01732 759725 20 INTERVIEW A decade in print Andy Muskett, Director of UK Channel Partners, Xerox shares his experiences over the past decade, what he’s learned, and the highs and the lows of our unique and challenging industry 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? Andy Muskett (AM): Completely by chance if I’m honest! I was working in the financial services sector at the time knocking on doors in the evening selling pensions and life insurance. An old friend of mine ran a training company, he’d been a regional sales manager at Xerox. I’d never heard of them but he offered me a two week project helping him do a competitive analysis job on some fax machines, so that he could then do competitive training for the Xerox sales reps. At the end of the two weeks, he invited me to join him running those training courses and from there I went on to a three-year contracting role doing much the same but across the whole of Europe. We had a blast, machines in the back of a Volvo, travelling over Europe teaching the reps the good and the not so good of Xerox’s competitors. Three years on, the company made my role permanent, I went onto various sales, marketing, product management and channel account manager roles to where I am now. PITR: What was your first job? AM: I started my working life as an apprentice in the defence and aircraft industry studying electrical and electronic engineering at 16 years old. After five years I became a technical design engineer. That involved designing electronic sub-assemblies for some neat kit, building prototypes, evaluating for compliance and then turning into production ready units. Dealing with various departments really helped me hone my communication and problem solving skills whilst getting the chance to visit some really interesting places for testing purposes. PITR: What has been the high point of the decade? AM: For me it has got to be receiving a call earlier this year and being asked to step up into this role. Being in the industry for many years I’ve been fortunate to work in many functional areas within Xerox and in particular in our channel business. I’ve had the opportunity to work for many great people I’ve admired that did this role. To think that I’m now doing the role they did, well what more can I say? PITR: And the low point? AM: The industry has gone through so many changes over time and I am a believer that change is a good thing. But it’s never a good thing when you hear of someone who has been instrumental in shaping the industry – challenging you yourself or what is normal, going through a really rough patch, either personally or professionally. In those times it’s all about acknowledgement and helping out others however you can. PITR: What (or who) has had the greatest impact in the sector in the last 10 years? AM: I really think that pre-pandemic the industry went about its business the way it has always done. Whilst we’ve all known where print is going, the resistance to change and to do something about it remained a nice to have as opposed to business-critical. Clients’ requirements have changed for good and the question for many in the industry is whether they are prepared to change too? Here at Xerox, we hope to have focused our attention on the changing client needs and what programs, resources and developments we can bring to the channel to enable them to add value and build trust in their client base. PITR: If you could change one thing about the last decade, what would it be? AM: It’s really gone so quickly, month to month, quarter to quarter, where time just flies by. I certainly think our market has been continually evolving and the adoption in print providers of alternative revenue streams adjacent to print should have been an imperative much earlier than now. Good news is a recognition of changing times is upon us and I really look forward to helping our partners achieve their goals. PITR: What has been your proudest moment of the past 10 years? AM: I’m not sure I could put one thing in particular forward but I’ve got an amazing family with three great children who are now paving their own path in business and in life. I just hope they have learnt a few tips from the old man on what good looks like and how to do it well. PITR: Sum up the decade in three words. AM: Change is everything. Andy Muskett The industry has gone through so many changes over time and I am a believer that change is a good thing
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