Print.IT Reseller - issue 55

01732 759725 38 INTERVIEW PrintIT Reseller (PITR): You’ve had a long career at Xerox, how did it start? Carlo Longhi (CL): Xerox has always had a fantastic reputation for sales training, but when I joined as an office systems sales trainee I only intended to stay for a couple of years! I’ve now spent over half of my life working at Xerox. I have been with the company for 30 years and its focus on innovation and helping customers to improve the way they interact with documents is as strong today as it was on the day I joined. It’s also helped that 50 per cent of PrintIT Reseller caught up with Carlo Longhi, Director and General Manager, Indirect channels UK and Ireland at Xerox One-to-one with Carlo Longhi my time has been spent focused on our European channel partners and alliances, so I’ve had the privilege of working with some truly great organisations and entrepreneurs. PITR: What does your current role involve? CL: I head up the indirect channel business for Xerox UK, with a focus on driving further growth through channel expansion – either by doing more with existing partners or recruiting new ones. I have built strong relationships with a large variety of resellers and partners in the UK and across Europe throughout this time. Channels are central to Xerox’s growth strategy and will continue to be a key priority for the business. I enjoy my role because I am hugely passionate about supporting partners to grow with Xerox offerings. PITR: How is Xerox driving growth in the SMB market? CL: With 75 per cent of office technology sales to SMBs made through indirect channels, we’re heavily focused on expanding our partner programme – particularly in recruiting a wider range of IT resellers. In the last year, for example, we announced a variety of new partners in the UK including Arena Group, IT Document Solutions and Viking Office Systems, to help bolster our presence in the SMB market. We’re also transforming the way we work with our existing channel, and have made substantial investments in our products and services to enable them to be more agile and compete better. ConnectKey is a great example of a product which can offer a variety of sizes, features and capabilities to match the specific needs of SMBs. PITR: It’s been just over a year since you launched ConnectKey – how successful has it been? CL: The ConnectKey product launch in April 2017 was the biggest in the company’s history. With it, Xerox set out to lead another workplace revolution through transformative technology – the range of 29 A3 and A4 ConnectKey- enabled printers and multifunction devices represent our answer to the ever- changing office environment. With simple and secure on-the-go capabilities, cloud connectivity and access to productivity boosting features and apps, each device offers a smart workplace assistant that doesn’t just copy, scan or print, but also translates, shares, and creates electronic documents with just a few easy taps on the screen. Not only has the ConnectKey range received fantastic feedback from our channel partners and vendors, but it has also been recognised as outstanding by the Buyers Lab (BLI). Xerox printers and multifunction devices earned more BLI wins than any other vendor at this year’s BLI awards, including the overall BLI 2018 Monochrome Printer & MFP Line of the Year Award , and the Outstanding MFP App Ecosystem award for the Xerox App Gallery. The real testament to the success of ConnectKey, is that these products are continuing to gain substantial traction in the market and we are seeing significant unit growth in all channels as they transform how people work. Channels are central to Xerox’s growth strategy and will continue to be a key priority for the business