三星準備在企業級市場發起挑戰

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.

過去一週對於三星公司（Samsung）而言並不太平。這家以電視機和平板電腦著稱的韓國電子巨頭於週一承認，上季度盈利預計將處於三年來最低水平。這家全球領先的智能手機制造商發現自己越來越陷入雙線作戰的泥潭——其利潤豐厚的手機業務在高端市場上正在不斷輸給蘋果公司（Apple）的 iPhone ，而在低端市場上則正被中國的一大批手機品牌攻城掠地。

“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.”

“我左邊有小丑，右邊有大小王，”該公司似乎在爲自己的旗艦手機Galaxy S5 而唱，“我正被困在中間動彈不得。”

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.”

路透社（Reuters）發表的一篇報道更加言之鑿鑿：“許多分析師和投資者都認爲，三星旗下的手機業務部門已經告別了自己最美好的時光，就算Galaxy Note 4這樣的新產品將會有助於推高該公司本季度的盈利，它也依然需要犧牲利潤率，才能阻止價位更低的中國手機搶走更多的地盤。”

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.

隨着手機市場的競爭在繼續，三星試圖發動另一場競爭。爲了提振業績增長態勢，該公司把目光轉向新的收入來源——也就是向企業提供服務。週二，該公司的手機部門發佈了一組企業服務，它認爲這組服務將有助於吸引全球各地的財富1000強企業的注意。這套解決方案被稱爲“三星360企業服務”（Samsung 360 Services for Business），內容包括軟件、 服務和技術支持，目標客戶是那些想要對職場內部使用的移動設備加以管理的公司，旨在爲他們提供一套一站式的服務。

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.”

三星在很久以前就推出了主要面向企業級客戶的多項服務，但一直缺乏一套統一的戰略，對它來說，這一次的舉動具有重要意義。今年1月份，該公司聘請曾任黑莓公司（BlackBerry）首席信息官的羅賓o比恩菲特來領導一支新組建的團隊。“三星在已經在企業級業務市場上耕耘了15 年，”她告訴我說，“最近這四年多來，移動性在他們的產品組合中所佔的分量實在已經變得越來越重。他們擁有大量的合作伙伴和相關能力，但他們真的還想與企業客戶建立起一種更加密切的關係。”

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.

比恩菲特說，大多數的企業都正處於“轉型的拐點”上。他們知道他們需要技術來幫助自己邁入未來；他們只是不知道該從何處着手或者如何加以管理。

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.

很長時間以來，黑莓（公司原名爲Research In Motion）及其超安全的服務一直是應對這項問題的解決辦法。但該公司本身管理不善，導致無法充分借力於這一趨勢。在現代智能手機的崛起過程中，三星曾經是早期獲益者中的一員；該公司的電子產品在日常生活和職場中均隨處可見，因而希望進一步與那些大型機構建立起一種更加正式的關係。

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.

當然，其他公司也有同樣企圖。今年7月份，IBM宣佈與蘋果公司建立合作關係（在許多業內資深人士看來，這項合作關係已經“完全封凍”）。這表明，總部位於美國加州庫比蒂諾的蘋果也有興趣培養類似關係（儘管它缺乏服務企業級客戶的經驗），而總部位於紐約州阿蒙克的IBM則證實，自己不會從事製造消費電子類產品件的業務。在那之後，黑莓首席執行官（CEO）程守宗也已承認，他掌管的這間如今已規模不再的公司正在出於同樣的目的尋求合作伙伴。微軟（Microsoft）CEO 薩蒂亞o納德拉也已明確表明，他也在熱切鎖定同樣的目標客戶。今年1月份的一次季度財報電話會議上，谷歌（Google）首席財務官（CFO）帕特里克o皮切特也將公司的企業級業務部門稱作是戰略性的增長機遇。

In other words, the war has only just begun.

換句話說，企業級市場上的這場競爭纔剛剛開始。

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.

三星將在“2015年初”推出這項360企業服務，第一站先定在了美國。該公司計劃將此項服務迅速擴展到歐洲和亞洲地區。在那之前，三星將與金融服務機構、 醫療保健機構以及政府機構開展一個試點項目，該項目將一直持續到今年年底。比恩菲特說：三星在談判桌上擁有三大優勢： 第一，三星的品牌口碑；第二，跨平臺的合作方式 ；第三，包圓式解決方案的承諾——不需要客戶簽署額外的合同。

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

“我們並不想靠自己來提供所有的這些服務，”比恩菲特說，“但我們希望客戶的直接對接對象是我們。”