PRINTITRESELLER.UK 45 VOX POP hundreds of channel partners in the UK, Europe, and beyond, we observe a rapidly evolving yet consistently innovative channel striving to stay relevant amid numerous challenges. Although supply chain issues, industry consolidation, aggressive pricing and general economic stagnation may dominate headlines, the dual threat and opportunity posed by the relentless push for digitisation represent, in my opinion, the most intriguing challenge, particularly for small and medium-sized market players. We are fortunate to serve clients of all sizes, and by following our customers into the diverse range of additional products and services they now offer their clients, we aim to continue delivering a suite of solutions that enable the print and IT channel to secure more business in the broader workplace technology realm, whilst still maintaining a constant focus on efficiency, productivity, cost-control and exceptional customer service. Mark Ash: Print can sometimes be an afterthought when a business is starting its journey to cloud infrastructure and modern networks. Often our partners have fantastic experience in print, but less so in cloud and managed infrastructure services. Our expertise can help them with managed print in innovative IT environments and we have some great proof points, such as a recent offering for managed print solutions in Azure and on an SD-WAN Network. It is not enough to just think about the solution and providing support to the customers’ IT department, more so to also provide the infrastructure to run the solution. IT specialists therefore need to be employed or that expertise needs to be provided by the supplying partner. This also brings in the question of security and although cloud-based solutions are often more secure than on-premise solutions, that expertise is also needed to overcome any hurdles the resellers’ customers may have. Providing benchmark service to professional print customers can be challenging as the response time expectation is a lot greater than the office world. Konica Minolta can help by offering reliable equipment which is easy to use and can offer a strong partner program to ensure indirect partners are sufficiently trained. Steve Holmes: Keeping print frontof-mind at the C-level is a challenge, given that the board will be focused on competitiveness, compliance, sustainability, security, adapting to hybrid working models and of course delivering a seamless customer experience. Yet print ties right into those concerns; unsecured print invites the risk of a security breach and a fine under GDPR; unmanaged print won’t help any company lower its print costs or volumes, while print that’s too complex to use – on site or off site – could result in delays sending physical documents to customers or prospects, impacting the customer experience. We help by making print easy; secure and sustainable print needn’t be complex to deploy or manage, so we’ve removed the barriers to adoption that may have prevented organisations from overhauling their print in the past. At PaperCut, we make sure that print evolves in line with business needs by, for example, helping to support the move to print in the cloud, or hybrid working and hybrid print. We work closely with our partner network to ensure they’re equipped with channelfriendly solutions, training and support to help their customers manage those shifts successfully, thereby bringing their print right up to date; and with that, comes peace of mind from knowing that their print is now secure, efficient and sustainable. Phil Madders: Could almost be multiple choice with costs up across the board, and prices still on a downward spiral. But I am hearing more and more that finding new people, developing their skills and retaining them seems to be a constant struggle. It is a fundamental challenge, as without good people it is very difficult to grow and develop any business. We can help by offering effective automation tools which reduce the time it takes to do business whether by using the API in our device management product to connect to the service management system, using Cloudquote to increase sales productivity, or Evolved Office to automate the marketing efforts and provide on tap content to promote any business in our space. It is all about achieving more with same resources and our solutions help our customers do that. Greig Millar: Sustainability is a challenge the industry is tackling as a whole. Rightly, businesses are assessing the potential to cut carbon and boost circularity across their supply chains, and print partners need to be prepared to provide a full breakdown of exactly how consumables are recycled and remanufactured. With Brother MPS, all used inks and toners are sent for free to our carbon neutral recycling facility in Ruabon, North Wales, with a full report returned to customers on what happens to their consumables. This needs to be standardised across the industry, and quickly, if we’re to meet net zero by 2050. Julian Hodges: There is still uncertainty around supply chain continuity in the sector. In addition to and unsurprisingly, a reduction in customer budgets, particularly for public sector who are looking for products that are reliable and have longevity. This contrasts with corporate and commercial customers who are still looking to invest in their technology to become more efficient and improve employee experience in the workplace. Finally, we are seeing the need for diversification, offering customers solutions, services and products that support all their workplace technology needs. There’s a requirement for a trusted partner who can support them with technology for new ways of working. www.ezeep.com www.its-group.com www.asolvi.com www.konicaminolta.co.uk www.papercut.com www.paebusiness.com www.brother.co.uk www.sharp.co.uk It is not enough to just think about the solution and providing support to the customers’ IT department, more so to also provide the infrastructure to run the solution. IT specialists therefore need to be employed or that expertise needs to be provided by the supplying partner Julian Hodges
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