Sustainable innovation provides IT solutions
Changing market trends see customers requiring more mobile options to fit their connected lifestyles
“SAMSUNG’s IT Solutions division, responsible for notebooks, monitors and printers, offers an IT ecosystem that is leagues ahead of competitors that only traditionally manufacture computers or printers,” says Mike van Lier, Divisional Head of IT Solutions at Samsung Electronics South Africa.
“Samsung is a global organisation and we have the benefit of incorporating global best practices in our local operations.”
Van Lier says he is confident that the division’s contribution to Group revenue will increase, with changing market trends seeing people requiring more mobile solutions to fit their connected lifestyles.
“The imminent release of Windows 8 in October is an exciting event for us and aligns to our strategy to provide a range of screen sizes, a choice of processors and a variety of form factors to address specific consumer requirements.”
Furthermore, the recent investment in a manufacturing facility in Midrand to focus on the monitor product category sees Samsung South Africa producing all computer monitors, 21 inches and above, locally.
Not only is this contributing to the growth of the brand in the country, but ensures that the latest range of computer monitors remains competitively priced, while still giving consumers the high quality assurance associated with the brand. This also sees Samsung creating much-needed jobs in the local marketplace.
From a market positioning perspective, the Samsung IT Solutions division is committed to meeting the rising consumer and business demand for energy efficient products and aligning to the overall businesses strategy of increasing sustainable business practices.
To this end, all its notebooks benefit from the Group’s green management strategy.
“In October last year, we became the first manufacturer to release a solar-powered netbook,” says Van Lier.
This netbook has built-in solar panels that provide an hour of battery life for each two hours of sunlight. It offers up to 14.5 hours on full charge thanks to massive improvements in notebook operational efficiencies and battery design.
“Additionally, we also rolled out the first Solar-Powered Internet School in South Africa at the end of last year. Solar panels installed on the roof of a shipping container can generate enough electricity to power and operate all the equipment inside the classroom for up to nine hours. More such containers are being taken across Africa to increase access to education among the less privileged areas on the continent.”
This means that pupils can focus on their studies without having to be concerned about electricity or internet connectivity. In keeping with its design philosophy of releasing products suited for South Africa and African conditions, the IT Solutions division also released the Classbook — a rugged notebook that features a battery life of up to 10 hours, which means it can last a whole day at school without the learner having to carry a charger. Monitors The division’s monitors also offer significant energy savings with the use of full LED technology, which is proven as far more energy efficient than the old-technology back-lit LEDs.
Energy efficiency is incorporated and extended into the design of other Samsung products including air conditioners, heat pumps, televisions with full LED screens and LED lighting to name a few.
Together with energy efficiency, Samsung Electronics is striving to boost design competitiveness, which is a critical factor in developing “soft” competitiveness in the 21st century.
“Samsung’s new Series 9 Monitor won an Innovation Award at CES 2012 in January. These monitors are the highestend premium monitor, both in picture quality and design, and we believe that it certainly is a market differentiator when it comes to the premium monitor space,” says Van Lier.
“This monitor meets the requirements of design professionals who need a high-end display solution.
“We recently launched an exciting model called the Series 9 monitor, which is individually colour-adjusted by an operator at the manufacturing plant,” says Van Lier. “This monitor meets the requirements of design professionals who need a high-end display solution.” Notebooks From a notebook perspective, Samsung notebooks achieve far longer battery life than most competitor products and the latest batteries retain about 80% of their original capacity for up to 1,500 charging cycles.
“Five years ago you could not rely on your laptop battery to function at full capacity beyond six months,” says Van Lier.
“But the improvements in battery technology mean that you are unlikely to replace a battery until you replace your Samsung notebook, in about three years’ time.”
Battery life is not the only area where Samsung excels. “We are driven at Samsung to be number one in every product sector we do business in,” he says.
The Group already dominates the LED screen market in South Africa with approximately 45% market share. “From an IT perspective, we currently hold 22% of the notebook value market share — according to research data published in the July 2012 report from GFK.” Business solutions While Samsung’s Koreanbased parent (Samsung Electronics Co Ltd) focuses on “green” manufacturing innovations to reduce its global carbon footprint, the local IT Solutions division is committed to make a contribution to sustainability through assisting large corporations with energy efficient solutions. In this way Samsung offers a range of energy efficient IT solutions and encourages organisations to think of their offices as an ecosystem that should be managed optimally in terms of energy.
Samsung offer an end-to-end office solution including: notebooks, monitors, printers, LED screens, LED lighting and digital air solutions. A combination of these products placed into a comprehensive office solution will increase optimal energy efficiency within the office environment.
“One example is that we drive down the cost of ownership, and limit the consumer’s impact on the environment by taking laser printers off everyone’s desk and using a central hub,” he says.
Innovative IT solutions assist large companies to meet their corporate social responsibility by minimising electricity usage and thereby their carbon emissions footprint.
Additional savings can be made by incorporating Samsung’s world-leading energy efficient products into the office design. Electricity usage is significantly reduced by using Samsung products, including air conditioners and heat pumps, monitors and televisions with full LED screens and LED lighting, to name a few.
Further to Samsung IT Solutions’ green stance, they are focused on educating consumers on the dangers of lower-priced products within the market and the inferior quality that these sometimes offer. Samsung is gaining brand loyalty through offering consumers a premium product at a reasonable price, epitomised by high quality.
“Through this we aim to remind consumers to choose products that are backed by strong reputable brands,” concludes Van Lier.