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Matt Goodall,
Service Director,
Office
Evolution
:
“When we started Office
Evolution 12 years ago there was a
definite trend towards dealing with larger
national suppliers, at the time they had
the infrastructure to adopt the fast moving
technologies, train their staff and invest in
the changes. Many people moved towards
the idea of a single supplier for all of their
branches, thinking this would be simpler
and easier to manage.
“What we started to see was a real
disconnect between the customer and a
‘real person’, customers would experience
the frustration of making a call and
speaking to one person, calling back five
minutes later and never speaking to that
same person again, this led to customers
being asked to ‘try’ things multiple times
or returning to the beginning of a scripted
process. Sales staff would make the initial
sale and would then not be seen for the
term of the lease and a relationship with
the customer was never truly formed.
“In recent years, we have seen that
trend reverse, customers want to know
exactly who they are dealing with, a
smaller supplier can establish and maintain
a relationship with the customer. The
customer can speak with the same point
of contact easily and they can talk with the
owners or directors with ease, there is no
hiding behind a faceless corporate identity.
“As a smaller supplier, we have the
same access to a manufacturer’s support,
we have access to the market leading
software and hardware and we can
provide that personal level of service that
customers crave. As such, we are signing
contracts with more large corporate
multinationals as well as our established
customer base. We are accountable,
contactable and responsible. The customer
has what they want and that is a real
connection with their supplier.
“The larger nationals also split their
teams skills, a department for deliveries,
one for software, one for technical another
for sales etc., the processes become clunky
from a customer’s experience. We have
recently seen a customer take delivery of
new copiers from a large national, four
weeks later the machines are still awaiting
someone to connect them up, that is not
what I call service.”
Scott Walker,
Head of MPS Business
Development,
ZenOffice
:
“The managed
print division of ZenOffice is a local
company (North-West-based) with a
national…in fact, global footprint. Put
simply, whilst we’re based in the North-
West, due to the fact we partner with
Xerox and HP, we speak plain English to
our customers…and the technical jargon
to our partners.
“This allows us to assess, design and
implement a managed print service…well,
anywhere. We’ve got clients with sites in
Australia, USA and Germany for example,
but they’re all managed by ZenOffice with
a doorstep manufacturer service from
either Xerox or HP. A lot of organisations
are pleasantly surprised by our capabilities.
“I honestly can’t see any disadvantages
to our set-up (but I would say that), but
the benefits are that our customers deal
with dedicated account managers, their
allocated ‘office buddy’ (so you’ll always be
able to speak to a human) backed by direct
manufacturer service. It puts our customers
in a safe pair of hands.”
Mark Smyth,
Chief Operating Officer,
Vision
:
“Local versus national is often
about routes to market, verticals and
procurement policies. For instance,
corporate clients often have a national
coverage and a number of offices
nationwide and are therefore better suited
to a national provider. Many verticals such
as legal and finance and accountancy for
example have strategic offices located in
major cities, normally London, Birmingham,
Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow etc. They
control purchasing centrally and require
a preferred supplier that can meet and
fulfil all services for all locations whilst
leveraging best price and purchasing
power.”
Andy Perkins,
Director,
CSL Business
Machines
:
“Locally-based dealerships
tend to be leaner and more efficient than
the national providers. For instance last
week, one of our smaller customers who
are based 45 miles away, rang up and was
How has continued industry consolidation and the rise of the
super dealer impacted on customer relationships? This month’s
panel share their thoughts, and highlight the value-add that a
local reseller brings to the table
Keeping it local
PITR:
Local versus national: what is the impact on customer relationships,
what are the benefits/disadvantages of working with a local/national
print provider?
Continued...
We speak
plain English
to our
customers…
and the
technical
jargon to our
partners
Mark Smyth
Chief Operating Officer
Vision
Matt Goodall
Service Director
Office Evolution
