01732 759725 ONE-TO-ONE 46 Steve Holmes, EMEA & Americas Regional Director & GM at PaperCut, spoke to Michelle Ryder about the changes both in terms of technology and customer needs, he’s witnessed over the past ten years Step back in time Go-to-market strategy Holmes says that like many industries, the print sector has had to - and will need to - continue to transform and as a vendor in the space, PaperCut has evolved and adapted its go-tomarket strategy. As per the early days, PaperCut’s go-to-market strategy is still primarily through its global authorised partner network. “This enables us to provide an exceptional level of localised, in-language services including local sales, pre-sales and technical support,” Holmes said. “However,” he added: “In the early stages as customer needs evolved, our ecosystem also had to change, from focussing mainly on hardware to adopting a more solutions-led approach. “Now with the evolution of cloud, it is transforming itself further to offer cloud-friendly services to our mutual customers. That will be critical in guiding customers’ print through their cloud migration journey. Obviously, cloud has dramatically transformed the way software is sold, deployed and supported, and our ecosystem will need to continually adapt to the needs of Although Holmes has a long heritage working in the channel – he managed various elements of Dell’s channel business for many years, he actually only entered the print sector in 2017, when he joined PaperCut. He said that the opportunity to work for a smaller, dynamic, nimble organisation that not only had industryleading solutions, but also had a positive impact on the environment, the print industry and end-users, meant that PaperCut really appealed to him. “That winning combination drove me to this industry and I’m pretty confident that I made the right decision,” he said, adding: “Today, PaperCut’s solutions have enabled over 150 million users to print seamlessly and, in the process, save billions of sheets of paper, as well as driving other savings related to toner and electricity consumption.” Holmes’ role has dramatically changed since joining the firm. He was initially charged with running and expanding the EMEA business. “Now, my GM role has evolved to cover the US and today, I manage the global sales and channels, as well as my existing EMEA GM responsibilities,” he explained. the customer to remain relevant in the cloud era.” Changing customer needs Holmes recalls that historically, customers were focused purely on ensuring that having a device that enabled them to print. “Over time, this morphed into a need for a broader print solution - this encompassed the hardware, but also additional software and services to both enable, secure and track print. “Customers have sought ways to achieve all of the above, along with investing in ways to reduce costs, often at the expense of either functionality or sustainability” he said. “However, we’re now seeing a real shift unfolding, as customers are demanding more sustainable ways to achieve their print needs. To that end, they will often lead with sustainability over all other requirements when assessing the print solutions available to them.” Looking to the future There are three things that continue to excite Holmes about the prospects for print in the future. “First is the continued evolution of our industry, and PaperCut’s drive to continually craft industry relevant software solutions,” he commented. “Second, the journey to cloud is incredibly important - even more so now - as customers look to reduce the physical hardware that remains onsite. And thirdly, delivering innovative new features that enable, monitor and secure print whilst driving more thoughtful, sustainable ways to print.” With all of that in mind, Holmes is really intrigued to see what the next ten years will look like for the industry. “Not least given the print ecosystem’s tremendous capacity for collaboration, innovation and creativity,” he concluded. www.papercut.com Steve Holmes
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDUxNDM=