01732 759725 ONE-TO-ONE 46 Matt Hill, Vice President of Document Automation & Security Sales EMEA, at Kofax 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 A fantastic journey Despite his initial thought that he’d ride the job out for six months, Hill says he genuinely became interested in the business. “I had a really good mentor, who put me on a management training programme, and I got access and exposure to all the different parts of the business – sales, marketing, training, product management, and everything else. It’s been a fantastic journey and I’ve seen a lot of changes over the years. “It was the software side of the business that really interested me. Even back in those days, the focus was on diversifying your offering outside of hardware. I was approached by Toshiba at the BED Awards in London (remember them). They wanted to talk to me about joining them to build their software business and I went onto developing their software division for the next three years. “That role gave me exposure to eCopy, a company I then joined, which was acquired by Nuance and then ultimately Kofax, four years ago, which brings us up to date.” Hill points out that whilst the print sector is an exciting place to be in so many ways, it’s not the industry that’s kept him in it for so long, it’s the people. “There is a huge amount of really good people in our industry and there is a common thread – most don’t aspire to get into the print sector, they kind of fall into it and stay. And it has definitely provided an incredibly good career path for many people.” A changing market Despite the very many changes that have occurred over the years, Hill argues that the one constant has been that we still build a channel business around relationships. “There’s been a lot of consolidation in the channel, particularly over the last ten years and a consistent requirement to diversify what they do beyond hardware. From our perspective, we’ve Hill is definitely an industry veteran having spent more than 30 years in the print sector. He admits it wasn’t his first career choice: “I did have aspirations to be a professional cricketer,” he explained, adding: “But that wasn’t to be. So, I visited a local job agency, and they had an opening at Konica Minolta. I didn’t really know anything about the company, but it was local to me, so I went for it! “In all seriousness, I fell in love with the industry! The innovation has made my career diverse and hugely interesting. Whether that be from analogue to digital, or hardware to software – it’s a constant evolution!” become more connected directly to the end customer. We’re still a channel business of course, but the end customer is actively reaching out a lot more to us to get our insights to use our expertise to help build their strategies. And I think that's been really exciting and a huge shift, because previously as a vendor, we only ever worked through the channel. “The other big difference is that the channel is evolving quicker than it's ever been in the past. If I look back to my eCopy days, we were really the only ISV in that space – that gave us a competitive edge. Today there are multiple independent competitors in every sector so it’s really important to have a key differentiator or differentiators to stay relevant, increase customer satisfaction and to retain that focus on relationship building in the channel.” Looking to the future Hill says he believes that customers’ needs and wants will continue to change. “The adoption of cloud and SaaS has really taken off and we're in prime position to deliver in that area. I also think it’s going to be really interesting to see how AI impacts this sector. “At Kofax, we're fundamentally invested in AI technology, we have been for a long time. And I think it’s going to be exciting to see how that pans out and how we become a part of the evolution,” he added. “We have had to significantly adapt how we go to market and even more so in the past decade. It’s all about helping customers achieve their goals, and that’s what ultimately drives me. But on a personal level, running a sales team that has had to constantly reinvent themselves and evolve at such a fast pace and still deliver, is really what I find the most rewarding part,” he concluded. www.kofax.com Matt Hill
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