01732 759725 48 Q&A View from the channel Q: How’s business; better or worse than 12 months ago? And how confident are you about the future? A: Definitely better! We got very lucky in Q1 with several large wins, which got the year off to a great start. We have also partnered with a UK market leader in workplace products and are very excited at presenting the Workplace Print and Data offering to their thousands of customers! Q: In what areas are you experiencing strongest demand? A: Across the board, but especially A3 colour. The Epson heat-free devices continue to be extremely popular, and the new range of Sharp and Kyocera devices look like they have continued to improve on their technology. We also installed our first Kyocera TASKalfa Pro 15000c inkjet production print device which looks like a ‘game changer’! Q: How have you changed/are you changing business operations to exploit new opportunities? A: We have recently added Redstor to our partner line-up, so we are now also offering data management and protection to our clients. We have been particularly successful in the education and legal sectors, so have decided to add the high speed, low cost and energy saving devices from Riso to our portfolio of suppliers which allows us to cover every sector. Q: What do you see as the biggest challenges facing channel businesses today? A: Stock!!!! Although things are slowly improving, it’s still a struggle to even fulfil our current orders let alone any new ones, but fingers crossed! John Reynolds, Co–Founder & Managing Director, Workplace Print and Data Q: Could vendors and distributors do more to help you overcome them? And if so, what? A: Our relationships with our suppliers has never been better. We hold regular ‘face to face’ meetings with them to stay up to speed with the fast changing technology. They continue to help us challenge the ‘status quo’ of our industry with market leading products and our direct, plain speaking and transparent approach to our customers has been warmly received. I’ve been in this industry for over 40 years and have never seen a better opportunity to help customers out of the old traditional high cost contracts that have been around for years. Our totally bespoke approach together with completely transparent agreements are a ‘breath of fresh air’ according to one recent new customer! Q: If you could change one aspect of your job what would it be and why? A: Apart from changing the price of diesel back to £1 per litre, I wouldn’t change a thing! I work for the fastest growing and best company in the industry with the best people and sell the best products and services. Why change any of that! www.workplaceprintanddata.com (l-r) Antony Butcher, Service Director; John Reynolds, Managing Director; Adele Quinn, Senior Channel Marketing Manager at Redstor; and Ben Place, Sales Director
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