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!