Sharp Middle East, the fully owned regional subsidiary of Sharp Corporation Japan, has unveiled a strategy to grow its business solutions products segment by 20 per cent in 2010, and double its turnover in five years.

Fumio Yamaguchi, managing director of Sharp Middle East, outlined the growth strategy devised by the regional management team and expressed confidence that it was achievable despite current market sentiment at the recent annual Sharp Regional Solutions Summit in Dubai.

The summit brought together more than 150 regional partners representing over 80 Middle Eastern, African and CIS markets.

The world’s second largest manufacturer of multifunction printers (MFP) and copiers, Sharp has lined up seven new models for the Middle East market– five in mono and two in colour – to be launched during 2010.

Yamaguchi said that the challenges brought by recession put the regional management team into an engagement mode, working closely with Sharp’s regional partners.

“Capitalising on several challenges, the regional management team proved that dedication is the key to success,” said Yamaguchi.

“Converting every challenge into an opportunity, we managed to retain our market share in the region and also grow our business in key markets,” he added.

In 2009, to take advantage of the market scenario, Sharp introduced 10 new models from both the Mono and Color segments which proved to be the winning formula.

“Sharp’s full range of products not only won admiration in the market, but also bagged the prestigious BLI Line-up of the Year 2009 award, for the second time in the past three years,” Yamaguchi continued.

Yamaguchi said IT and office managers were today putting the focus on operational efficiency, opting for products that offered the highest performance quality while offering greater operational and energy efficiency, eventually aiming for economized running costs.

Ravinder Kumar, deputy general manager for Sharp’s business solutions division, said: “With more than four decades of excellence behind it, Sharp knows the pulse of the MFP industry.”

“The year ahead holds great potential and our strategy is to continue working closely with our partners to understand their respective market needs. In addition, we pay close attention to our customer’s needs and newer models have been developed to fit our market’s needs,” he added.

As rising operational costs are constantly driving office managers to focus on integration of technology into their enterprise resource planning, Sharp has launched an array of smart solutions that help integrate its printers into an organization’s operations and processes, thereby enhancing productivity and efficiency and resulting in substantial savings, a statement said.

“It is important for companies today to start thinking of total cost of ownership (TCO), so that they can ensure that the cost of owning and running a solution over its entire life-cycle is paid attention to,” said Bharat Bhusan Gupta, product and marketing manager for MFPs.

“Purchase price is no longer a critical factor, especially as companies are trying to manage leaner offices and reduce their carbon footprint. This puts us at an advantage because not only do we offer a great deal, but also a product that is renowned for its environmental friendliness,” added Gupta. – TradeArabia News Service