Dealer Support August 2014

August 2014 Issue 230

INSPIRING BUSINESS SOLUTIONS FOR DEALERS

DEALER SUPPORT AUGUST 2014 | ISSUE 230 THE PEOPLE FOCUSED DEALER | TWENTY:TWENTY PART 3 | SIZE MATTERS

DEVELOPING PEOPLE Why people really do matter to one successful dealer TWENTY:TWENTY Predicting the future of the industry SIZE MATTERS The growing popularity of compact office machines

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FROM THE EDITOR

Taking on too much?

INDUSTRY

R&D

THE IMPORTANCE OF R&D How do manufacturers work out what customers will be buying in the future?

Austin Clark talks to Kevin Wharton, marketing manager at ExaClair, about the benefits, practicalities and timings of research and development in the office products industry

R&D

How is consumer research impacting your product line-up?

Particularly important for brands like Europa, Offissimo and Rhodia is research into what colours and materials are proving most popular and where the fashions are headed. Our Rhodia range, for example, has expanded to include a minimalist and elegant white range and Rhodiarama, super premium in quality and funky and colourful in design. Both product ranges were designed specifically to service predicted trends and gaps in the market.

How do you identify predicted trends and gaps in the market?

With desktop accessories, product development is governed by research into popular types of products as well as where and how people are working. We know there is an increasing number of mobile salespeople, for instance, so appropriate products are designed to be practical, multi-purpose, durable and lightweight.

How far in advance do you work?

How far in advance we would start research and development depends first and foremost on the lead times of the manufacturing facility in use. Having a manufacturing facility in the UK gives us shorter lead times and the flexibility to use more recent research.

This is particularly useful for product development based on the more frivolous consumer tendencies, like colour and material preferences, where we would use recent and reliable research - just six months to a year before production.

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The World Cup and Commonwealth Games have recently drawn to a close. How important are events like these to product development?

Some products are designed with an event or celebration in mind, like the Olympics or the release of a film; increased demand for related products is definitely there. Research to predict the buying patterns surrounding these occasions starts between two and four years prior to the event to take full advantage of predictions as to what type of products will be most profitable.

How are new product ideas tested? How do you work out if they’re right? Do you involve people from the industry?

Focus groups are a good way of testing how new products will be received and at ExaClair we encourage open discussion with colleagues, friends

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A frequent conversation I have is one about the sheer volume of products and services dealers are offering these days. Everything from insurance policies to plants are being offered alongside pens and paperclips these days, as enterprising dealers look for their own little niche. Wholesaler SKU numbers are seemingly endless and, if you factor in the products offered by the tech distributors, there are tens of thousands of products and services begging to be sold by dealers.

Picking up as much spend as possible is all well and good, but as an industry are we in danger of offering too much choice? Can dealers really sell everything with the product knowledge required to ensure their customers are getting the best products for their needs? Is the available information on each product good enough?

Of course, with today’s wholesale model and new routes to market, dealers need never touch a product when making a sale, letting the wholesalers take the strain of picking, packing and delivering thousands of product lines from their warehouses that seemingly have expanding walls. That, however, puts a massive strain on the wholesalers and leaves dealers vulnerable if something goes wrong – hence the painful memories of earlier this year.

Bearing that in mind, the logical next question is whether or not wholesalers are trying to do too much. Having worked in other sectors where the wholesalers do very little, if anything, to support customers, I’m happy to say that the OP wholesalers do a brilliant job and offer incredible support to dealers when it comes to catalogues, marketing, events and much more. But, throwing 19 into the mix an alternative view, would our industry be better off if the wholesalers concentrated on logistics and stock management, returning margin to the manufacturers who could then market their products more efficiently? It works in the IT sector after all.

I may well be barking mad for suggesting this but I would love to know your thoughts on the subject – drop me a line at austin.clark@intelligentmedia.co.uk. In the meantime, enjoy this month’s magazine.

AUGUST 2014 www.dealersupport.co.uk

and a few customers at all stages of development. We tend to focus on end-user feedback during product development and look to dealers for their input on packaging and pack quantities, making sure we understand what sizes and configurations work best.

“We tend to focus on enduser feedback during product development, and look to dealers for their input on packaging and pack quantities”

How long does it take to get a new product idea to market?

The time taken to get a new product to market varies depending on what the product is and what it is being developed for. Often a new product will have used the successful elements of a previous product so some existing manufacturing processes can be used and this reduces lead times to eight to twelve weeks.

At ExaClair we are able to work on these shorter and more flexible production schedules because we have our own manufacturing facility based in the UK, giving us greater control over the specifics of manufacture. When you add this to the research time, you are looking at six months to a year from concept to availability of a brand new product.

Manufacturing speed and flexibility is certainly useful when you need to service a demand quickly, but it is sometimes worth taking more time over every stage of development, ensuring the final product is born out of detailed research and efficient manufacturing design.

What feedback will you look for once a product has entered the market?

Sales figures are the first pointers we would use to assess the success of a new product; following that we would research repeat order patterns and gather information from wholesalers and dealers, as well as our own sales people, to find out if there is consistent feedback we can learn from.

Why should dealers embrace new product developments and introductions?

The best defence dealers have against a changing and challenging market is to understand customers’ fluid requirements and priorities.

Therefore, to stay ahead of the game, dealers should think about the full range of items that may be required and communicate their complete portfolio to customers. Lastly, stocking a balanced product portfolio so profit margins are not reliant on bulk sales or high margin items is key, as it offers flexibility to ride out periods of low sales in certain areas and, of course, offers the opportunity to appeal to a wider range of customers. DS

www.dealersupport.co.uk AUGUST 2014

“Rapid technology developments mean that smaller, quicker and smarter devices are in demand” EDITOR Austin Clark austin.clark@intelligentmedia.co.uk

DESIGNER/PRODUCTION Peter Hope-Parry peter.hope-parry@intelligentmedia.co.uk

SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER – MEDIA SOLUTIONS Matthew Moore matthew.moore@intelligentmedia.co.uk

SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGER Natalia Johnston natalia.johnston@intelligentmedia.co.uk

ACCOUNT MANAGER – MEDIA SOLUTIONS Krystle Davis krystle.davis@intelligentmedia.co.uk

PUBLISHER Vicki Baloch vicki.baloch@intelligentmedia.co.uk

DESIGNER Sarah Chivers sarah.chivers@intelligentmedia.co.uk

editor

CONTACT US

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INSPIRING BUSINESS SOLUTIONS FOR DEALERS

18

CONTENTS August 2014

INDUSTRY 08 NEWS AND VIEWS The latest news and views from the office products industry 12 SIZE MATTERS Why compact office machines are growing in popularity 16 THE FUTURE OF WORK Samsung reveals its office of the future predictions

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18 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT We discuss the benefits and practicalities of R&D

TWENTY:TWENTY 21 PART THREE: THE FUTURE The third installment of our series looks to the future of the industry and predicts how the industry needs to develop in order to survive

PEOPLE 30 DEVELOPING PEOPLE Why people really do matter to one successful dealer

MANAGEMENT 36 GROW YOUR BUSINESS Maximising the potential of IT accessories

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40 EFFORTLESS MANAGEMENT Empower your employees to become self-directing

USP 44 SEND ME A PROPOSAL Seven things you need to do before sending a proposal 46 MARKETPLACE How computer cleaning equals dealer profit growth 51 FINAL WORD Why now is the time to embrace technology

INDUSTRY

NEWS

NEWS Better Capital completes purchase of OfficeTeam Better Capital, the owner of Spicers, has purchased OfficeTeam from the Royal Bank of Scotland in a £90m deal. The investment company has acquired the reseller on a debt free basis using a different fund to the one Spicers is controlled by and reports indicate that OfficeTeam’s management team will remain unchanged.

The Royal Bank of Scotland obtained an 80% share in OfficeTeam last year from private equity firm AAC. In a London Stock Exchange statement Better Capital said it has agreed to buy Project Oliver Topco Limited and its subsidiaries, which trade as OfficeTeam, a supplier of products and services to businesses.

In the statement, Better Capital said OfficeTeam had pre-exceptional earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation of £13m for the year ended December 31, 2013. Better said it has committed a total of £90m of its 2012 fund to the investment, with a payment of £80m plus a further £10m to aid the company’s restructuring. Better’s last deal came in April 2013 when it acquired express delivery company City Link.

Campaign launched to get Britain stamping The Rubber Stamp Manufacturers Guild (RSMG), in conjunction with the BOSS Federation, is launching a new campaign to raise awareness of the many ways in which rubber stamps can be used, both in the office and at home.

The month-long initiative, sponsored by ASAP Stamps, Colop UK, EM Richfords, E. Reiner & Co, Stamps Direct and Trodat UK, will begin on 1 October 2014, aiming to inform the office products and craft and hobby worlds, as well as the general public, of the breadth of applications for rubber stamps and how they can be used to improve menial office tasks and creatively personalise items.

A consumer-driven website will be launched to promote rubber stamping and to inform and inspire visitors to give stamping a go. A host of free consumer marketing tools have also been created for trade resellers to encourage their customers to get involved in the campaign.

The campaign will be introduced at the RSMG Out of Town Weekend at the Thornton Hall Hotel and Spa, Wirral, between 19-21 September. For more information and to get involved, contact Liz Whyte, RSMG Secretary, on 01924 203338 or email liz@bossfederation.co.uk.

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Footy fun raises money for charity Prima’s avid football fans are always up for a challenge, participating in a football match every Friday. So, when the annual BCH Charity Fives match rolled around, the Prima football team couldn’t wait to get involved again.

The annual charity football game is organised on behalf of Ellis Hobbs and his family, in order to repay Birmingham Children’s Hospital (BCH) for the lifesaving treatment Ellis received in 2011, when Ellis was diagnosed with an extremely rare heart defect (TAPVD) at just eight days old. Prima’s general manager, Ian Buckley, is Ellis Hobbs’ proud godfather and uncle, and the organiser of the BCH Charity Fives Football Tournament each year. This year Prima Software sponsored the shirts for the event and eight members of the Prima team represented the BCH Allstars side against a select Coventry team.

On Saturday 12 July the team took the pitch at Select Security Stadium in Widnes, with just two goals, to raise money for Birmingham Children’s Hospital and to win. Despite taking an early lead and dominating the first half, the BCH Allstars went in 2-1 down. The Coventry side started the second half brightly and turned their good play into their third goal. This pushed the BCH Allstars into action, peppering of the Coventry goal, with a man of the match performance from the Coventry goalkeeper, he saved all before him. With five minutes to go the pressure eventually tolled and BCH Allstars got one back setting up a tense finale but Coventry held out for a 3-2 victory.

Football aside, the real winner was Birmingham Children’s Hospital with an impressive £1908 raised collectively for the Ellis Big Thank You Foundation.

NEWS

Osbornes signs up to Office Power Office Power has added Osborne Stationers to its network of dealers. Osbornes is currently rebuilding its network and MD John Waits sees the partnership with Office Power and Osborne Stationers Direct as a key initiative for the future expansion of the business.

“We are in the very fortunate position of having a brand that is associated with stationery right across the Midlands through our retail presence,” said Waits. “We took a look at all the alternatives in the market and Office Power is the only complete end-to-end solution that enables us to leverage our retail strength in other channels.

Our partnership with Office Power gives our customers more choice in their buying behaviour – we are really excited about the growth opportunities the Power agreement opens up for us.”

Pilot targets back to school sales Pilot Pens has launched an innovative back to school campaign to engage with parents and children during the summer months. The campaign includes extensive social, outdoor and digital activity, aimed at raising awareness of the brand’s FriXion, Acroball and V5 products, and it’s ongoing #HappyWriting campaign.

Stuart Barker, marketing manager for Pilot Pens, said: “The back to school marketing period is huge, and we wanted to make a real impact on consumers to ensure we stayed front-of-mind before those allimportant pencil case-stocking shopping trips later this summer. The pivotal activity is the launch of a creative competition encouraging parents and children to send Pilot a postcard about their summer breaks to be in with a chance to win a three-night family holiday worth £800.”

Sad death of industry stalwart announced Roy Cowan, the highly respected chairman of UKOS, died last month aged 78. During his long career in the stationery industry Cowan achieved many great things including the development of Ofrex and its subsequent merger with Niceday to create Guilbert UK. Recognising his endeavours, Roy received a lifetime achievement award from the BOSS Federation.

Ian Haywood, MD of UKOS, said: “Roy was away caravanning, an activity he enjoyed very much, but became ill during Saturday. He was taken to the local hospital, but sadly suffered a heart attack in the early hours of Sunday morning.

UKOS was a very big part of Roy’s life and his commitment to the company was without doubt. He will be sorely missed both professionally and personally.”

PLUS Japan heading to the UK Robinson Young and PLUS Japan have announced a new sales and distribution agreement that will introduce the Japanese manufacturer’s range of stationery and craft products to the UK. The PLUS range combines inventive design and engineering excellence and includes unique products such as the Staple free Stapler and Guard Your ID Roller.

PLUS already distribute in the Far East, US and Western Europe, shipping over 70 million correction tapes per year making them no.1 in the world.

Julian Cronin, PLUS UK sales partner, said: “PLUS is delighted to be working with Robinson Young, and our partnership will make PLUS products readily available to the UK retail and office products markets. PLUS’ innovative products and Robinson Young’s expertise in this market make for a perfect fit and we are looking forward to a productive and successful partnership.”

“Demand for compact printers, whether single or multi-function devices (MFDs), has never been higher” Matthew Searle, Canon UK and Ireland talking about the rising popularity of small footprint printers

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INDUSTRY

NEWS

Prima and Evolution in FusionPLUS deal Prima and Evolution Software have announced a new long-term partnership that will deliver web-enabled FusionPLUS data to all Prima customers.

Prima’s development director, Steve McLaughlin, said: “FusionPLUS data will significantly increase the information available on product records to enable easier and more accurate searching. FusionPLUS data will also offer Prima customers further enriched content such as enhanced images, video, and downloadable documentation such as user manuals and COSHH sheets, where available.

“FusionPLUS data will be included as standard within the Prima software package, delivering immediate benefits such as attribute filtering, to end-users.

Attribute filtering is an intuitive way of quickly drilling down to the required item using characteristics such as, but not limited to, colour, brand and size.”

news in brief...

JAMES STACEY REJOINS ECI ECi Software Solutions has announced that James Stacey has re-joined the company and will assume the day-to-day sales role for the office products/office equipment division of ECi Europe. “I am delighted to be returning to ECi,” said Stacey. “Much has changed since I managed the Customer Services team several years ago, and I am excited by the opportunities that the transition to Horizon SQL and Progress present.”

RENZ TO WORK WITH PPS Field marketing agency, Product Promotion Services (PPS), has been appointed by punching, binding and laminating machine manufacturer, Renz, to provide field sales representation into the UK independent dealer market. PPS account managers will be promoting the full Renz product range to

A&A supports local charity A&A Business Supplies in Southampton last week presented Wessex Heartbeat with the first ever grant made by the 5 Star Charitable Trust, supported by Spicers.

A percentage of all 5 Star products sold by A&A is donated to the Charitable Trust, to benefit local charities across the UK. This inaugural £3,000 award came about when Steve Taylor, MD of A&A, nominated Wessex Heartbeat, and put forward the Charity’s AdoptARoom scheme in Heartbeat House for consideration.

As a result of this contribution, two rooms have been adopted and funded by the 5 Star Charitable Trust for four years each.

Heartbeat House provides vital, free, home from home accommodation for over 1,500 relatives of cardiac patients a year while their loved ones are being treated in the specialist Wessex Cardiac Centre.

Taylor commented: “As a Company it’s great to be able to give something back to our community, and we’re delighted to do something for Wessex Heartbeat. We know that the donation from the 5 Star Charitable Trust, and A&A’s own donations really benefits patients and their families.”

DIARY 3 October 2014 Prima Cloud Launch Event Stationers Hall, London 20 November 2014 Integra National Conference 2014 East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham

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AUGUST 2014 www.dealersupport.co.uk

independent dealers across the country and will also be available to support dealers in major end-user presentations.

VASANTA CLIMBS UP LEAGUE TABLE Significant growth has made the Vasanta Group one of the highest climbers in a respected annual table of best performing companies. Vasanta is the second highest climber in Yorkshire Business Insider’s Top 500 list, leaping an impressive 363 places to 29th in the ranking, which is compiled using an average of the profit and turnover of companies in the past year.

OFFICE FRIENDLY HONOURS SALES STAR

Steve Harrop of Office Friendly announces the winner of the OFDA Salesperson of the Year award as Brother UK’s Sara Diggle presents the trophy to Rosalie Gott of The Paperchain Partnership.

Office Friendly has recognised top sales talent with an inaugural Salesperson of the Year award.

Rosalie Gott of The Paperchain Partnership was honoured at the dealer group’s annual national sales conference in June after winning more than 30 new accounts for the High Wycombe-based independent.

Dealers were invited to nominate staff who had made exceptional contributions to their business over the last 12 months.

“Rosalie has been a huge success this year, retaining customers, winning new clients and growing their spend through new product lines,” said Michael Lowes, sales and marketing director at Paperchain.

“She is a true team player who works tirelessly, covering a huge area and client base with a smile and a will to succeed.”

Steve Harrop, managing director of Office Friendly, said the award was designed to pay tribute to skilled sales staff

working in an increasingly challenging environment.

“More than 500 internal and external salespeople are tasked with boosting business for our member companies and this award is recognition for one standout individual,” he said.

“Rosalie has exceeded both her own targets and the expectations of her employers.

She deserves the accolade - against strong competition - not only because of her outstanding work, but also her positive approach and constant enthusiasm.”

Sara Diggle, head of reseller sales at Brother UK, which sponsored the award, said: “We were delighted to sponsor the first OFDA Salesperson of the Year award, to recognise the commitment of dealer sales personnel and the support they provide Brother and the industry.

“It was fantastic to see Rosalie win the award in recognition of the excellent support and service she delivers to The Paperchain Partnership and to all of her customers.”

For more information about Office Friendly’s free sales academy training days, contact Keeley Shepherd at keeley.shepherd@officefriendly.co.uk

INDUSTRY

FEATURE PRINTERS COMPACT

Compact office machines With office space at a premium the footprint of office machines really matters. Austin Clark discusses the development of more compact printers and MFPs and finds out how dealers can maximise sales

W

ith the cost of prime office space shooting upwards and the lines between home and office blurring, size really does matter when it comes to office machines. A whole raft of end-users, from estate agents to architects, are looking to move to smaller, more cost-effective premises (if they haven’t already done so) leading to demand for machines with a smaller footprint that still offer excellent print quality and a wide range of functions.

“While we saw the market staying reasonably flat last year, growth in the personal use colour market is expected this year,” says Alison Locke, marketing communications manager at Olivetti UK. “According to InfoSource, the overall sales of personal MFPs are expected to continue to increase

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slowly through the forecast period at a CAGR of just under 2%. Mono products are expected to remain flat although at Olivetti we have seen a slight rise in demand for mono compact MFPs and printers.”

When it comes to the reasons for the increased demand Stuart Mabe, product manager at Brother UK, explains: “Rapid developments in technology mean that both consumers and businesses are looking for smaller, quicker and smarter devices all the time. This is no different in the print market. In business the growth of agile workers has driven sales of compact machines as people look to purchase printers and all-in-ones that are suitable for a small home office but still offer a strong enough feature-set to meet their needs. In certain vertical sectors, such as retail, office spaces are particularly small and printers have to fit into very compact spaces without sacrifice on

COMPACT PRINTERS FEATURE 03_CompanyName_Head

feature-sets. It’s the same principle in traditional office spaces; businesses expect their devices to offer the best features and be both multifunctional and adaptable. In many cases, more compact machines keep the office looking tidier and make changing layouts easier.”

Matthew Searle, director, Canon Partner Channel, Canon UK and Ireland, adds: “Demand for compact printers, whether single or multi-function devices (MFDs), has never been higher. Businesses are either desperately squeezed for space in existing offices or are catering for an ever more flexible workforce, with more hot desks, and so are able to pare down their equipment. Simply look at all the businesses operating at shared working environments such as London’s TechHub, where every rented square foot of office space impacts an organisation’s bottom line.

In places like these, there just isn’t enough space for several standalone devices like printers, copiers, fax machines and scanners. As a result, organisations are looking for compact devices that can fulfil all of these document management functions in one single unit, without compromising on quality.”

Same quality, smaller package When it comes to print, quality matters, so what are manufacturers doing to ensure quality is maintained despite the smaller, more compact outer casing? Ben Appleby, technology product manager at VOW, says: “As technology advances there are no brand new machines being released, just alterations being made to existing ones. Precision core technology is being used in inkjet machine print heads and laser machines are warming up faster thanks to the use of different materials with better conductive properties.

“Machine size is shrinking but this is not just due to technology. There are different ink cartridges available that are space-saving within machines.

Previously the ink cartridge area would include a large void, but they are now in a small slot with very little spare space. Laser machines have not seen the same sort of advancement; they are still larger machines

“Organisations are looking for compact devices that can fulfil all of their document management functions in one single unit”

with large toners and drums and fusers, but the space left around these parts is shrinking, with components more compact but also very easily accessible.”

Andrew Hall, marketing manager, OKI Systems UK, adds: “Developments are always making things smaller while still increasing performance - just look at mobile phones over the last 10 to 15 years. A4 may be the defacto standard but our A3 devices are half the size they were in 2000!”

Hall reckons that printer dimensions will continue to reduce too. “It is a constant development objective of OKI to decrease size yet improve performance and with the likes of LED technology being used, the size of machines will continue to decrease.”

On the same topic, Locke explains: “Many of the smaller machines are now being built with highly intuitive colour touch screens, replacing keypads, as applications become more sophisticated and digitised, which would suggest that the application technology itself is becoming smaller and more able to fit into a screen-based panel – doing away with the need for large keypads.”

Desired specification When it comes to selling the equipment, Shaun Wilkinson, MD of UTAX (UK), says end-users are looking for a number of key features. “We are seeing trends towards longer life time and higher “preventative maintenance” cycles and environmental specs are more important to businesses than they were 10 years ago. As well as reducing the typical electricity consumption (TEC) value by between 30 to 50% in our new range of compact A4 MFPs another new feature which is popular with Local Authorities, GP surgeries, banks and insurance companies is a new ‘small form’ function. Many of our partners have discussed with us the growing requirement to print small runs of, for example, prescriptions, docket notes, registration documents, ID cards and other documents down to A6-size - and in duplex.”

Appleby states: “We find that the required

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INDUSTRY

COMPACT PRINTERS

spec depends on the company. If end-users are in a small office they usually need networking and wireless. Speed is important but not critical and the cost of cartridges is important. In a large office, networking and wireless with speed are usually essential, as is total cost of ownership. In the public sector, customers want an additional tray to print prescriptions, for cartridges to be cheap and the machine small enough to fit in a doctor’s office.”

Searle, meanwhile, comments: “Today, customers increasingly expect compact devices to offer the same premium features as their larger counterparts, such as support for mobile working. Compact all-in-one printers need to offer the ability to print and scan with ease from a range of mobile and other web-connected devices through dedicated apps or industry standards such as Apple AirPrint or Google Cloud Print. A high level of mobile and cloud connectivity provides small offices and workgroups with the flexibility they need to work more productively on the move when managing digital and paper-based documents.”

The sales message When it comes to selling the new breed of compact machines Mabe suggests: “Dealers should look to promote feature-rich compact machines.

Emphasising key features, such as connectivity and A3 print capabilities, will give customers the reassurance that they are not compromising on quality by purchasing a smaller machine.”

Print manufacturers can all help dealers by providing relevant marketing collateral promoting the key features of compact machines while it also pays to keep up-to-date with product developments via company sales representatives and channel managers.

“At Olivetti we provide all of our dealers with marketing materials, such as flyers, local

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AUGUST 2014 www.dealersupport.co.uk

“Emphasising key features, such as connectivity and A3 print capabilities, will give customers the reassurance that they are not compromising on quality by purchasing a smaller machine”

advertising, mailing pieces and materials for e-shots and websites, which can be tailored to specific aspects of any of the models the dealers sell,” explains Locke. “Mostly, messages relate to energysaving and the flexibility of the modular compact machines, which can grow with an end-user’s company. On the desktop printer side the increased promotion of managed print services is still very popular and most of the materials we have supplied dealers for their marketing activities is based around this theme and the extensive standard capabilities of the range of desktop printers.”

Searle says: “Dealers should be selling the versatility of compact printers or MFDs. They can be used as an independent stand-alone device in an office, but their features also allow dealers to easily integrate them into a larger, existing print fleet. For example, many compact devices support the MEAP and MEAP Web application platforms, which enable dealers to directly integrate the new models into existing document output and capture workflows to optimise end-to-end processes and increase office productivity. This way, dealers will be able to deploy a best-fit print fleet – spanning a mix of mono, colour, A4 and A3 devices – which meets their customers’ business requirements and print volumes.”

Hall concludes by commenting: “One single device with three or four main functions – print, copy, scan and, yes, fax, which is still required in certain sectors – really does make sense. Being able to connect remotely and manage documents electronically is also a real advantage. Above all else though, it really is about saving space, without sacrificing quality.”

As demand for compact machines increases, manufacturers have worked hard to provide the products and associated marketing collateral. All dealers need to do is take advantage and maximise profits from this lucrative area. DS

Putting you in control of your in-house print management The Olivetti / Y Soft Safe Q5 enables security, print and access management with monitoring and reporting across all print products regardless of the parent OEM and the number of people using the system.

It allows you to: •

Control your print costs

•

Manage a mixed fleet of machines

•

Reduce paper and toner wastage

•

Increase convenience for your users, as they

User access to MFPs and printers is secured and Print Roaming, Mobile Print and Rules-based printing are all possible across mixed media.

can print their jobs on any machine on the network •

Manage access throughout the company by PIN, Username or IC Contactless Card

•

Set up Rules-based Printing to allow just mono or colour output where appropriate

•

Negotiate with one company and receive one invoice

•

Work with your fully trained local “Best for Solutions” specialist offering the best advice and service

To find out more about the range please call: Abi Stafford on ++ 441908 547980 Email: a.stafford@olivetti.com

INDUSTRY

EVENT REVIEW Futurescape

Last month at its annual Futurescape event in London, Samsung revealed what it thinks the future of the workplace will look like in its ‘Future of Work’ report. Austin Clark reports on the key messages from the event

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he Future of Work whitepaper, created in partnership with Ovum Analysts, revealed an ever-shortening bridge between personal and workplace technology preferences, with applications taking hold in the world of work and up to 78% of people using their own devices for work.

As this bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend takes hold, employees are using multiple screens to get their jobs done, making use of PCs, tablets, and smartphones.

As a result, the whitepaper revealed that having tools, applications, and services available so that users can work wherever is convenient is the most important issue: multi-screening means that people are no longer tethered to their desk. Employees are increasingly gaining the power to choose the right device for the right job, at the right time, in the right place. A typical day for a worker might involve:

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• Checking email on a smartphone while still at home • Getting a view of team performance through an analytics application on a tablet while on the train into the office • Spending the morning writing up reports on a laptop in the office • Going to a client meeting in the afternoon and taking a tablet to present data and take quick notes • Participating in a team conference call when back at home, either as a voice call on the phone or as a video conference on the tablet or laptop Interestingly, the study highlighted that the amount of time spent working on the different devices is remarkably evenly spread. While laptop usage is slightly higher across most applications, people spend a significant amount of time on smaller devices. Even on office applications such as word processors and spreadsheets, where laptops might be expected to dominate time spend,

EVENT REVIEW Futurescape

around 33% of respondents spent half an hour or more per day using these applications on a smartphone or a tablet. The laptop is not necessarily being replaced by tablets or smartphones, but they are increasingly important, complementary devices.

With changing work trends, the new IT environment is complex and requires management and security of a new range of devices and applications, which businesses are finding it tough to get to grips with: for example, 62% of those employees who use their own devices at work do not have a corporate IT policy governing that behaviour. Tools such as Samsung Knox are available to simplify this complexity and help businesses release the value from greater levels of employee engagement.

Workplace solutions Of interest to resellers is the fact that there’s a real gap in the provision of necessary applications by IT departments, highlighting the potential becoming for solution-orientated offers. The study revealed that employees are setting up their own applications at work, for example cloud file sync and share services, due to IT departments falling short when it comes to providing resources for workers. Only 14% of office personnel prefer to use applications supplied by their employer with 18% admitting that their employers’ IT departments don’t provide them with the applications they need to do their jobs.

Over half (54%) of workers use instant messaging (IM) or web phone call technology (VoIP) while at work, with 30% of those having installed the relevant apps themselves. While the importance of communication through IM or VoIP services isn’t as high on the agenda, employers are seemingly more focused on providing sufficient file sharing solutions, with 35% providing the right technology for this function. Highlighting the ever-blending relationship between work and life, Samsung’s whitepaper points to the beginning of the end of the 9 to 5 working day, with 42% of employees strongly agreeing with the idea of being able to access work emails and apps outside of official working hours.

The meetings of tomorrow Also revealed at Futurescape was the ongoing merger of the physical and the virtual, with boardrooms set to evolve into a more futuristic state including high-tech solutions for conferencing.

Meetings are evolving, and boardrooms are now becoming more dynamic and efficient as real time collaboration technologies evolve, enabled by personal screens and communal screens such as flat panel displays. This will enable co-workers from around the world work side by side, with no airline ticket purchased saving both time and resources, something every economy will benefit from.

Looking deeper into the trend, the more time critical enterprises and support services are in the lead; thanks to

machine-to-machine technology and the Internet of Things, hands-on professionals are able to communicate effectively while on the job whether they are a paramedic at the scene of emergency or a mechanic on the roadside.

“It is incumbent on us to assist our dealers with migrating away from traditional sales and really deliver a compelling new sales story whereby print becomes part of a wider technology play”

What this means for the channel With the future of the workplace set to change, what does it mean for the channel? Mark Ash, General Manager - Print, Samsung UK and Ireland, says: “July’s Futurescape Event for our OA partners was a seminal moment for Samsung Print within the UK. We took the opportunity to bring our entire UK and Ireland dealer community together and showcase how technology can work in harmony together. Our message was clear, “It’s not just print”, which may seem like a strange message to give from the Print Division. However, we wanted to be clear that Samsung Electronics isn’t a printer company, however we are print people and it is incumbent on us to assist our dealers with migrating away from traditional sales and really deliver a compelling new sales story whereby print becomes part of a wider technology play.

“Over the afternoon and evening, we shared Samsung’s opinion of how connected technology can help businesses innovate and differentiate themselves.

The key theme was around the flow of information via screens and how information is shared, be it on a phone, tablet, display or in hardcopy. We also covered how our solutions not only benefit the end user, but also enable our dealers to save money on installation, management and maintenance of their devices, thus allowing them to be more competitive and retain margin. The attendance rate of 95% was the best attended print event thus far and it was pleasing to see that our exit survey also found that 95% of attendees believed that the content was very or extremely interesting and that they would like to attend another event.”

In summary, the future of work is going to be shaped by the tools we use, and these tools are becoming ever more mobile, smart and interconnected. New connected screens keep us constantly connected to cloud services, meaning that it is becoming possible to do work anytime, anywhere – as long as there is a connection.

This flexibility and agility offers a step-change in terms of making the average worker more productive and efficient, both inside and outside the office. But it also creates a range of challenges for enterprise IT – which must proactively embrace the pace of innovations and engage with lines of business to make the most of the opportunities that these new technologies provide around improving or completely transforming business processes. Becoming a truly mobile first business is a huge challenge, but will ultimately give a huge competitive edge to those who make the move first. DS

www.dealersupport.co.uk AUGUST 2014

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INDUSTRY

R&D

THE IMPORTANCE OF R&D How do manufacturers work out what customers will be buying in the future?

Austin Clark talks to Kevin Wharton, marketing manager at ExaClair, about the benefits, practicalities and timings of research and development in the office products industry

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R&D

How is consumer research impacting your product line-up?

Particularly important for brands like Europa, Offissimo and Rhodia is research into what colours and materials are proving most popular and where the fashions are headed. Our Rhodia range, for example, has expanded to include a minimalist and elegant white range and Rhodiarama, super premium in quality and funky and colourful in design. Both product ranges were designed specifically to service predicted trends and gaps in the market.

How do you identify predicted trends and gaps in the market?

With desktop accessories, product development is governed by research into popular types of products as well as where and how people are working. We know there is an increasing number of mobile salespeople, for instance, so appropriate products are designed to be practical, multi-purpose, durable and lightweight.

How far in advance do you work?

How far in advance we would start research and development depends first and foremost on the lead times of the manufacturing facility in use. Having a manufacturing facility in the UK gives us shorter lead times and the flexibility to use more recent research.

This is particularly useful for product development based on the more frivolous consumer tendencies, like colour and material preferences, where we would use recent and reliable research - just six months to a year before production.

The World Cup and Commonwealth Games have recently drawn to a close. How important are events like these to product development?

Some products are designed with an event or celebration in mind, like the Olympics or the release of a film; increased demand for related products is definitely there. Research to predict the buying patterns surrounding these occasions starts between two and four years prior to the event to take full advantage of predictions as to what type of products will be most profitable.

How are new product ideas tested? How do you work out if they’re right? Do you involve people from the industry?

Focus groups are a good way of testing how new products will be received and at ExaClair we encourage open discussion with colleagues, friends

and a few customers at all stages of development. We tend to focus on end-user feedback during product development and look to dealers for their input on packaging and pack quantities, making sure we understand what sizes and configurations work best.

“We tend to focus on enduser feedback during product development, and look to dealers for their input on packaging and pack quantities”

How long does it take to get a new product idea to market?

The time taken to get a new product to market varies depending on what the product is and what it is being developed for. Often a new product will have used the successful elements of a previous product so some existing manufacturing processes can be used and this reduces lead times to eight to twelve weeks.

At ExaClair we are able to work on these shorter and more flexible production schedules because we have our own manufacturing facility based in the UK, giving us greater control over the specifics of manufacture. When you add this to the research time, you are looking at six months to a year from concept to availability of a brand new product.

Manufacturing speed and flexibility is certainly useful when you need to service a demand quickly, but it is sometimes worth taking more time over every stage of development, ensuring the final product is born out of detailed research and efficient manufacturing design.

What feedback will you look for once a product has entered the market?

Sales figures are the first pointers we would use to assess the success of a new product; following that we would research repeat order patterns and gather information from wholesalers and dealers, as well as our own sales people, to find out if there is consistent feedback we can learn from.

Why should dealers embrace new product developments and introductions?

The best defence dealers have against a changing and challenging market is to understand customers’ fluid requirements and priorities.

Therefore, to stay ahead of the game, dealers should think about the full range of items that may be required and communicate their complete portfolio to customers. Lastly, stocking a balanced product portfolio so profit margins are not reliant on bulk sales or high margin items is key, as it offers flexibility to ride out periods of low sales in certain areas and, of course, offers the opportunity to appeal to a wider range of customers. DS

www.dealersupport.co.uk AUGUST 2014

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looking for something a little different?

Want to make yourself stand out from other office product dealers?

Olé is a valuable yet cost-effective tool that adds value to any independent dealer’s offering – the magazine designed specifically for customers of dealers, written and published by the people behind Dealer Support and USP. Delivered to your customers’ email inbox once a month in digital format, Olé is packed with office-related news, features and other fun stuff to enjoy in their coffee break.

It is a unique yet simple way of reminding your customers that you care.

How does it work?

There are a number of ways you can use Olé as a marketing tool.

We offer the following packages: 

An Olé partner package allowing you to send the e-zine out to your top members free of charge

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A ‘dual-branded’ version of the magazine, featuring your logo as well as your contact details

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And an ‘own label’ package, where all Olé branding is removed and replaced with your own branding.

For more information on how we can make Olé work for you, contact account manager Krystle Davis on 020 7288 6833 or krystle.davis@intelligentmedia.co.uk MARCH 2012 www.dealersupport.co.uk

www.olemagazine.co.uk

SOS

T W E N T Y: T W E N T Y S E R I E S

PART THREE

A VISION OF THE FUTURE

NEXT GENERATION MPS

UNDER PRESSURE

Predicting print and document management development

How will resellers have to develop?

IT AND THE OFFICE

The technology that will shape tomorrow’s businesses www.dealersupport.co.uk MARCH 2012

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TWENTY:TWENTY

Q&A

WELCOME TO THE T W E N T Y: T W E N T Y S E R I E S R E A DY F O R F U T U R E G R OW T H

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here has never been a better time for organisations to use technology to help them run more efficiently, innovate faster and excel in customer service. These are exciting times for our industry.

Our market is changing rapidly and moving from selling hardware and software to a services lead, document management focus. Device purchases are being subsumed in managed service contracts focused on print fleet optimisation, service and consumables, in a pay as you use type payment structure. These basic print services are being enhanced by software solutions providing usability, security and cost control.

The MPS opportunity is forecast to grow with a CAGR of 10% through to 2016.

However it is worth recognising that market dynamics have changed. MPS contracts have mainly been adopted by larger companies leaving the midmarket relatively untouched and the late adopter market now seeing the benefits to be gained.

With general client acceptance of MPS we have seen an explosion of providers, making differentiation a key challenge. For larger clients the forces of mobility, cloud and server consolidation have provided an answer. A business grade, private managed print service hosted in the cloud. For the mid-market, the growth of inexpensive, print device-embedded apps to tackle small workflow improvements will provide companies the business benefit beyond print that they are looking for.

Companies who have successfully implemented a managed print service are now looking at ‘what next’. This provides perhaps our greatest opportunity and challenge. With the print fleet as an effective on ramp to digitise documents, we are uniquely positioned to help clients tackle document workflow and process improvement initiatives. Gartner are predicting that by 2016 managed content service will have replaced at least a third of traditional MPS engagements.

But let’s not forget the other major opportunity in our market, one that is closer to our printing heritage than we might first perceive, that of 3D printing. A market requiring a similar business structure to 2D print but opening up completely new green field opportunities to transform business prototyping and production.

Helen George MDS Marketing Manager, KYOCERA Document Solutions UK

TWENTY:TWENTY

FUTURE MPS

THE NEXT G E N E R AT I O N MPS What does the future of print and document management look like and what role will dealers play in this? HELEN GEORGE, MDS Marketing Manager at KYOCERA Document Solutions UK, shares her thoughts

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FUTURE Q&A MPS

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ather than the new service many people still regard it as, the world of managed print services (MPS) continues to mature and evolve rapidly both in terms of how it’s treated by customers and the technology that’s behind it. With demand now driven by the end-user rather than service providers or manufacturers, the future success of dealers depends on embracing these changes.

Helen George, MDS Marketing Manager, comments: “From my point of view we very rarely find dealers that just sell equipment, what we’re seeing is two types of dealers emerge. There are those that are optimising print infrastructures and providing service and consumables within a click contract. This is hardware focused and generally delivers cost reduction and device availability benefits. Then there’s dealers who are adding on a layer of software and focus on cost control and usability where the likes of PaperCut and Equitrac come in.”

Looking to the future, George says MPS will continue to become more and more mainstream, opening up further opportunities for dealers in the process, but only if they stand out from the crowd. “As the late adopters enter the market and MPS becomes mainstream, the challenge for dealers is going to be how to differentiate themselves from the competition.

“If you’re selling to larger customers, extending a traditional MPS to include print server consolation and cloud hosting will help to increase the benefits customers gain. According to Gartner server consolidation is an important focus within the client base. So by combining print server consolidation and printer management together you manage more of the print environment and instantly create a differentiator, further reducing costs and IT burden.”

George continues: “If you’re selling to the emerging mid-market and smaller companies who now also want to benefit from a managed print service, then it’s worth looking at embedded applications in the print devices themselves, such as KYOCERA’s HyPAS apps. These are a cost effective way to add capability beyond print and help companies with routine tasks. They help you stand out from the crowd.

“One thing it’s worth remembering is that when selling a managed print service it’s key to think about what’s next, how else you can add value. For example, if you’ve sold an MPS solution the next step could be to talk about server consolidation, cloud hosting, digitising paper documents or workflow solutions. It’s about adopting a partnership approach with the client and building on that relationship. Either into the document workflow space or other IT services like telephony, storage or desktop.”

MARKET SATURATION In order to ensure future success for its dealers, KYOCERA is keeping a keen eye on the saturation levels of the MPS market. “We need to stop thinking of MPS as something new,” explains George. “We need to keep an eye on the saturation of this market. Gartner is still predicting 10% compound annual growth for the next three to four years so there’s still room for growth. The challenge comes when the midmarket is saturated and you have to start dealing with the very small customers and start-ups. That’s likely to be where cloud really comes into play.”

When asked about issues to do with maturing original MPS contracts, George answers: “The concept of running an MPS contract and reviewing it at renewal have to change. For years and years old type MPS contracts came to an end, at which point clients asked “how

are you going to add value and how are you going to move my business forward?” This is no longer acceptable to the market and a terrible way to retain clients. It should be about regular meetings, an ongoing partnership and constantly evolving solutions that do more for the customer.”

THE CORRECT SOLUTIONS As MPS matures, the need for more document solutions does too. “This is without doubt where the channel is moving to next,” explains George. “Already 5 to 10% of our MPS contracts have some level of process management and document digitisation and I think it’s Gartner who are predicting that by 2016 one third of MPS contracts will include document services. At KYOCERA we’re working hard to ensure that we have the solutions required to digitise, index, store, retrieve, manage and archive electronic documents. We’re keen to help our channel work with their clients to optimise document workflows, whether paper or electronic.

“As the late adopters enter the market and MPS becomes mainstream, the challenge for dealers is going to be how to differentiate themselves from the competition” “Above all else dealers have to give companies the solutions that are best suited to them – it’s not a one solution fits all scenario.

We’re seeing some verticals – the legal sector is a good example – adopting cloud solutions faster than we ever thought they would, but other organisations still work with hard copies of documents.

Changes are taking place but different organisations will move forward at different speeds.

“One other thing I’d like to mention is that, when talking to end clients, their projects can be quite large and complex. In healthcare, for example, they’re talking about electronic patient records so that a better service can be offered at a lower cost, but often it’s difficult, especially when an MPS solution hasn’t even been put in place, to find the route to implementing those desired solutions. The value add that this industry can do is to not only show how technology can help, but also the route that needs to be taken to get there in very simple, controllable risk-free steps.”

KEY PREDICTIONS FOR THE FUTURE • To succeed dealers need to focus on solutions and services, not just transactional business • MPS will become more mainstream offering the channel massive sales potential • Dealers will have to work out how to differentiate themselves • MPS will become popular in mid-size organisations – the traditional dealer stronghold • Cloud solutions will have much more of a role to play • Document management will become incredibly important as part of a wider solution • Dealers need to listen to the needs of clients and then provide solutions tailor made to them DS

TWENTY:TWENTY

FUTURE IT

THE FUTURE OF IT IN THE OFFICE EDDIE GINJA, Business Development Manager, SIs & KMDS and Cloud Evangelist at KYOCERA Document Solutions UK predicts the future technology changes that he thinks will happen in businesses over the coming years

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s organisations become ever more reliant on technology, its obvious that office supplies/service dealers need to become more tech savvy. That means keeping pace with the latest developments in the world of office IT, cloud solutions and document management – if only to take advantage of the sales opportunities that exist.

“We know that things are getting tougher for the industry in terms

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of sales and squeezed profit levels, so I think the short-term future is all about finding differentiators and solutions that channel partners can sell as value added services to their customers,” says Eddie Ginja, Business Development Manager, SIs & KMDS and Cloud Evangelist at KYOCERA Document Solutions UK. “As a result, the remit of dealers is becoming bigger. For example I’m seeing a lot of our channel partners hiring network specialists and infrastructure architects being brought into businesses. Where dealers have been selling 10 copiers here, five machines

FUTURE Q&A IT

there, they will have to bundle more services and solutions into the sale.

Dealers are creeping into areas of expertise that systems integrators used to look after.

“When we move to second, third and fourth generation MPS what will drive the change is access to these technologies. For example, I think mobile is going to be a big player so how do you integrate that with cloud and MPS solutions? Typical new generation MPS is not going to be driven by just consolidating and rationalising more. It’s actually going to be driven by other technologies such as sharing documents online, how you print and access document from mobile devices. It’s about opening up new devices, workflows and strategies to corporate environments.

“All technological change has to be driven by an enabler. If you think back to the growth of online banking, the technology enabler to all of that was broadband and its arrival in our homes. Therefore, I think manufacturers and dealers need to bring enablers to the market such as cloud solutions that will enable us to effectively share documents, for example.”

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT When asked if this means the UK Government should do more to ensure high-speed broadband is widely available across the whole UK and investment in the likes of 4G/5G should be increased, Ginja’s answer is a resounding yes. “That is the enabler. When we have nationwide 4G coverage and the likes of content delivery networks, it makes the upload and download of documents faster, access to those documents much quicker and aids agility. How we interact with documents will almost become like electricity or the like the internet – it’s nowhere yet everywhere – when you need those documents you have immediate access to them.

“I’m speaking to companies such as Workshare who are starting to enable technologies on the web whereby you can start sharing documents via the web and social media. The vision is that we will all one day be on a LinkedIn or Facebook session, I’ll ask if you’ve seen documents x, y and z, you’ll say no but be able to instantly access it, change it, review it and send it back securely via the cloud.

We will, via social media, cloud and mobile, interact to make documents more sharable.”

Security will be a big issue as more and more documents head onto the cloud, which is why KYOCERA works with known secure technology such as VPN. “It’s all about using known protocols to deliver documents securely and efficiently,” says Ginja. “In time to come, the secure pin/ card release products that we use will become abundant on the web. I think in three or four years’ time the likes of Equitrac and PaperCut will be working against many more competitors than they do now as this area becomes much more important. It is important that we accommodate and embrace new technologies and products into our portfolio and KYOCERA aims to be at the forefront of such trends.”

A THREAT TO PRINT? If, as Ginja predicts, documents will more commonly be shared via mobile device, cloud solutions and social media, what impact will that

have on printed documents, the very thing KYOCERA and its channel partners have built their business on? He answers: “I think people will still need and want to have printed documents but at the same time we all need to look to the future and embrace digital documents more. As a company it’s how we evolve to embrace and deal with those digital documents that’s crucial to our future success. The same applies to dealers who need to embrace document management. If you give customers the necessary enablers to access their documents in the cloud, you should also provide the enabler to allow people to print those documents when they want to. OK, people might print less, but they will maybe print from other locations and on other devices.”

“I think manufacturers and dealers need to bring enablers, such as cloud solutions which will enable us to effectively share documents, to the market” LOOKING TO THE FUTURE As we look to the future, five years from now we’ll unquestionably be communicating differently with each other, especially when it comes to business and the sharing of information. What are Ginja’s thoughts on how we’ll be doing this? “We will see a lot more sharing of information, more diverse ways of sharing information through different channels and different ways of manipulating documents within workflows,” he says. “I think we’ll also see various workflows triggered within businesses when we do something with a document. For example, a document being saved and indexed will kick off a purchase order being raised, a statement being sent to a customer or whatever. Document production and filing should also become seamless.

“We as manufacturers need to pre-empt that and provide the tools for dealers to sell that people can use to create seamless workflows. If you like, KYOCERA needs to be the enabler that allows end-users to effectively integrate document solutions, including print, into their businesses.”

KEY PREDICTIONS FOR THE FUTURE: • Future success will be about managing more of the overall IT environment in a client’s business • Many dealers starting to hire specialists as IT remit widens • Mobile devices and document sharing over the web to be at the heart of future developments • Social media to become an integral part of document sharing and interaction with documents. Documents will be like electricity – nowhere but everywhere; when you need them. Documents should be as readily accessible as flicking an electric switch • Dealers encouraged to become enablers of change • Seamless document workflows and automisation expected to be at the forefront of change DS

TWENTY:TWENTY

DEALER CHANGES

FUTURE FOCUS How will KYOCERA’s channel partners have to change over the coming years in order to maximise business success?

Rod Barthet, Group Sales Director at Annodata and Tony Burnett, Group Sales Director at Alto Digital, share their views

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DEALER CHANGES Q&A

HOW DO YOU SEE YOUR BUSINESS CHANGING OVER THE COMING YEARS? Rod Barthet (RB): Annodata is very positive about the future, both in terms of economic outlook and opportunities for growth. As an organisation which was founded in 1988, we’ve navigated through the last three recessions/economic downturns while never borrowing a penny, growing each year and importantly, always being profitable.

The next two to three years is one where we expect to grow significantly, both organically and via strategic acquisitions. Our focus is on the development of our corporate client and public sector base which we have seen expand significantly over the last few years and will accelerate over the coming years. We strongly believe that Annodata has the broadest portfolio of services in our market and our aim is to extend as many of those services to our clients as possible, increasing our wallet share and bringing our client relationships even closer. Our strategy has already been well received with a signing in each number of new key relationships won in the last year and a greater number in pipeline for this coming year.

Tony Burnett (TB): Over the past few years Altodigital has already become a far more solution led business and this is only going to continue over the coming years. No longer will we be entering a business and only discussing what printers and photocopiers are required. We are now discussing the whole lifecycle of the document and ensuring we are able to cater for the demands and requirements involved in the management of this whole process, including document management systems and digital workflow processes.

When coupled with the ongoing IT network support service we provide and the unified communications market that we have recently entered into, Altodigital has and will continue to become a more all-encompassing IT managed services provider.

WHAT IS DRIVING CHANGE? TB: Workforces becoming more and more mobile has led to a greater demand for products and services that cater for this change in working practice. Enabling staff to work as if they are in the office, but from any location, relies on many different factors such as access to documents, ability to print, access to network files and ability to share information with other mobile workers, all in a secure environment. This is no mean task for an IT department – but having one partner that can manage the whole process instead of numerous partners with numerous contracts to negotiate, can make the task more achievable with better results – and therefore is an attractive option.

Environmental pressures on organisations are causing more and more to move towards a more digital environment with a reduction in paper-based processes. Although this still seems a long way away looking at current industry stats, it is still something that we cannot ignore.

RB: We have seen strong demand for a consolidation in vendors from our clients and our ability to provide such a wide range of services has served us well in extending our services across our

corporate and public sector clients. Key technology trends such as increase in workforce mobility, greater compliance requirements, shift to cloud based infrastructure and integration of new technology into existing legacy platforms continues to challenge our clients, for which we are able to demonstrate support to not only address but create significant competitive advantage.What impact will the arrival of Generation Y have on your business and the recruitment of staff?

RB: Generation Y, or the millennial generation, will rapidly become the go-to candidates to fill the vacant spots in the print and IT services arena. Members of “Gen Y” will continue to transform the workplace to better suit their needs. They don’t expect to be chained to a desk but rather prefer to work remotely utilising the vast array of secure mobile working solutions available. This generation also expects and thrives on feedback, consistently and regularly. Quick and effective feedback allows millennials to be more productive, speedier and more efficiently delivering greater value to their business. What’s important here is to provide constructive feedback in a timely manner whilst providing ongoing learning opportunities.

Although salary is important to this demographic, they also want to work for a company which is aware of the environment and green issues with up to date technology and software. Organisations must view them as a person to develop and not just “employ” so the question isn’t around just recruitment but also retention.

“We are now discussing the whole lifecycle of the document and ensuring we are able to cater for the demands and requirements involved in the management of this whole process” WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF YOU DON’T CHANGE? TB: Without paying attention to where the market is going, what the demand is, adjusting our business objectives to match this and investing in the technology and infrastructure to manage this transition - there is no doubt there is a danger of being left behind and not having the capability to offer the full range of services a customer will want from one supplier.

RB: That’s not an option! One of my favourite quotes (often misattributed to Darwin) is, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change. In the struggle for survival, the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals because they succeed in adapting themselves best to their environment”.

Not only as a business, but as an industry, we must always strive to adapt to the environment and the constant changing client demands we see around us. DS

PEOPLE

DEALER PROFILE ACS Business Supplies

The people-focused dealer Bingley-based ACS Business Supplies has grown its annual turnover up to £12m in less than six years. Austin Clark talks to Harry Stevenson, the company’s commercial director, to find out more about its rapid growth in sales

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DEALER PROFILE ACS Business Supplies

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espite opening for business right at the onset of a recession the first five-and-abit years of business history at Yorkshire’s ACS Business Supplies has been nothing but positive. The Bingley-based business was founded in 2008 by Mike Hussain, Sacha Jones Cawkwell, Richard Storey, Ash Ahmed and Harry Stevenson, who together brought plenty of industry experience and knowhow with them. From day one sales rapidly increased, so much so that ACS earned a place on The Sunday Times Fast Track 100 list in 2012 making them one of the fastest-growing privately owned companies in the UK. The opening of the business was obviously a good move but how did ACS come into being in the first place?

Harry Stevenson, commercial director at ACS Business Supplies, says: “Our MD, Mike Hussain, who worked with me at Supplies Team, offered us the opportunity to open ACS at the right time in our careers. I was employed as marketing director at Supplies Team and the opportunity enabled me to take my knowledge from that business into a smaller operation while broadening my experience.

It was exciting to be able to learn more about all aspects of running an office products business, not just the marketing side. I think the key to success, especially early on, was that the team brought complementary skills to the table. We all had our own strengths and roles to play.”

Our people represent our future – no business can achieve anything without motivated and driven people

Location, location, location With the decision made to operate as a stockless dealer relying on telesales, ACS had freedom of choice over location, eventually choosing a new business unit in Bingley. Stevenson explains: “The development had just been completed and so offered modern units with plenty of parking. Most importantly, however, the office is in an excellent location for the key people we wanted to bring into the business. We also recognised that it was a short walk from Bingley train station, which provides good access to places such as Leeds and Skipton, opening up a wider pool for potential recruits than we would have had in Bradford. ” While choosing the location was straightforward, Stevenson says the bigger leap of faith was opting for a stockless business – something that was far from the norm as recently as 2008. “I remember in our first year Mike and I attended a Proficiency Post Conference where Leo Meehan from the US-based W.B. Mason stood up and said, ‘I don’t know why you guys are stocking your own products – we’ve been stockless for 20 years and it’s the best thing we’ve ever done’.

Mike and I looked at each other with the acknowledgement that maybe it was a good decision after all! Thankfully we were proved right.”

Developing people After setting up the business with a small team of experienced industry pros, and establishing a solid client base, ACS started to expand their staff ranks by recruiting expertise from outside the office products sector and investing heavily in training.

“Through training and the correct working environment we have developed a number of ‘new-to-our-industry’ people who quickly became crucial to the business and helped us hit the £3m turnover mark in year one,” says Stevenson.

“We’re now up to £12m annual turnover and I think there are a number of reasons for that. The one thing we always come back to is our people.

CV TURNOVER: £12M GROSS MARGIN: 34% NUMBER OF STAFF: VOW DEALER GROUP: NO NO OF STAFF : 85 IN UK + 15 IN IRELAND BACK OFFICE: BLUESKY HORIZON

www.dealersupport.co.uk AUGUST 2014

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PEOPLE

DEALER PROFILE ACS Business Supplies

Most businesses will say that, but we genuinely believe that we’ve maintained a good team of staff and that we’ve added valuable people too. The culture we’ve created is vitally important to our success. Our people represent our future – they have to as no business can achieve anything without motivated, driven people – so we do everything possible to ensure they pledge their future to ACS. A settled and happy team provides a consistent service to our customers and business. Interestingly, the first 16 people who joined ACS are still here today, so we must be doing something right.”

Stevenson continues: “We recognise that selling to customers all day, every day, is a tough job and so we like to do whatever we can to motivate our employees to come to work. Throughout the year we organise staff events, including a Christmas party and an awards dinner, team-building events take place and this year we organised various team competitions at a farm in Masham, North Yorkshire, including welly-throwing, a treasure hunt and sheep-herding. Once a year we also host a family barbecue and fun day; ACS hires a hotel and marquee and we organise fun games for our employees and their families. It’s really important for us to create a friendly ethos here.”

Within the workplace plenty is done to ensure the environment is a place where people want to work. Stevenson says: “Our investment in IT and management information systems allows visibility and enables us to identify opportunities within our specific market sector. We think that combining work with fun is crucial to successful productivity, resulting in happy customers and happy staff.”

This is clear to see throughout the office, with aspects of the much sought-after Q4 promotions still fresh in the minds of all employees. “Recent promotions have followed the concept of The Apprentice and Big Brother and are just two examples of a clever combination of supplier engagement and customer interaction to create a winning formula,” says Stevenson.

Furthermore, ACS is supporting the government’s ‘cycle to work’ scheme and has recently installed showers to encourage people to cycle, run or walk to work. “It’s all part of looking after our staff,” confirms Stevenson.

Feeling charitable Further emphasising the people-focused approach at ACS, every year the dealer partners with a charity and sets about raising incredibly generous sums of cash. This year the nominated charity is the Bone Cancer Research Trust while in 2013 over £18,000 was raised for Anthony Nolan and in 2012 £8,000 for Nordoff Robbins.

Fundraising events planned this year include a

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golf tournament and participation in the Tough Mudder 12-mile obstacle race. As well as all this ACS donates 10p from every single order placed and every employee makes personal donations monthly from their salaries.

“When we launched the first partnership we didn’t expect to achieve anywhere near the level of involvement we’ve had from our employees,” says Stevenson. “They were all really keen to get involved, so the charity initiative stuck. It’s important to us. Being recognised as supporting a charity has various benefits and helps with the internal culture of the business. It brings a human element to ACS.” Product focus The business plan for ACS is flexible enough to have evolved to take advantage of the fast-paced market that they trade in. “At the outset our mix consisted of 75% EOS but, with our flexibility to evolve and working closely with vendors, it now only represents 45% of our sales. Office products, office furniture, hardware and other IT services make up the remaining product offer today,” says Stevenson.

In addition to this, over the last couple of years, ACS has invested heavily in the managed print services (MPS) category, creating and launching a sub-brand called Printfleet Solutions.

Stevenson adds: “We appreciate that many businesses are looking at MPS as a serious option now and we are in a position to deliver a good product and service. Our continued investment in such an important category will pay dividends in the coming years.”

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PEOPLE

DEALER PROFILE ACS Business Supplies

Both ACS Business Supplies and Printfleet Solutions have their own websites, as does ACS4IT which, as the name suggests, specialises in the supply of IT kit. “We recognise that hardware and software requirements more often than not emanate from a different decision-maker to office supplies,” Stevenson explains. “We also recognise that IT buyers are more likely to respond to a website than a phone call so we’ve developed the site so that it allows access and online purchasing, complete with live stock levels and prices.

Customers also have the option of paying via card or opening an account, removing barriers between us and customers. It’s all about knowing your customers and giving them what they want.

“Communication is also crucial. We try to communicate at the right level so that we get maximum buy-in from as many end-users as possible. Without communication you don’t get the buy-in, externally and internally. With communication comes a commitment to deliver, so you have to work hard to back up communication with effective actions, which is something we work hard to achieve. In terms of internal communication we have an interactive intranet site that allows staff to make twitter type instant messages available to the whole company.”

Stevenson adds that business is also about simplicity. “We adopt a fundamental approach of keeping business as simple as possible. In the famous words of Leonardo Da Vinci ‘Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication’.”

Wholesale values When it comes to buying, ACS majors with VOW, topping up where required with purchases from alternative distributors. Stevenson explains: “An understanding is in place agreeing that, while all primary purchases will be made through VOW, if a customer needs an item that’s out of stock or not carried at all, ACS can look elsewhere. Our customers have to come first; it’s important that we can consolidate our orders.

“There was a time when you would benefit from buying stationery from one wholesaler and EOS from another because each had its own strengths. We want to offer the best possible solution for our customers so we’re keen to find a wholesaler that will provide equal amounts of support in both areas. The last thing you want is customers getting toner at 10am and pens and paper at 3pm. The winner has to be the customer.”

ACS also has wholesale agreements in place in Ireland, with 15 members of staff working in an office in County Kildare. “Our experience from previous employers demonstrates that Ireland is a good market to work in and it makes sense to have a local office out there,” says Stevenson. “We deal

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Harry Stevenson, ACS Business Supplies’ commercial director

We’re keen to find a wholesaler that will provide equal amounts of support in both areas – the last thing you want is customers getting toner at 10am and pens and paper at 3pm nationwide so some of our customers have Irish offices that we simply cannot deal with from the UK. Having trading agreements in Ireland opened up the market and made the most of the lucrative market out there.”

Future focus Looking to the future, how does Stevenson see ACS developing? “We need to look at the areas where other dealers are doing a better job than we are. We want to focus a lot more effort on hardware and furniture but, at the moment, our investment will go into growing our managed print division and IT services.

“Continual investment is our biggest strength and is the secret of our success. We don’t see ACS as a lifestyle business. Instead we want to create a future for many by building a business that will be here for many years to come. By reinvesting in the business, which is what we’ve always done, we think we’ll continue to grow and succeed.” DS

MANAGEMENT

GROW YOUR BUSINESS

Upwardly

mobile accessories The IT/tech accessory market is massive. Austin Clark investigates the products dealers should be selling and how they can take them to market

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GROW YOUR BUSINESS

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ith sales of traditional office supplies declining, dealers need to look for new avenues of growth, such as the ever-expanding mobile/IT accessory market. As the lines between home and work devices blur and more employees switch to tablets and smartphones as the computer device of choice, it figures that demand for stylish, functional and often highpriced mobile accessories will rise.

Luke Jennings, VOW’s merchandising product manager for technology, says: “We’re seeing good sales from tablet peripherals such as cases and stands, as well as mobile office products. We’re seeing that because the tablet market is becoming increasingly saturated with hardware, the real growth area is now supporting items such as cases, tablet keyboards and any other items that make a tablet more efficient for business use. The same applies to the mobile office. People are working less in offices and the need to be connected, powered up and productive while out and about is still growing as the technology develops.”

Marcel Landau from Jüscha, the German manufacturer and supplier of high-quality briefcases, laptop bags and mobile cases, says the market isn’t afraid to spend money on higher value products if they’ve decided to look beyond the cheap and cheerful product lines. “From my point of view, there is reasonable interest across the board in the Jüscha range of products,” he explains. “These are, in the main, higher value products, and in our view, the market

“Manufacturers need to work together with outward looking dealers in providing sales support, technical information and, when appropriate, samples” seems to have distinctly split into either low value, cheap quality products, or into high value, top quality products. Therefore we are targeting customers carefully to try and reach the end-users we need. For example we are seeing continued demand for iPad portfolios, and leather smartphone cases, but a noticeable drop off in sales of laptop sleeves, which seem to be particularly affected by the bottom end of the market.”

Touchy feely According to Landau, when it comes to mobile accessories, fashion is important, as is the feel of the product. He says: “One noticeable trend is an increased interest in colour, where fashion colours are definitely becoming more prevalent. In our opinion, products that have high visual appeal and are of good quality, will continue to sell well, but display is very important. While the internet is becoming

www.dealersupport.co.uk AUGUST 2014

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MANAGEMENT

GROW YOUR BUSINESS

increasingly important, we still feel that consumers like to feel, touch and smell our products, and that this is a particular impulse to purchase. Dealers should therefore be able to help grow the market by making a good range of such products easily available to their customers, and being prepared to show, demonstrate and offer samples. Too many are just happy to leave catalogues or flyers to do all the work.”

Landau continues: “Manufacturers need to work together with outward looking dealers in providing sales support, technical information and, when appropriate, samples, in order to help them get appealing products in front of potential customers. The right products will always sell well, but it is difficult in today’s market to sometimes get the best items in front of a purchaser to buy.”

Jennings agrees with Landau’s sentiments across all IT accessories, not just tablet and smartphones cases and sleeves. He adds: “There was traditionally a sense of ‘any product will do’ and as long as it served a basic function it would be fine. This probably still represents 60-70% of the market. However, there is a growing trend of consumers realising that they get what they pay for. For example, people are spending a bit more on a cable knowing that it might last a bit longer than a Chinese counterpart. They are starting to realise that when they pay over £500 for a tech item, why put a cheap, ugly and ineffective case on it.”

Big data Along with the need for cases, bags and sleeves, increased use of BYOD devices generates demand for numerous other IT accessories. Fellowes is reporting increased interest in its range of laptop risers, which allow for ergonomically correct typing on laptops in the office or at home. It’s I-Spire Tablet Lift, which holds and elevates tablets for enhanced viewing, is also

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“The tablet market is becoming increasingly saturated with hardware so the real growth area is now any item that makes a tablet more efficient for business use”

proving popular. Tablet and smartphone cleaning products are also showing sales growth.

Then, with ever-increasing amounts of data being generated that then needs to be stored and transported, storage accessories are proving top sellers at the moment. Nigel Morris, marketing director at Beta, says: “Desktop and mobile hard drives, optical media and USB storage are all showing sales increases. We are also seeing a massive growth in enclosures bundled with pre-loaded drives – and these products are good for the dealer because there is real margin in them.

“All the companies dealers currently sell office products to will have some use for products that store data. They just need to find the right person to talk to – maybe the IT manager rather than the office manager.

In this sector buyers might do a bit more research if they’re about to buy something to store important data on – they’ll want to be reassured that once stored on this device, the data is secure – so dealers should make sure the relevant information is available.

“The most important thing for the dealer to look for when trying to get into the storage market is a distributor who is genuinely set up to help them sell these types of products. Asking the distributor some simple questions will be revealing – ask questions such as ‘do you have a data tape labelling service?’ ‘Do you sell pre-loaded enclosures?’ ‘Have you got in-house experts who can speak to my customer on my behalf?’

Look closely at the brand portfolio – you should see names like Seagate, Fujifilm, Quantum, Lacie as a core part of the offering along with leaders in their particular market niche like Synology and Drobo. All this will help dealers to sell more.”

Help is at hand When asked what dealers can do to grow sales of mobile IT accessories, Jennings says: “I’d advise resellers to do their research and look at where the market is heading. Try to keep track of trends and where it’s viable, pre-empt the next growth area.

Portable power is one area we are increasing our focus on at VOW because people are using more mobile devices and they need to keep these charged and working for longer, especially as these devices become more powerful.

“There is always support available through distribution and manufacturers. This industry is incredibly competitive on price and asking for more margin is almost expected now. Manufacturers are realising that although they may make £10 less per unit, they have basically cut out their competitors for that item’s life cycle, of say four years. Marketing and training is also available from many manufacturers through partner portals and webinars.”

The sales growth of mobile IT accessories is set to continue its upward curve over the coming months – are you making the most of the opportunity? DS

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www.dealersupport.co.uk AUGUST 2014

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MANAGEMENT

BUSINESS ACADEMY

Enjoy effortless management and supervision How can conscious leadership empower your employees to become self-directing?

Business coach and author Tony Selimi reveals how

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hether you are new to management and supervision, or an old hand, managing and supervising people effortlessly can be a huge hurdle to overcome. When you are managing and supervising people, you have to be present in each moment in time and be aware of the emotional needs of the people you are in charge of, as well as the needs and aims of the company. This can be a challenge, especially when combined with managing yourself and your own time.

How does one learn the skills to rise above the many differing demands placed on you, so you can excel and be a conscious manager? There are many different management approaches and styles; however, there are some fundamental basics that always work.

Let’s start with the basics and establish where you are right now. Do you instruct people, support them or delegate? Do you understand when to use the appropriate techniques, at the right time, to get the co-operation or motivation needed? Are you clear about the most effective ways of managing people in the modern workplace? Do you lose it or are you in control when the heat is turned on?

In my experience the number one problem that

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prevents people being in the flow is distrust, fear and a head that is full of noise and difficult to switch off.

When operating under such conditions, your entire body is put under a lot of stress and emits signals. This energy gets emitted in the environment you work in and impacts each person. Imagine an office with 200 people in it, each with their own problems, thoughts, feelings and fears. You can see how easily this can impact each person in the organisation. We are all receivers and transmitters of information.

To be in the flow, one needs to learn to operate through a clean frequency in which information can be transmitted. Therefore, effortless management and supervision starts with the journey that each leader and manager needs to take in order to raise their awareness and vibrational state to the one of the results they wish to create.

Business expectations are constantly changing.

As a manager or supervisor, you are expected to manage change, find solutions to new and existing problems, as well as cope with the demands of sometimes diverse and perhaps demanding employees and employers! One of the keys to excellence in managing people is managing motivation – yours and others – while also following these seven things excellent leaders do:

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Find out more about our business on exertisadvent.co.uk www.dealersupport.co.uk AUGUST 2014

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MANAGEMENT

BUSINESS ACADEMY

“To be in the flow, one needs to learn to operate through a clean frequency in which information can be transmitted” 1. Respect and value self/others. The finest way to get respect is to give respect. When you walk in a room with this kind of energy it speaks a beautiful truth about you. Treat people incredibly well and you’ll give them a reason to treat you incredibly well.

2. Invest in their personal development. Knowing you is knowing everyone around you. CEOs, managers and people who hire a coach, therapist or a healer learn to cope faster and better with change. They also learn many tools to help them understand and manage people effortlessly.

3. Cherish time. Ordinary people watch time.

Exceptional people leverage time to create positive results, financial fortunes and global impact. When I think of the celebrity CEOs, famed billionaires and superstar entrepreneurs I’ve worked with, all of them value their time highly. They don’t waste time gossiping about people, never think of waiting in line for an hour to get into a restaurant and have a ferocious respect for the value of every passing moment. Time is such a special asset. Use it to fuel your dreams, realise your ideals and elevate society for the generations who follow.

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4. Make the best decisions. Excellent leaders decide with speed and delegate everything. What they do best is they have the ability to execute on a gigantic scale with emotional intelligence.

5. Be master of what you do. The best leaders learn from the best and know that to have what few have, do what few do. To rise to world-class we must leave the cult of mediocrity and enter ‘the outstanding club of mastery’. We must think, behave and live as very few are willing to do. Yes, the world will then call us eccentric and different. But all progress depends on those of us with the guts to pursue our own paths.

6. Become infectious with optimism. Outstanding leaders sweat the details, pursue a singular vision and are brimming with optimism, passion and integrity.

They are also utterly devoted to the personal development and professional education of those they manage.

7. Invest time in building human connections. It’s not possible to enter effortless supervision if you have not nurtured human connections. The bigger the dream, the more key the team. Swift and superb companies understand that a brilliant vision without an effective team is a delusion. Make the time to develop your teammates. Invest in growing a high-performance team. And dedicate yourself to building a culture within your organisation where people can bring their best selves into the office every morning.

Create or stagnate? The choice is yours! DS Tony J Selimi is a life and business success coach, mentor, speaker and author of ‘A Path to Wisdom’ (£19.99 Panoma Press). For more information about his new book visit http://www.apathtowisdom.com/

USP

DRIVING SALES

AUG 2014

Send me a proposal SEVEN THINGS YOU NEED TO DO BEFORE SENDING A PROPOSAL

CLEAN MACHINE

How computer cleaning equals dealer profit growth FINAL WORD

Why now is the time to embrace technology

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SALES ACADEMY

proposals

Send me a proposal

Seven things you must do first Sales expert Andy Preston explains seven things you need to consider finding out before sending your proposal or quote to the prospect.

’m often astounded when someone says, “send me a proposal” or, “can I have a price on that” to a salesperson who then goes away and work on a proposal or quotation and blindly send it off to the prospect, just assuming it’s going to go ahead. These same salespeople are the ones who wonder afterwards why they never hear from that prospect again.

If you follow these tips below, you and your team won’t get caught in that trap – and will not only convert more sales opportunities, but also be able to prioritise your time and have more idea which are likely to convert the fastest and for the most money.

So let’s have a look at the seven things you must do before sending that proposal.

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“ ANY OTHER PROJECT THEY COULD SPEND MONEY ON RIGHT NOW IS COMPETITION TO YOUR PROPOSAL BEING ACTIONED AND APPROVED ”

SALES ACADEMY

proposals

1 – ESTABLISH FULL SPECIFICATION OF THE PROJECT

4 – ESTABLISH THEIR OTHER OPTIONS

This might sound obvious, but you’d be astounded how many salespeople fail to do this properly. Most salespeople will get the majority of the specification down, but some have to call back a second time to get things they forgot, or that their colleagues tell them will be needed in order to produce an accurate quotation or proposal. Some salespeople have to call back a third time to get information they failed to get the second time.

You can imagine the impact this has on the prospect. If you’re in a competitive market with other people pitching for the work, you’ve put yourself on the back foot before you’ve even started.

Another word for other ‘options’ would be ‘competition’. Yet I didn’t use the word ‘competition’ in the header because most salespeople then ask a question like, “what other companies are you asking to quote on this?” That’s a bad question because the person you’re speaking to will know that you’ll gain an advantage by knowing that information and so will usually say that they can’t tell you or it’s confidential. Therefore you need to ask the question differently.

Asking about the other options they’re considering will usually set the platform for you to get information about other potential suppliers/ vendors. It will also get you vital information about the competition .

In addition, any other project they could spend money on right now is competition to your proposal being actioned and approved – so ask questions around this area as well.

2 – ESTABLISH WHY NOW AND WHY YOU? These two areas are essential areas to ask questions around at every sales opportunity, not just proposal time. When someone says, “send me a proposal” and you don’t get these answered, you’re setting yourself up for a fall.

You need to establish early on in your sales conversation how serious they are, and how serious the project is. Even more important, however, is getting the ‘why you’ part answered. The aim here is to uncover both the buying motivation and also what chance you have of picking up this business. The fluffier the answers to the questions you ask the less likely you are to win the work!

3 – ESTABLISH DECISION-MAKERS AND THE DECISION-MAKING Failure to establish the decision-makers involved will mean that you could go all the way through the process and then fall at the final hurdle as someone else comes in to influence the buying decision who you weren’t aware of.

Once you’ve identified the decision-makers you can decide your approach for engaging them. It’s pointless knowing who they are without getting airtime with them either over the phone or face-to-face.

You also need to clarify the process they’re going through in order to make the decision. If they’re cagey about the process on this occasion it might be that the person you’re talking to is low-level in the organisation, in which case, asking about a previous process for similar projects will uncover most of what you need to know.

5 – ESTABLISH TIMESCALES Another area you need to question carefully is timescales. In order to find out how serious they are about this project you need to find out when they’re looking to move ahead. Most salespeople make the mistake of only finding out about when the clients want to implement the project, or when they need to take delivery of the product. If you only get this timescale then you’re missing out on something that’s potentially more important.

The other timescale you need to ask about is when they are looking to make their decision on the project. Just because they don’t want to implement the project for a few months doesn’t mean that they aren’t deciding on it quicker than that. Make sure you understand the timescales they have for buying in order to give yourself the best understanding of how to handle the proposal, and give yourself the best chance of winning it.

6 – ESTABLISH BUDGET OR FUNDING It’s vital in any sales opportunity, let alone a proposal situation, that you identify budget or funding as early as possible. As most decent-sized projects require money from someone’s budget, or at least that the company has thought about how they’re going to pay for it, failure to identify this can mean the project stalling at the last minute – when you’ve put lots of time and effort into it.

Get the budget area covered and you’ll reduce the risk of the project being put on hold or shelved – plus it may also alert you to other people involved in the buying process that you weren’t aware of.

7 – ESTABLISH COMMITMENT This is the final and most important part of any sales situation and is even more vital at proposal stage. For those with a short sales cycle, you could also think of the word closing here. For those on longer sales cycles, usually with higher-value items or projects at stake, think about gaining commitment to the next stage and to yourself and your company.

Failure to get commitment to the project and/or next stage, and also to you and your company, will mean that you’re likely to be disappointed when it comes to announcing who won the business and who lost it. So gain commitment to ensure you end up in the winner’s enclosure.

www.dealersupport.co.uk AUGUST 2014

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MARKETPLACE

IT cleaning

HEALTHY OFFICE HEALTHY MINDS With recent research revealing that UK office workers continue to ignore warnings about the risks associated with poor IT hygiene, Austin Clark asks how salespeople can encourage their customers to clean up at work

hile healthy lifestyles are part and parcel of our everyday lives, the cleanliness of office IT equipment and the associated health risks continue to go unnoticed. Research by the University of Arizona found the average office desktop harboured 400 times more bacteria than the average office toilet seat. Bear in mind that, after just four hours, the flu virus can spread to more than half of the commonly used surfaces in an office and it’s easy to see why a lack of cleanliness in an office can be so much of a problem.

Recent research by Durable UK, the company behind the annual Computer Cleaning Month initiative, revealed that the computer

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keyboard is the dirtiest item in the office environment – only 17% of those polled described their keyboards as clean – while most people wait well over two weeks for dirt to build up around their desks before they take action.

Stewart Anderson, VP of marketing at Durable UK, comments: “People should never under-estimate the impact that microscopic germs can have on any workplace. Our research shows that there is real cause for concern about desktop hygiene and its consequences.”

Other facts thrown up by the research reveal that 90% of office workers eat lunch at their desks, 22% of us do not wash our hands before preparing food at the office, 65% of office workers

2 BILLION SMARTPHONES WILL NEED

CLEANING NEXT YEAR

Technologies including smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops have an increasingly important role to play in our everyday lives. With multiple users and workplaces awash with germs, which can lead to serious illness – screen wipes and technology cleaning products have never been in such high demand.

As regular cleaning is the only way to ensure a bug free office, there’s never been a better time to start selling AF’s high margin cleaning products.

With strong sales support, marketing collateral, training, blitz days and joint initiatives we are fully committed to helping you clean up.

Because a good profit is the only reason you need, call now or email for more details. * Source: estimated smartphone users worldwide emarketer.com

YOU’RE GOING TO NEED A BIGGER BANK

+44 (0)1530 419 680 dealerpartnerships@hkw.co.uk

www.af-net.com

THE BOSS INDUSTRY AWARDS 2014

BOOK YOUR TABLE NOW! BOSS INDUSTRY AWARDS EVENING 22.10.2014, The ICC, Birmingham

For more information contact Sophie Bowyer on 020 7915 8320 or sophie@bossfederation.co.uk or visit www.bossfederation.com/awards/2014

INSPIRING OUR INDUSTRY

Sponsors and Supporters:

BOSS Awards DEALER half page.indd 1

01/08/2014 14:05

48

MARKETPLACE

IT cleaning

go on to share PCs and telephones and 72% of us admit to picking our noses at work.

THE COST OF ABSENTEEISM When it comes to selling IT cleaning materials and equipment the cost of absenteeism related to poor office hygiene provides a compelling sales message. According to the government’s Health and Safety Executive, workplace illness costs UK businesses a staggering £8.4bn per year, making the modest investment required to furnish an office with everything from antibacterial wipes to foam cleaners a valid cost-saving option, especially as they wipe out very nearly 100% of the nano nasties found in offices.

Karen Harrison, group marketing manager at AF International, says: “Due to the amount of different germs that can be found on IT equipment,the AF range has been tested externally to make sure they act efficiently. Results showed a reduction of staphylococcus aureus, E-Coli, pseudomonas aeruginosa, aspergillus niger and candida albicans. In addition, the carefully selected and widely tested antimicrobial additive used in these products kills 99.9% of the H1N1 Swine Flu Virus according to EN14476, providing representative results for the family of flu viruses.”

Salespeople can also point out that hot-desking is leading to the increased spread of germs and an increased number of ‘sickies’.

Harrison says: “All shared items should be cleaned at the end of each shift to stop cross contamination. Phones, in particular, are worth looking at because they carry approximately 2,000 bugs on the mouthpiece at any one time. Keeping the phone hygienically clean is very important. Surely a statement such as a keyboard harbouring more germs than a toilet seat should encourage people to clean more regularly. We recommend that computer equipment should be cleaned two or three times a week.”

Durable also points out that regular cleaning of IT kit looks after more than the health of users – it can actually lead to increased

“

ACCORDING TO THE GOVERNMENT’S HEALTH AND SAFETY EXECUTIVE, WORKPLACE ILLNESS COSTS UK BUSINESSES A STAGGERING £8.4BN PER YEAR ” AUGUST 2014 www.dealersupport.co.uk

product lifecycles too. Poor cleaning and maintenance of office equipment may lead to a deterioration of general performance, or worse, a complete system breakdown; regular cleaning of office equipment will reduce the likelihood of these costly breakdowns.

BREATHE EASY According to Fellowes, keeping computers and tech equipment clean is the fourth stage of creating a healthy, ergonomic workplace, after preventing back tension, avoiding wrist pressure and relieving neck strain. In addition to offering a full-range of dedicated cleaning products, the company is also encouraging salespeople to promote the benefits of air purifiers.

Research commissioned by Fellowes shows that central air conditioning systems can become breeding grounds for mould, mildew and other sources of germs such as viruses and bacteria, which can then distribute these contaminants throughout any office.

Air purifiers can safely remove 99.97% of airborne pollutants, as small as 0.3 microns, using a sophisticated purification system. Once again, that’s a solid sales message.

Bit-by-bit, offices are getting the message about the need to look after computer cleaning and wider general office hygiene, with manufacturers continuing to shout the message while keeping up with office trends.

Harrison concludes: “Developments are ongoing. For example, tablet technology is growing fast, therefore our latest products have been tested to make sure they have excellent cleaning performance but cause no damage to sensitive screens. It’s important to keep up with new technology and develop products that are safe and effective to use in order to win the fight against office-based germs.”

P A E L A S E K A T ANTALIS ST CANCER A E R B R FO

Antalis and Pioneer Paper are hoping to raise £10,000 for Breakthrough Breast Cancer by organising a skydive for the charity at Peterborough Airfield on Saturday 20th Sept 2014.

Pioneer paper helps breast cancer charities in Portugal and this event will be supporting Breakthrough Breast Cancer here in the UK. At some point in our lives, we will all have come into contact with people who have fought breast cancer and some of us may have lost loved ones to this tragic disease. We want to fight this and so 25 Antalis employees and customers are joining

together to take the plunge and complete this challenge!

Raising around £35,000 for Breakthrough Breast Cancer to date, the Pioneer Skydive Challenge is the third challenge of its kind, following last year’s Cycling Challenge and the Three Peaks Challenge in 2011.

A premium quality, high white range of office papers that will create real impact

Available in A4 and A3 from 75gsm to 160gsm For further information please contact your local branch.

North 0870 607 3136 South 0870 607 3132 gotoguys@antalis.co.uk antalis.co.uk

C U LT U R E

T I E LIV

The best way to spend your free time and money

FI LM

Q UO T E O F T H E MONTH Out now

THE INBETWEENERS MOVIE 2 The Inbetweeners Movie 2 picks up with Neil, Jay, Will and Simon after the hilarious hijinks of their last outing in Malia for some more coming-of-age mishaps. This time around, the quartet venture down under to Australia for some gap year mischief and mayhem, travelling around in their ‘mobile virgin conversion unit’. Expect the usual mix of immature gags, cringeworthy moments and lots and lots of laughter.

MUSIC

Milton Jones

Out now

TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS’ Hypnotic Eye, the first studio album from Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers in four years, is described as “maximum rock & roll” and “a decisive return to the concise Sixties-rock classicism of his first great New Wave era albums.” Petty responded to comments that the release sounds like his earlier albums, 1976’s Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers and You’re Gonna Get It from 1978, by saying: “Maybe this album does sound like that.

But it’s that band 30 years later... I knew I wanted to a do a rock and roll record. We hadn’t made a straight hard-rockin’ record, from beginning to end, in a long time.”

GOOD

Feline force A beloved cat missing for nine weeks was discovered living underneath the floorboards of a construction site in London - 200 miles away from his Leeds home. How the moggie, named Obi Wan Catobi after the Star Wars character, arrived in the capital is a mystery - but use of ‘the force’ has not yet been ruled out. He was found in an unfinished hotel near Euston train station last month by construction workers who stopped work in case he became trapped.

PU B QU IZ

Dog days are over A man died during Fourth of July celebrations in America when he choked on a hot dog during an eating competition.

47-year-old Walter Eagle Tail, of Custer, South Dakota, lost consciousness as he took part in the contest. He was later pronounced dead at a local hospital despite the efforts of responding paramedics and the police. “There was someone doing CPR when we arrived,” Custer County Sheriff Rick Wheeler told the Rapid City Journal.

“He probably just suffocated. It got lodged in his throat and they couldn’t get it out.”

Q1: In which European city would you find the

famous Trevi Fountain?

Q2: At which number on Baker Street did Sherlock

Holmes live?

Q3: Whose autobiography is entitled ‘Dreams From

My Father’?

Q4: Which Latin phrase has been popularly

translated as ‘seize the day’?

Q5: Who wrote the opera ‘Madame Butterfly’?

Olga Popova / Shutterstock.com

AUGUST 2014 www.dealersupport.co.uk

“I used to supply Filofaxes to the mafia – I was in organised crime”

BAD

A1. Rome A2. 221B A3. Barack Obama A4. Carpe diem A5. Giacomo Puccini

50 A

FINAL WORD

Chris Collinson

A 51

Why NOW is the time for dealers “

to embrace

WE HAVE TO BE HONEST AS AN INDUSTRY AND SAY THAT FILES AND PAPER ARE NOT GOING TO BE OUR BREAD-AND-BUTTER PRODUCTS IN THE YEARS TO COME

technology

”

CHRIS COLLINSON, MD of Superstat, shares his thoughts on why dealers really need to take advantage of the opportunities presented by sales of technology equipment ech is a huge opportunity staring dealers in the face but, as a channel, we seem reluctant to venture into the world of technology. In fact many dealers would rather it not be there. I know this because I recently conducted an independent survey of a number of dealers and asked what their response would be to a customer who asked to buy a laptop. They all replied they would send them to PC World - lucky old PC World!

We have to be honest as an industry and say that files and paper are not going to be our bread-and-butter products in the years to come and tech products are. You only have to look around your own workplace to see it happening: meeting minutes taken on tablets, emails read from your phone, customer service carried out over Twitter. We’ve stopped printing because it’s all online, we invoice by email and we use Facebook to communicate internally and externally - all highlighting the fact that we are using traditional office supplies less and less.

Tech is an opportunity tapping dealers on the shoulder and shouting, “I’m here, your customers want me.” It is the single biggest opportunity that the OP market has ever seen and dealers can have a piece of the action if they are prepared to think slightly differently.

In the world of tech everything is different - the products, the distribution - and so are the margins. Many place tech on the pedestal of being a league above, a space for only big players to compete in, but there is one thing that doesn’t change, one thing dealers are really good at… service!

The tech that your customers require, and may even be asking you for now, can be sold using your existing business skills – being attentive, being local and responding swiftly with top notch after sales care. These are the qualities of smaller, locally focused, businesses. Yes, price is always a part of the equation but when you have formed a relationship with your customers, one built on respect and trust, it is not easily broken even by the likes of mega multi-nationals… but only if what they are looking to purchase is part of your offering.

I think it is time to face reality. It’s an undoubted certainty that the OP industry as we know it isn’t going to stay the same and is already shifting. Embracing technology as a sales stream through which you can deliver real value to customers by capitalising on those strongly-forged relationships can only help to ensure the future success of your business.

T

www.dealersupport.co.uk AUGUST 2014

BRING YOUR PRINT TO

LIFE

Xerox Colotech+ is the benchmark paper for digital colour printing.

• Uncoated • High White • Super Smooth Finish It’s ideal for high quality production so give it a try and bring your print to life.

For more information contact

antalis.co.uk

North Tel: 0870 607 3136 Fax: 0870 607 3178 office.n@antalis.co.uk

South East Tel: 0870 607 3132 Fax: 0870 607 3171 office.se@antalis.co.uk

Midlands Tel: 0870 607 3136 Fax: 0870 607 3178 office.m@antalis.co.uk

South West Tel: 0870 607 3132 Fax: 0870 607 3171 office.sw@antalis.co.uk

Antalis Key Accounts Tel: 01530 517 200 Fax: 01530 517 127 keyaccounts@antalis.co.uk