MPS is one of the priority areas for Konica Minolta

Balakrishnan
General Manager,
Konica Minolta Business Solutions

The Indian printing market has made giant strides in the recent times in improving its offerings in terms of costs, technology and speed. Looking at the recent market scenario in India, we can see that there is a set of industry players which are growing slowly but continuously. Konica Minolta is one of those players of the Indian printing market, which is committed to becoming an innovative company that stands tall in difficult times with a solid and quality business base, ensuring that they remain courageous to provide new value in the face of any challenge.

Balakrishnan, General Manager, Konica Minolta Business Solutions, throws some more light on the company’s portfolio, recent path-breaking offerings and market and channel strategies in a recent interview with VARINDIA. Edited excerpts:  

Delineate some of the initiatives that you have recently taken to increase your market presence in India

Konica Minolta has a great legacy of two powerful brands that have dominated the markets and has established its reputation as an innovator and a leader in the market since its inception. It is our pledge to bring the ideas of customers and society to life through innovation and contribute to the creation of a high-quality society. We have expanded our presence to cover all parts of India and have developed the capability to provide service from 336 points in the country as of now.  We will continue to strengthen our capabilities.

Is Konica Minolta addressing Managed Print Services market in India? If yes, how and how much?

Konica Minolta does offer managed print services which we call Optimised Print Services (OPS). It is one of the priority areas for us. We have already implemented OPS in over 20 customers in India and are on-boarding more customers every month.  Konica Minolta has a Global Account Management Programme under which we offer unified products, solutions and services across all the sites of our customers, irrespective of their location in the globe. We also offer these services to our enterprise customers in India who have national presence. 

How much have you been able to cater to rural markets in India?

Actually, we are getting more revenue from rural areas than from cities. Konica Minolta’s visibility is quite high in those markets. So we can see the value of Konica Minolta’s products there and as a product these regions have been quite sturdy. We are keen to reach all parts of India and are constantly expanding our partner base to achieve this. 

What is your go-to-market strategy?

For the retail market, we want to expand our reach via partners in the tier-II and -III cities. For enterprise customers, we reach out directly via different programmes such as the Optimized Print Services offering as well as our global account management programmes.

Konica Minolta used to organize road shows. These road shows help in taking our products to the customers at their doorstep. During these events we not only get a fair chance of interacting with the people across the entire country, but rather get an opportunity to educate our customers about the quality and usage of the products displayed.

Where do you think the next phase of growth come from?

The Indian economy is on the growth path and opportunities are there across all the geographies and segments.  So we will continue to engage all the segments.

What are your immediate plans for channel expansion?

The close relationship that Konica Minolta builds up with its partners is unparalleled and expanding the channel presence to engage all opportunities will continue to remain a priority area for us. 

satinder@varindia.com