三星准备在企业级市场发起挑战

    过去一周对于三星公司（Samsung）而言并不太平。这家以电视机和平板电脑著称的韩国电子巨头于周一承认，上季度盈利预计将处于三年来最低水平。这家全球领先的智能手机制造商发现自己越来越陷入双线作战的泥潭——其利润丰厚的手机业务在高端市场上正在不断输给苹果公司（Apple）的 iPhone ，而在低端市场上则正被中国的一大批手机品牌攻城掠地。

    “我左边有小丑，右边有大小王，”该公司似乎在为自己的旗舰手机Galaxy S5 而唱，“我正被困在中间动弹不得。”

    路透社（Reuters）发表的一篇报道更加言之凿凿：“许多分析师和投资者都认为，三星旗下的手机业务部门已经告别了自己最美好的时光，就算Galaxy Note 4这样的新产品将会有助于推高该公司本季度的盈利，它也依然需要牺牲利润率，才能阻止价位更低的中国手机抢走更多的地盘。”

    随着手机市场的竞争在继续，三星试图发动另一场竞争。为了提振业绩增长态势，该公司把目光转向新的收入来源——也就是向企业提供服务。周二，该公司的手机部门发布了一组企业服务，它认为这组服务将有助于吸引全球各地的财富1000强企业的注意。这套解决方案被称为“三星360企业服务”（Samsung 360 Services for Business），内容包括软件、 服务和技术支持，目标客户是那些想要对职场内部使用的移动设备加以管理的公司，旨在为他们提供一套一站式的服务。

    三星在很久以前就推出了主要面向企业级客户的多项服务，但一直缺乏一套统一的战略，对它来说，这一次的举动具有重要意义。今年1月份，该公司聘请曾任黑莓公司（BlackBerry）首席信息官的罗宾•比恩菲特来领导一支新组建的团队。“三星在已经在企业级业务市场上耕耘了15 年，”她告诉我说，“最近这四年多来，移动性在他们的产品组合中所占的分量实在已经变得越来越重。他们拥有大量的合作伙伴和相关能力，但他们真的还想与企业客户建立起一种更加密切的关系。”

    比恩菲特说，大多数的企业都正处于“转型的拐点”上。他们知道他们需要技术来帮助自己迈入未来；他们只是不知道该从何处着手或者如何加以管理。

    很长时间以来，黑莓（公司原名为Research In Motion）及其超安全的服务一直是应对这项问题的解决办法。但该公司本身管理不善，导致无法充分借力于这一趋势。在现代智能手机的崛起过程中，三星曾经是早期获益者中的一员；该公司的电子产品在日常生活和职场中均随处可见，因而希望进一步与那些大型机构建立起一种更加正式的关系。

    当然，其他公司也有同样企图。今年7月份，IBM宣布与苹果公司建立合作关系（在许多业内资深人士看来，这项合作关系已经“完全封冻”）。这表明，总部位于美国加州库比蒂诺的苹果也有兴趣培养类似关系（尽管它缺乏服务企业级客户的经验），而总部位于纽约州阿蒙克的IBM则证实，自己不会从事制造消费电子类产品件的业务。在那之后，黑莓首席执行官（CEO）程守宗也已承认，他掌管的这间如今已规模不再的公司正在出于同样的目的寻求合作伙伴。微软（Microsoft）CEO 萨蒂亚•纳德拉也已明确表明，他也在热切锁定同样的目标客户。今年1月份的一次季度财报电话会议上，谷歌（Google）首席财务官（CFO）帕特里克•皮切特也将公司的企业级业务部门称作是战略性的增长机遇。

    换句话说，企业级市场上的这场竞争才刚刚开始。

    三星将在“2015年初”推出这项360企业服务，第一站先定在了美国。该公司计划将此项服务迅速扩展到欧洲和亚洲地区。在那之前，三星将与金融服务机构、 医疗保健机构以及政府机构开展一个试点项目，该项目将一直持续到今年年底。比恩菲特说：三星在谈判桌上拥有三大优势： 第一，三星的品牌口碑；第二，跨平台的合作方式 ；第三，包圆式解决方案的承诺——不需要客户签署额外的合同。

    “我们并不想靠自己来提供所有的这些服务，”比恩菲特说，“但我们希望客户的直接对接对象是我们。”（财富中文网）

    It has been a rough week for Samsung. The South Korean electronics giant, known for its televisions and tablet computers, acknowledged Monday that it expects its quarterly profits to be its lowest in three years. The world’s leading smartphone maker finds itself increasingly weighed down by a dual-front war in which its lucrative phones are losing ground to Apple’s iPhone at the high end of the market and an array of Chinese models at the low end.

    “Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right,” the company seems to be singing to its flagship Galaxy S5 phone. “Here I am, stuck in the middle with you.”

    A Reuters report is more damning: “Many analysts and investors believe the best days are behind Samsung’s mobile division as it will need to sacrifice margins to keep cheaper Chinese handsets grabbing more of its turf, even though new products like the Galaxy Note 4 will help nudge profits higher in the current quarter.”

    As that war wages on, Samsung seeks to start another as it looks to new revenue streams for growth—namely, by serving large businesses. On Tuesday, the company’s mobile division introduced a portfolio of business services that it believes will help it appeal to Fortune 1000 companies across the globe. The package, called Samsung 360 Services for Business, includes software, services, and technical support. It’s intended to be a one-stop shop for businesses that seek to manage mobile devices in the workplace.

    For Samsung, which has long had enterprise-focused services but lacked a cohesive strategy, the effort is significant. In January, it hired Robin Bienfait, the former chief information officer of BlackBerry, to lead a newly formed team. “Samsung has been in the enterprise business for well over 15 years,” she told me. “In the past four-plus years, mobility as part of their portfolio has really gotten bigger and bigger. They’ve got a lot of partners and capability, but they really wanted a closer relationship with the enterprise customer.”

    Most businesses are at an “inflection point of transformation,” Bienfait said. They know they need technology to move into the future; they just don’t know where to begin or how to manage it.

    For a long time, BlackBerry BBRY -3.15% —the former Research In Motion—and its ultra-secure services were the answer to this. But the company’s own mismanagement left it unable to capitalize on the trend. Samsung was one of the early winners in the rise of the modern smartphone; now that its devices are ubiquitous at home and in the office, it hopes to develop a more formal relationship with large organizations.

    Of course, so do other companies. IBM’s IBM -1.76% announcement of a partnership with Apple AAPL -0.87% —for many industry veterans, hell frozen over—in July signaled Cupertino’s interest in fostering a similar relationship (despite a lack of enterprise experience) and Armonk’s affirmation that it’s not in the business of making consumer hardware. BlackBerry CEO John Chen has since acknowledged that his now-small company was in search of partnerships for the same purpose. Microsoft MSFT -1.22% CEO Satya Nadella has been unequivocal in his embrace of the same target customer. On a quarterly earnings call in January, Google GOOG -2.36% CFO Patrick Pichette called its Enterprise group a strategic growth opportunity.

    In other words, the war has only just begun.

    Samsung will launch its 360 Services in “early 2015,” starting in the U.S. It plans to expand to Europe and Asia in short order. Until then, it will be engaged in a pilot program with financial services, health care, and government organizations that will last through the end of the year. Bienfait said the company comes to the negotiating table with three assets: first, the Samsung brand reputation; second, a cross-platform approach; and third, a promise to be entirely turnkey—no extra contracts necessary.

    “We don’t want to do all this ourselves,” Bienfait said, “but we want to be the hand to shake.”