FUJIFILM UK LAUNCH
which means the fusing temperature can be reduced, and circular production system technology. We’re really focusing on ensuring that the tech and our approach to the market minimises our impact on the environment.” The final highlight is device security. “Asia Pacific is a quite challenging region politically," he says. “A lot of countries distrust with one another in that region. To be able to crack that market, you must be extremely secure. The devices need to have multiple layers of security to give you the best offences possible in that market. “The devices work with the likes of Papercut, YSoft, Kofax (now Tungsten), Vasion and MyQ, as well as various Scan technologies too, because we have those relationships in Asia Pacific. We’re going to develop further the developer kit so that we can have a broader platform technology on board, but we’re going to integrate with the existing market leaders as well.” Ways to sell Gary adds that the Apeos printers are aimed at the office market. “It can fulfil a purpose in the office as a departmental device where people require high quality printing functions, or they might need a hub device. But equally, it can also be used as a light production machine in the creative space. “The print resolution is market leading with 1,200x2,400dpi all the way up to 70 pages per minute. That’s because the technology has been taken from our production devices. “This means that the printers can do banner printing with these printers, which could be ideal for those in educational spaces or SMEs that might want to do their own graphics in- house.” No direct sales As a new entrant to the UK market, Fujifilm don’t have any intention to sell directly to customers, preferring to develop relationships with channel partners, including the servicing of devices, according to Hiro. “This will be core in the beginning,” he says. In addition, Hiro says there will be some synergy with the existing Fujifilm sales entity in the UK, which has been here for nearly 50 years. “We will utilise Fujifilm’s existing
sales entities also to organise our product distribution,” he says. He adds that there will be a brand awareness campaign in the UK in the coming months. “Our mission is to be considered by our partners in every opportunity,” he says. “We want to be the manufacturer that everybody wants to lead with. We want our partners to give Fujifilm a chance in every opportunity that they go into. That’s a big ask, but this is a mission, it’s an aspirational goal. “But if we’re working to the level that we believe we can, we hope that can be achieved. Our go-to-market approach is a channel-only business model. We are focused on recruitment, initially, of traditional partners with a service capability. We’re building a business from scratch. As we don’t have a direct operation in the UK, is we need to ensure that we build a self-sufficiency model. “We are building a model where we can deliver training capabilities to our partners for them to be self-sufficient in the market. That helps our partners because that delivers an ability for them to leverage their capabilities in the market and they can commercially develop that to make more money from the technology as well.” Hiro adds that Fujifilm intend to have a balance of nationwide, regional and small partners. “We intend to have some partners that can cover the whole or most of the country, some partners that might be regional – covering the Northwest, Northeast or just London, then there’ll be smaller partners
Gary Organ head of device technology sales UK
www.fujifilm.com/uk/eu
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