Known for its reputation as a dealer-centric organization, KYOCERA Document Solutions America (KDA) continues to ride a wave of success, as evidenced by its eighth consecutive year of growth. Much of that success is directly attributed to its Total Document Solutions (TDS) approach that incorporates hardware, software and services.
Danielle Wolowitz, KYOCERA Document Solutions America
In August, KYOCERA announced that DataBank IMX had been acquired to further enhance dealer offerings into the world of enterprise content management, business process improvement and document business process outsourcing (BPO)—key lynchpins in its upcoming TDS 2.0 release. ENX Magazine spoke with Danielle Wolowitz, vice president of the corporate marketing division at KDA, regarding its strategy behind the acquisition of DataBank IMX and how it will enable KYOCERA to fulfill its vision of TDS 2.0. Wolowitz also expanded upon KYOCERA’s growth in both the A3 and A4 segments, the success of KYOCERA Fleet Services and the company’s role as a trusted advisor to the dealership community.
Tell us about your career path leading up to current position at KYOCERA.
Wolowitz: I joined the industry in 2001 as an intern at Ricoh and spent four and a half years there in various positions within software and hardware, all in the marketing department under product marketing and the Alliance Group. I actually started in software and my heart kind of remains there. I learned hardware after the fact, which is a little bit of a different approach than people took 16 years ago. In July 2005, I made the move to what was then KYOCERA Mita as a product manager for segment 1 and 2 black and white. Through the years, I moved through KYOCERA’s product marketing department, first taking over the color product, then a majority of A3s prior to becoming a senior manager and eventually a director. In 2011, I became director of product marketing and later took over as senior director for the corporate marketing group, having responsibility for the handling of product marketing and planning, education services and marketing communications. From there, I became vice president of corporate marketing, and now I head up the corporate marketing division, reporting directly to our president and CEO, Yukio Ikeda.
In August, KYOCERA announced it had acquired DataBank IMX. What were the factors that led you to expand upon your previous alliance with DataBank?
Wolowitz: A few years ago, our former president and CEO, Nori Ina—now president of our parent company, KYOCERA Document Solutions, in Japan—set the direction for KDA to expand into the world of ECM, BPI and BPO. It was in line with the global direction of the company. We were expanding beyond traditional business and the document, going more into the world of data and content within an organization. We had launched the strategy of Total Document Solutions about five years ago, which includes hardware, software, services, and the best combination of the three that enable us to solve the critical business challenges of a customer’s environment. The first couple of years, we focused primarily on the hardware and software aspect, because those are the products KYOCERA offers directly to our channel partners and, in turn, our end customers. Over the years, the intention was to always expand the services aspect of the business.
Looking at what closely matched from a synergy perspective within the KYOCERA portfolio and within our partner community, we had started an informal alliance with DataBank IMX two years ago. Formally, we announced it in September 2016 at the Hyland Community Live event through our direct operations. When we first launched the DataBank alliance through direct operations, we quickly learned about the synergies between the two companies—company culture, the capabilities of the organizations and our mutual goals. We realized the companies were going to work well together and we’ve continued to do so as an alliance. We then announced to our dealer community this past April that we would be launching TDS 2.0, our Total Document Solutions approach—which encompasses DataBank—around October. We’re extremely excited that the acquisition happened at the beginning of August, because we were already working towards announcing TDS 2.0 to the dealer community. It’s a much stronger strategy knowing that DataBank is a KYOCERA Group company.
How will DataBank IMX’s business process automation solutions enhance Kyocera’s overall value proposition?
Wolowitz: The business process outsourcing side of DataBank—with its imaging facilities across the country—is strong in many verticals, particularly in health care and government. In the health care industry, the paper-based document is still a primary form of communication. There’s a necessity to be able to process that information more quickly than ever before and be tracked well in data and content. DataBank’s imaging centers and outsourcing facilities allow us to do that in one streamlined process. What we’ll be able to do, through both our direct and dealer organizations, is provide that end-to-end total document solutions, all under the KYOCERA name. DataBank will retain its name; however, they are now listed as a KYOCERA Group company.
From an outsourcing perspective, there’s a tremendous opportunity for the dealer community to get into an expanded realm of capabilities that maybe they were previously sourcing on their own or weren’t even touching. When it comes to business process improvement or enterprise content management, DataBank is the single largest reseller of Hyland OnBase in the U.S. and one of the top overall resellers of Hyland, which is recognized for their superior service and capabilities. That gives us the ability to now offer the complete portfolio of Hyland product to our entire channel—both the direct operations and dealer community—which is wonderful because they have a nationwide network of professional solutions and services architects to provide them products and services. We can help our dealers and direct sales organizations approach a different type of customer. We’ve been talking about changing that conversation with customers for years, moving from offering boxes to more of a solutions consulting approach. This is the natural progression to becoming a business consultant with customers rather than just talking about hardware and on-ramp software.
At KDA’s Business and Technology Conference earlier this year, the company revealed it has grown for the eighth consecutive year. What role did the Total Document Solutions approach play in this growth?
Wolowitz: We’ve been able to demonstrate, through our dealer community, that the Total Document Solutions approach works for them. We have several dealers of different sizes and capabilities that have been able to elevate themselves. Because we are a primarily a dealer-centric organization, we rely heavily on that independent dealer channel for our growth. The more successful they are, the more successful we are. We work with them to ensure mutual success and growth. For our TDS approach, we’ve dedicated countless resources, both from a collateral development and training perspective, to help our dealers elevate those capabilities.
Because we are a primarily a dealer-centric organization, we rely heavily on that independent dealer channel for our growth. The more successful they are, the more successful we are.
When TDS first came out, it was heavily focused on training and knowledge transfer. From the knowledge transfer perspective, we moved into putting that knowledge into action. After it was put into action, we were going out on joint calls with dealers, helping them understand how to approach a customer differently rather than looking at speeds and feeds. We identified champions within the dealership space that were able to take the TDS approach and run with it. Each dealership’s makeup is different, so for some companies the champion was actually a dedicated person hired to be that consultant within the customers. In other instances, it was the existing sales rep or reps who were identified as more of the solutions-focused sellers. In all cases, our presales, education services, post-sales and technical service teams, coupled with our sales group, have been there to work through this process of growth with the dealership. We have seen tremendous growth from the significant group of dealers, which is directly attributed to our growth.
Globally in FY2017, the company launched 43 models in 12 product series. Where have you witnessed the most success in the U.S. market?
Wolowitz: We’ve seen continued growth in our A4 desktop MFPs over the last couple of years. Just look at the market shift. A lot of the growth in which Gartner reports is more in the A4 area. Industry A3 growth is flat in some categories while others are declining, depending on black and white versus color. When we report our growth numbers, KDA growth encompasses the Americas, which include Canada, Mexico and Latin America, Brazil, and Chile operations. If you look at the aggregate, it’s the A4 that’s grown. Within the United States, we’ve seen growth in A4, both in traditional and our TASKalfa 406ci series, a floor-standing A4 MFP. We’ve seen a significant increase in our color A3 placements, which is a new series of products. The dealers have been extremely receptive to that product. We’re on our fourth or fifth generation of very successful color MFPs on the A3 side and continue to have success with those.
What can you tell us about the expansion of Kyocera Fleet Services?
Wolowitz: KYOCERA Fleet Services (KFS) has been very successful since we launched it a year and a half ago. It allows our dealerships to proactively service and support their customers, as opposed to the reactive break/fix approach when a device is down and waiting for a service call. The dealers are able to have visibility into all of the products and understand the dynamics of what’s going on with the devices, such as over-utilized/under-utilized machines, error codes, or paper jams and toner low readings. It offers robust reporting capabilities on a remote basis. This has proven to be a very cost-effective way for our dealers to service some of their customers and increase their capabilities on the service side.
What this allows KYOCERA to do is understand more of the dynamics of how these devices are being used in the field and report some of the issues that are occurring. We can address the need for further upgrades or modifications to certain elements. For the KFS customers we’re directly servicing, we can see if one specific issue keeps arising with the same product across different accounts. We can send out communications in the field and ask “did you know that the following products are handled in this way?” The dealers manage all of their devices and have full capability to go in and structure it to their needs. We don’t have access to their accounts and can’t see any of their information. But if needed, dealers can run reports for us out of KFS to compare their findings with our data.
Looking ahead, what can we expect to see from Total Document Solutions 2.0?
Wolowitz: TDS 2.0 is taking dealers out of the world of hardware/software and more into the ECM, BPI area. In some cases, our dealers are already offering ECM and BPI services on their own or through another manufacturer. We want to be able to provide that true end-to-end solution through KYOCERA. There’s going to be comprehensive training and collateral material, as well as dealer benefits with the TDS 2.0 introduction, but those are still being defined and will be launched early in the second half. While I can’t discuss any specifics at this time, it is 100 percent focused around ECM/BPI as it relates to the DataBank acquisition.
What changes in the BTA space are influencing your go-to-market strategy, and what influences will play a role in your strategy going forward?
Wolowitz: We look closely at what’s going on with our dealer community. We know that the dealer dynamic is changing. The manufacturer dynamic is changing; it seems some of our counterparts have made a significant shift in their strategy over the last six to nine months, whether it was going dealer focused, direct focused or a little bit of both. We maintain our strategy of being a dealer-centric organization and making sure that our dealers look to us as valued partners and trusted advisors. Becoming a trusted advisor is so much more than just being a manufacturer and OEM. At a recent BTA event, I heard the phrase “trusted advisor” come up several times in reference to end customers. If we’re not putting our best foot forward as the trusted advisor to our dealers, we can’t expect them to cohesively do it for their customers. We must lead by example.
When you look at our dealers, we have very close relationships with many of them out in the market. We make sure that we get front and center with them on a regular basis. I try to get out to our dealerships as much as possible; I visited a West Coast dealer in conjunction with the BTA event, just to talk to them about what they’re thinking, what their strategy is and what their culture is like. Where are they growing, struggling and lacking? Where can we help? We want them to know that we’re in this together and that we’re not just another OEM. We are truly a trusted advisor that they can lean on.
What are your goals for the balance of 2017 and the coming year?
Wolowitz: ECM, ECM, ECM (laughs). Our focus has been around the advancement of our capabilities, as well as that of our dealers, through the acquisition of DataBank. It’s all about launching TDS 2.0 and identifying those dealers who have both the desire and capability of offering true business process improvement solutions to their customers and helping them accomplish that goal. This is not something that’s going to happen overnight. We have some Hyland resellers already, which is wonderful, because it’s a natural extension of being able to offer a broader portfolio of services through KYOCERA. But for those that have the desire to grow and want to move in that direction, we’re here to partner and work with them to get through it. It’s going to be an exciting six months leading up to our dealer kickoff meeting next April in Orlando, and we’re confident that we’re going to have wonderful KYOCERA success stories that we can share with the broader dealer community.
