01732 759725 INTERVIEW 20 Steve Pearce, Group Head of Marketing, Kyocera, shares his experiences over the past decade, what he’s learned, and the highs and the lows of our unique and challenging industry A decade in print fitting centre, at the tender age of 13. This was the filthiest of jobs, but so much fun. I learnt the power of money and the importance of teamwork as it was not the safest of environments. It’s funny, the smell of Swarfega (If you know, you know) still makes me smile today. Simpler times. PITR: What has been the high point of the decade? SP: I have really enjoyed witnessing a culture and technology change in the channel. Once completely MPSfocussed resellers have morphed into IT companies. Whether through acquisition or by strategic product adoption, partners in our industry have always astonished me with their innate ability to match customer needs and market demands. In fact, it makes me very proud. Another good example is the adoption of ‘greener thinking’. We have seen a real quantum shift into ecofocussed purchasing and supplying, which echoes our values here at Kyocera. From a personal perspective this caring and thoughtful approach is my personal highlight of the decade. PITR: And the low point? SP: I am not going to use the “C” word, so putting the obvious aside, I would vouch for the loss of many of our industry colleagues. We have been so fortunate to have been blessed with a rich tapestry of characters in our industry, who we have lost over the last ten years. That’s the problem with time, it catches up with us all. PITR: What (or who) has had the greatest impact in the sector in the last 10 years? SP: I will say it. Price. We have seen real erosion on the price of commoditised print. However, this has only fertilised the growth of adding back in value through diversification as aforementioned. A good example would be the rise of cloud-native software, business intelligence dashboards and consultancy. All services once only delivered by the IT company across the business park. This has caused a change in talk-track with end-users – ‘copiers’ are now ‘endpoints’, encryption on MFPs is now ‘cybersecurity’– this makes me so happy for the future of this superb sector we all contribute to. PITR: If you could change one thing about the last decade, what would it be? SP: Taking global bad news out of the equation and making this personal, I would have returned to marketing in this industry a lot sooner, as what was meant to be a two-year sabbatical into sales lasted eight years of the last decade. I embarked on a sales career by taking guidance from an industry stalwart. He said: “To be a good marketer you need to have experienced sales and understand what is needed from marketing first hand”. Never has a truer word been said, I have a deep empathy for sales and prioritise sales enablement from the department. Re‑joining Kyocera reignited my passion for marketing and leading this unbelievably talented team here is a complete pleasure and really does take the work out of work. PITR: What has been your proudest moment of the past 10 years? SP: Can I have two? I have been fortunate enough to have found this the hardest to answer. So, they are – my oldest daughter, Honey, gaining her place at university to study Zoology and marrying my wife Aimee (who I met in this industry). PITR: Sum up the decade in three words. SP: Change is constant. www.kyoceradocumentsolutions.co.uk 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? Steve Pearce (SP): A happy accident, as Bob Ross from the Joy of Painting would say. I was given a career-defining opportunity in 1998 to join Ricoh full-time after what was meant to be a summer job before university. This was the first year of tuition fees, so it really was a golden ticket. I joined Ricoh as a Marketing Executive and agreed to pay for my studies at night school – but the chance to learn from some of the industry’s best marketers was just as important. I will always be grateful for this opportunity which paved the way to my current position. PITR: What was your first job? SP: This is going to sound interesting in today’s world, but things were slightly different back then. My first ever role was a Saturday and Sunday job, jackingup cars to remove the wheels in a tyre Steve Pearce
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