Oki snatches Brother exec to spearhead UK channel
Dylan Haworth takes on sales director role at Japanese print vendor
Japanese print vendor Oki has signed up former Brother channel boss Dylan Haworth as UK sales director.
Haworth had been with Brother since 2010 where his most recent post was as general manager of UK channel sales.
Thomas Seeber, vice president of EMEA channel and distribution, said Haworth joined the company a few weeks ago. He is responsible for channel and end-user business, as well as overseeing the firm's graphic arts product business.
"We just had a new person on board for the UK, former sales director for Brother, Dylan," he said. "He knows how the dealership works and that is why he is with us now. This is quite new, he just started two or three weeks ago; he is very fresh and I am very happy with his appointment. He knows the channel business very well and there is huge benefit in bringing in fresh faces and learning from them."
Seeber said the firm has also recently hired three new UK salespeople for the firm's European headquarters in Egham, Surrey.
"We do not have many partners in the UK. The UK is a very online-driven market already, via the big online resellers and that is something we are struggling with a bit," said Seeber.
"We are looking to segregate the channel and give back some of the margin to the face-to-face channel. But we also cannot ignore the online side. Every vendor will say the reseller needs to go more towards solutions and we are saying the same."
Oki's new range of smart colour products announced at the vendor's Smart Colour Solutions event in Milan will provide resellers with embedded solutions to help add value to their customer offering, according to UK, Ireland and Nordic regional vice president Takaaki Hagiwara (pictured).
"Traditionally bread and butter business is in the office print market and we are moving to a solutions market, which is the growing market. That is going to be addressed by smart solution-based products but on top of that we will be addressing the on-demand graphics art market," he said.
"I think the main driver behind [the event] was the embedded solutions. Addressing the VAR channel over the online resellers is important because the online guys are just going to offer a box. They will not offer anything else, whereas the VAR solutions partner can offer an embedded solution with our box."
Hagiwara said he is aiming to achieve double-digit growth in the UK between fiscal years 2016 and 2017. He also revealed that the firm is on the brink of signing a new distribution partner, but could not give any more details.