Platinum printing with Harman

For more than 20 years, Harman has spent his working career in the printer sector and shows no signs of looking towards the door as he attempts to match OKI’s international success on Australian shores.

The man at the centre of OKI’s local drive is Harman, who is keen to continue the vendor’s expansion across Australia.

“OKI is number two in the world for colour printing and that is because we are strong in the IT channel,” Harman told CRN. “We have done well in Australia, but internationally we have done better.”

Printing background
Harman will feel confident he has seen enough of the printer market’s heritage to guide the OKI vessel into its next stage of development.
Back in 1985 Harman started his career in printing when he joined a family dealership in Sydney.

“Our major suppliers at the dealership were Brother and Canon when they brought out printers and then we carried Epson. I’ve very much had a printer background.”

Harman said during that time he made a number of reseller contacts and in 1990 some new Canon products were brought to market.
“I went to Canon and arranged a good price by buying in bulk. Other resellers

I knew then got involved in the investment and that took off. I had to form a company and became chairman and director of APT (Advanced Product Technology).”
In the wake of the success of APT, Harman was approached in 1999 by other groups looking to pool their skills and form a single supply point for office needs. The groups merged to form Office National, where Harman was a director.

“I did that [Office National] for seven years and left to join Oki last year. I needed to find a new challenge in a transition period of the market.”

Life at OKI
Harman explained that OKI in Australia is part-owned by OKI Electric Japan and Stead Denton of the IPL Group.

“We carry a full range of dot matrix printers and this continues to grow. We have a LED range as opposed to laser.” Harman said OKI does have a laser printing offering, but it is known for its LED range.

“Arguably the resolution is superior with LED, as we get high definition printing with fine detail, with an almost magazine-type finish. Our offering is for someone who is serious about having good quality printing,” he said.

Channel plans
“Traditionally OKI in Australia had a lot of IT partners buying dot matrix offerings. We have products which suit the IT channel as what we offer is very reliable, but we just need to get our message out there.”

OKI has a set of channel partners which have been working with the vendor for years and do well in the high-end, according to Harman. However OKI is keen to expand its IT channel.

“Our IT channel might be quite sporadic, where our Platinum Partners are more consistent with their sales. We want to let people know we have a serious offering.”

Print market future
“Selling printers in Australia is one of the most competitive sectors in the industry,” said Harman.

Harman said as PCs and notebooks become even more of a commodity, IT firms need to supply more value-add.

“Multi-function is the future, with stand-alone printers becoming less popular,” added Harman.

The Australian printer landscape is not an easy sector to navigate. OKI has the advantage of a worldwide brand and the vendor will need every inch of Harman’s printer background to win market share from some established players.

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