Manufacturer admits it “hasn’t been easiest to work with” but vows to increase focus on indirect
HTC has declared itself “open for business” in the B2B channel next year and has committed to increasing support and investment for partners to boost its presence and sales there.
That is the bold view from recently appointed HTC Europe president Greig Williams, who was speaking to attendees at Data Select’s Platinum Club conference earlier this month.
He has only been in the job for three months having joined from Microsoft in July but is already setting out a clear change in strategy by focusing more on the indirect and distribution channels after admitting previous failings here.
Williams admitted HTC hasn’t always been the easiest to work with but, with increased support and investment for the channel next year, senses a radical change in its fortunes.
Open for business
“We’re open for business and we will be bringing more focus and investment in order to grow the channel.
“The channels are something we absolutely need to get better at and we will have more focus towards partners like Data Select. We need to support our channel and invest properly.
“Years ago, we were at the forefront of Android but somehow we got too big and difficult to deal with. We want to ensure we’re easier to work with, particularly with our distribution channels.
“We need to get our products to them, no ruptures in the supply chain, supporting and passing through the right funds.
“When B2B opportunities arise, we need to be quick to react to them. We have three per cent share and need to gradually build that, so let’s blow the barn doors off and get to four per cent.”
All HTC smartphones will support Android For Work, which enables a number of features, such as setting up dedicated work profiles for business content and separating personal and private apps, while protecting devices with disk encryption, lockscreen and remote assertion services.
They will contain self-cleaning software ‘Boost +’ which stops caches and junk files from building up on the device’s memory to maximise performance.
Williams admitted HTC’s marketing activity needs to be stronger and more widespread, something the manufacturer has been criticised for over the past couple of years by dealers and analysts speaking to Mobile News.
Better promotion
“Promotion is something that we need to work on. We’re continuously told we have great products that offer great value but we need to tell people about it.
“By the start of 2017, we are absolutely set with where we need to invest, be able to promote our products and create more pull from the market.
“At the moment it’s more push, but we need to balance it more so there is more pull. We’re never going to be the cheapest, but we will offer the best value.”
