Press release
50 years of UTAX International anniversary specialist trade conference in Hamburg
Expansion of service and software ranges are core elements of the growth strategy
Norderstedt, 13 September 2011.On the occasion of its 50th company anniversary, UTAX GmbH, specialist provider of multifunctional systems (MFP) and software solutions in the field of document management, invited domestic and international guests to the Hanseatic city for a specialist trade conference. The meetings that took place during the morning and afternoon placed great emphasis on the orientation, development and rise of the company: As an independent brand of the Kyocera Mita Corporation, UTAX is the only subsidiary organisation with a 100% sales orientation towards specialist trade. In addition to the constant expansion of the hardware and software product range, the growth strategy also includes the expansion of the provision of services. In the evening, the company geographically returned to its roots in Hamburg's Speicherstadt warehouse district. The 250 exclusive participants enjoyed a fascinating live show complete with acrobatics, dance and music that forged a link between history and modern times in the former Kehrwieder Theatre.
From Electronic Büromaschinen GmbH to UTAX as a full-range supplier in the field of output management: A look back at the history shows that UTAX has been a company with a far-sighted sales concept which has been continuously further developed since being founded in 1961. In doing so, three constants can be seen in the company history spanning over 40 years: the exclusive orientation towards the specialist trade channel, partnerships with original manufacturers – now the affiliation with the Kyocera Mita Corporation – and, as a result, access to an extended, highly-attractive product range.
The look back showed that this business model yielded the company quite a few market leaderships: as a result, UTAX was the first provider of the world's first electronic tabletop calculator "Anita" that revolutionised German offices in the 60s, for example. The company was just as much a leader in the middle of the 80s thanks to cash registers for petrol stations that were extensively used in Germany. At the beginning of the 90s, UTAX scored with the DIN A3 copier C252 that, with 80% of sales back then, significantly contributed to the success of the Norderstedt company.
UTAX sales philosophy
Today, UTAX as a traditional brand, is firmly anchored in the office technology sector and is characterised by its customer orientation and stability. This central theme also runs through the sales philosophy. "Turnover growth yes – with existing partners however. We do not expand through acquisition, there are no plans to go via distribution in Germany, we will not do E-Commerce, nor will we do retail. Our business is and remains B2B", clarified Managing Director Thomas Grethe in his keynote speech.
Guiscardo Pin, Member of the TA Triumph-Adler GmbH Management Board and Managing Director of UTAX GmbH also reiterated the fact that UTAX holds onto this orientation. "Within the Kyocera Mita Organisation, UTAX is the only organisation with a 100% orientation towards specialist trade and a strong, established trader base", said Pin. "Each subsidiary pursues different sales emphases on the market and the new parent company therefore also wishes to hold on to the three brand strategy." The central components of the UTAX growth strategy are the expansion of indirect sales channels and associated provision of services. Thomas Grethe showed concrete measures here.
Engines of economic growth
According to Grethe, the future of UTAX GmbH in Germany is based upon many pillars. The most important of which are:
-growth with existing partners,
-teamwork through cooperations,
-and a wide product range in the field of hardware and software in order to fulfil the most diverse of project requirements.
"With the expansion of the machine and software range during this financial year, UTAX has constantly developed further towards being a full-range supplier and, from workstation printers through to professional colour systems, covers all segments from DIN A4 to A0", explained Grethe. In doing so, he paid special attention to eleven DIN A3 colour machines and four DIN A4 systems in b/w and colour that are all equipped with a Java interface (Hybrid Platform for Advanced Solutions - HyPAS) and were recently successfully integrated into the market.
Key product areas
Five further b/w DIN A4 multifunctional systems will follow at the end of the year. "Therefore, we are represented in the rapidly developing DIN A4 market with 13 models and with a HyPAS compatible version in each segment", said Grethe. In the current calendar year, UTAX has introduced 32 multifunctional systems in all speed classes, starting from the strategically important light service models for smaller offices and the self-employed through to quick colour systems with Fiery controllers for professional colour management in printing shops. "The UTAX core business with DIN A3 colour MFP that already contributed to an increase in turnover in the last financial year also continues to growing and the high-volume systems in particular are developing as forecasted", explained the Managing Director.
The guests were able to convince themselves of the high performance capability and colour precision of the current multifunctional systems during two exhibitions that took place in the morning and afternoon. The product managers and system supporters placed special focus on the presentation and explanation of HyPAS applications. Thus, it is possible to connect external archiving software to the MFP via the HyPAS interface and to control the program via colour touch panels belonging to the system, for example. "Our customers prefer HyPAS models as the interface increases the user friendliness and productivity for the administrator and for the user", said Thomas Grethe. "An open network interface is not yet a matter of course in the medium to low volume A4 segment. With this, the UTAX specialist traders could address companies who wish to standardise their system for use at different positions with applications. This also enables smaller systems to be integrated into the company network and staff members to work with uniform user interfaces and functions."
The Accounting4Work aQrate software for increased data safety during printing and copying that is currently being launched as well as the Scan2OCR text recognition program powered by ABBYY represented further focuses of the exhibition. The DIN A3 colour MFP CDC 1965 with Fiery controller and the CDC 1930 with aQrate as well as the b/w DIN A3 MFP CD 1455 with aQrate, all HyPAS capable could all be seen. The displayed b/w DIN A4 MFP CD 5240 and the DIN A4 colour MFP CDC 5626 are also equipped with HyPAS. The DIN A3 colour MFP CDC 5525 that is characterised with particularly high service friendliness was also in great demand. UTAX continuously expands its software range with programs from its parent company Kyocera Mita. In addition to the aQrate solution, Sascha Bütterling, Regional Head of Sales at UTAX DocForms GmbH, also presented the Policy Manager as an entry solution for encoded printing.
Future market of software solutions
UTAX has been guaranteeing the more efficient utilisation of output solutions since 2003 with its sales concept UTAX Document Consulting. However, specialist traders can only control and optimise the printing if they know, check and service all of the output systems of the customer. "The holistic customer analysis and support as UTAX Document Consulting allows for forms the basis for managed print services. However, our goal is the electronic mapping of work processes in the field of document management as well as the assumption of hardware services for all customer machines, as independent from the manufacturer as possible", declared Grethe. With immediate effect, UTAX specialist traders can make use of the service provision from the UTAX sister company TA Professional Service. The service centre assumes customer calls concerning faults or orders for consumables, controls the deployment of technicians and toner supply, gathers the printed pages and creates a bill for the specialist trader.
Best practice example from bk documents: Investment in IT consultants and know-how
In addition to Managing Director Thomas Grethe, two further guest contributions emphasised the important strategic contributions that software solutions make towards the future company development of UTAX well as those of its trade partners. In a best practice example, Jörg Birkholz, Managing Director of bk documents in Kaltenkirchen, explained how he, together with his business partners, increased the turnover share almost 200-fold within three years by the development of the software and services business.
His theories: "The traditional business model of rental, leasing and service will only last for five to ten years and in addition to this, the market potentials of the hardware are stagnating, service provisions are also in decline due to the technological further development of the products", according to Jörg Birkholz. The vision: Document management for end customers in order to supplement useful IT services, thus creating a second secure pillar. He was able to implement this exclusively through his own advance financing such as the recruitment of an IT consultant, the investment in training courses and certifications as well in partnerships with software manufacturers. "Even if the return on investment only occurred after approx. 24 months, this approach has paid off, we were able to create a stable pillar that can now expand with a second IT consultant", summarised Birkholz. He particularly recommended his specialist trade colleagues to take advantage of the training offered by the manufacturers. "Although expensive, staff member training is the most important prerequisite for entrepreneurial success. The fact that UTAX offers top-quality training courses free of charge is one of the best support services that the specialist trade can hope for and that it must accept in order to remain successful in the future."
Shaun Wilkenson, Managing Director of the British subsidiary UTAX UK also shared these views. His motto: selling solutions makes the difference between the marketing of items and managed print services. In his speech, he chronicled the development of the company and presented training measures for the specialist trade. For example, this includes the "UTAX Sales Academy" or the online competition "Engineer of the Year" that have been successfully implemented for many years with constantly increasing response.
The new brand presence
"Clear positioning and independent profile are a fundamental prerequisite for solid growth, especially in consolidating markets", according to Thomas Grethe. With a new brand presence, UTAX has redefined itself in its anniversary year, yet has remained faithful to its values. "The brand presence is significantly inspired by the perception of the UTAX specialist traders", explained Simone Brett-Murati, Manager of Marketing Communications and PR. "A survey that we carried out in January showed that our partners consider UTAX to be a reliable as well as a solution and service-oriented provider. These discoveries can now be found in the new brand promise: IF IT WORX, IT’S UTAX. With this, we wanted to show that holistic customer support is of utmost importance at UTAX. We can - and do - more than sell hardware and software." Furthermore, all participants received new advertising material for self-acquisition such as a summary of published test and user reports.
Show, acrobatics and dance
The eventful day was rounded off at a special location: German and international guests attended a very special kind of birthday dinner at the centre of the Hamburg's historical Speicherstadt warehouse district. The Kehrwieder Theatre with its variety show stage as well as the impressive silhouettes of the warehouses and town canals formed the appropriate setting to combine tradition and modern times. Acrobatic show acts at dizzying heights in front of projected images and lights took the audience on an exciting journey. The subsequent birthday party in the old warehouse birthday reached its triumphant climax thanks to the live performance by the American soul singer Terri Green who captivated all 15 nationalities for two hours.
Press releases and images are available to download at and in the UTAX press office at Enquiries to the editorial team to be sent to:
UTAX GmbH
Simone Brett-Murati
Tel: +49 (0)40/ 528-49-243
E-mail:
talkabout communications gmbh
Ursula Schemm
Tel.: +49 (0)89 / 459954-24
E-mail:
About UTAX:
UTAX GmbH, based in Norderstedt, near Hamburg, specialises in the sale of high-quality printing and copier systems. Its broad portfolio of products comprises hardware and software, copying, printing and multi-functional printers (MFPs) for office workstations and large-scale systems for professional applications. Tailor-made concepts as well as comprehensive consulting for efficient document management within the company are provided through the UTAX Document Consulting concept. In Germany, the UTAX brand is marketed through a network of over 200 authorised dealers. The company is represented internationally in 40 countries within the EMEA region. UTAX GmbH has a workforce of over 130 people and is a subsidiary of TA Triumph-Adler GmbH.