Perhaps in another life, Scott Robinson would’ve made for an excellent football coach. The vice president of managed print-as-a-service for Toshiba America Business Solutions believes in the importance of every role within an organization.
A high-performing business, like a football team, relies on an amalgamation of contributors with sometimes disparate roles, all contributing to the desired outcome. And while no one thinks of a long snapper on a football team as being particularly vital, lacking the personnel to execute seemingly minor functions can impact the final score.
In the end, it’s all about crossing that goal line. “Every person plays a role in delivering the end product to the client,” said Robinson, a 2022 ENX Magazine Difference Maker. “Every action they take has an impact, no matter their role. They may rarely, if ever, interact directly with a client, but their work certainly does. Keeping every member of the team aware of the importance of what they do each day is something I will never stop reinforcing.”
An industry veteran of 30 years, Robinson cut his office technology teeth with the former IKON Office Solutions juggernaut throughout most of the 1990s. He landed at Toshiba in 1999 and was the cornerstone of a team that orchestrated the acquisition of 40 companies. They generated more than $200 million in annual revenues, juicing their profitability by more than 400% in the process. But after nearly 20 years as an M&A maven, he transitioned to vice president of MPaaS at the onset of 2021.
It’s been quite an evolution for Robinson, who graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a BS in business administration and flexed his finance muscles as a controller for a large department store chain in the 1980s. Throughout his career, building and improving have been twin fortes that he’s applied to both his personal and professional lives.
“Changing behavior inside the business on a process front is also a core driver for me,” Robinson related. “I work with many cross-functional teams and take great pride in watching teams improve the way the business goes to market. It’s always fun to ask teams to look back at what they have accomplished and recognize what they collectively achieved.”
Industry Mentors
Throughout his career, Robinson has enjoyed the insights and guidance of a number of key figures. At IKON Office Solutions, he had the good fortune to work alongside Peter Shoemaker in the company’s northeast region.
“Peter was a great strategist, could equate those strategies to solid tactics and was always able to move quickly from details to the big picture,” Robinson noted. “He taught me a great deal about this business at the highest level.”
During his time with Toshiba, Robinson counts Steve Sauer and Jim Hawkins among his key influences. Both were instrumental in helping Robinson focus on his strategic goals while laying the foundation for significant future growth.
“I always seem to learn something from them with each interaction and they are leaders any organization would be blessed to have,” he added.
2021 was a critical year for Toshiba, as it migrated to a more formalized structure for its managed print business while solidifying the team and bringing it under a single leader. “This put us in a position to bring very talented individuals from across the organization together to forge one unit that is positioned for tremendous success,” Robinson observed. “It was a key commitment from our senior leadership, and it marked a new approach to something we’ve done well for decades.”
As the corner turns toward 2023, Robinson is focused on improving his physical health and get into shape following the COVID-induced downtime. From a business point of view, integration into all aspects of the business to improve the client experience is an overarching goal. It’s not about focusing on any one aspect—A3, A4, solutions or thermal products—but rather ensuring that client engagement is concentrating on solving challenges. That’s also the key to improving client retention while elevating Toshiba’s services to the next level.
Team Contributors
While continuing to grow the business and achieving goals ranks highly on Robinson’s priority list, taking the time to recognize team members who have helped to make these successes a reality goes a long way toward ensuring everyone desires to increase their contributions in the future. Whether it’s new products, processes or better client outcomes, Robinson believes these individual contributions will go a long way toward advancing Toshiba’s overall mission.
“They need to receive our thanks and our recognition for all the hard work and leadership they provide to the organization,” he said. “Continuing to ensure they receive that recognition and accolades are key to what I want to focus upon as we continue to achieve our future goals.”
Away from the office, Robinson and his wife of 36 years, Diana, have two children: a son, Jay (married to Cassidy) and a daughter, McKenzie. The family enjoys spending time at their cottage along a local river, and much of his free time is spent “in that slice of heaven.” Golf, fishing, water skiing and boating are among his favorite pastimes, but it is the family and the “small things in life” where Robinson finds the most reward. Other passions include the Virginia Special Olympics, and Diana is on the board of Art for the Journey.
“Both organizations make a tremendous impact on the lives they touch and we feel greatly honored to invest time and resources to help further their goals,” he said.
