Frank Mallozzi
I’ve known Frank Mallozzi ever since he was with Canon U.S.A. back in the early 1990’s and was responsible for the rollout of the CJ10 desktop color copier. Back then I was working at Canon’s public relations agency and wrote the press release for that product. Now, more than 20 years later, he’s one of the top executives at EFI. His position as senior vice president, worldwide sales and marketing, finds him globetrotting around the world, racking up frequent flyer miles fast and furiously.
I had an opportunity to chat briefly with Mallozzi a couple of times during the EFI Connect 2015 conference in January, but it wasn’t until the beginning of February that I was able to connect with him for a telephone interview while he was navigating his way through the fog on his way morning commute to EFI’s headquarters in Fremont, CA. My intent was to get Mallozzi’s impressions of Connect 2015 along with his thoughts as to why an end-user conference like Connect would be relevant for the traditional office technology dealer.
Now that you’ve had a week to decompress what’s the overall feeling about how Connect 2015 went?
Mallozzi: We’re very pleased based on the feedback from our customers, which helps us understand and identify where they see the market going. The feedback was very positive. It provides validation that the content, the direction, and the technology that we’re developing and implementing for the market is very much aligned with what they need.
Was there any specific feedback you heard either firsthand or secondhand that was of interest?
Mallozzi: We heard a lot about integration. As you heard in the keynote, integration is important. Technology is very ‘siloed’ today within different departments, but the market is looking for everything to connect and talk to one another. We believe we’re moving in the right direction and we have the right portfolio [to make that happen].
What else is EFI is acting on based on feedback you received from customers at the conference outside of integration?
Mallozzi: What’s interesting about Connect is it’s a gathering of users so we get very specific feedback from them. We have over 150 sessions that are quite granular in terms of product features, enhancements, and improvements. Our developers, engineers, and product managers are very much entrenched with the customer. You can’t trade that for anything in the world—getting first-hand information on how you can improve your product offering. First and foremost having that type of venue and that type of feedback allows us to deliver the feature sets [our customers are looking for].
We get a lot of good advice and ideas from many of our customers and partners. They’re entrepreneurs and visionaries and you get an exchange of great ideas for us to either [research], invest in, or provide a conversation around. For example, inkjet digital is growing and how do you integrate the right format offering? And short-run label, all are opportunities that were brought to our attention.
Looking at this from the perspective of the document imaging or BTA dealer, what would be the message or messages coming out of this conference relevant to them?
Mallozzi: It’s an opportunity to understand the other part of their business—production/commercial print. There are so many opportunities that they can take advantage of and this show demonstrates and identifies [those opportunities]. I’m passionate about trying to get that message across because for me, having the ability to work in both industries—the BTA industry and Graphic Arts industry—there isn’t a better set of dealers that can deliver services than the BTA dealer.
The fact that they’re not taking advantage of opportunities in the graphic arts industry is, in my opinion, a big miss. The ability to focus on production, and we’re doing it today, instead of putting marks on a piece of paper you can put marks on vinyl or put marks on a textile and any workflow associated with it, the color management expertise, and how you service and support it, is all relevant. They’ve got the ability to support that. We think there’s a tremendous opportunity for the BTA dealer to embrace this side of the business.
Any plans to court this group for the conference in the future?
Mallozzi: Absolutely. We want to carve out an executive track for the BTA owner to identify and look at the opportunities in graphic arts.
The fact we’re not able to articulate that well enough to maybe convince them to see it the way we do is a miss for us. Part of it is because we’re a unique company with a unique offering in our space. You look at managed IT or MPS and you look at the big manufacturers with great respect and they’re moving into that space. It stimulates the activity and movement so it creates validation. We don’t have that cache or the power to stimulate on a greater scale. It will take us a little time, but that message will eventually get out there and evolve.
One of the messages that came through to me loud and clear at the conference is that print is far from dead, and more than one presenter alluded to that. Obviously, this is their business, so I wouldn’t expect otherwise. Plus EFI has such a diverse product offering, making you well positioned to roll with the flow as the print/printing industry evolves. That said, what do you see as the biggest threat to your business?
Mallozzi: The millennials coming into the workforce and how they do business and how they conduct transactions on a day to day basis is very different from our generation. We have to look at print as another vehicle for communication. The way we deliver that is similar to what you see on your smart phone or iPad. A great example is integrating social media within our industry. Angie’s list is a great repository of social media and print. Six months after I used the service I received a printed book with specials and articles relevant to my search. That captured my attention and I took the time to look at that content. To tie in print to what the millennials are consuming it is going to be key. That’s what we’re trying to do. We have the tools, technology, and workflow to do that across media.
It may only be early February, but what are some of the things EFI is doing this year that have you most excited?
Mallozzi: It’s nice to see the strategy we’ve been working on for many years come to fruition and be accepted in the marketplace. What keeps me excited is seeing customers prosper. We’re expanding into a lot of new markets, China, India, and I’m going to Australia tomorrow. Seeing how our technologies affect and touch customers, small and midsize commercial printers and even the large enterprises is gratifying because we’re a customer-focused company. That is what excites me about what I do for the company.
