Print.IT Reseller - issue 56

01732 759725 SUSTAINABILITY 36 ...continued actually make. There are a lot of tools we can supply to ensure our resellers have a value-add to take to the market,” she said. Renewed interest Dan Wogan, Product Manager, Market Development Business Imaging at Epson Europe, says that the scale of the savings highlighted by the tool resonates with businesses that are showing renewed interest in sustainability. “We’ve seen interest in sustainability increase quite considerably over the last couple of years, starting in Germany and gradually spreading across Europe. We are finding that the proposition of sustainability, low emissions and low power consumption is being taken up more and more as a reason to purchase. Of course, we have to be commercially competitive but, where we are, the sustainability message tips the balance for many people, because they believe they ought to be buying into sustainable technologies,” he said. Clear differentiator Clark points out that sustainability is a real differentiator for resellers that are crying out for something to help them stand out in a crowded marketplace. “As the senior management team in Europe, we try to visit our resellers as much as possible to get feedback from them. When I’ve visited resellers in the UK, that differentiator is what they are all crying out for. They don’t want to be talking about the same technology, they don’t want to be chasing down to the bottom. They want to move the discussion on to something different. That’s what we give them with our technology,” he said. Wogan adds that as well as appealing to existing resellers, this clear differentiation is helping to attract a new base of partners, including copier dealers, MPS providers and VARs and IT resellers that might already be selling some of Epson’s other product ranges. “We have a really strong footprint in projectors and people in that space are seeing opportunities to reach existing customers with a different product portfolio. With the new enterprise devices and advancements in RIPS technology, dealers who classically wouldn’t be interested in ink are knocking on our door and asking to speak to us. It’s a really nice position to be in,” he said. Wogan points out that Epson has been developing new services to support these new types of reseller, including basic managed print services, which the likes of IDC expect to cover 45% of devices by 2020. It has also been expanding its business inkjet product range, which now covers 70% of the laser and business inkjet market. Wogan concedes that in speed terms there is a small gap in the middle of Epson’s range, but say this need not be a problem due to the fast first page out time of its devices. “We’ve had lots of occasions where a faster laser device has been proposed, which wasn’t suitable for the customer as they were producing lots of jobs with a few pages. In those cases, inkjet is far, far quicker. Depending on how the products are being used, our RIPS devices can move up into a space or our Workforce Enterprise products can move down to fit most customer needs,” he said. The future is inkjet Epson still sells laser devices for customers that want a mixed printer fleet, but, according to Rob Clark, its focus is very much on inkjet. “We do still have lasers in the business, but our future is inkjet. We are investing very, very heavily in inkjet and all our development work is in inkjet. If the customer decides they don’t want to go in that direction they can always choose from our laser range, but it is not something we push,” he said. Nor, Clark argues, is it something that end user customers are greatly concerned about. “When we talk to resellers and ask how people are reacting to having an inkjet device, they say ‘We don’t tell them because as long as it produces the print they are looking for, in the time they are looking for, they don’t care what the technology is. They care about the sustainability message’,” he said. www.epson.co.uk/vision-and- strategy#green-choice http://eco.epson.com/ We’ve seen interest in sustainability increase quite considerably over the last couple of years, starting in Germany and gradually spreading across Europe in brief Ink on demand Network Group, a buying group for technology resellers, has launched a pay-as- you-go ink replenishment service for Epson inkjet printers and MFPs. Available via the group’s 71 reseller members, the 360ink programme ensures registered customers never run out of ink by monitoring ink levels and alerting them when it is time to buy a replacement. The user can order a new one via the alert and opt to pick it up from a store or have it delivered to their door. 30 million and counting Epson has sold more than 30 million high capacity ink tank printers worldwide since introducing its first high capacity model in October 2010. The use of high capacity ink tanks significantly reduces the cost and environmental impact of printing. For its 2018 Financial Year (ending in March 2019), Epson plans to sell 9.5 million high capacity ink tank products, partly by encouraging more businesses to switch from laser to inkjet printing. New factory To support increased sales of office, commercial and industrial printers based on Epson PrecisionCore printheads, Epson has built a second print chip factory in Japan. The 46,915 square metre factory at Epson’s Hirooka Office centre in Shiojiri will run in tandem with Epson’s existing PrecisionCore facility at the Suwa Minami Plant, tripling production capacity and ensuring greater business continuity and resilience.