01732 759725 50 AND FINALLY Theresa Downes, General Manager Print Business Unit, Exertis 60 seconds with… What’s currently having the greatest impact on your business? Digital transformation has and will continue to impact the print industry. As DX initiatives advance at pace, there is a parallel decline in print volumes. The adoption of paper-less initiatives supports organisations’ objectives to reduce costs and improve environmental performance by reducing energy consumption and paper usage. e-commerce is another area that is impacting the industry, over the past few months we’ve seen an increase in sales via this channel. The growth of direct to consumer has created new opportunities and challenges for print businesses and in particular the OEMs who are having to shift roadmaps and plans. Where do you see the next big opportunity? Managed print services continue to be where the opportunities are available. It’s a growth area as demand for optimising print infrastructure to reduce costs is there. We are focusing our efforts in this area. We have partnered with a service provider and offer a full range of MPS, hardware, software, maintenance and document management solutions. We work closely with our leading brands - Brother, Epson and Lexmark each of which provide solutions and services that support partners’ varying capabilities and needs. What would make your day job easier? We are all operating in a challenging marketplace at the moment – and so I think that stability in the market would be great and would definitely make the day job easier. And – if printer manufacturing was done in the UK – there’d be no need to worry about long lead times! What’s the best bit of business advice you’ve been given? There are two that come to mind. When I started my career in the channel at Midwich, Alex Ward advised me to treat my area like it’s my own business, that way the decisions I made would be the right ones. The second is: you don’t build a business, you build people, then people build the business. If you had had a crystal ball, would you have done anything differently? Too many things, but I try not to dwell, and I have the power to influence my future. Describe your most embarrassing moment. I have too many to mention and none I would like to share. https://www.exertis.co.uk What was your first job? Waitress in my local pub, which is still my local! What would be your dream job? Lady of leisure would be my first choice! Or Chief Wine Taster in a New Zealand winery. Fine dining and good wine, or curry and a pint? Fine dining and a glass of Marlborough white wine. How do you like to spend your spare time? I am currently in the middle of a barn conversion – it’s a huge project so that pretty much takes up all my spare time. Favourite holiday destination. Vietnam. I spent a month there and it had everything. The kindest people, fantastic food and the diversity city vs country were like nothing I had ever experienced before. Money’s not an issue, what’s your perfect car… and where would you like to drive it? Fiat 500 on the Amalfi Coast. Theresa Downes
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDUxNDM=