PrintIT - Spring 2015 - page 32

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PRINT.IT
01732 759725
INTERVIEW
Lexmark has changed its logo for the
first time in many years, replacing
the familiar grey and red diamond
with a square aperture in shades
of green and introducing a new
typeface with a quirky rotated x.
Perhaps more significantly, it has
also consolidated all acquisitions,
including Perceptive Software, under
the Lexmark brand for the first time.
The Perceptive name will now only
be used in product names, such
as Perceptive Content, Perceptive
Intelligent Capture and Perceptive
Search.
The new brand identity including
the tagline ‘Open the possibilities’
is designed to reflect Lexmark’s
broader offering as it continues
to evolve from print specialist to
solutions and services provider.
Since 2010, Lexmark has made
a series of strategic acquisitions,
gaining expertise in intelligent
capture, enterprise content
management, healthcare content
management, financial process
automation and enterprise search.
Following the unveiling of the new
logo,
PrintIT
Editor James Goulding
spoke to Danny Molhoek, Managing
Director & Country General Manager
for Lexmark in the UK and Ireland,
about the company’s new brand and
strategic direction.
PrintIT:
What is the thinking
behind the new brand identity?
Danny Molhoek:
We have a new
logo and a nice new colour to go with
it, but the bigger message is that
we are now positioning ourselves in
the marketplace as one big brand
that incorporates everything we
offer. Previously we kept Perceptive
Software as a global brand, but we
feel now is the time to change that
and make it clear to the market that
there’s one Lexmark and one brand.
From now on, everything that is
under the flag of Lexmark is going to
be named Lexmark, including future
acquisitions – we are incorporating
Readsoft now and have made a
bid for Kofax. All software brands
are going to be part of the Lexmark
enterprise software division. But
we are not going to throw away
the Perceptive name completely; it
will still be used in several product
names like Perceptive Content,
Perceptive Intelligent Capture and
Perceptive Search.
Perceptive has been part of
Lexmark for five years. It is time to
make this change.
PrintIT:
Why didn’t you do it
before?
Danny Molhoek:
It’s something
that’s been on our minds for a while,
but there were benefits in keeping
the Perceptive name, especially in
the US where it’s a very, very strong
brand. Also, buying an organisation
the size of Perceptive is something
that we needed to learn lessons
from. In the last 12 months we
have become much more agile and
quicker about these kinds of things.
We have learnt from our experience
with Perceptive Software and will
use that wisdom going forward by
incorporating the other companies.
PrintIT:
Do you think that before
there might have been a stigma
about being a hardware company
but now you are far enough down
the line as a solutions provider for
that not to apply?
Danny Molhoek:
I joined Lexmark at
the end of the ‘90s and even in those
days I never regarded Lexmark as
a typical print company. We always
positioned ourselves as a company
that would tie everything together
from a network point of view, and we
were very early with managed print
services (MPS) and the software and
support services that we’ve always
brought to market. So, I don’t see it
like that.
But from a marketing perspective,
I can understand why people might
say ‘You are comfortable now
because 30% of your revenue on
a worldwide basis is tied up with
software services and managed
print services, so that part of your
company is big enough to make the
change’. There probably is some
truth in that.
PrintIT:
With all your acquisitions,
it’s surprising that still only 30% of
your revenue comes from software
and services.
Danny Molhoek:
I would beg to
differ. It comes down to how you
classify things. A click contract for us
is not MPS. All our straight-out click
contracts – and we do a lot here in
the UK through the channel – are not
classified by us internally as MPS.
For us, MPS means the worldwide
accounts that we handle ourselves.
PrintIT:
Are you finding it difficult
to expand your MPS business
because the customer base is
limited? You are not going to turn
the whole market over to MPS.
Danny Molhoek:
Lexmark divides
MPS into four different levels: you
PrintIT
talks to Danny Molhoek about Lexmark’s new brand
identity and what it represents
New look,
same vision
Perceptive
has been
part of
Lexmark for
five years.
It is time to
make this
change.
Danny Molhoek, Managing Director
& Country General Manager,
Lexmark UK & Ireland
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