Nashua and HP join forces

Nashua Limited has been appointed a Preferred Partner of Hewlett-Packard (HP) South Africa, in the hope of leveraging not only the equity of these two brands, but exploring new markets as well.

The newly found partnership will enable HP to gain access to Nashua’s leading market share within the office automation market and capitalising on their large sales and support footprint. For Nashua, the ability to sell a complete solution to customers and make inroads into the growing printer market is now a reality.

Graham Rhodes, Managing Director of Nashua Limited, goes on to explain that the reason for this type of partnership is the convergence trend and is an essential way of doing business in today’s market wherein manufacturers play to their unique strengths and not necessarily branch into different markets, leaving gaps in what ‚one supplier’ companies cannot capitalise on. ‚This is what makes Nashua a key differentiator and capable of playing to this trend, in that we are able to partner with different suppliers to service more markets. Bringing these two companies together in this partnership ensures that we are able to capitalise on each other’s strengths and fill gaps where there were weaknesses,‚ says Rhodes.

HP’s Laserjet and Enterprise Solutions Country Manager, Nathan Nayagar explains that accessing new markets and ways that printers are sold is an important part of expanding the company’s footprint in the business office automation market in South Africa. ‚Nashua has the infrastructure and the reach to achieve this for us, and this partnership will allow us access into the all important business markets. In addition, with the advent of managed print solutions (MPS), a complete solution will be offered to customers, ensuring that they are given the best possible value and efficiency for their budgets. It is estimated that by 2012, in excess of 50 percent of devices will be sold through MPS, furthermore reiterating the importance of capitalising on Nashua’s footprint and MPS strategy,‚ says Nayagar.

With the ability to both sell and service selected HP business multi-functional printing devices from their LaserJet range as well as their wide-format, DesignJet range, Nashua is effectively extending its offering and ensuring that when approaching customers they are able to offer an all-encompassing solution, and increase their total document volume within the market. In addition, Nashua will be able to ensure that their MPS sales strategy is more effective and differentiated in terms of moving into the small to medium business market. ‚Our LaserJet technology is the best in the world, and catered to mid-volume document production, with Nashua’s network of franchises and offices spread out all over Southern Africa, and the type of client they have we are extending our current reach into the small to medium market effectively, with the added bonus of being able to service this hardware,‚ adds Nayagar.

‚What we offer all our clients is quality service and products, ensuring that they fully utilise their document infrastructure and bring about greater efficiency in their business. This is not a marketing slogan, it is a brand promise. Partnering with HP and offering their industry leading products and technology to our market will achieve this,‚ concludes Rhodes.