01732 759725 48 Q&A View from the channel Q: What do you see as the biggest challenges facing channel businesses today? A: As a business, we pride ourselves on staying up to date with the latest hardware and software solutions so we can always recommend the right solutions for our clients. However, I feel the biggest challenge for businesses in our sector today is people, getting the right people with the correct skillset is becoming very challenging. Q: Which OEMs do you partner with and why? A: As a true independent provider of managed print solutions, we partner with many companies which allows us to offer our clients the best of breed technology to suit their requirements. They all offer us excellent support and the ability to go to market with the knowledge that 99% of the time we can support them with what they want to achieve. If I had to name a few it would be Ricoh, Sharp and Konica Minolta. Q: What are your customers most interested in currently? A: There are several areas customers are interested in currently, such as software solutions that provide accountability and efficiencies within their companies. Businesses are looking at ways to make information available and accessible for their staff. The environment is another big topic for our clients hence our partnership with Tree Appeal which allows us to offset a client’s print volume if required. Customers are also interested in receiving good traditional service, after a lot of market consolidation in our industry in recent years, customers are very interested in receiving quality service with accountability. Q: How have you changed/are you changing business operations to exploit new opportunities? A: As a leading technology provider, we are constantly evolving to meet the needs of our diverse client base, we are fortunate to have very knowledgeable people within Oyster and partner with global brands that allow us to target and sell into new opportunities. We Richard Harris, Managing Director, Oyster are always looking to improve and support our clients with their digital transformation journey wherever they may be within this process. Q: When selling MFPs, what are the most popular software solutions you provide and why? A: We sell a wide variety of software solutions and the most popular currently I would say is Print Control, document workflow and document management solutions. Most clients want visibility of what they are doing and are looking at ways to streamline paper-based processes which allows them to be more efficient as a business. Q: If you could change one aspect of your job what would it be and why? A: I thoroughly enjoy my job and the variety it provides me, however if there is one thing I would change it would be to give myself more time. The days, weeks and months seem to pass very quickly and as an impatient person, sometimes projects don’t happen as quickly as I would like. Q: How do you spend your week – time on phone, face to face meetings with customers etc.? A: My weeks are very varied, I spend a lot of time on the phone, but I also like the ability to have face to face meetings, it’s something I feel is very important and where possible I urge my sales team to visit and meet people in person. I have to support the different functions within Oyster so every day can be different, but I like the ability to sit with my staff and collaborate in person. Q: What would make your job easier? A: At Oyster we are always striving to improve and employ the best people we can, by empowering, developing, and supporting people that’s what will make my job easier in the future and the business more successful as we continue to grow. www.oystermps.co.uk Richard Harris
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