LOOKING AT OKI PRINTING SOLUTIONS’

LATEST MFP MARKETING INITIATIVE

 by Lou Slawetsky

Steve Feldstein, Oki Data Americas’ senior product marketing manager, talks about the company’s latest foray into the office equipment dealer channel with its new line of color MFPs.

By Scott Cullen

Last May, Oki Data Americas launched the OKI Printing Solutions brand and the first group of color MFPs marketed under that line, as well as two tabloid color printers. While OKI Printing Solutions is the number-three color page printer manufacturer in the world (according to International Data Corp.) and has had a respectable presence in the BTA channel with its fax machines for many years, it’s never really been considered a major brand within office equipment circles. That may be changing with the rebranding, the introduction of two new color MFPs that it expects to revolutionize the color MFP category, and the company’s revamped go-to-market strategy.

Late last year, ENX had an opportunity to speak with Steve Feldstein, senior product marketing manager for MFP/fax products for Oki Data Americas, about the company’s entry into the color MFP space and its strategies for building its brand within the BTA channel

As senior product marketing manager, Feldstein develops and executes marketing development programs and manages product development for multifunctional document imaging systems and fax products for OKI Printing Solutions. He joined the company in June 2004, with more than 15 years of experience in marketing. Prior to joining Oki Data Americas, Feldstein was senior product marketing manager for Sharp Electronics Corp. He also was product marketing manager for Minolta Corp. and worked for AOE Ricoh.

Back in May, you announced the C5510n, the ES3640e and the ES1624n color MFPs. How have those products been received in the marketplace so far?

Feldstein: This is a whole new business venture for OKI Printing Solutions with this new generation of MFPs. Although OKI Printing Solutions dabbled in MFPs a couple of years ago, those really weren’t MFPs in the true sense of the word. They weren’t fully integrated like this generation. We’re actually very pleased with where we’re at with these new MFPs.

We’ve positioned the 3640 as a crossover MFP. We offer it with an embedded EFI controller as standard, which provides tremendous quality output at a very affordable business color price. Many dealers have caught on to that and understand that this is truly where we fill a very big void right now in the marketplace. Up to now, it’s been one or the other—you’d have a really high-end color MFP that gives you that great quality output, which obviously costs a lot, or you have a business color MFP where the output was marginal at best, but you had a great price point.

We’ve signed close to 80 BTA dealers across the country, representing about 155 different locations, and certainly that list will continue to grow. Many of our dealers have been selling color MFPs, but not necessarily to the degree of quality and value and performance that we’re delivering.

What kind of dealers are you looking for to sell these products?

Feldstein: We’re being very selective. We’re looking for the right partners and the ones that make the most sense for a long-term relationship with OKI Printing Solutions. We’ve had a long-term relationship with the BTA channel with our fax products and that differentiates us from everybody else on the printer side of the world.

It comes down to a win-win scenario where we know we have a particular dealer that can provide exceptional customer service and support that may be unhappy in their marketplace because their existing manufacturer or vendor has opened direct branches or locations, or are in the process of merging with dealers around them. Those are the dealers who have embraced OKI Printing Solutions because we are starting fresh and don’t have direct branches competing with them.

We’re not looking to buy particular dealerships and turn them into OKI Printing Solutions direct branches or locations. We’re fully committed to the channel and always will be. By doing so and committing ourselves that way and also looking out for their best interests, we’re not going to over-distribute and over-saturate our product in the marketplace.

That’s another reason we’re looking closely at who we want to partner with in a particular market: We want to keep the territory somewhat exclusive, if we can. Obviously that’s harder to do in larger markets, but in the tertiary markets we will if at all possible keep a somewhat semi-exclusive territory arrangement. That’s sort of unheard-of from our competitors at this point, and that’s refreshing to these dealers.

I think we’ve had success in the BTA channel because we’re approaching the MFP business from a totally different business model—unlike some of our printer competitors who have tried unsuccessfully to get into the BTA channel, which is a direct result of their failure or unwillingness to change their business model. We’ve actually changed our business model for the MFP business to meet the needs of BTA dealers.

Can you give us an example of how your business model is different?

Feldstein: The prime example is the margins we’re offering to the BTA dealer on hardware and consumables. We are offering them the right margins in order for them to be successful.

How are those margins determined?

Feldstein: Those margins are determined by the overall MFP/BTA dealer business model that was developed a long time ago (the Johnson Model), and we’re just leveraging that business model.

How long have your dealers had the new product?

Feldstein: They’ve had the C5510n since May and the other two products since the end of July.

How are placements so far?

Feldstein: We’re still in the early stage of the curve. We are starting to see pockets of opportunity as well as some real success stories, depending on where dealers are positioning the product. We’ve had some success so far with the mid-size business category as well as some larger enterprise accounts. We’re also seeing placements in certain verticals, such as healthcare and manufacturing.

Do you have any idea as to where the majority of clicks are coming from on these new devices—the copy or the print function?

Feldstein: It’s still a little bit hard to judge, but I think we’re seeing a good deal percentage-wise of printing volume. As a printer company, that’s Oki Data Americas’ strength.

How are you helping dealers market these products?

Feldstein: We have sales and training “webinars,” contests, and we’re going to do some advertising. We’ve had contests and different programs in place as well as co-op programs that will allow dealers to advertise locally.

What’s been the biggest challenge so far in putting together this BTA distribution?

Feldstein: Balancing the right partner in the right area and making sure it’s a win-win for everybody. We have plenty of dealers knocking at our door who are very interested in selling our product, but we also have to balance that with our overall strategic direction and make sure we’ve got the right players in the right markets. That’s always going to be a challenge for us as far as making the decision as to who is the best for us, not just in the short term but in the long term.

How are you finding these dealers?

Feldstein: Many of these dealers have been selling OKI Printing Solutions fax products for many years and they’re loyal to us and we feel a loyalty to them and have approached them first. We’ve had a lot of referrals from those dealers and other dealers whom we’ve met. We’ve been to various trade shows like ITEX and On Demand/AIIM, as well as the Copier Dealers Association meeting in Montreal. As we network and talk to existing dealers and they in turn talk to other dealers, the OKI Printing Solutions network has begun to evolve.

How many dealers do you expect to add to the fold? At one time I believe I heard 100.

Feldstein: One hundred is a number we initially targeted as a goal for our first year in the MFP business. If we could attain that, that would be great and we are certainly well on our way. In 2006 we’ll look to double that number and as time goes on we’ll continue to keep looking. Again, it’s got to be the right partners that can offer our customers the best level of customer service nationally.

How would you describe Oki Data Americas’ strengths as a manufacturer?

Feldstein: We’re a printing solutions specialist with a customer focus, and collaborate with our partners and customers on every level. That’s a key competitive advantage. Many of our competitors would walk away from a deal because it’s not large enough, not big enough of an opportunity, or a possible drain on their resources. We don’t—and I think we’ve proven that, over and over. Our second key strength is channel loyalty: We’ve sold through our channels since Oki Data Americas’ inception 33 years ago, and we’re committed to our channel even more so going forward. Lastly, our technology leadership: We’re one of the only manufacturers offering a full line of digital LED color and monochrome printers, and now we have color MFPs at every price point.

One of the other major announcements from last May was the unveiling of the new OKI Printing Solutions brand. Can you provide us with some background on the rebranding and the rebranding strategy?

Feldstein: This reflects OKI Printing Solutions’ focus on the customer in the fact that we can provide a total offering of superior products, services, and solutions that can help them improve their printing productivity. That’s what the rebranding is all about. Certainly we have a heritage of partnering with customers to determine their needs and delivering printing solutions that bring out the best balance of value, cost and performance. And that name directly reflects the value that OKI Printing Solutions now adds.

What can we expect to see in terms of new products within this color MFP category in 2006?

Feldstein: Not only will you see brand-new engines and MFPs, but significant enhancements to the existing ones we have today so that we totally offer an end-to-end MFP solution to our customers.

When you’re talking MFP, are we talking color and monochrome or just color?

Feldstein: We will be focused on color, but there’s always that possibility that we’ll break into mono as well.

What are the biggest challenges ahead for OKI Printing Solutions in 2006? 

Feldstein: It’s an extremely competitive marketplace, especially low-end color MFPs at under 10 pages a minute. That could be an area of huge opportunity, but also a huge challenge because all of a sudden we have seen a flurry of competitors coming in to that space. That will be a challenge for OKI Printing Solutions in terms of mindshare with our partners and our customers. Also, being a little bit new to the MFP business, we still have to prove ourselves and prove to everybody that we’re here to stay.

Scott Cullen has been writing about the office equipment industry since 1986. He can be reached at culcom@voicenet.com.

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