01732 759725 INTERVIEW 20 Gary Organ Head of Device Technology – Fujifilm UK, shares his experiences over the past decade, what he’s learned, and the highs and the lows of our unique and challenging industry A decade in print me and give me the opportunity to build a best in breed business that can make a real impact within the office print market through the next decade. PITR: And the low point? GO: COVID – whilst politicians were having parties, many were working tirelessly from 7am-7pm every day at home, most of it staying in one room, with staff on furlough for periods. That was a difficult time. I think when you’re a real people person, being restricted and contained was a challenge for many people, and whilst many love the benefits of working from home, many of us thrive being out or in the office engaging with others in person. Banging pots on your doorstep on a Thursday night and Zoom quizzes, seem somewhat surreal now. PITR: What (or who) has had the greatest impact in the sector in the last 10 years? GO: I feel there are a number of things that have had an impact on the market in the last 10 years. The development and usage of the internet and the evolution of usage of phone and tablet technology has impacted the industry in numerous ways. The way people search for information and buy technology, their expectations around speed of engagement, but also the impact this has had on print trends with younger generations working solely on devices and being less inclined to print. The introduction of tablet technology into schools changed young peoples’ use of paper. I believe those that learnt at school with paper tend to prefer to print as they like to work with paper still, but digitisation is changing that now. In addition, the pandemic accelerated this trend further with digitisation that was planned to take five years happening almost overnight. The channel however is extremely resilient and always finds new ways to generate demand. PITR: If you could change one thing about the last decade, what would it be? GO: Smartphone development, people are on them constantly and I often fall into the trap. I feel life would be much simpler if we had devices like the Nokia 6310 where they did calls and texts and people spoke with people. The phones then were only used when needed and people weren’t using them walking down the street or in restaurants etc. PITR: What has been your proudest moment of the past 10 years? GO: I have already mentioned my move to Fujifilm being a proud moment for me, but I am also someone that loves helping others flourish and am really focused on people development. My proudest moments are probably seeing various colleagues that have worked for me go on to progress and be really successful and knowing I had a small part to play in that means a lot to me. PITR: Sum up the decade in three words. GO: Turbulent. Fast. Fun. www.fujifilm.com/uk/en PrintIT Reseller (PITR): You’ve been working in the print and IT industry for more than ten years. What led you to enter the sector? Gary Organ (GO): I worked for Canon whilst doing my degree back in 2000 and returned to Canon on a temporary contract once I completed my degree as a stop gap before travelling. Unfortunately, travelling fell through, I went back to the office with my tail between my legs, asked for a longer contract, was offered a raise and the rest is history. I ended up staying for 21 years, 16 of those years in the channel and doing nine different roles spanning office, production, software sales roles and more recently eight years in the channel management team. PITR: What was your first job? GO: My first role was a call planner for technicians, for various regions across the UK. Doing my best to maintain productivity for the business, balanced with training on the devices and ensuring they were happy and close enough to home. I worked with many fantastic people in that role over 24 years ago, and I still speak to many of them now. It was a great first role which I really enjoyed. PITR: What has been the high point of the decade? GO: Aside of the birth of my two gorgeous sons, it’s being recruited by Fujifilm as Head of Device Technology (Fujifilm’s office & channel) and being given the responsibility for building their new UK office print business to help their expansion into the UK & European markets. It’s a real privilege for such a successful global business with such strong intensions in the industry to pick Gary Organ
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