PRINTITRESELLER.UK 39 Q&A Following its recent Partner Summit 2022, Michelle Ryder caught up with Steve Holmes, EMEA Regional Director at PaperCut, to discuss how the company is investing in the channel Partner Power with PaperCut MR: Speaking of that, what sort of PaperCut has emerged post-pandemic? SH: Well, if it’s true that necessity is the mother of invention, then the pandemic made it necessary to look at innovative ways in which to make our business more agile in order to cope with the challenges COVID-19 presented. PaperCut had a head start on that front, as we were early adopters of the sort of working practices and internal processes that became the norm during lockdowns. I think our culture flourished during the pandemic. We grew better at really listening – to our ‘Papercutters’, our partners, and our customers – but also better at understanding and responding in a way that really benefited our key stakeholders. From a pure numbers perspective, and to demonstrate the resilience of our business, at the start of the pandemic we made it our mission to not lose any headcount. I’m thrilled to be able to say that, not only did we achieve that, but we actually grew our team. We emerged from the pandemic leaner, smarter and more agile than before. Michelle Ryder (MR): 2022 marks the year of your first Partner Summit. Why now, and what did your partners learn? Steve Holmes (SH): PaperCut is over 20 years old now, and we have been building our exceptional partner network diligently over that time. We felt that with the recent launch of new products, combined with our partner-led strategy for future growth, 2022 was the year for us to bring our partners together in one place. The Partner Summit 2022 was a platform for us to share our vision with them and to outline how working with us can help their business to grow. We were able to demonstrate the scope and strength of the support we can provide to assure our partners’ future growth. To that end, we outlined our initiatives and our solutions designed to accelerate our partners’ path to success. We shared our strategic vision and our channel-friendly solutions that help to make print easy and secure, as well as providing in-depth updates and roadmaps on PaperCut’s Solution portfolio, which includes PaperCut MF and PaperCut Hive. Of course, we would have preferred to have hosted the Partner Summit face-toface with our partners and sooner, but the pandemic had other plans for everyone! MR: Beyond the side effects of the pandemic, what are the issues print resellers are grappling with today? SH: One of their main concerns is that, given recent events, print has slipped from being a top IT priority, even though unmanaged print can be costly, inefficient and a security risk. Those issues are compounded by hybrid working models, where there’s even less control over where documents are printed, what documents are printed, where they’re left and how responsibly they’re disposed of. On a more practical level, supply chain complications combined with the current chip shortage, has impacted the production of new MFDs, lumbering resellers’ customers with devices that are potentially falling behind on security, productivity, connectivity and energy saving features. MR: What qualities does PaperCut look for in new partners? SH: Experience in print and document management – combined with connections to the whole print ecosystem – is a bonus, but we’re looking for continued... Steve Holmes One of their main concerns is that, given recent events, print has slipped from being a top IT priority, even though unmanaged print can be costly, inefficient and a security risk
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDUxNDM=