PRINTITRESELLER.UK 37 continued... It’s a very passionate subject and one which is driven at board level as the youngsters are coming through the ranks INSIGHT Balanced deployment According to Behan, balanced deployment requires understanding customer needs and wants, he said that conducting a scoping exercise and data analysis are crucial for deployment success. “It’s important to conduct a correct scoping exercise and use customers’ own data to help them understand what they are printing, where they're printing it from and what are the demands of that print. There has always been a much greater print volume of A4 than A3. But people like us and all the vendors have traditionally pushed A3 devices. “Those trends are reversing. Again, going back to what I said about size, space, scope and needs. So, all of those aspects being as I've said, correctly identified and correctly scoped give a much more sensible approach to a true balanced deployment, as opposed to, well, you just need ten of device type A,” he concluded. George Baker, Managing Director, KRL Group George Baker, Managing Director, KRL Group spoke about the impact of changing customer requirements on print fleet deployments and in particular how younger employees are now driving decision-making and proactively requesting information on the environmental impact of print solutions. Baker said that the need to protect the planet is driving change and fast. “Most of our customers are now looking to achieve a carbon footprint saving. And more and more when we go to see people and start talking about what we can save them in power usage and carbon footprint [with the Epson heat-free offering] – people are actually lighting up. Whereas in the past it would have been oh, they’re here to see me about a photocopier, not something that anyone really wants to talk about!” Purchasing power has shifted Baker said that previously, print purchasing would be agreed with the office manager or the IT Manager. “But now that there is a saving, and you start talking to a customer about how you can save them money on energy, you get financial and managing directors interested. People are trying to save money, and it’s the FD who’s charged with delivering that.” Speaking about KRL Group’s approach to balanced deployment, Baker explained that KRL Group’s ethos has always been to listen to its customers, hear what it is they want and then start to advise them. “That’s when we’ll ask them if they’ve considered moving to an A4 product rather than an A3, pointing out the space and power savings, we don’t tell them what they need rather we advise them,” he explained. Climate change With climate change becoming an increasingly pressing issue and businesses quite rightly taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint and environmental impact. Baker commented on the extent to which this is impacting discussions and decisionmaking around printers. “What we’re finding is that the discussion is starting with the younger people working for these companies. One or two large companies that we've been dealing with, when we've discussed the actual products and what they can do, they've come back to us and said they have this request from the younger people that work for them on what is going to happen to save the planet for them and their children to come in the future. So, [sustainable decision-making] is driven, really, by younger people within the organisation.” He continued: “It’s a very passionate subject and one which is driven at board level as the youngsters are coming through the ranks.” Baker said that the Epson optimisation tool is helping KRL Group to win new business. “The optimisation tool is helping immensely, one company that I've just sold to recently, when we did the optimisation report, it showed that the money saved over the five-year term of the lease actually paid for the machine. So that was like the no brainer, it was sold and that was it , they didn't To watch the full interview please scan the QR code
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