From the beginning to the future, change to win the opportunity Konica Minolta 2024 National Dealer Conference

April 2024 is a hard summary of the previous year for major brands in the OA industry, and also a strategic deployment for the next year. As far away as Juzizhou Head, Xiangjiang, Changsha, Hunan, Konica Minolta held the 2024 national dealer conference called "From the beginning to the future". Before the meeting, we had the honor to interview Mr. Hiroshi Nakata, Chairman and General Manager of Konica Minolta Office Systems (China) Co., Ltd., and Ms. Ling Yun, Head of OP Sales Department and Head of Marketing Department of Konica Minolta Office Systems (China) Co., Ltd., to talk about their views on the recent news of Konica Minolta Answers delivered in 2023 and market layout in 2024.

Q1: Recently, I noticed that there are many media reports about "Konica Minolta Group and Fuji Film Business Innovation Discussion on Potential Strategic Cooperation in the Field of Multifunctional Digital Compound Machines, Office Printers and Production Digital Printers". What is the main purpose of the discussion of strategic cooperation between the two sides this time, and will it have an impact on China?

A1. Mr. Hiroshi Nakata:

The increasingly fierce competition in OA industry is also one of the driving forces to promote the sustainable development of Konica Minolta. In this context, it facilitated the discussion on the feasibility of strategic cooperation between us and Fujifilm for commercial innovation, which involves two aspects.

First, Konica Minolta and Fuji Film Business Innovation will establish a joint venture to strengthen the production and procurement of parts for the two brands. This is a positive measure for our Chinese sales companies, dealer partners and users. Both parties can give full play to their accumulated experience in the procurement field to better integrate the supply chain and reduce procurement costs.

The second is to connect the supply chain of the two brands of consumable factories. By establishing a toner R&D and production business alliance, we will further strengthen the sustainable supply system of toner to achieve more stable and sustainable toner supply and improve environmental adaptability, and work together to accelerate the construction of an environmentally friendly society.

Q2. In recent years, Konica Minolta has been striving to promote the digital transformation of itself, dealer partners and users. Could you please share the achievements of Konica Minolta in this field in 2023?

A2. Ms. Ling Yun:

In fact, the Chinese market is significantly different from other markets. We know that our partners are an indispensable bridge between us and our users. "Win win with channels" has always been the key point for Konica Minolta to establish itself in China and achieve sustainable development. In other markets, direct sales may account for a larger proportion, so it is crucial to build a strong direct sales team. However, China has a vast territory, diversified customer groups and rich levels. Only relying on partners all over the country can our products, services and ideas reach users effectively, so as to provide better solutions. Therefore, we always believe that in our business system, empowering partners and dealers and passing on our value through them is a crucial link, and we have also been unremittingly promoting this work.

In 2023, Konica Minolta will do several representative things for dealer partners: first, after the epidemic, customers' purchasing habits and information acquisition habits have changed greatly. They have changed from passive acceptance of information to active acquisition of information, which puts forward higher requirements and demands for Konica Minolta's digital marketing.

It is unrealistic for every dealer to build a digital marketing platform. In response to the needs of partners, Konica Minolta has built a comprehensive digital marketing platform to empower dealers, which means Konica Minolta will do part of the sales front-end work. Through continuous communication between customers and AI chatbot, we can gradually build a real and effective database, which not only helps us to have a more accurate insight into the core needs of potential customers, but also can deeply explore the specific needs of customers in the form of white papers and successful cases. Then, we will distribute the demand information to local dealers and partners according to customer size and geographical location information, so that they can provide timely and professional follow-up services. This process aims to ensure that we can fully meet the personalized needs of customers and constantly optimize our service experience.

In addition to the pre-sales digital marketing platform, Konica Minolta pays attention to the impact of rising human costs on the profits of dealers' partners. In terms of after-sales, Konica Minolta uses advanced AR collaboration technology to launch remote operation and maintenance services, changing the guidance mode that remote experts need to go to the scene in traditional service scenarios, and providing more efficient and high-quality support for dealer partners.

The other is the plan of "looking for leaders in the next decade" in cooperation with Guanghua School of Management, Peking University. The fourth phase of the program has officially graduated from Peking University in March this year, and has trained more than 170 next-generation successors for dealers across the country.

We are well aware that the significance of this initiative is far more than just providing Konica Minolta with talents. In fact, by empowering these successors, we are also injecting new vitality into the entire industry. They can not only stimulate the potential of their team, but also lead the whole industry forward and contribute more wisdom and strength to the future of the industry.

Therefore, we believe that the value and significance of this work lies in that it can not only promote the sustainable development of Konica Minolta, but also promote the progress and prosperity of the entire industry. This is the direction of our efforts and the greatest significance of our achievements.

Q3. With the gradual popularization of shared office and collaborative office, people's office methods have also undergone great changes, which has led to a decline in the demand for office paper printing, and the entire OA industry has also been affected to some extent. What measures will Konica Minolta take to deal with this trend?

A3. Mr. Hiroshi Nakata:

At present, the trend of digital transformation and the promotion of paperless documents is objective and inevitable. From our pre epidemic estimate to the post epidemic market performance, the decline in the demand for paper printing is actually far lower than our estimate. On the other hand, while the demand for paper printing is declining, the demand for color printing is growing, Therefore, the application scope of end users to color documents will be wider than ever before.

With the increase of color printing volume, users' demand for high-speed models will further increase. Based on this, Konica Minolta will further strengthen the sales business of medium and high speed models of color machines; At the same time, we will also provide users with lightweight solutions that can meet their diverse needs, thus creating a virtuous sales cycle.

Although China's economic growth is facing challenges, looking at the development trend of global business colorization, compared with the European and American markets, the proportion of business colorization in China still has huge growth potential. Konica Minolta plans to launch a new bizhub i series color digital composite machine in the Chinese market in the second half of this year. The new product will bring more comfortable, intelligent and reassuring document processing experience to operators and help users inspire more business inspiration with its remarkable advantages of simplicity, ease of operation, intelligence, stability and security.

Q4. Can you introduce the core product strategy of Konica Minolta in 2024, and whether Konica Minolta will launch more innovative business office products this year, as well as solution products that can better enable all users to efficiently optimize workflow, reduce costs and improve efficiency?

A4. Ms. Ling Yun:

First of all, in hardware, Konica Minolta will maintain the basic disk, continue to support flow products, and increase the sales proportion of bizhub i series color models, so as to meet the users' needs for color and help them improve their office efficiency. At the same time, in the second half of this year, Konica Minolta will release a new generation of bizhub i series products, which have four major characteristics, namely, simpler, smarter, more stable and safer than similar products in the market.

According to the feedback from the Chinese market Software On the other hand, Konica Minolta will push and pull local customized software more through Chinese software R&D enterprises. Konica Minolta will further explore the digital needs of Chinese enterprises with its partners, and carry out corresponding customized software development, so as to achieve stronger market competitiveness. At the same time, Konica Minolta will standardize these customized software through continuous iteration and upgrading to meet more enterprise customers.

Q5. It is said that Ms. Ling Yun's identity has changed a lot this year. In addition to continuing to manage the business of Konica Minolta's Marketing Department, she is also responsible for managing the operation of OP's Sales Department. How will you effectively arrange the work of the OP Sales Department and the Marketing Department after this new job?

A5-1. Mr. Hiroshi Nakata:

I think there are two necessary reasons for this appointment. First of all, the market of OA industry has changed greatly in recent years. At this time, we must have new marketing ideas for dealer partners. Ling Yunben, the director of the Marketing Department, has served as the director of the Marketing Department for many years, and his contribution to Konica Minolta is obvious to all, Through bold innovation and attempt, Konica Minolta has provided a stable impetus for its market influence in China. On the other hand, I encountered many difficulties in communicating with other departments. Given the complexity of our industry, internal and external communication is particularly important at this time. The head of Lingyun not only has rich marketing experience, but also has excellent sales management ability. She has a deep understanding of finance, logistics, after-sales service and other aspects, which makes her very suitable for managing the operation of OP Sales Department.

A5-2. Ms. Ling Yun:

As the chairman said, the trend of marketing has changed significantly. In the past, marketing mainly focused on brand building, but now we no longer use a lot of resources only for simple brand promotion, but pay more attention to accurately matching the needs of target customers. We will take a series of measures, such as pushing information and telephone communication, to meet customer needs. This change has put forward higher requirements for the cooperation between the sales and marketing departments, and both parties need to cooperate more closely to jointly achieve the marketing goals.

I personally have rich sales and marketing experience, so I am very looking forward to using this experience to help the sales team build a more effective marketing and sales joint system.

In addition, the Chairman also mentioned at this year's internal meeting that we should return to Konica Minolta Office Systems (China) Co., Ltd. as the original intention of the sales company, that is, to provide customers with better service through dealers. This not only requires front-line employees to adhere to this concept, but also hopes that front-line employees and even employees of the whole company can deeply understand and put it into practice. This appointment is a huge challenge for me, but I look forward to helping the sales team better exert its potential and achieve better performance through my own efforts.

This article is an original article. If it is reproduced, please indicate the source: From the beginning to the future, change to win the opportunity Konica Minolta 2024 National Dealer Conference https://oa.zol.com.cn/868/8683292.html