Felipe Behar has been in the technology industry for over 20 years. He began his career at Sony, where he spent more than 12 years and held a managerial position. He then joined Google for 2 years, and continued on his way to HMD Nokia, a brand-licensed start-up for smartphones. He has been in Zebra for 3 years, with the role of Vice President of Sales and General Manager of Zebra Technologies for Northern Latin America (NOLA).
From his current position, the executive ensures that Zebra is present in all processes of the industry. “At Zebra we empower the core business of industries such as retail, manufacturing, logistics, government and health with different hardware and software solutions to improve processes and optimize the supply chain,” Behar said.
Zebra’s strength is the retail sector, for which they offer products for warehouses such as industrial label printers, product identification supplies, robust mobile devices, handhelds, and radio frequency identification technology (RFID), among others. Likewise, for the processes in sales floor, they offer various solutions, among which are mobile printers, bioptics for use in boxes, tablets and handheld scanners.
The interviewee also indicated that Zebra has incorporated different AI features into its solutions. “One product that I would like to highlight is the MP7000 Bioptic. Although it is not part of the core business of Zebra, it is a very important medal that we have in NOLA, because we are one of the regions of the world that, percentage, generates more revenue in this type of products. Today we are present in retailers of all sizes with these solutions,” he said.
“In today’s world, most operations work with barcodes, and Zebra is present everywhere and in all processes.”
The manufacturer’s offer covers different solutions for various problems, such as security in the retail sector. According to Zebra studies, 82% of decision makers see shoplifting as one of their main concerns. The brand’s scale scanners use AI to recognize both barcode through reading, and product images through a smart camera, to make sure the price matches what the customer is actually carrying.
Another important segment is manufacturing. “We have a new solution with which, on a beverage production line, for example, I can make sure that everyone has the right liquid level. As for the selection and organization of the products, suppose that on one side we have boxes with the product and on the other hand boxes marked with the destination store; the employee is scanned with one of our mobile devices and indicating where they took each product and to which box they moved it to keep track. Every time you receive a package at home, it will surely have a label printed on a Zebra printer,” Behar explained.
Regarding government, Zebra also has a leading role. In one Central American country, all the police made a renovation and in their cars have ultra-robust tablets of Zebra for the processes they carry out. In addition, traffic police from another Caribbean country have a combo of a handheld and a mobile printer from Zebra to do the entire fine process.
Generate value with the channel
Zebra manages its business in NOLA 100% through channels. The ecosystem of the company is very diverse, with partners who manage many small accounts and others who work focused on few large accounts. There are also differences in the business units that each partner handles.
“We have a channel program, I would say the most powerful in the industry and one of the most recognized globally, where partners register with us and, depending on the certifications and annual revenue they have, reach different levels, which generates benefits, discounts and more,” said the Vice President of Sales and General Manager of Zebra Technologies for Northern Latin America.
“Through our programs we support all our channels. When we go to an end user we make them understand that it is the partner that is generating value.”
Within the Zebra program, channels accumulate points by participating in different sales campaigns, which can then change for different benefits. They are also given training and certifications in company solutions, and marketing resources and actions for demand generation.
Much more than printers
When consulted about the company’s objectives, Felipe Behar said that one of Zebra’s main goals is to work to maintain its leadership in the region.
“Zebra never stays still. We start with printers only, but today our core business is definitely mobile computing, with handhelds, tablets, kiosks, scanners and more. We are buying many other companies.”
In addition to hardware, Zebra offers services, something that is increasingly in demand in the world of technology. There is also the software segment, where they offer time management and inventory solutions; it is a division that bought Zebra 3 years ago called Reflexis that presents a growth of almost 3 digits.
Finally, the company aims to work for expansion. “There’s our hardware portfolio of mobile computing, scanners, printers and supplies. But for the company, expansion is essential. We have the MP7000, a bioptic scanner where we have a medal. Then there are the tablets, which are robust and not consumer, but designed especially for logistics processes. The biggest deal we closed last year was for a chain of Central American restaurants, that all their orders are made through our tablets. And thirdly, there is radio frequency technology (RFID), with which we grew 66% in 2023 and this year we are also growing in double digits,” concluded the interviewee.
