1 September 2017

INTERVIEW: KYOCERA's Nigel Allen


After reviewing one of their awesome printers, we were keen to stay in touch with KYOCERA and learn more about how they work. To that end, we grabbed five minutes with their Marketing Director, Nigel Allen.



Hello. Who are you?

Hi, I’m Nigel Allen, the Marketing Director at KYOCERA Document Solutions.

And what do you do?

I head up KYOCERA’s marketing team in the UK. We are a leading manufacturer of the everyday multifunctional printer found in most people’s offices - and the apps and solutions that go alongside these devices, such as mobile printing, cloud printing and 3D printing. We’re renowned for our environmental credentials - our unique cartridge-free ECOSYS technology reduces electronic waste by 85%.



Tell us how you got started in that.

I always liked putting together convincing arguments and so the persuasive nature of marketing is what originally appealed to me. In the end I studied it at university and, before making the move to marketing in tech, I spent time within the automotive, retail and pharmaceutical industries.

I worked at a couple of other tech companies before moving to KYOCERA Document Solutions about 14 years ago. Over the years I’ve discovered that it’s not so much about what the tech does, but the benefits it can offer to people. Likewise, it doesn’t matter what the products do; successful marketing will find, or sometimes even create, a human element.


In fact, in my experience, it’s the same in every sector; marketing- whether B2B or B2C- becomes a way of communicating and persuading people. I’ve found that this persuasion is usually achieved, especially in tech, by finding the human link.

What is the average day like for you?

In a word? Busy!

The average day doesn’t exist as every day is very different. I’m based at the KYOCERA UK headquarters in Reading for the majority of the time. My role is all about interacting with people- whether it be other members of the KYOCERA team, or our customers- and so I’m often with others in company meetings, one-to-ones, commercial meetings, etc. So I guess you could say that my ‘average day’ is definitely not a lonely one!

Another big part of my role, and something that I think about daily, is trying to be externally focused, rather than internally focused. In a big, global company like KYOCERA it can be easy to spend a lot of time focusing on internal politics. Part of my job is to actively concentrate my efforts on the market in terms of understanding what is happening and how we can best help our customers be more profitable and productive.

Where do you see your industry going in the near future, and how might you adapt?

Well the print industry has been changing for a while now…

Over the last few years, it’s become increasingly about adding more value added services to your offering. The companies that fail to add these services will soon not be able to sell their core products and will be beaten out of the market by those with a wider portfolio.

In terms of the marketing industry, it’s constantly changing and moving so the ability to adapt is key. Each company must keep up with the trends or risk being left behind; For example, at KYOCERA Document Solutions, we’ve changed our marketing to be more digital.


What advice would you offer to someone keen to follow in your footsteps?

Well, that’s a tough question because the path which they would now have to follow has changed so drastically since I did it- and I guess that’s (again) down to the changing nature of the marketing industry in general.

The landscape has changed so much within the last 5/4/3 even 2 years that there are some things that the younger members of my marketing team here at KYOCERA bring to the table which I never could. It’s because the everyday marketing tasks that I did when I was their age are no longer the same. Even the way that they communicate is different than the way that we used to! So, I guess one tip is to always be open to new ideas and people and have a willingness to learn because each generation, and each person, has something different to offer.

Apart from your own products/services/company, what kind of gadget would you like to see being reviewed on The Test Pit.

What about more artificial intelligence themed gadgets? Before they take over our jobs, of course… 

Cheers Nigel!





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