PrintIT Reseller - issue 49

01732 759725 40 VOX POP Steve Hawkins, Chief Executive, Xeretec : “I think it will continue from both the OEMs’ and the channel perspective – that is inevitable. Compared to other industries, OEM consolidation has been far slower, with more activity happening on the channel side over the last decade. The channel side will continue to consolidate as customers’ demands increase, and the smaller providers struggle to make their business models work. “As the channel players shrink in quantity while customer demands increase, it is inevitable that OEMs will need to consolidate to survive. They will need to focus on a smaller group of larger channel partners and a customer base looking to consolidate around a smaller group of key brands.” Sharon McNee, Research Manager, IDC : “Five major manufacturer powerhouses have emerged: Canon, HP, Konica Minolta, Ricoh and the new Fuji Xerox entity but we still believe that there are too many vendors operating in a declining office print market. There will be even more print software and hardware vendor consolidation as well as a major shake-out in the channel. Channel has never been such a precious commodity as it is now.” Louella Fernandes, Principal Analyst, Quocirca : “The past few years has seen some significant market consolidation, and there is undoubtedly more to come. The market is struggling with remaining relevant in a rapidly changing digital landscape, and hardware commoditisation means that manufactures have to reinvent their products, services and business models. “Many are highly reliant on their channel to drive higher value client relationships. While some channel partners have made a successful leap into services and solutions, there remains a large majority that need more support from their OEM partners to accelerate the change.” Phil Jones, Managing Director, Brother UK : “Normal economic cycles of markets declining always predict consolidation with fewer actors addressing the marketplace. Today though, it’s not always about the strongest surviving but the most adaptable. Either side of the supply chain both OEMs and resellers need to continue to stay relevant within the market, providing products and services which add genuine value in the moment or risk sales freefall and irrelevancy.” It seems five minutes ago that Samsung announced it was exiting the printer market, selling to HP, and this month news broke that Fujifilm and Xerox have entered into a definitive agreement to combine Xerox and its longstanding Fuji Xerox joint venture. This month’s panel share their thoughts on the market impact Michael Burke, Managing Director, Purpose Software : “Whilst bigger isn’t always better in terms of innovation, this ongoing consolidation is an inevitable consequence of a maturing sector and increased pressure on pricing and provides organisations, both OEM and channel, with the scale to supply, implement and support a wider range of new products and services as well as gaining market traction. It will of course start to slow down and future acquisitions are likely to be strategic or tactical as further technological innovations occur.” Nigel Allen, Marketing Director, KYOCERA : “The market is going to continue to consolidate, from both a vendor and channel standpoint. The demand from the market is for the portfolio in a managed print services contract to expand into IT areas such as cloud printing, therefore, OEM and channel partners need to upskill the workforce. This can be by organic development or, as with our acquisition of Annodata, acquiring businesses who already have the infrastructure and experience of offering a range of IT services. “Moving forward we will see the more progressive channel partners who want to grow in the market over the next five to 10 years, look to expand their offering through acquisition. KYOCERA intend to assist these partners with a range of IT services to help them along that journey.” Clive Hamilton, Group Managing Director, Pinnacle Document Solutions : “Consolidation in our market is good for customers in the way that it will drive costs down and increase the products that will be available from their OEMs/suppliers. Pooling R&D resources at corporate level will lead to more innovation and ultimately make us all more efficient and productive with an improved work/life balance. However, if you’re not the one that is acquiring or being acquired then you will struggle to keep pace with the innovation, price point and economies of scale that your competitors are realising.” Jason Cort, Director of Product Planning and Marketing, Sharp Europe : “There has been a visible increase in channel consolidation over the past 18 months. This has been driven by a strong wave of external factors and industry trends, Print powerhouses Moving forward we will see the more progressive channel partners who want to grow in the market over the next five to 10 years, look to expand their offering through acquisition PITR: What are your views on the continuing consolidation in the market – on both the OEM and channel side? Louella Fernandes Steve Hawkins

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