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Sharp cuts ribbon on European services operation
Supplier builds on recent acquisitions to develop its own focused unit dedicated to growing services revenues
Sharp Europe has built on its recent acquisitions of channel service specialists with the launch of its own European division meeting those market needs.
The firm picked up Swiss IT services player ITpoint last week, which followed on from the move for Complete IT in August 2019.
Sharp has made no secret of its plans to add more services muscle to the business as it looks to ensure it has more margin opportunities beyond its traditional hardware customer base. After Complete IT was bought, the focus was on integrating the services offerings that came from that deal and working out what the joint proposition to customers would look like.
The plan was to then ramp up its services push and get Sharp in front of customers discussing what the firm could now offer. That was slightly delayed by the coronavirus, and with the addition of ITpoint the ambition has also grown to cover Europe.
Complete IT portfolio has been offering managed print services, audio visual, voice over Internet Protocol, enterprise resource planning and 24/7 IT support. The Swiss firm has a strong background in delivering managed services for the workplace and along with Complete IT forms the basis of Sharp’s European IT services division.
That division will be run by the founder of Complete IT, Colin Blumenthal, who is moving into the role of vice-president for IT services Europe.
“This is an important strategic milestone which will transform Sharp’s business in Europe, and enable us to continue to invest and focus on growing a service portfolio that adapts to the changing needs of our current and future customers,” he said. “Further expanding this new division of our business is a strategic priority, and we are excited to bring these new offerings and add value to our customer base across Europe.”
IT service helpdesk
As well as the expertise contained in the staff at Complete IT and ITpoint, the vendor has also established a pan-European IT service helpdesk in Warsaw. That will provide 24/7 support and cover a range of customer needs, including security updates and minor fixes.
Speaking to MicroScope back in December, Stuart Sykes, managing director of SBSUK, said developing the services side of the business was going to be one of the priorities for 2021.
“We realised from about three years ago that the world was changing, and that it was going to impact Sharp itself, as well as its own customers, channel, and its channel’s customers,” he said.
