01732 759725 26 Q&A providers have developed their capability organically and fundamentally sell one service, so they haven’t developed much understanding around the changes that need to happen within an organisation before launching a new security service, say, in terms of infrastructure or product management capability. Two years ago, when we started on this journey, we invested in and created a product management capability, and we are continuing to invest in it because we want to make sure that whenever we launch a new service we are absolutely ready to deliver that service and support that service. We now have a quite sizeable product management team devoted to identifying new services to launch and doing all the preparation work, identifying what we need to do in service, what we need to do in supply chain, what we need to do in marketing, what we need to do in sales so that the entire organisation is ready to launch that new service. It is very easy to go on a website and advertise a lot of services. But it is another thing to have an entire organisation that is ready to deliver that service in a consistent, knowledgeable and reliable way. TR: Is your HP connection helpful in this regard? AM: Definitely. HP provides a lot of technology and support to a very large number of channel partners, and we are one of those channel partners. Even if we are part of the HP group, we are a channel partner and every channel partner can access the broad portfolio that HP has at its disposal. Where HP has helped and continues to help Apogee specifically is in providing support for investment. At Apogee we are in the best of both worlds because we continue to operate with the agility and the speed of an independent channel partner and, on the other hand, we have the capability to grow and invest and discuss our requirements with a company that understands technology, that understands the opportunities that exist in the marketplace. Two years ago, when we suggested to the boards that govern Apogee that we invest to enable us to offer managed IT services it was a very quick and easy discussion. Probably the biggest change that has happened since our acquisition by HP is that we’re not afraid of investing as long as we know that the investment will bring a return. Our timescale has extended significantly versus the timescale that this company was operating to before 2018. TR: What strengths do you think your background in print, gives you in addressing the IT services market? AM: First and foremost, our company has only two assets, customers and employees. So the first strength is our client base. We have in excess of 11,000 clients that we serve every single day with managed print. That is the biggest strength we have, the relationships with those clients and the trust we can build in understanding their customer environment, understanding their journey and helping them through their transformation. The second asset is the people associated with the infrastructure that we have put in place. Every single day we manage in excess of 150,000 devices distributed across the UK, Ireland and Germany, where we have a small presence, so we have a very well distributed clients. In the case of desktops or laptops for example we would identify the right device for your needs; configure it or image it as it is called in the PC world; deliver it to the right location after the device has been properly tagged; provide remote monitoring and remote support throughout the device’s lifecycle; provide break-fix services if needed; and, last but not least, provide end of life disposal. We include everything from defining the right device to managing its end of life all in a single contract similar to what we do in managed print services. This is our starting point in managed IT services, but this year and going forward we will be launching additional services in the areas of security, cloud services and eventually networking services. TR: What are the challenges you face in expanding your IT services offering, and can you do it organically or do you think you will need to make acquisitions? AM: Up to now we have taken the steps I’ve described organically, but I don’t exclude the possibility that as we grow our managed IT services business and expand our portfolio of services we may look at acquisitions. Our single biggest challenge so far has been to inject into the organisation a capability that previously did not exist in a well structured and formalised way, and that is the process required to prepare for the launch of a new product or service. Most managed print service ...continued continued...
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