Lexmark Showcases Vertical Prowess

In the cutthroat world of selling printing and imaging solutions, Lexmark's competitive edge over key rival Hewlett-Packard is its heavy emphasis on developing solutions for vertical markets such as health care, education and finance. And while Lexmark has facilities across the country--and around the world--to demonstrate products and solutions, the company's ultimate showcase is at its headquarters in Lexington, Ky.

Last month, the editors of VARBusiness took a tour of Lexmark's Printing and Solutions Showcase (PASS), which opened in 2003. PASS is host to 60 vertical-industry solutions, such as a school to show a K-12 app, and the admissions area of a hospital, where everything from documents to patient ID bracelets are produced with a touch of a finger.

The level of detail at PASS centers is impressive. At each station, Lexmark accents the vertical theme with authentic goods and icons. For instance, the retail station has shirts, towels and household cleaning supplies on shelves. The education center has a chalkboard. And the pharmacy stations looks like any corner drug store.

While printers are obviously everywhere in the PASS centers, Lexmark's demonstration team rarely speak of them. Rather, they talk about total printing systems and document-management solutions.

"We want to show we are not just about speeds and feeds," says John Linton, vice president of Lexmark's solution-provider channel. "It's about the entire solution we can bring to a customer."

Truth be told, though, just about every vendor has facilities such as PASS to show off their wares. However, none offer the level of depth that a customer or partner can see in action that Lexmark has, says Gartner analyst Peter Grant, who has seen PASS on more than one occasion.

"I don't think the others are as detailed or as thorough, but they are 75 percent there," Grant says.

Lexmark officials say it conducted 200 briefings in PASS last year.

"It was a banner year for us," says Mark Dildilian, manager of Lexmark's executive briefing center. "It's a way to recruit these solution providers. Once they see it, they will use it to advertise the solutions they will bring to their end users."