Print.IT Reseller - issue 51

PRINT IT RESELLER.UK 23 SALES STRATEGY it comes to a printer they tend to just choose one from a list as they don’t have the specialist knowledge to distinguish one model from the rest,” Carey said. “Take OKI printers – or rather multifunction devices as they are now. They are increasingly sophisticated, often integrating with enterprise IT systems and playing a key role in digitising workflow. If an IT consultant installs one of these, they just don’t have the expertise to set it up in a way that suits the way each individual business works,” he added. Copytype is sometimes asked to carry out a print audit for customers to assess how they can make savings. Often printers have been installed in piecemeal fashion and, because they all come from different vendors are all covered by different contracts covering replacement of consumables and maintenance. As a result, managing these becomes almost a full-time job. When printer stock is consolidated and all placed under the one contract including service and consumables, it becomes far easier to manage and significant money savings can be made too. It also becomes easier to have an overview of spend and usage for better informed budgeting, planning and developing an overall print strategy for the business. However, often the problem is simply that the printers have not been configured to suit the business, through lack of knowledge on behalf of the person installing it or an eagerness to complete the project before the deadline. “It’s crazy how some printers have been set up,” Carey said. “It can sometimes be a simple issue. For example, colour can cost around four times as much as mono, but businesses can set printers to do low-resolution colour for day-to-day work. To be honest, they can’t really tell the difference if they are printing graphs and diagrams, for example, but they use a fraction of the toner. However, if the printer has been installed and configured as an afterthought to a new IT system, these subtleties are often overlooked.” IT companies also often handover the support contract. “They are used to doing support behind a PC remotely and across a network. They hate the thought that there might be a paper jam that needs sorting – or something else that demands they are on-site and hands-on,” he added. Shift in attitude One of the main shifts in attitude has been around print security. Carey has just bought a small multifunction device for home use. “As soon as I took it out of the box and put it on my desk it immediately picked up Wi-Fi and started ‘talking’ to me, asking for my Google account and other details. The device wasn’t even plugged into anything but with these details it could already talk to the outside world. And this was a relatively inexpensive and straightforward device for domestic use,” he said. When talking to customers Copytype is able to demonstrate the security features now standard on OKI printers, such as customisable tools that can be accessed with unique ID cards or PIN codes or options for encryption. There are also features around mobile printing to avoid confidential documents being left in the output tray of a networked printer. But, warns Carey, this is another area where those inexperienced in the printer world can come undone without the necessary background knowledge. “Customers worry about data protection and the approaching deadline for GDPR. By stressing the features that can be put in place to address this, we can help. However, if the device has been installed by someone else, we sometimes find that certain features related to security haven’t been set up properly. For example, perhaps nothing has been done to determine how long documents stay on the hard disk, so they just stay there indefinitely. When the machine is decommissioned, everybody forgets they are there,” he explained. Carey believes compliance and data security – as opposed to total cost of ownership or print quality – are currently his customers’ main concern. “Now many printers have USB ports. Without such features as PIN protection, anyone could download documents onto a USB and put it in their pocket with nobody knowing they’ve got it. A year or two ago all a customer wanted to know was price, now it’s whether a device is secure or not,” he said. Some businesses in this position have chosen to retrain staff in, for example, sales techniques or problem solving. This kind of consultative sale always demands a great deal of careful listening to come up with a tailored solution that addresses the customer’s exact needs. This is a long way from automatically suggesting the latest best-selling product, or worse still recommending one that hasn’t sold and needs shifting. However, Carey believes his employees’ strong technical know-how can win through in this respect. “We’ve also insisted our engineers stay one step ahead of the industry changes, believing that this will be the only way to maintain our success,” he explained. “It sounds a cliché, but it’s a case of thinking outside the box, about a total solution that can be designed and configured to align with our customers’ business goals. We’ve come a long way from only thinking about products – but we believe the changes have been worthwhile,” he said in conclusion. www.copytype.ie • www.oki.com Often printers have been installed in piecemeal fashion and, because they all come from different vendors are all covered by different contracts covering replacement of consumables and maintenance Tony Carey Dylan Haworth