Whether or not you are a boxing enthusiast, Muhammad Ali brought unprecedented speed and finesse to his sport, changing forever what the public expected a champion to be. His accomplishments in the ring are the stuff of legend – and while he had to prove it every step of the way, round after round, bout after bout, he beat the competition. No wonder he could proudly proclaim he was "The Greatest."

Today, when contenders are determined in the Wide World of Office Equipment, judges’ scorecards are circling a fierce OEM to be reckoned with—Panasonic. And much like Ali, the company is weighing in as a Heavyweight.

Q: Steve, what are Panasonic’s strengths in the office equipment space today and how would you characterize Panasonic’s differentiation versus other vendors in the office equipment industry?

Since what separates us from the pack is exactly what validates and ensures our roadmap for the future, I'd like to answer the second part of that question first.

To start, we do not compete with our dealers.  We made a decision to grow through and with our business partners and we are staying focused on just that.  Our partners have told us that they can feel our commitment, and it allows them to truly know that we will listen to their needs and follow through on all that we can implement, in order to grow their business.

Second, you must understand the nature of our parent company. Panasonic has a research-and-development depth – in both financial resources and engineering brilliance – that we believe is simply unsurpassed in this industry. The company does an enormous amount of basic research in imaging, color rendition, light sources, materials testing, lasers, as well as microprocessors, LEDs, LCDs and related disciplines. The fruit of that research drives development of our MFPs, scanners and other products just as they do other technologies such as our plasma televisions, Lumix cameras, Toughbook computers, etc.   Because of this, we are able to sell Panasonic as a leading edge technology solution instead of just another copier company.

Let me add that the ability of our in-house engineers and the quality of our manufacturing facilities has won us two significant things: A host of performance and durability awards, and more importantly, much of the industry's best dealer network. And it's those great dealers who are the key to our strength in the market.

Q: There’s been a major restructuring within your company during the past year.  Discuss the reasons behind these changes and how these changes will impact the organization.

The restructuring actually dates back to the 2005 creation of the Panasonic Corporation of North America. Prior to PNA, Panasonic's various divisions on this continent were separate entities, which somewhat limited our efficiency in implementing programs intended to leverage the synergies of the various divisions.

Our transition of going from Panasonic Digital Document Company to Panasonic Communications Company of North America (PCCNA) this year, has merged us with our factory and fully integrated us into PNA with immediately discernable benefits, particularly in total multi-product solutions.

We’re also proud of the fact that a major northeast realtor has allowed us to furnish their corporate headquarters with SD Card-enabled networked C3 MFPs, SD Card-based digital cameras, and flat panel plasma TV’s for property presentations.  This cross pollination of different Panasonic products is a perfect example of the change in PNA’s marketing culture that we are experiencing now.  The impact is being realized within our own ranks, and the thanks goes to a more unified approach to jointly marketing our MFPs, scanners, and white boards, among reasons of why.

Q: What kind of feedback do you hear from dealers that you’re acting on?

Since we get so much feedback, let me give you just one example of a real victory based solely on dealer requests; our sales representative recruitment program.

Dealers told us that the cost of recruiting and qualifying sales reps using traditional methods was going up and the quality of the candidates was going down. We responded to their concerns by implementing a third party program constructed from the latest technology to screen qualified candidates, then pass them on to our business partners who were serious about hiring. The net result has been the recruitment of some great sales reps, whereby we have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from those dealers for this value added support system.

Q: Why do you think the company has been able to maintain dealer loyalty?

We are very lucky to have their loyalty especially in a time when this is not common on either side.  This is one thing that truly differentiates us from other manufacturers.  We need our dealers to grow so that we can grow. We do not compete against them – we work with them.  We listen to the needs of our partners and we try to act on all their requests.  We implemented the recruitment program because they had a need for good sales reps, we re-vamped our training to be more customer service based because we understood the importance of this. And we deliver the product that will perform well and will give our partners the confidence they need to recommend Panasonic before another brand. That said, it's really all about and always about the people and the product. End-users love our machines. Panasonic dealers do not have to defend their product recommendations. They have great support from us and proactive factory help on any problem they can't immediately solve. 

Q: Panasonic has a strong brand that is beginning to be leveraged in the office equipment space.  Discuss some of the plans to leverage that brand going forward.

We're working hard and will continue striving to maximize our radar-screen visibility. In the past year, we've done an excellent job of spreading the word about things like our J.D. Power & Associates and Bertl awards and our end-users' success stories.  With the advent of the new colorful C3 MFPs we envision a stronger brand presence and point of differentiation in the office systems category.  We also launched Suite Solutions, a quarterly custom magazine we expect to mature into a truly upscale, authoritative and highly effective vehicle for winning dealers and influencing end users.

Q: Discuss your vertical market strategy and the opportunities it presents?

Our strategy is based on network and product convergence. It encompasses everything from the esoteric – research into how office-machine color affects the mood and efficiency of workers in different industries or office environments –  to the expansion of our Total Network Application Solutions package of IP-integrated applications, zero-distance management technology (remote automation), teleconferencing capability and advanced network file sharing and storage capability. There is a lot of opportunity in vertical markets like real estate and health care where information processing, e.g. motion – the ease with which a product can securely organize, route and share data between different devices, multiple databases, even between in-house workstations and third-party data warehousers or processors – is just as important as its ability to capture or output raw materials.

As you know, we already specialize in office equipment that is meant to optimize the maximum positive impact on workflow, and we intend to intensify our efforts in that direction. Frankly, we see virtually unlimited future vertical-market opportunities. These include creating complete data-management hardware/software systems that handle all information, regardless of whether it originated as a paper document, a scan, a fax or an email, with equal efficiency.

Panasonic's full color C3 Series - now available in your
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Q: What projections can you provide for PCCNA the next few years?

With our celebrated expertise in color imaging in both the document and digital domains, we expect our market share and unit sales to benefit substantially from the continuing shift from monochrome to color document capture and production.

We also expect our ongoing initiatives in networked control interfaces to increase the ability of one employee to run multiple machines, thus reducing costs and increasing ROI for our end users.  This is one of the most promising and exciting areas to fuel future growth for PCCNA. Totally networked application solutions utilizing Panasonic’s extensive product lineup will be our mantra for the coming years.

Most of all, we expect to become much more than just a manufacturer and vendor of state-of-the-art office machines.  The PNA umbrella is huge. By extending it to cover even more of our current and future user base, we expect to end the decade as America's dominant one-stop provider of highly sophisticated document capture, management, and distribution solutions.

For “big guy” competitors thinking of holding a defensive clinch, best to look out for that straight right power punch coming your way. It will be hard to counter.