In this article, we would like to present to you all of the initiatives, events and awards of the Samsung R&D Institute Poland (SRPOL) B2B Team in the passing year 2023. That year was pretty busy for us, filled with great teamwork, great projects and we are very proud of what we created together and with our partners. Let us take you on the journey and reminisce about the time spent with our colleagues, our achievements and let us proudly announce the awards we were honored to receive!

Events

One of our key initiatives and the ones we focused mainly on in 2023 were the events where we shared best practices and presented new solutions and conceptualizing innovations.

In June 2023, the third post-pandemic EU B2B Technical Summit took place. This time, around one hundred of our colleagues from all European subsidiaries visited our SRPOL office. Both online and offline, all participants were exposed to the latest Knox product updates to provide exceptional knowledge and support to customers in their regions.

Also this year in June, we hosted W.I.N. (’What is important now’) MX B2B Workshop. This event brought together sales managers from various Samsung subsidiaries across Europe in the Europe B2B Innovation Center located on the 23rd floor of the Warsaw Spire building. During the event not just the latest Samsung products were demonstrated to our guests, but also a new experience, a rethinking of innovation. In addition to Knox products, our guests – subsidiary representatives – had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the digital solutions of Samsung partners. The great atmosphere contributed to successful interactions and establishment of business relations which in our opinion is a sign of a successfully organized event! The representatives of the subsidiaries and SRPOL once again confirmed the feeling of camaraderie and common outlook on the future.

At the end of September, SRPOL hosted another event: the European Defense Advisory Board, which was organized together by ETO (European Telecommunications Office), Samsung Research UK, Global B2G group in SEA and SRPOL. The event took place in the format of an open forum for the European defense community and its goal was to establish common requirements and implement common hardware and software standards for the European Tactical Edition devices.

In the middle of November, One Samsung B2B Center of Excellence Workshop was hosted on the SRPOL’s and SEPOL’s premises. The event was a great opportunity to meet everyone from Europe engaged in the One Samsung B2B initiative through the local taskforces. During the workshop we summarized this year’s achievements and initiatives as well as we discussed the roadmap and next steps related to One Samsung B2B project. We also presented a couple of case studies successfully connecting different Samsung products into one offering, including a smartcity net zero home project in Stockholm (Brobyholm Smartcity) and a hospital in Groningen (University Medical Center Groningen). After the presentation, we gave our guests a tour of the Europe B2B Innovation Center and showcased both our own and our partners’ solutions. Then we moved on to discuss Samsung B2B integrated offerings, including some promising concepts in the retail, residential and hospitality areas.

The last event of the year was another EU B2B Tech Summit, since it takes place twice a year – there is a summer and fall edition. In November, the fall edition of the Summit was held, and it was attended not only by Samsung colleagues, but also by our partners. In addition to providing knowledge in the field of Knox, we proudly presented our partners who completed their integrations with Knox this year. At the event, we also introduced our new workshop formula (called ‘expert rooms’), where in smaller groups we talked about feature requests, product roadmaps and the most interesting best practices. We all learned a lot and thanks to this we improved the way we collect European customers’ voices to be able to deliver the best support for them and the products which are tailored fully to their needs and requirements.

Initiatives

Apart from the organized events, SRPOL is also actively engaged in a global ‘One Samsung B2B’ initiative. Our team currently supports business solutions based on various Samsung technologies. A couple examples worth mentioning here are: Samsung Knox – a secure mobile platform and solutions to manage, configure, customize and monitor mobile devices; Samsung VXT CMS – a cloud based digital signage device and content management platform; Samsung b.IoT (building IoT) – solutions to control and manage Samsung HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) devices and maximize energy efficiency; and Samsung SmartThings – a home IoT platform. We are working on the integration of these technologies and combining Mobile, Visual Display and IoT products.

Also in 2023, SRPOL showroom changed its name from Mobile B2B Innovation Center to Europe B2B Innovation Center, to highlight the fact that from now on it will be not only a place where we host our customers benefiting from Samsung mobile solutions. EBIC is now the showroom and conference center for all our B2B customers and partners interested in Samsung Mobile, Visual Display, and Home and Building IoT products and technologies. Solutions showcased in EBIC are both in-house Samsung solutions as well as they are coming from Samsung’s partners.

What is more, SRPOL was involved in this year’s Samsung b.IoT solutions launch and promotion on the new markets in the MENA region. Thanks to the cooperation with MEDAO (Middle East Digital Appliance Office), we won three big projects: UAE Butterfly Building, Royal Grammar School Dubai (RGS Dubai) and Hyundai Office. SRPOL was supporting the MENA team during a 2-week visit in July for on-site training and commissioning of b.IoT Lite solution. The installation and commissioning was attended by MENA RHQ, SGE and local distributors to get hands-on training for future projects.

Awards

In 2023, through dedication and innovation, our team’s invaluable contribution to the business has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards, marking a testament to our commitment and excellence.

The year started with the wonderful news that SRPOL was awarded with “RTAM of the Year award of 2022”. It was the first time in history that such an award was presented and announced. HQ GMBT highlighted that they wanted to sincerely thank SRPOL for lots of efforts to boost Mobile B2B sales, including proactive communication to Sales subsidiaries, excellent cooperation with HQ B2B PM Group, initiated B2B solution online market sales, on-site support to encourage the Enterprise Technical Service, organization of remarkable B2B events by EU B2B Technical Summits and creation of B2B solution contents for various use cases, and guidance to partners and customers.

Three months later, HQ GMBT decided to recognize SRPOL team’s efforts once again with “Best Technical Support Team Award of Q1 2023”. SRPOL won this award for its contribution to balanced business development both of Win Business (growth rate 5%) and Solutions and Services revenue (growth rate 15%) achieved in the first quarter of the year.

At the same time the individual award, “Best RTAM of Q1” went to our own Kajetan Augustowski who contributed to the overall perception of Knox Asset Intelligence and Knox Capture among HQ PM, EU subsidiaries and partners.

In the third quarter of the year, another member of SRPOL RTAM team, Szczepan Radomski, received his “Best RTAM of Q3” award. Szczepan was awarded for his contribution to online marketplace integrations with major channels – Vodafone Italy & UK, T-Mobile Czech, Orange Romania, PCA France, etc., where he provided Knox Sales automation guidance and encouraged Polish Government certification for flagship devices.

Last year’s successful launching of new business initiatives fuels our anticipation for an even more prosperous year ahead, as we plan to build upon our accomplishments, persist with ongoing projects, and introduce fresh ideas in the upcoming year.