It’s not often an athlete who’s career is cut short because of injury says he’s fortunate.
That’s how Jeff Volpe, the president of Viewsonic, feels about it. He was a hard-hitting safety for the Edmonton Eskimos back in 1986. He was also lightening fast. Volpe once returned a missed field goal 110 yards for touchdown against the B.C. Lions. After a neck injury Volpe was forced to leave professional football for all things high tech.
He got his start at Epson Canada but then moved to Viewsonic where he’s been ever since. Volpe left Canada for the America 11 years ago. Like many other Canadian IT executives the lure of winning in the biggest market in the world presented a great challenge to the young executive. Unlike others, Volpe has succeeded in “a country where they eat their young” as Jim Estill once said.
Volpe took on the role of president of Viewsonic in 2008 and steered the monitor maker through an enormous downturn in the economy. Volpe’s next move was to execute the company’s product portfolio expansion beyond monitors.
Volpe made some time for CDN to talk about Viewsonic’s product evolution and outline the company’s channel strategy for Canada and the U.S. The following is an edited transcript.
CDN: Why expand Viewsonic’s product portfolio beyond displays?
Jeff Volpe: We’ve run this company for 25 years around the idea of enhancing the computing experience visually, and CRTs to LCDs continue to be a part of the thought process. About 12 years ago we were involved with partners that supported us with firmware and WiFi concepts. We dabbled with the Pocket PC and the first Microsoft tablet in 2001. We made smart displays, wireless monitors and other displays used in home automation and security. We also learned a lot about market infrastructure, cloud and the new use models of computing. It’s not enough to have a device like an endpoint. It needs to be more of a mobile experience. Our past moves have come to fruition with the wireless technology infrastructure to build out a solution for mobility with the display, hence tablets and many other forms of thin clients. It was only natural for Viewsonic and our partners to bring more display solutions for customers under the brand promise of Viewsonic, which is quality, reliability and a good user experience. That was an obvious step. The world is changing and monitors are changing. Monitors are thinner, they use less power and people want bigger sizes. Three years ago we introduced a mainstream display that was 24-inches. We moved from a defensive strategy into a new plan to help channel partners with more SKUs for them to sell. We stick with our tradition to stay true to the fact we want to enhance the computing experience visually, while moving into digital signage, projectors, the ViewPad tablet and the cloud. They all have to engage with a display and that is part of our core competency.
CDN: For the ViewPad, do you have to wait for Windows 8 to really see the full potential of your product?
J.V.: Yes and no! Our Windows 7 device is robust but I do think with Windows 8 its going to provide more benefits; if it meets the promise that we see. Our (ViewPad) 10pi can accept Windows 8, so users can upgrade and work on Windows 8 tablet devices, and take the touch element of Windows 7 if desired. The Android version is also there, while we wait for the new OS.
CDN: Does Viewsonic have any plans for an ultrabook in the future?
J.V.: The ultrabooks have a sexy design and I compliment Intel for its efforts to create this package for people. For Viewsonic, ultrabooks are not our first interest. It does interest us as part of a connected computing solution with four screens. There will be many more ultrabook designs from Intel in the future and they may be in synergy with our direction in terms of an interactive display to connect people. We’re working with Intel closely to see how many of these designs could work for Viewsonic and our channel partners. So when those three dots are connected and it provides money making opportunities for the resellers we’ll be a part of that.
We may have to wait for the right design or wait for the ultrabook surge to settle down a little bit so that we can be in sync to what’s happening. There’s lots of interest in making it an addition to our mobile and wireless computing arm of Viewsonic.
CDN: Viewsonic has launched a new blog. Do you think it can be a way for you to reintroduce yourself to the Canadian channel and end users?
J.V.: We’re trying to find many vehicles that will allow us to seamlessly engage with partners and it closes the 3,000 mile difference. We’ll engage our Canadian infrastructure with blogs and social media activities. We plan to offer enhanced tools to better communicate with them directly on channel programs, new technology and how to be successful.
CDN: What’s your channel plan?
J.V.: I want to re-engage with the best partners and look for a way to show them the options that we have. Viewsonic is more than just monitors and projectors. We have a handle on who is up there and we want to be a strong partner to them. There are others that we haven’t seen as much. This will be our No. 1 goal; to re-establish the partner base who have been supporting us and help them grow with our diversification strategy, while engaging with other partners who have moved away from Viewsonic.
