Sam Errigo feels your pain. During the midst of the pandemic, as the ability to source imaging and related equipment has become ensnarled by supply chain disruptions, the newly-minted president and CEO of Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. has proven to be much more than merely empathetic.
How? The executive confesses to many a sleepless night. He has spent countless hours on the phone with hundreds of dealers, resellers, end-user customers and various partners, domestically and abroad. In fact, Errigo has tallied two hours per day, three days a week, in huddling with Konica Minolta corporate in Japan by phone to maintain a granular grip on product availability in the short and long term. Yet the sacrifices and understanding demonstrated by the company’s valued reseller partners were first and foremost on his mind.
“Thank you for sticking with us. Thank you for enduring, for being patient. It goes a long way,” Errigo told roughly 200 in-person attendees and hundreds more logging in virtually Tuesday for the Konica Minolta Dealer Summit at its corporate headquarters in Ramsey, New Jersey. “Many conversations have been tough, but in the spirit of business, it has to be. You have a business to run, and we have a business to run. What we owe to you is 100% every day. I can tell you with the utmost confidence that we did that. We gave it everything. We’re not out of it yet, but it’s looking way better.”
Employing the theme “Full Throttle,” Errigo’s opening address and the day-long conference program underscored the manufacturer’s renewed commitment to helping dealer partners focus on growth opportunities amid an evolving business landscape by building and enhancing their digital transformation (DX) offerings.
Reactive Excellence
Errigo was most candid in discussing the mistakes the company has made during the past year, exacerbated by the difficulties of a pinched labor market and the inability to source materials, which has plagued the entire manufacturing network. But even in a world with empty retail shelves and spiraling costs, he made no excuses. It is about taking care of resellers and end-users. Errigo shared a tale of a customer with one machine and no toner that spends just $49 a month with the OEM. But the phone call was addressed, and the toner was delivered.
“It’s not about the customer that spends $49. It’s about what we do and how we react to the market,” he added.
Errigo was also frank about the future of the supply chain scenario, estimating it could take another six months to sort itself out. But every step along the way, he vowed to continue emphasizing that commitment to customers.
“As we look at our vision statement, it really centers around our customer. It centers around change and change management, and being on the forefront,” he said. “In order to do that, you have to take some risks.”
One thing’s for sure—Konica Minolta remains committed to its core business, and one of the vehicles driving that is the OEM’s Client Engagement Center (CEC). “We close business. It’s an impressive center, and there’s nothing like it in the U.S.,” Errigo remarked. “This is probably the nicest facility for production that I’ve seen. Bring your customers here.”
Full Throttle
Errigo also emphasized the need for the industry to invest in other areas of business, from managed IT services to enterprise content management, security services and industrial print, to create business opportunities. And that’s what Full Throttle was built around: Konica Minolta shedding light on those areas where dealers can add incremental or even substantial value.
One of the cornerstones of the event was the unveiling of Konica Minolta’s new dealer performance program, Rev’d Up, which has been designed to reward dealers for diversification, increasing rewards and incentives as they move up in levels. The company conducted significant research both internally and with its dealer partners to tailor a mutually beneficial program that rewards them for investing in growth and diversification. Rev’d Up has clearly defined levels to support dealer partners as they grow their business, combining overall revenue, production and industrial print and DX solutions.
The new program takes into consideration dealers of all sizes who may be selling a varying mix of Konica Minolta products and services. For example, for dealers trying to grow into production and industrial print, program targets have been built to give dealers a better chance to move forward from one level to the next. DX solutions now include the company’s brand new FORXAI: Video Security Solution, as well as unified communications and intelligent Information management (IIM) to help dealers differentiate themselves in the market.
Tuesday’s general session at Konica Minolta’s CEC provided a business update and introduced the company’s new dealer program. Following presentations from a number of key executives—including Laura Blackmer, Kay Fernandez and Elisa Esposito—dealers on-premise and attending virtually had a choice of a wide array of educational breakout sessions designed to help them discover new opportunities based on what growth path makes the most sense for their business, market and customers.
Sessions included:
- Supercharging Digital Transformation
- Revving up Managed IT Services
- Integrating the Cloud
- Driving Production Print
- Leveraging Vertical Markets
Additionally, a digital twin of the CEC was launched so that virtual attendees can experience the showroom wherever they may be located. The CEC digital twin is a detailed virtual representation of the space. The renderings of the engagement center include the exterior, newly designed lobby and production and industrial print showroom, complete with video demonstrations of the various products on the showroom floor. The CEC digital twin was used to bridge the virtual and physical worlds for the Dealer Summit event and will serve as a tool for future sales enablement supporting hybrid client engagements.
Diversification Gems
Faced with numerous market changes, dealers need to consider fast action to optimize their business relevancy and safeguard future revenues. The “Full Throttle” agenda is focused on helping dealers determine how best to adopt, accelerate and augment their dealership’s growth and diversification strategies while rewarding their commitment to Konica Minolta.
“With all the disruptions to the marketplace, it’s our job to motivate and reinvigorate our dealers’ business strategies within the MIT space,” Errigo said. “Through new dealer and MIT programs, we are giving our dealers what they need to succeed and support their DX. It’s now time for them to use these tools to push forward into the future of their dealership post-pandemic.”
With many customers adopting hybrid working, this presents a considerable challenge for print revenue streams. This coupled with supply chain issues means dealers must adopt MIT if they have not already and/or diversify their offerings. In this spirit, Konica Minolta also announced its MSP Partner Program, a new MIT dealer program representing advancements within Konica Minolta’s IT services division, All Covered, that will bring the latest technology to its dealers. A key element of this program is Konica Minolta’s investment in dedicated dealer support teams. By integrating All Covered’s comprehensive IT services with Konica Minolta’s office solutions portfolio and consulting services, the company’s intelligent connected workplace platform helps businesses achieve true connectivity.
“Working on our new dealer programs was a labor of love and we are thrilled to present them today. They encourage speed, motion and moving forward, which is exactly what we’re doing. We’re not sitting back waiting for challenges like supply chain issues to get fixed before we start charging ahead-full throttle—to be a better partner to our dealers,” said Blackmer, president of dealer sales. “The programs will help motivate our dealers and get them moving in a great forward direction. Whether that’s to grow more volume, grow more production or advance in their DX journey, we are investing in ways to help them succeed.”
Special guests from Wayne Taylor Racing included team owner Wayne Taylor and driver Ricky Taylor, who shared inspirational stories from the racetrack during the general session. They offered unique perspectives and learnings from recent race situations where decision-making in a strategic direction ultimately led to the team’s success. The No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 show car was also on site.
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About Konica Minolta
Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. Inc. is reshaping and revolutionizing the workplace to achieve true connectivity through the Intelligent Connected Workplace. The company guides and supports its clients’ digital transformation through its expansive office technology portfolio, including IT Services (All Covered), intelligent information management, managed print services and industrial and commercial print solutions. Konica Minolta has been included on CRN’s MSP 500 list nine times and The World Technology Awards named the company a finalist in the IT Software category. Konica Minolta has been recognized as the #1 Brand for Customer Loyalty in the MFP Office Copier Market by Brand Keys for 15 consecutive years and is proud to be ranked on the Forbes 2021 America’s Best-in-State employers’ list. The company received Keypoint Intelligence’s BLI 2021 A3 Line of The Year Award and BLI 2021-2023 Most Color Consistent A3 Brand Award for its bizhub i-Series. Konica Minolta, Inc. has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for nine consecutive years and has spent four years on the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World list. Konica Minolta partners with its clients to give shape to ideas and works to bring value to our society.
