Lexmark expands third-party printer support for channel partners

Lexmark has expanded its cloud services platform for channel partners across Australia and New Zealand.

The platform expansion, called Fleet Agent, enables partners to monitor their customers' printers that have been manufactured by Lexmark and third parties.

Lexmark Australia and New Zealand sales general manager Stephen Dubois says, "We recognise that channel partners work with different brands. This software update is a practical response to this reality and a renewed commitment to empowering our channel partners to deliver the best value to their customers today.

Fleet Agent is a data collector that resides on customers' premises on a hosted computer.

Lexmark's Cloud Fleet Management portal gives channel partners access to a single view where they can monitor a multi-brand printer fleet.

The portal is specifically designed for channel partners so that they can deliver better support through an integrated cloud offering, and manage all of their customers' business activities across distributed environments.

Lexmark adds that the monitoring capability of the cloud-based software allows partners to replace onsite visits and redundant service calls with remote assistance leveraging insights on current supplies usage for printers of all brands and on the physical conditions of the printers, in the case of the sensor-equipped machines manufactured by Lexmark.

The cloud software also automatically displays daily page counts for billing without having to contact end-customers.

"Our new cloud capability takes away some of the time and cost burden that printer resellers have to take on when servicing customers with a fleet of machines of different brands. By having oversight of the entire fleet's toner and supplies usage, our channel partners can offer greater value and effectively become a 'one-stop' for customer service," concludes Dubois.

Lexmark's Fleet Agent is now available through the Cloud Services platform to all end-customers and to all channel partners certified by Lexmark Connect partner program at no extra cost.

Lexmark also recently announced an Australian partnership with Office Brands Group, which will resell Lexmark hardware, software, services, and supplies for the Lexmark GO printer range, and printers for SMBs.

"As part of this partnership, Office Brands members will also have access to Lexmark's full range of remote services, including Cloud Print Services and Managed Print Services for the channel. Increasingly, the 'Out of the Box' capability in the sale process is becoming important and working together with Office Brands will add to our efforts to help members to adapt to a changing market," says Dubois.

Products in the Lexmark GO range include the Colour A4 Single-function C3326dw, Mono A4 Single-function B2236dw, Colour A4 Multi-function MC3326adwe, and the Mono A4 Multi-function MB2236adwe.