technologyreseller.co.uk 17 know that that partner can help them transform their business. Finding those individuals is a challenge. TR: Could vendors and distributors do more to help overcome these challenges? DM: For me, one of the greatest strengths of Ricoh’s Partner Channel business is its pre- and post-sales support. On DocuWare alone, we’ve got three individuals helping and supporting partners, day in, day out. They can help partners with customer conversations, with demos, with proofs of concept. The only thing we want a partner to talk to the customer about is pounds and pence and any extra wraparound they do. With every new technology solution we bring out, we make sure we’ve got pre- and post-sales teams in place to help partners on their journey. TR: Are your customers becoming more demanding, and if so, in what ways? DM: They’re not demanding in a negative sense. I think they’ve become more informed than they’ve probably ever been, and more strategic and futurefocused. They’ve done their homework. They know a lot about the products that are already out there and want their technology solution providers to bring them innovation, challenge the status quo and push boundaries. How are you going to help me and my business? What fresh ideas are you going to bring? Or are you going to be one more person selling a bit of technology who will disappear until it needs refreshing in a couple of years? TR: If you could change one aspect of your job, what would it be and why? DM: Fewer Teams calls. Often a simple email would suffice, instead of having to jump on a 10-minute call, which then becomes a 20-minute call and then a 30-minute call. My team works in sales. We want to be in front of partners, building relationships. There’s nothing better than doing this face-to-face and shaking someone’s hand. Online, it’s too easy for people to look at their emails or pay attention to whatever else is going on in the background. https://www.ricoh.co.uk/about-us/ TR: How have you changed or are you changing your business operations to exploit new opportunities? DM: By offering new digital solutions for our partner channel – we know they work, we know they’re suitable for a partner channel, we know there’s good margin and an ongoing digital revenue stream for partners – and by boosting our pre-sales and professional services team to support partners in selling those solutions. That’s a cost to us, but we know it produces results and we’ve already seen growth from that investment. On top of that, we’re drinking our own champagne. We’re a massive global business with some really tricky workflows, and I’m seeing more and more of these being digitised and optimised with DocuWare. We’ve also installed smart lockers in our offices around the country, which is very convenient when you need to collect a new laptop or a new phone for example. We’re investing in these technologies because we believe they will increase productivity and enable everyone to work smarter. TR: What do you see as the biggest challenges facing channel businesses today? DM: The big challenge for traditional print businesses is the same one we had – the decline in unit sales and print volumes. That is a big, big challenge for them, along with the tough economic climate. It can also be a challenge finding the right areas to diversify into. Print partners typically go down the telecoms route first, then try a bit of managed IT, but you can’t do these things half-heartedly. They need to invest in the right people to sell those products, articulate the benefits and support them, because customers today are asking for a clear ROI before they commit to anything and want to person. I don’t think we’re going to see a paperless office. I think it’ll become the less-paper office, with smart workflows and automation. TR: What recent wins are you most proud of? Are there any that really stand out? DM: There’s lots of wins every day. As New Business Partner Director, it’s great seeing new partners that we’ve onboarded as startups suddenly become successful businesses. One new partner we recently onboarded in Scotland, a really small partner, went out on its own and won a massive DocuWare deal with a well-known global hotel brand. That just shows how a small startup business, supported by us, can win a deal by bringing a new technology, a new solution to a global customer. That really stood out for me. If you look at that partner, on its own it’s quite small. Do we need another small partner doing a tiny bit of print here and there? Probably not. But the people involved were aware of how powerful DocuWare is and the level of expertise and support we can provide – and also how few people in their area have process automation conversations with their customers. That’s what swung it for me. TR: Where is business proving most difficult? DM: Device consolidation. Year-on-year there’s been a significant drop in the amount of print devices going out and the associated print volumes. Things have levelled off a bit, but they’re never going back to pre-Covid levels. Hybrid working means people have smaller offices and don’t need lots of multi-functions around their workspace. That’s been really, really tricky and reinforces why we have pivoted towards digital transformation and digital solutions. Q&A
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