Print.IT Reseller - issue 47

01732 759725 22 CONFERENCE ...continued leadership and how the organisation is working towards gaining Chartered Sales Professional status by 2020. Toshiba TEC UK’s entire direct sales team recently achieved Professional Registration with the APS and Bryant confirmed that this accreditation has helped enhance sales behaviours and that the team has achieved better outcomes with their customers. Joining her on stage was Louise Sutton from Consalia which has worked closely with Toshiba on its transformational education programme – Toshiba Masters – which provided channel partners with the first opportunity to offer academic recognition to their sales leaders and salespeople for their sales experience and excellence in a work environment. The programme, which leads to an MSc in Leading Sales Transformation, is totally focused on sales roles and based on proven practices for performance improvement and real-world learning. Day and 12 dealer partners were the first to graduate from this industry-first initiative. Sutton spoke about apprenticeships and in particular a new sales apprenticeship degree course that Consalia is developing with Middlesex University – in a bid to open up sales as a career choice for young people. Marketing overview Marketing Director Jeremy Spencer closed the day providing a business update and talking through current market trends. He said that despite the stellar performance of Toshiba and its partners, the market continues to be challenging – unit Vendor village The vendor village provided conference attendees with an opportunity to engage with some of Toshiba’s strategic partners, each of whom discussed the opportunity to secure incremental revenues streams via new products as well as new ways in which dealers could optimise existing processes and people to get more from their existing investments. Participating partners included: n BarTender – labelling software which works flawlessly with Toshiba printers to provide exceptional printing solutions for even the most complex enterprise printing requirements; n Datalogic – a global leader in the automatic data capture and process automation markets, specialising in designing and production of barcode readers, mobile computers, sensors for detection, measurement and safety, RFID vision and laser marking systems; n Microscan – Omron Microscan Systems help manufacturers create error-free operations via innovative track, trace, control and analytics-driven solutions. Technologies include automatic identification (auto ID), machine vision and verification with application solutions ranging from basic barcode reading up to complex machine vision inspection; n Objectif Lune – channel dedicated, independent, software company, empowering customers to create, automate and distribute their most important documents; n Toshiba Innovation Partner SignStix – a continually evolving, cloud- based platform for digital engagement, with a strong focus on driving innovation within technology; n BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions, DocuWare, Nuance, Print Audit Europe, Selectec, co2balance and Toshiba Business Displays. During the evening, guests enjoyed a VIP Tour of the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, followed by dinner and entertainment. placements are contracting, print volumes shrinking and prices continue to decline. “Revenues clearly need to come from somewhere else,” he said, citing research undertaken by Keypoint Intelligence that identified solutions and services as key to growth. “Businesses want to stay in business,” he said, adding that the top business priorities highlighted in the study – document security, digital transformation, mobile solutions and enhancing green credentials, were all relevant to and being addressed by what was discussed on the day. He continued by saying that SMBs provide the largest opportunity in to sell office equipment and that suppliers can learn from adoption processes around digital transformation within enterprises and adapt these for SMBs. “SMBs need you. Only 21 per cent of the businesses polled with A3 devices had a document strategy,” he advised. “This is an opportunity for you to have a different conversation, and if you aren’t having it – someone else will.” Spencer argued that service offerings can be adjusted for the SMB market and said that for vendors that rely on the dealer channel to serve the SMB market, it’s time to bring that channel up to speed in delivering appropriate solutions and services. “Optional print will sustain print volume for a few years to come, but revenue streams are shifting rapidly to electronic forms and we all need to be ready for that,” he cautioned. In wrapping up, Spencer outlined the product roadmap for 2018 (more to come next issue). And in response to questions around GDPR from channel partners, he confirmed that Toshiba would be running an events forum early January in order to help partners to prepare for what he described as ‘data security on steroids’ and that the company was bringing in an online expert from Barclays to talk to partners about digital fraud. www.toshibatec.co.uk Optional print will sustain print volume for a few years to come, but revenue streams are shifting rapidly to electronic forms and we all need to be ready for that