OKI Printing wants interaction with A/NZ resellers

Following printer vendor OKI Printing Solutions shipment of its one millionth digital LED colour printer, the vendor wants to bring back a personal approach to its resellers.

Sales of Oki colour LED printers in Australia doubled in January and February due to the company’s renewed attention on the channel, said Graham Harman, general manager for Oki Printing Solutions.

Resellers leading this growth have included Office National, as well as strategic partners such as Fujitsu.

Oki has also confirmed significant deals with Queensland Rail and the New South Wales Fire Brigade.

According to Harman the company’s focus on the channel has been very successful.

Harman said in the past Oki had a tight knit distribution policy and it relied on pricing to differentiate its products. But the vendor can no longer sustain that, with the changes in the printing industry.

“We have been told that we aren’t ‘fun in mind’. Now that I am GM (general manager) I think we need to get the local channel back on track with the global program by going out there and meeting resellers face-to-face and pressing the flesh,” he said.

Oki wants more resellers to know the vendor will do more training to enable them to become service providers, he said.

For more information on Oki's local plans, see issue 217 of CRN out 2 April.