PRINTITRESELLER.UK VOX POP 43 We are finding the traditional print audit approach to be less popular and that businesses are more concerned around how they can be more efficient digitally and I see the take up in cloud technology being a massive area of expansion for us moving forward. “We are finding the traditional print audit approach to be less popular and that businesses are more concerned around how they can be more efficient digitally. By highlighting the manual processes within an organisation and demonstrating how these can be automated, this will naturally help customers to achieve their digital transformation goals. Vendors could potentially help, by sharing success stories within the newer product lines, so that our sales approach is as modern and relevant as possible.” www.sossystems.co.uk Martin Roberts, Managing Director, Neuways “The interesting thing is the way spending and budgeting has changed over the last ten years. A decade ago, it was more elective spending – people had a clear view of what they needed to spend over the budget period and they stuck to it. “Across the last few years particularly, there has been a large spend on unbudgeted, unforeseen things. Not only has this been to protect companies from cyber threats, but during the COVID crisis they have had to make unbudgeted spend to just work, or make the work they do easier – to enable remote working, for instance. I hope, as businesses come out of the crisis, there is more opportunity to decide where money is spent on a strategic level in a proactive rather than reactive manner. “In terms of changing our go-tomarket strategy, we don’t think of it as capitalising on opportunities, but more about serving the needs of our customers. If demand grows in an area and we don’t react to it, then we are potentially not meeting their needs. It is not as simple as distributing some marketing to say: “We do this”. To react appropriately, we invest in our people, help them learn what is required. Provide them with any toolsets required and expertise. We spend time examining if each new trend that is thrown up is not just a buzzword or a hyped-up bandwagon, or a genuine need that our customers have or may have. One of our principles has always been that we will never try and sell something to someone if they don’t need it. We don’t incentivise our salespeople to sell certain things, as it might not be the right fit. “One area we are constantly investigating is cyber security. We put it at the heart of everything we do, as it is representative of a safe way to grow a business. A key aspect for instance, is moving to the cloud and supporting customers with that. It’s not only about Microsoft Office 365 and becoming experts in the migration to that system from an on-premises systems. It’s also how we are also expanding our offering to deliver Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. This will allow customers to gain the advantages of SME ERP, with a focused and rapidly deliverable implementation, as well as the optimisation of suitable systems for those businesses. “The important thing is that all investments in IT, by a company of any size, should be part of a strategic plan. IT spend that is reactive is not always the best spend. In the real world, sometimes it’s needed to deal with a problem – but, if it can be done strategically or tactically, then it can help get better value for your business. “Organisations come to us and ask what we think they need. We can review their needs and requirements, and how technology can fit among their overall strategy and landscape. We love talking about business systems and IT, we’re not driven by shareholder dividends, but a passion for IT and what makes a business tick – we will talk about it all day long. “We have a unique perspective, as our customer base goes from small SMEs, all the way through to largest corporates. As a result, we help give our customers the best for their business. We utilise our experience of working with SMEs and how that can help larger businesses, and vice versa, meaning all of our customers are beneficiaries of our collective business experience.” www.neuways.com In the scramble to provide workers the opportunity to work from home, many organisations were forced to take shortcuts and make quick decisions to make data available to employees. Now cybersecurity, compliance and legislation are at the forefront; a Gartner study published in October 2021 identified that ransomware attacks are the number one concern to business executives, beyond the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 and supply chain disruption. “By applying our expertise, we continue to support our customers end-to-end with as much or as little involvement as they need to deliver their digital strategy successfully.” www.key-digital.co.uk James Overton, Director, SOS Systems “When you are looking at the MPS landscape, it is becoming more obvious that printing itself has become less important, whilst the methods of printing and the security concerns around it, are more of a focus. “This change has created different conversations, we are now talking about endpoint security and cloud technologies as part of the discussion, which by nature creates opportunity for further soft services and professional services consultancy. “Personally this is where I see the opportunity for growth, MPS vendors are being forced to educate themselves in these other areas and that gives them a new level of credibility from the client side, as well as a new range of software to provide. “Most MPS vendors are reviewing or shaking up their approach to market at the moment and we are no different. Ultimately, with a possibly permanent forecasted reduction in click revenue, to stand still would be foolish. We are looking at new areas to diversify into, that complement our existing services continued... Martin Roberts James Overton
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