NEWS
Konica Minolta launches enhanced Partner Programme
Konica Minolta Business Solutions (UK) Ltd has launched its enhanced Partner Programme and Partner Portal. The enhancements are designed to recognise, differentiate and reward partners on their product and services specialisms as well as their overall commitment to selling and supporting Konica Minolta’s solutions. “With our channel partners offering a more complex set of print and IT business solutions we recognised that our Partner Programme accreditations and support need to reflect this evolution,” said Cameron Mitchell, business leader for indirect channel at Konica Minolta. “The new and enhanced Partner Programme supports all our partners but specifically recognises those that have invested in specialist areas such as ITS and Professional Print. We are also excited to announce additional support for those partners aligned exclusively to Konica Minolta. We believe that this level of commitment needs to be rewarded and nurtured to further cement our relationship and grow our market share together.” In a shifting market, where some sectors of print are seeing demand contracting and many businesses are shifting towards more agile working, many channel providers are looking to evolve their own offerings to retain their customers and to accompany them on their
journey towards greater digital transformation. The updated Partner Programme and new Partner Portal are designed to support Konica Minolta’s partners as they adapt to this evolving market. “We first launched our Partner Programme four years ago to ensure partners got the support and recognition they deserve,” added Cameron. “This is a further fine tuning of that. We want to shine a light on those that specialise in our IT, professional and office print solutions – both in terms of technology and the Konica Minolta brand – to deliver a unique partner experience which also provides additional benefits in terms of products and support to reflect this. The professional skills of our partners are vital to our channel proposition and having a more nuanced accreditation and rewards scheme is part and parcel of further building this.” “Channel is a key focus for Konica Minolta. We have designed a Partner Programme that we believe will set the benchmark moving forwards. The additional support and rewards reflect our commitment to the channel, our appreciation of professional partners who exclusively specialise with us, and the requirement to support the evolution of the channel. We are very excited to be sharing our new offering at this exciting juncture in the evolving world of channel sales.”
Cameron Mitchell business leader – indirect services Konica Minolta
konicaminolta.co.uk
Sato launches mobile label printer
SATO has launched its PW4NX 4-inch mobile label printer. The PW4NX is designed for mobility, speed, durability and minimal downtime to lower total cost of ownership (TCO) in a range of business-critical mobile labelling applications in logistics, retail, manufacturing, healthcare and food service.
greater productivity. Retailers and warehouse operators prefer to use mobile printing during peak seasons but common challenges like slow output and substandard results may mean they use stationary or desktop printers pushed around on trolleys to ensure print speed and quality. With desktop-level print quality, the PW4NX allows easy mobility for accuracy. It also prints with consistent quality and with a smaller footprint to reduce upfront cost. In terms of upkeep, consumable parts like platen rollers and print heads are replaceable for significant cost savings – about $10,000 if 100 print heads are replaced per year, according to SATO. Remote monitoring of printer usage data helps prevent downtime caused by worn-out parts and batteries needing replacement.
Warehouses are typically staffed by operators that tend to work extended
hours, inevitably resulting in mistakes. For warehousing and retail logistics, printing at the point of application is more accurate and productive and the reason why mobile labelling has grown in popularity in recent years. The PW4NX has six inches per second print speed, which reduces printing time by 32%, according to results from a SATO survey when printing ten million labels per year vs. previous SATO 4” mobile model. This lets workers move on to the next task faster for
SATO PW4NX
CONTINUED
printinthechannel.co.uk
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