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PRINT.IT
01732 759725
ACQUISITIONS
We always
need to offer
something new
to the market
and looking
to develop
an IT suite of
products and
services is a
key way to go
Last year was one of consolidation
in the printer industry, culminating
with KYOCERA Group’s acquisition
of managed print and ICT services
provider Annodata.
KYOCERA Document Solutions
UK has welcomed the acquisition
for two reasons; it secures an
important route to market for
its printers and MFPs; and,
more interestingly for end user
customers, it will enable KYOCERA
to expand its product offering to
include unified communications and
IT services.
Annodata is to remain a
completely separate entity to
KYOCERA Document Solutions UK,
owned by the Japanese group and
with its own independent strategy
and management team. However,
the UK operation will have some
influence over the company, with
regard to pricing, for example,
and to ensure there is no channel
conflict.
KYOCERA Document Solutions
UK hopes to learn from Annodata’s
experience in selling ICT services,
which it has done successfully
since taking over Keltec in 2014.
Sales of ICT and cloud hosting
services now account for 15-20% of
Annodata revenue.
Diversification
Over the last seven years,
KYOCERA Document Solutions
UK has increased its turnover
from £36 million in 2009 to about
£80 million in 2016, by offering a
comprehensive range of printers
and MFPs, managed print services
and document-related solutions.
However, like other vendors, it
recognises that its core office print
market is shrinking and that if it
and its channel partners are to
continue to grow they must diversify
into other areas.
Nigel Allen, marketing director of
KYOCERA Document Solutions UK,
says that unified communications
and ICT services, including cloud
hosting, are an obvious area for
vendors and channel partners to
move into.
“A lot of our channel partners
are in a very trusted position,”
he said. “They have dealt with
their customers for a number of
years and offer a very good level
of service. With managed print
services, they have become even
more trusted. IT services is the
next stage. People want to deal
with people they trust.”
He added: “We always need to
offer something new to the market
and looking to develop an IT suite
of products and services is a key
way to go. Our dealers are in a
great place to offer more services
and we need to work out how to
help them do that.”
Learning by example
The challenge for KYOCERA is how
to package up and integrate ICT
services in a way that is easy for
channel partners to take to market.
Allen says that the acquisition of
Annodata will enable KYOCERA to
learn from its example.
“Through the acquisition
of Keltec, Annodata has
enhanced its offering with unified
communications and IT services.
We want to work out how they have
done that, how they have integrated
those services and what support
structures they have – and then
offer those products and services
to our channel partners, with the
right infrastructure, so they can
offer enhanced services to their
customer base. The idea is to learn
from Annodata’s experience,” he
said.
He admits that KYOCERA
could have bought a dedicated
ICT provider, but points out that
Annodata has other attractions.
“Annodata has integrated
Keltec over 2 or 3 years. They
have integrated it well and they
have got their offering right for
their customer base, so they are a
good example to learn from. And,
by doing this, we also secure a
route to market for our printers. We
could have bought an IT services
company, but then lost the print
revenue from Annodata,” he said.
Business as usual
For Annodata’s existing customer
base, the watchword is ‘business
as usual’. Allen says that while
it would be good to replace
Annodata’s MIF (machines in field),
which includes printers/MFPs from
HP, Canon and Ricoh, with KYOCERA
devices, the priority now is to
satisfy market demand.
“A lot of customers choose
Annodata because they offer a wide
choice of suppliers. Of course, we
are very keen to make sure that if
Annodata has the opportunity to
sell more KYOCERA products they
will, but we don’t do production
print so Annodata will continue to
source that from other vendors,
including Ricoh and Canon. We
would like the MIF to change to
ours but if the customer insists on
Canon product…”
He added: “We want Annodata
to grow their business and that
means offering customers what
they need. The idea is to switch the
MIF to KYOCERA where possible but
also to maintain growth, so in some
cases Annodata will need to sell
HP, Ricoh and Canon, as they have
been doing.”
KYOCERA is Annodata’s largest
printer/MFP supplier, accounting
for about 60% of the company’s
hardware sales.
kyoceradocumentsolutions.co.uk
Nigel Allen,
marketing director,
KYOCERA
Document
Solutions UK
Your local KYOCERA dealer could soon be offering unified
communications and ICT services as well as printers, MFPs
and managed print services, following KYOCERA’s acquisition
of Annodata
Another string to its bow
