difficult to work locally.” So Martelle plays matchmaker.
He added that Psion is trying to work more with value-added resellers who will certify their products on the supply chain side in warehouse management software (WMS), quality assurance applications within manufacturing and maintenance applications.
“We have some emerging partners in RFID, because everyone’s trying to figure out how to attack that market,” said Martelle. “I think you will see some true value-add because RFID is not like barcode. You need specific engineering, and the complexity will add more value to integrators.”
Although the company is dedicated to building its channel in Canada, Douglas said there is no program focused solely on the region.
“We’ll take our Americas program (Ascent Plus) and apply it to Canadian partners, but the execution will occur through our Canadian employees,” he said.
Synnex Canada’s EMJ division distribute Psion’s products. Martelle said there are no plans to add to Synnex. “Sometimes having too many distributors can open the product to any type of reseller,” he said.
To be successful, he added, Psion VARs need to have software and customize the product. “That’s where the margin is improving. If a reseller just resells the box, its business model will fail.”
Montreal-based Serti Information Solutions, a Psion partner since 1996, uses the rugged 7535 hand-held mobile computer and the 8525-vehicle mount unit for its Dairy Management System (DMS), a WMS designed for the dairy industry.
“One hundred per cent of our installation in the DMS environment is done using Psion hardware,” Francis Gingras, DMS account executive at Serti, said in a phone interview after the conference.
DMS represents about 30 to 40 per cent of Serti’s annual revenue of $25 to $30 million.
As an IBM premier level business partner, Gingras is used to seeing companies with big channel engines.
“It’s more of a personal relationship with Psion Teklogix so we really appreciate our relationship with them,” he said. “They don’t have the big blue machine behind them like IBM, but they’re getting there. And every time we have a problem or need information, they’re always there for us.”
Since Serti adds the software layer to the hardware, Gingras said margins are pretty good compared to the IT business in general.
“We do more money with the RFID part of our business than with the IBM hardware part of our business,” he added.
Acquisition hunting
During his keynote address, Psion Teklogix CEO Alistair Crawford said the company is seeking appropriate acquisitions to further grow its business.
“We bought Symagery Microsystems (a Canadian company) last June to access the imaging technology, but it was a small purchase,” he said.
Currently, Psion is looking for potential acquisition candidates in the RFID space, Crawford added.
“I would like to expand our growth in the Americas with the right acquisitions, but we will grow it organically if we can’t find them,” he said.
“Shareholders are just as happy if we give them cash.”
