October 4, 2024 • 20 mins
Retailers and customers are spoiled for choice when it comes to customer experience. The tricky part comes when deciding what options make the most sense, as well as when and where they best fit.Devaughn Bittle, Patrick Cash, and Kevin Fraser chat with Eric Hilton, regional portfolio manager—North America at Zebra Technologies, about:
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- What it means to build the modern store
- The three pillars of building a positive customer experience
- The importance of recognizing the nuances of positive customer experiences
To join the discussion, follow us on Twitter @IngramMicroUSA #B2BTechTalk
Listen to this episode and more like it by subscribing to B2B Tech Talk on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Spreaker.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
You're listening to B to B Tech Talk with Ingram Micro,
a place to learn about how to grow your business
and stay ahead of the technological advances before they become mainstream.
Welcome to our series, As the Gears Turn, hosted by
two of Ingram Micro's SMB Alliance Council members, Devin Biddle
and Patrick Cash.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Kevin, Devin, it's great to see you guys, as always,
really looking forward today's conversation. We're going to be joined
by Eric Helton. He's the regional portfolio manager for Zebra. Eric,
thanks for jumping on with us today for a few minutes.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Thanks for having me. I love the opportunity to be here.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Awesome. So, Eric, we're going to get into introducing yourself
a little bit more here, but I'd like to give
our listeners a little bit more background in the industry
and how you came to be at Zebra.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Yeah, absolutely appreciate that. Yeah. So I'm a regional portfolio
manager and that's a shortened version of a longer title. Well,
basically it all spells out device strategy here at Zebra
as it relates to our North American customers. Specifically, I
get to look after our portfolio of mobile computers and tablets,
(01:12):
basically anything that runs an operating system. Here at Zebra,
I get to collect all the voice of customer. When
our customers and our partners and our distributors and our
independent software vendors and independent hardware vendors, when they say,
you know, I love this device and I hope the
next generation has blank featured, that's when I start taking notes.
(01:33):
Very cool.
Speaker 5 (01:34):
So let's springboard off that. Talk to us a little
bit about Zebra. What is Zebra known for?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Yeah, so Zebra Technologies significant lineage over fifty years of
technology innovation focused on enterprise customers. We've always been focused
on the enterprise. Zebra historically started as a printing company
and developed and that's what most customers know us for
is thermoprint label printing and solutions around around that portfolio.
(02:05):
But then in twenty fifteen there was a pretty big
acquisition with Motorola Solutions. So the legacy symbol Technologies was
acquired by Motorola. Motorola Solutions spun that off and that
was acquired by Zebra, and so that really brought the portfolio.
I look after barcode scanners, mobile computers. That really brought
(02:28):
that portfolio, together with the Legacy printing portfolio, really helped
us to deliver a more cohesive strategy and a more
solutions to those same customers that we were already experiencing
and already supporting in every vertical that you can imagine,
whether it's in the warehouse, whether that's TNL, whether it's retail,
(02:49):
for staff communication or for task or anything like that.
And then we've continued to grow and expand and acquire
along the way, adding more enterprise grade solutions to our portfolio.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
So I know we're going to dig a little bit
deeper in a few minutes, but let's talk about the
retail space for a few minutes. Given Zebra's presence in
that segment. What market trends are you guys seeing and
what areas are you expecting focus to come on in
the coming years.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Yeah, retail's grown significantly and adapted significantly, as you can imagine,
even pre pandemic. But then during the pandemic, I think
the retail experience that we all have as consumers changed
significantly even compared to five years ago. And so customer
experience is always key. It's always critical all of us
(03:42):
as consumers. We want what we want, when we want it,
how we want it, and whether or not we want
to interact with someone while we're in a store, or
if we just want to walk in or pull up
to the curve and have somebody bring out our goods
and our items that we purchase them in the car,
and so from a buy online, pick up and store,
(04:03):
or pick up at curb. So Zebra's developed through some
of those conversations with our customers and through our industry
experts and industry trends. We've monitored all of those trends
and captured all that feedback and we really built out
what we call the modern store, and it's our framework
and our vision for how retailers can solve their most
(04:24):
pressing challenges. It's how do I elevate that customer experience.
How do I optimize inventory so that I know what
I have, so that a customer who's about to come
to the store, when they get there, they already know
that they got what I need, that that store has
what I need, and that I'm ready to go and
go get it and purchase it and leave. Because a
(04:45):
positive customer experience creates a repeat customer and then always
connecting more frontline workers, connecting more associates and engaging with
them so that we can deliver the next best task
to that associate so that then they can ultimately do
their job most efficiently and most effectively.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
So, Eric, if we could delve a little deeper into
the modern store initiative, you know, tell us how that works,
how you guys build that out for customers, for retail
customers specifically, and then how do we as solutions providers,
how can we work with Zebra to kind of build
that in.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Yeah, that's a great question. It's actually three separate pillars
within that experience. So within that moderate that framework, so
elevating customer experience and what does that mean to a retailer?
And then ultimately how does what are the use cases
that flow into elevating a customer experience? And how do
(05:44):
we engage and how do we optimize that user that persona,
How do we optimize that persona so that ultimately they're
helping to deliver the goal of that pillar. So the
three pillars are elevated customer experience, optimised inventory, and engaged associates.
And there are different aspects that come into that, but
(06:05):
each of those are sub items have sub items underneath
them that flow into what does it mean to have
engaged associates? How does that work? What are the solutions
required for that associate to receive real time task alerts
even more expedited tests. You know, I see the board
in the back room, and I've got my task list,
(06:28):
but five minutes later, something else in the environment is
going to change and there might be a next best task.
And so therefore, now we're giving that real time information
to the end users, to the associates so that they
can go do that task and complete it. So that
ultimately we're constantly delivering the best experience, and from an
(06:49):
engagement perspective, we're always interacting with those those associates. That's fascinating.
Speaker 5 (06:55):
So maybe some of those partners that don't currently transact
in that space today we'll talk a minute to time.
I get started with Zebra in general, But do you
guys have proofs of concept design centers? If we want
to bring a perspective customer in I'm assuming Zerra we
can line up an engagement call and talk about that.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Yeah, absolutely so. Zebra has a couple of experience centers,
is what we call them. They are based in our
headquarters in Lincolnshire, Illinois. We've also got one in Holtsville,
New York, out on Long Island, which is where we
a lot of our engineering has done. We've also got
one in Maryland, and then we've got one that we're
building out in Austin. We recently moved that office, so
we're going to be building that one out too. And
(07:32):
what that allows us to do as our customers get
that immersive experience. It's not just come in and look
at slides, Thank goodness, we're not. When I hold a
device in my hands and when I take a look
at at what i'm what it's capable of, if for
picture says a thousand words, gosh, holding a device you
must tell a million, and being able to experience that.
So we've got pre built demonstrations for each of the
(07:55):
verticals that we serve showcased in those experience centers, and
what we're able to do is now bring customers in
and they can almost feel a day in the life
of what their associates might see and feel and how
it's going to act and how it's going to work.
More often than not, we see customers bringing in not
just their executives but they'll bring in some super users,
(08:18):
so they'll bring in some of their most vocal end
users to experience what's capable and then ultimately bring that
back and bring that feedback in because those users know
the workflow better than anybody. So those experience centers are there.
We're always welcoming partners in to talk about how to
better do business with Zebra together and then also welcoming
(08:38):
end users in too. And it's a great opportunity to
want experience what's available today and then talk about the future.
Talk about where they see us, you know, where we
see ourselves going, where we see the industry is going,
what challenges our customers are facing, what business outcomes they're
looking for, and how we can all go deliver those
(08:59):
solutions and deliver those business outcomes together.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
Tell you what, Eric, could you walk us through what
one of the experiences might look like at the experience center,
like maybe a vertical or something along those lines, and
what that might look like. You know, pick something that's
just really interesting and none of us are probably thinking about.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Yeah, absolutely, so a great example. In retail, let's use
this example. Ticket switching and shrink is a huge issue
in the retail industry of customers that go in grab
a different product, but maybe grab the barcode from this product,
and now they go and they transact, but they might
(09:37):
walk out with one hundred dollars item but only pay
for a ten dollars item, and so that becomes a
significant impact to their bottom line because they're ultimately losing
significant amount of revenue out the door. So we've developed
a couple of solutions around that that actually use vision
(09:57):
and use cameras to confirm that what I've seen scan,
actually the barcode matches the product that was actually just scan.
And what you can do in our experience center is
you can, actually we've got demonstration here, grab this product,
scan it in the store. That's the wrong one. You
grab the wrong product, flash up a red light. Possibly
(10:20):
not malicious. So let's just pop up a red light
that says, hey, this is socialist. Customer needs help, Bring
an associate over to help them out, and then you
can diagnose from there what happened. But it's those types
of things that when you see it in action, when
you see it actually happening, it becomes relatively significant from
an effectiveness perspective.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
That's fascinating. I would have never thought of that.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Yeah, there was actually a story I think it was
from back to like twenty thirteen there was a guy
printing his own labels and going into like Target and
doing legos and so I mean, you know, like a
five hundred dollars lego set and he's checking out for
you know, thirty bucks a pop.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
And I think you spend a few months in jail
for that. Apparently it's still a thing. It's and actually,
you know, as we talk.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
About the the advancement of the technology, and you know,
whether it's cameras or you know, doing different things, clearly
as the technology advances, just like in any any industry,
you know, the people that are trying to do the
bad actors are trying to advance as well, and so
you really have to take both sides into account.
Speaker 5 (11:27):
Sounds like a nice success story for AI too.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Yeah. Absolutely, I think I think AI is going to
be uh. I think it's going to flip everything on
its head in terms of what the capabilities are when
we fully understand the abilities and the capacity that AI
has the ability to deliver, I think it's going to
be pretty impactful as it relates to largely you know,
learning models and things like that and how we interact
with technology. I think there's some pretty pretty significant opportunities here.
Speaker 5 (11:54):
Yeah, I know our retail customers have a big push
into data analytics as well, so I'm sure should be
a nice compliment.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Are you guys going to be at one this year?
Speaker 5 (12:03):
Usually have something in the solution extpot right, I believe so, yeah,
So for those USHO are going to have to keep
an eye out.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
And yep, take a tour. Yeah. Yeah, you'll see at
various trade shows that we support, obviously talking retail. NRF
is the biggest retail trade show, so we'll definitely be there.
We've got one of the biggest boosts right when you
walk into NRF, and we're pretty honored and thrilled to
continue that tradition. You're going to see all kinds of
(12:30):
cool stuff, whether it's our new interactive kiosks so that
our customers can interact with a display so that they
don't have to necessarily interact with a person. I think
that that customer experience aspect is one that's really unique
in that you and I each may have a different
view of what a positive customer experience is. Some people
(12:54):
want to interact with an associate. Others want to go in,
do what they need to do and get out. And furthermore,
today I might want to interact one way, but tomorrow
I might be in a different mood, or I might
be whatever I want to interact differently, and all of
those things come into play. What we're seeing is retailers
are trying to offer and retailers are needing to offer
(13:17):
all potential solutions, whether it's buy online, pickup in store,
or pick up at the curb. But then they need
to also be able to support let's say payment at
that solution. So when they go out to the car
they drop off the goods, Well, what if the credit
card was declined when they ordered it online? I need
to now take payment out in the parking lot at
(13:40):
the curb, and now I need to be able to
enable that payment solution right there on the device. So
it's all of those things that come into play. There's
more tools in the toolbox than we've ever had in
regard to delivering the right solution and the right business outcome.
And we don't do it alone. We do it. You know,
we're part of that tool that toolbox, we're part of
(14:01):
those solutions, but ultimately we rely really heavily on our
transacting partners, our great distributors, and our non transactional independent
hardware and independent software vendors, so that ultimately we can
all go to a customer together and deliver that solution
to the customer and showcase those capabilities. Yeah, that's great.
(14:22):
I mean, especially as partners too.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
We also like to not go to loan, So it's
always nice to hear that we've got partners like Zebra
on our side.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Here.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
For those of us that aren't currently selling Zebra, what's
the best way to get started? How do we begin?
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Yeah, no matter what, You've got a channel account manager
here in North America, because ultimately we've got territory account
managers that cover our customers. We've got channel account managers.
We've got a whole group that is just focused on
bringing in new channel partners through our Partner Connect program.
There's plenty of language out on our websites that are
available around what it takes to get into our Partner
(14:55):
Connect program, what the benefits of that program are, and
ultimately offering support once you get into the Partner Connect program.
There's dedicated resources that are focused on ensuring that you're
going to be successful, that you're going to be interacting
with us, and we're going to be bringing in the
right resources to help drive that joint success that go
(15:17):
to market success together. And then ultimately you're going to
immediately start interfacing with the Zebras that might be helping
to manage the accounts that you're already in or that
you're working with those there's dedicated sales teams for every
single customer in North America, and therefore, ultimately we've got
capabilities to bring in the right resources. And then you know,
(15:40):
it really just kind of once you've got that platform,
it really starts to grow from there in terms of
what do you want to learn more about? Do we
want to go to those experience centers and understand where
Zebra's headed so that you can align the right resources
to align with our long term strategies.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
That's great, appreciate that. Did you refer to zeper employees'
ze us? Is that the term there's a.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Whole debate of what a group of Zebras is. Is
it a deal, is it a dazzle? Is it There's
all kinds of things out there, and what a herd
of Zebras is and it's so you'll hear a lot
of different terminologies as it relates to the group of Zebras.
But there's a bunch of us and we're all here,
We're all driving in the same direction. We've got a
(16:23):
great long term strategy developed by our executives and our
corporate strategy. I will tell you that our corporate strategy
is always driven by the industry trends and by what
our customers are telling us. So we're always focused on
understanding the personas that are holding our devices or using
our solutions, and then we're going to go develop the
(16:46):
solutions to help ensure that they are most effective, that
they are most connected, and that they have the best
of visibility to the assets at the edge of their workflow.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
Very good. So, Eric, let's go in to the wrap
up question that I have for you, sure, which you
probably have already anticipated. So where do you see technology
going in the next year.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
You know, there's a lot of buzz about AI right now,
there's a lot of people talking about AI right now.
I think we're going to recognize the benefits of AI,
but I don't think we're going to fully recognize that
in the next year, and so I think there's some
shorter term gains coming, some shorter term lower hanging fruit
is what some people may call it, that there's going
(17:28):
to be some opportunities for us to implement here. One
of those great solutions is what's called private five G
citizens band radio system CBRS. Most of our customers are
looking at the traditional Wi Fi network and the traditional
public cellular network. Well, CBRS it's right in between those two.
(17:48):
And I know that wasn't the scope or anything that
we chatted about today, but every single industry that we
serve has some potential benefits with implementing a new tie
type of infrastructure. And the reason why I bring it
up is it's low hanging fruit. It's not something that
Zebra has invested in from an infrastructure perspective, but if
(18:09):
you take a look at all of the devices that
are capable of supporting that type of network that's in
Zebra's portfolio, we've made pretty significant investments into that area
to ensure that we're ready because our customers are continuing
to ask us for that type of connectivity, and it's
one of those things where we're always going to be
focused on enterprise grade solutions, and part of that is
(18:32):
enterprise grade connectivity. And this is a technology that I
think has come on very very quickly and will continue
to see wide adoption because it enables so many other
workflows like buy online, pickup and store mobile payments, or
hospitality environments and being able to take payment in the
middle of a stadium. All of those things come into play.
(18:55):
So it influences every retail environment. And while it's a
small parts, it is still a critical part of delivering
that modern store framework that we've talked about.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
Probably best answer yet in my opinion, that was really good, Eric, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
I seriously, Yeah, really that was really good.
Speaker 5 (19:14):
Most thought provoking.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
That's got everybody going out and doing web searches.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Now what's DBRs?
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Yeah, So, Eric, thanks so much for taking a cumanus
to join us today. Obviously, I mean we've talked about
a lot in a very short period of time. You know,
where can people go to maybe find out a little
bit more either about you, connect with you, and connect
with Zebra. Yeah, so start with Zebra. Zebra dot com.
Zebra dot com.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Our marketing team does a phenomenal job making sure that
our solutions, which are incredibly broad because we serve so
many different markets, we serve so many different solutions to
those markets. Our product marketing teams and our portfolio marketing
teams do a great job of outlining it on our website,
So I'd start there, and then ultimately, as you start
to learn more, I reach out to the partner community.
(20:04):
I'd reach out if you're an end user, if you're
a partner, reach out to your great Zebra Channel account managers.
They are absolutely going to be ready to ready and
willing to support a stronger partnership moving forward. We're always
focused on being that trusted advisor and we mean that very,
very sincerely and very seriously. We take those words very seriously.
(20:24):
So ultimately we're here to support however we can.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
Thank you, Eric, I think this was very insightful. Good
and to our listeners, thanks for tuning in to another
episode of B to B Tech Talks As the Gears
Turn edition. You can access this episode and many others
directly from the Vantage website.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
You've been listening to As the Gears Turn, a series
brought to you by B to B Tech Talk with
Ingram Micro. This episode was sponsored by Ingram Micro's SMB Alliance.
To listen to this episode and many others, please visit
ingrammicro dot com
You're listening to B to B Tech Talk with Ingram Micro,
a place to learn about how to grow your business
and stay ahead of the technological advances before they become mainstream.
Welcome to our series, As the Gears Turn, hosted by
two of Ingram Micro's SMB Alliance Council members, Devin Biddle
and Patrick Cash.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Kevin, Devin, it's great to see you guys, as always,
really looking forward today's conversation. We're going to be joined
by Eric Helton. He's the regional portfolio manager for Zebra. Eric,
thanks for jumping on with us today for a few minutes.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Thanks for having me. I love the opportunity to be here.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Awesome. So, Eric, we're going to get into introducing yourself
a little bit more here, but I'd like to give
our listeners a little bit more background in the industry
and how you came to be at Zebra.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Yeah, absolutely appreciate that. Yeah. So I'm a regional portfolio
manager and that's a shortened version of a longer title. Well,
basically it all spells out device strategy here at Zebra
as it relates to our North American customers. Specifically, I
get to look after our portfolio of mobile computers and tablets,
(01:12):
basically anything that runs an operating system. Here at Zebra,
I get to collect all the voice of customer. When
our customers and our partners and our distributors and our
independent software vendors and independent hardware vendors, when they say,
you know, I love this device and I hope the
next generation has blank featured, that's when I start taking notes.
(01:33):
Very cool.
Speaker 5 (01:34):
So let's springboard off that. Talk to us a little
bit about Zebra. What is Zebra known for?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Yeah, so Zebra Technologies significant lineage over fifty years of
technology innovation focused on enterprise customers. We've always been focused
on the enterprise. Zebra historically started as a printing company
and developed and that's what most customers know us for
is thermoprint label printing and solutions around around that portfolio.
(02:05):
But then in twenty fifteen there was a pretty big
acquisition with Motorola Solutions. So the legacy symbol Technologies was
acquired by Motorola. Motorola Solutions spun that off and that
was acquired by Zebra, and so that really brought the portfolio.
I look after barcode scanners, mobile computers. That really brought
(02:28):
that portfolio, together with the Legacy printing portfolio, really helped
us to deliver a more cohesive strategy and a more
solutions to those same customers that we were already experiencing
and already supporting in every vertical that you can imagine,
whether it's in the warehouse, whether that's TNL, whether it's retail,
(02:49):
for staff communication or for task or anything like that.
And then we've continued to grow and expand and acquire
along the way, adding more enterprise grade solutions to our portfolio.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
So I know we're going to dig a little bit
deeper in a few minutes, but let's talk about the
retail space for a few minutes. Given Zebra's presence in
that segment. What market trends are you guys seeing and
what areas are you expecting focus to come on in
the coming years.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Yeah, retail's grown significantly and adapted significantly, as you can imagine,
even pre pandemic. But then during the pandemic, I think
the retail experience that we all have as consumers changed
significantly even compared to five years ago. And so customer
experience is always key. It's always critical all of us
(03:42):
as consumers. We want what we want, when we want it,
how we want it, and whether or not we want
to interact with someone while we're in a store, or
if we just want to walk in or pull up
to the curve and have somebody bring out our goods
and our items that we purchase them in the car,
and so from a buy online, pick up and store,
(04:03):
or pick up at curb. So Zebra's developed through some
of those conversations with our customers and through our industry
experts and industry trends. We've monitored all of those trends
and captured all that feedback and we really built out
what we call the modern store, and it's our framework
and our vision for how retailers can solve their most
(04:24):
pressing challenges. It's how do I elevate that customer experience.
How do I optimize inventory so that I know what
I have, so that a customer who's about to come
to the store, when they get there, they already know
that they got what I need, that that store has
what I need, and that I'm ready to go and
go get it and purchase it and leave. Because a
(04:45):
positive customer experience creates a repeat customer and then always
connecting more frontline workers, connecting more associates and engaging with
them so that we can deliver the next best task
to that associate so that then they can ultimately do
their job most efficiently and most effectively.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
So, Eric, if we could delve a little deeper into
the modern store initiative, you know, tell us how that works,
how you guys build that out for customers, for retail
customers specifically, and then how do we as solutions providers,
how can we work with Zebra to kind of build
that in.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Yeah, that's a great question. It's actually three separate pillars
within that experience. So within that moderate that framework, so
elevating customer experience and what does that mean to a retailer?
And then ultimately how does what are the use cases
that flow into elevating a customer experience? And how do
(05:44):
we engage and how do we optimize that user that persona,
How do we optimize that persona so that ultimately they're
helping to deliver the goal of that pillar. So the
three pillars are elevated customer experience, optimised inventory, and engaged associates.
And there are different aspects that come into that, but
(06:05):
each of those are sub items have sub items underneath
them that flow into what does it mean to have
engaged associates? How does that work? What are the solutions
required for that associate to receive real time task alerts
even more expedited tests. You know, I see the board
in the back room, and I've got my task list,
(06:28):
but five minutes later, something else in the environment is
going to change and there might be a next best task.
And so therefore, now we're giving that real time information
to the end users, to the associates so that they
can go do that task and complete it. So that
ultimately we're constantly delivering the best experience, and from an
(06:49):
engagement perspective, we're always interacting with those those associates. That's fascinating.
Speaker 5 (06:55):
So maybe some of those partners that don't currently transact
in that space today we'll talk a minute to time.
I get started with Zebra in general, But do you
guys have proofs of concept design centers? If we want
to bring a perspective customer in I'm assuming Zerra we
can line up an engagement call and talk about that.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Yeah, absolutely so. Zebra has a couple of experience centers,
is what we call them. They are based in our
headquarters in Lincolnshire, Illinois. We've also got one in Holtsville,
New York, out on Long Island, which is where we
a lot of our engineering has done. We've also got
one in Maryland, and then we've got one that we're
building out in Austin. We recently moved that office, so
we're going to be building that one out too. And
(07:32):
what that allows us to do as our customers get
that immersive experience. It's not just come in and look
at slides, Thank goodness, we're not. When I hold a
device in my hands and when I take a look
at at what i'm what it's capable of, if for
picture says a thousand words, gosh, holding a device you
must tell a million, and being able to experience that.
So we've got pre built demonstrations for each of the
(07:55):
verticals that we serve showcased in those experience centers, and
what we're able to do is now bring customers in
and they can almost feel a day in the life
of what their associates might see and feel and how
it's going to act and how it's going to work.
More often than not, we see customers bringing in not
just their executives but they'll bring in some super users,
(08:18):
so they'll bring in some of their most vocal end
users to experience what's capable and then ultimately bring that
back and bring that feedback in because those users know
the workflow better than anybody. So those experience centers are there.
We're always welcoming partners in to talk about how to
better do business with Zebra together and then also welcoming
(08:38):
end users in too. And it's a great opportunity to
want experience what's available today and then talk about the future.
Talk about where they see us, you know, where we
see ourselves going, where we see the industry is going,
what challenges our customers are facing, what business outcomes they're
looking for, and how we can all go deliver those
(08:59):
solutions and deliver those business outcomes together.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
Tell you what, Eric, could you walk us through what
one of the experiences might look like at the experience center,
like maybe a vertical or something along those lines, and
what that might look like. You know, pick something that's
just really interesting and none of us are probably thinking about.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Yeah, absolutely, so a great example. In retail, let's use
this example. Ticket switching and shrink is a huge issue
in the retail industry of customers that go in grab
a different product, but maybe grab the barcode from this product,
and now they go and they transact, but they might
(09:37):
walk out with one hundred dollars item but only pay
for a ten dollars item, and so that becomes a
significant impact to their bottom line because they're ultimately losing
significant amount of revenue out the door. So we've developed
a couple of solutions around that that actually use vision
(09:57):
and use cameras to confirm that what I've seen scan,
actually the barcode matches the product that was actually just scan.
And what you can do in our experience center is
you can, actually we've got demonstration here, grab this product,
scan it in the store. That's the wrong one. You
grab the wrong product, flash up a red light. Possibly
(10:20):
not malicious. So let's just pop up a red light
that says, hey, this is socialist. Customer needs help, Bring
an associate over to help them out, and then you
can diagnose from there what happened. But it's those types
of things that when you see it in action, when
you see it actually happening, it becomes relatively significant from
an effectiveness perspective.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
That's fascinating. I would have never thought of that.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Yeah, there was actually a story I think it was
from back to like twenty thirteen there was a guy
printing his own labels and going into like Target and
doing legos and so I mean, you know, like a
five hundred dollars lego set and he's checking out for
you know, thirty bucks a pop.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
And I think you spend a few months in jail
for that. Apparently it's still a thing. It's and actually,
you know, as we talk.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
About the the advancement of the technology, and you know,
whether it's cameras or you know, doing different things, clearly
as the technology advances, just like in any any industry,
you know, the people that are trying to do the
bad actors are trying to advance as well, and so
you really have to take both sides into account.
Speaker 5 (11:27):
Sounds like a nice success story for AI too.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Yeah. Absolutely, I think I think AI is going to
be uh. I think it's going to flip everything on
its head in terms of what the capabilities are when
we fully understand the abilities and the capacity that AI
has the ability to deliver, I think it's going to
be pretty impactful as it relates to largely you know,
learning models and things like that and how we interact
with technology. I think there's some pretty pretty significant opportunities here.
Speaker 5 (11:54):
Yeah, I know our retail customers have a big push
into data analytics as well, so I'm sure should be
a nice compliment.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Are you guys going to be at one this year?
Speaker 5 (12:03):
Usually have something in the solution extpot right, I believe so, yeah,
So for those USHO are going to have to keep
an eye out.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
And yep, take a tour. Yeah. Yeah, you'll see at
various trade shows that we support, obviously talking retail. NRF
is the biggest retail trade show, so we'll definitely be there.
We've got one of the biggest boosts right when you
walk into NRF, and we're pretty honored and thrilled to
continue that tradition. You're going to see all kinds of
(12:30):
cool stuff, whether it's our new interactive kiosks so that
our customers can interact with a display so that they
don't have to necessarily interact with a person. I think
that that customer experience aspect is one that's really unique
in that you and I each may have a different
view of what a positive customer experience is. Some people
(12:54):
want to interact with an associate. Others want to go in,
do what they need to do and get out. And furthermore,
today I might want to interact one way, but tomorrow
I might be in a different mood, or I might
be whatever I want to interact differently, and all of
those things come into play. What we're seeing is retailers
are trying to offer and retailers are needing to offer
(13:17):
all potential solutions, whether it's buy online, pickup in store,
or pick up at the curb. But then they need
to also be able to support let's say payment at
that solution. So when they go out to the car
they drop off the goods, Well, what if the credit
card was declined when they ordered it online? I need
to now take payment out in the parking lot at
(13:40):
the curb, and now I need to be able to
enable that payment solution right there on the device. So
it's all of those things that come into play. There's
more tools in the toolbox than we've ever had in
regard to delivering the right solution and the right business outcome.
And we don't do it alone. We do it. You know,
we're part of that tool that toolbox, we're part of
(14:01):
those solutions, but ultimately we rely really heavily on our
transacting partners, our great distributors, and our non transactional independent
hardware and independent software vendors, so that ultimately we can
all go to a customer together and deliver that solution
to the customer and showcase those capabilities. Yeah, that's great.
(14:22):
I mean, especially as partners too.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
We also like to not go to loan, So it's
always nice to hear that we've got partners like Zebra
on our side.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Here.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
For those of us that aren't currently selling Zebra, what's
the best way to get started? How do we begin?
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Yeah, no matter what, You've got a channel account manager
here in North America, because ultimately we've got territory account
managers that cover our customers. We've got channel account managers.
We've got a whole group that is just focused on
bringing in new channel partners through our Partner Connect program.
There's plenty of language out on our websites that are
available around what it takes to get into our Partner
(14:55):
Connect program, what the benefits of that program are, and
ultimately offering support once you get into the Partner Connect program.
There's dedicated resources that are focused on ensuring that you're
going to be successful, that you're going to be interacting
with us, and we're going to be bringing in the
right resources to help drive that joint success that go
(15:17):
to market success together. And then ultimately you're going to
immediately start interfacing with the Zebras that might be helping
to manage the accounts that you're already in or that
you're working with those there's dedicated sales teams for every
single customer in North America, and therefore, ultimately we've got
capabilities to bring in the right resources. And then you know,
(15:40):
it really just kind of once you've got that platform,
it really starts to grow from there in terms of
what do you want to learn more about? Do we
want to go to those experience centers and understand where
Zebra's headed so that you can align the right resources
to align with our long term strategies.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
That's great, appreciate that. Did you refer to zeper employees'
ze us? Is that the term there's a.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Whole debate of what a group of Zebras is. Is
it a deal, is it a dazzle? Is it There's
all kinds of things out there, and what a herd
of Zebras is and it's so you'll hear a lot
of different terminologies as it relates to the group of Zebras.
But there's a bunch of us and we're all here,
We're all driving in the same direction. We've got a
(16:23):
great long term strategy developed by our executives and our
corporate strategy. I will tell you that our corporate strategy
is always driven by the industry trends and by what
our customers are telling us. So we're always focused on
understanding the personas that are holding our devices or using
our solutions, and then we're going to go develop the
(16:46):
solutions to help ensure that they are most effective, that
they are most connected, and that they have the best
of visibility to the assets at the edge of their workflow.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
Very good. So, Eric, let's go in to the wrap
up question that I have for you, sure, which you
probably have already anticipated. So where do you see technology
going in the next year.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
You know, there's a lot of buzz about AI right now,
there's a lot of people talking about AI right now.
I think we're going to recognize the benefits of AI,
but I don't think we're going to fully recognize that
in the next year, and so I think there's some
shorter term gains coming, some shorter term lower hanging fruit
is what some people may call it, that there's going
(17:28):
to be some opportunities for us to implement here. One
of those great solutions is what's called private five G
citizens band radio system CBRS. Most of our customers are
looking at the traditional Wi Fi network and the traditional
public cellular network. Well, CBRS it's right in between those two.
(17:48):
And I know that wasn't the scope or anything that
we chatted about today, but every single industry that we
serve has some potential benefits with implementing a new tie
type of infrastructure. And the reason why I bring it
up is it's low hanging fruit. It's not something that
Zebra has invested in from an infrastructure perspective, but if
(18:09):
you take a look at all of the devices that
are capable of supporting that type of network that's in
Zebra's portfolio, we've made pretty significant investments into that area
to ensure that we're ready because our customers are continuing
to ask us for that type of connectivity, and it's
one of those things where we're always going to be
focused on enterprise grade solutions, and part of that is
(18:32):
enterprise grade connectivity. And this is a technology that I
think has come on very very quickly and will continue
to see wide adoption because it enables so many other
workflows like buy online, pickup and store mobile payments, or
hospitality environments and being able to take payment in the
middle of a stadium. All of those things come into play.
(18:55):
So it influences every retail environment. And while it's a
small parts, it is still a critical part of delivering
that modern store framework that we've talked about.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
Probably best answer yet in my opinion, that was really good, Eric, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
I seriously, Yeah, really that was really good.
Speaker 5 (19:14):
Most thought provoking.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
That's got everybody going out and doing web searches.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Now what's DBRs?
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Yeah, So, Eric, thanks so much for taking a cumanus
to join us today. Obviously, I mean we've talked about
a lot in a very short period of time. You know,
where can people go to maybe find out a little
bit more either about you, connect with you, and connect
with Zebra. Yeah, so start with Zebra. Zebra dot com.
Zebra dot com.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Our marketing team does a phenomenal job making sure that
our solutions, which are incredibly broad because we serve so
many different markets, we serve so many different solutions to
those markets. Our product marketing teams and our portfolio marketing
teams do a great job of outlining it on our website,
So I'd start there, and then ultimately, as you start
to learn more, I reach out to the partner community.
(20:04):
I'd reach out if you're an end user, if you're
a partner, reach out to your great Zebra Channel account managers.
They are absolutely going to be ready to ready and
willing to support a stronger partnership moving forward. We're always
focused on being that trusted advisor and we mean that very,
very sincerely and very seriously. We take those words very seriously.
(20:24):
So ultimately we're here to support however we can.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
Thank you, Eric, I think this was very insightful. Good
and to our listeners, thanks for tuning in to another
episode of B to B Tech Talks As the Gears
Turn edition. You can access this episode and many others
directly from the Vantage website.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
You've been listening to As the Gears Turn, a series
brought to you by B to B Tech Talk with
Ingram Micro. This episode was sponsored by Ingram Micro's SMB Alliance.
To listen to this episode and many others, please visit
ingrammicro dot com
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