If you ask Carl Taylor, vice president of marketing for OKI Data, what trends will be affecting OKI’s business in 2014 don’t be surprised if he hones in on a couple of hardware-specific trends.
“The major trend we see driving our revenue growth and market contribution in the next year is the macro trend that’s underway from single-function devices to MFPs and a migration from small workgroup style devices to mid workgroup style devices,” says Taylor. “We saw those trends building over the last couple of years; subsequently we launched quite a few new products, all with the exception of two or three in 2013 in workgroup style categories.”
“From a new product introduction standpoint the biggest change in our business that we’ll see this year is A4 mid workgroup MFPs, color and mono,” states Taylor. “And then our C9 series which is A3 large workgroup single-function devices. Where we’re seeing growth in A4 products is in our BTA channel engagement as well as commercial.”
The business proposition for BTA dealers with those products is that OKI has a strong family offering with the 35- and 45-ppm Segment 3 and 4 copier-based products that have a 9-inch color touch panel. “That’s the same touch panel on our A4 color and mono MFPs, so it’s a strong suite of products that hit multiple categories from a usability perspective,” notes Taylor. “They have attractive CPCs in place for those partners with an ability to gain access to those products without an onerous volume commitment on an annual basis that [one] would typically have with some of the other color copier providers.”
OKI is still looking for BTA dealers and is in recruitment mode. “We see that as a growth area for us,” states Taylor about the BTA channel.
Another trend he sees impacting the business is the growth of the solutions element of the MFP implementation relative to open API and application integration with those devices at the customer location.
“An additional trend we’ve seen from a graphic arts perspective is the growth of capabilities in digital technology to be able to produce signage and unique media types for various applications and sizes,” adds Taylor. “That’s been a trend we’ve seen continuing to build.”
That’s one of the reasons he says OKI refreshed its C9 printer series.
Going into 2014, the C9 Series products will be a key area for OKI Data particularly with the focus on creating on demand retail signage business, on demand greeting card business, and print for pay applications, which leverage the capabilities of the product, including the ability to print up to 360 GSM of media thickness as well as the diversity of media types, and the ability to include white or clear toner in a value proposition that he says is unlike anything else in the market.
“That is what’s going to help drive our growth,” concludes Taylor.
