01732 759725 20 families, communities and businesses. It was difficult being away from loved ones, but also from the office and the people that you work with every day. That experience of enforced remote working was challenging, yet the sector adapted and demonstrated the IT industry’s outstanding ability to support people and businesses find ways to do what they do best. Hybrid working is now a permanent fixture of most workplaces and offering that flexibility is a vital benefit. A growing number of businesses have turned to MPS as part of their efforts to manage a decentralised workforce. The boost to security and the oversight of a print estate it offers means customers are able to transition away from large onsite servers, as they also re-evaluate how they use their office space in an age of hybrid working. The pandemic is something we would never want to happen again, but it’s encouraged the industry to evolve for the better. PITR: What has been your proudest moment of the past 10 years? TC: Watching my two daughters grow and succeed in their own chosen careers has given me the most pride over the last ten years. My eldest has just become a doctor, while my youngest is delivering learning and development for a prominent media company. Both are helping change the world for the better. Becoming Chief Commercial Officer in 2023 is the professional achievement I’m most proud of. I almost thought there was no job I haven’t done at Brother, having been here for 33 years and working in almost every department. But this role really feels like the culmination of years of hard work and it’s a job where I can deploy every skill I’ve picked up and share that with the organisation. PITR: Sum up the decade in three words. TC: Disruptive game changer. www.brother.co.uk with the personal computer revolution led by IBM. PITR: What has been the high point of the decade? TC: Sustainability is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges of our time and the print sector has had a significant role to play. It sits at the heart of everything we do at Brother and seeing us push the boundaries of recycling and remanufacturing over the last ten years has been very rewarding. PITR: And the low point? TC: All of us felt the impact of COVID – it was a terrible experience. We were able to adapt quickly as a business and we’re successfully managing the changes that it’s brought, but there are many businesses that are still dealing with the impacts. PITR: What (or who) has had the greatest impact in the sector in the last 10 years? TC: The cloud has fundamentally changed how businesses operate. It enables essential tasks, including print, to be delivered as-a-service, and that’s helping meet key goals like enhancing security, productivity and efficiency. Moving infrastructure to the cloud simplifies driver and queue management, reduces IT helpdesk calls and, perhaps most importantly, boosts sustainability. The shift to the cloud has been one of the biggest drivers of opportunities for resellers, as they’ve helped customers introduce new solutions and transform their business. Working with partners like Tungsten Automation, we’re helping resellers to leverage our cloud solutions portfolio and move customers onto the cloud. The tools enable secure, location-aware printing and document digitisation that helps transform print infrastructure while maintaining robust data protection and regulatory compliance. PITR: If you could change one thing about the last decade, what would it be? TC: The pandemic was devastating for 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? Terry Caulfield (TC): Science was always my subject in school. I enjoyed anything technical, so I fell into design engineering by accident. I started off working for a company who specialised in communication systems as soon as I finished school because my family couldn’t afford to send me to university. But I studied on days off and went to night school, and eventually secured those academic qualifications. PITR: What was your first job? TC: My first job was with a manufacturer of consumer electronic hi-fi systems and components, before I moved on to another manufacturer within the group, which specialised in IC chip fabrication chips. That experience really opened my eyes to the big opportunity to come INTERVIEW A decade in print Terry Caulfield, Chief Commercial Officer, Brother UK shares his experiences over the past decade, what he’s learned, and the highs and the lows of our unique and challenging industry Terry Caulfield
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