CTS Wholesale has ambitious plans for the coming years, and its growing managed print services division will play a crucial role in that. Director of sales – MPS, Guy Gash, explains what makes the company stand out in a competitive market.
These are busy times for Guy Gash. Since joining CTS Wholesale three years ago, he has played a key role in the development of its managed print services (MPS) division as lead for sales and marketing. Now, following his promotion to director of sales – MPS, he has ambitions to grow it further and faster.
“I have spent many years working within the copier, print and MPS sector as initially as a service engineer and progressing into sales and have built up a strong understanding of the market, the products, the reseller community and, most importantly, what customers actually need from a distribution and MPS partner,” he says.
“Since joining CTS, I’ve been given the opportunity to use that experience to develop the MPS division. We have built a fantastic team of experienced people around the division, with technical, sales and industry knowledge that gives us a very strong platform from which to grow.
“Moving into the director of sales – MPS position reflects the importance the business now places on this division and the opportunity we see ahead.”
The development of the MPS division is indicative of growth and change across CTS. “We are investing in our UK headquarters, increasing our operational capacity and developing our presence in Ireland,” Guy says. “When you combine that infrastructure with our MPS expertise and our exclusive distribution relationship with Pantum across the UK and Ireland, it feels like we have all the ingredients to build something very significant.
“For me, that is incredibly exciting.”
The right kind of growth
Guy has ambitious growth plans for the MPS division. “But it must be the right kind of growth,” he says.
“Our ambition is to develop CTS MPS into a genuine growth partner for dealers and resellers. That means giving our partners the products, technical expertise, commercial structure, training and support that allow them to win and retain more business.
“We want to make MPS accessible. There are dealers with established managed print businesses that we can help grow further, but equally there are traditional office products dealers that may look at MPS and think it is too complicated or too technical to enter. We want to remove those barriers. CTS can provide the infrastructure and expertise behind the scenes while allowing reseller partners to own and develop the customer relationship.”
Guy notes that the market is changing quickly. He points to research from Quocirca that describes MPS as increasingly moving beyond simply managing devices into workplace transformation, automation, digitisation and security.
“That creates a much bigger opportunity for us and our partners,” he says. “We don’t simply want to sell another box. We want to help the channel create recurring, sustainable and profitable customer relationships.”
Guy says this means new and additional services will be added to CTS’ offering. “The definition of managed print is changing,” he notes. “Customers increasingly expect more than hardware, toner and a service agreement. They want simplicity, visibility, security, flexibility and increasingly a solution that fits into their wider technology environment, so our thinking must go beyond simply supplying hardware.
“We will continue developing the proposition around technical support, service, monitoring, training, dealer enablement and the wider lifecycle of the device. We will also continue looking at technologies and partnerships that help our dealers provide a stronger overall managed solution.
“The important thing is that we don’t add services simply to make the proposition look bigger. They must add genuine commercial value for our partners and their customers.”
Standing out
The MPS market is highly competitive, but CTS appreciate that, which is why the company strives to stand out from the crowd.
“For me, it comes down to people, independence, expertise and partnership,” he says. “We understand the trade. CTS is strictly trade-only, so our job is to help our reseller partners succeed rather than compete with them for the end user relationship. The company already provides individual account management, specialist product expertise, end user delivery options and a broad print consumables portfolio.
“Within MPS we then add another layer of specialist knowledge. We have people who understand machines, consumables, service, technical support and the commercial realities of managed print. That experience matters because when a dealer has an opportunity in front of them, they need answers quickly.
“Also CTS still has something incredibly valuable as we grow – personality. Customers can pick up the phone and speak to people who understand their business. We want to retain that personal approach however large the division becomes. We don’t want to become another faceless distributor. We want dealers to see CTS as part of their team.”
Changing market
For Guy, the managed print market is in a period of change, but this presents opportunities. “Traditional print volumes remain under pressure,” he says. “Quocirca’s industry research found that 73% of respondents expected print volumes to decline, by an average of 8.4%. But at the same time it identified opportunities around workflow automation, cloud services, scanning and digitisation. That distinction is important.
“If your definition of the print industry is simply pages printed, then you could look at declining volumes negatively. If your definition is managing documents, devices, information, workflows and services, the opportunity becomes much broader.
“Hybrid working has also changed the conversation. Fleets need to be flexible, secure and appropriate for how organisations operate today.
“For dealers, that creates an opportunity to have a much more strategic conversation with their customers. It’s no longer simply, ‘How many pages do you print?’ it’s ‘How do your people work, what does that cost you, where are the risks and how can we manage it better?’ That’s where modern MPS becomes extremely relevant.”
Customers also increasingly want things to be easier. “They don’t want unnecessary complexity,” says Guy. “They expect transparency, strong commercials, fast support and technology that works.
“Resellers are no different. If we can take complexity away from our dealer partners, we allow them to concentrate on what they are best at – winning customers and developing relationships. That’s why we’re investing in the team, infrastructure and technology behind the proposition.”
Guy says CTS is also listening. “I have spent enough years in this industry to know that you don’t build the best proposition sitting in a boardroom deciding what customers ought to want,” he says. “You build it by talking to dealers, understanding where they are losing opportunities, understanding what frustrates them and then finding ways to solve those problems. That will remain central to how I lead the division.”
Pantum partnership
Another aspect of CTS’ MPS offering is its exclusive UK and Ireland distribution partnership with Pantum.
“Pantum is a massive opportunity for CTS and our reseller partners,” adds Guy. “The proposition extends beyond simply stocking machines: CTS publicly supports the range with genuine consumables and spare parts, nationwide engineer support, dedicated technical support and a Partner Programme. Pantum’s own support site also identifies CTS Wholesale as its UK and Ireland service provider.
“That gives us something we can build around. Our objective is to establish Pantum as a credible, commercially attractive alternative within the UK and Irish dealer channels and give resellers the confidence to take that proposition to their customers. We’re supporting that with stock, technical expertise, demonstrations, training, dealer engagement and commercial programmes.”
Guy adds that CTS will get machines in front of people too. “We want dealers coming into CTS, meeting the team, seeing the technology working, understanding the commercials and discovering how Pantum can fit into their existing MPS proposition,” he says.
“CTS has already started rolling out Pantum’s A4 and A3 printer/MFP range with after-sales and service support across the UK and Ireland.”
Wider growth strategy
The MPS division is an important part of CTS’s wider growth strategy as it complements much of what the company already does.
“CTS has almost 30 years of experience within print consumables and today operates as a strictly trade-only wholesaler,” says Guy. “The business already supports dealers with hardware, consumables, office products and a much wider portfolio.
“MPS gives us another way of helping those dealers grow. My job is to bring the people, proposition and commercial opportunity together, which means developing our existing customers, attracting new MPS specialists, helping traditional dealers enter the managed print market and creating opportunities across the wider CTS dealer community.”
Guy adds that physical investment is important as well. “The expansion of our UK headquarters gives us greater capacity and a stronger environment in which to support customers, demonstrate technology and run dealer events and training.
“Our expansion in Ireland gives us another significant opportunity to take the CTS proposition, our MPS expertise and Pantum into a market where we believe we can make a real impact.
“The ambition isn’t for MPS to operate as an isolated division. It should be integrated into the wider CTS proposition and create opportunities across the Group.”
Future
As mentioned, Guy has ambitious plans for the MPS division. “I want us to look back in 18 months and see a division that has grown significantly, but more importantly, one that has helped our partners grow,” he says.
“I want CTS MPS to be recognised throughout the UK and Ireland as a serious, credible and trusted partner for the dealer community. I also want a much larger network of resellers actively selling MPS with us.”
Guy also wants Pantum to have significantly greater visibility within the channel and for dealers to understand that behind the product sits CTS – stock, people, technical expertise, service and support.
“But most importantly, I want to build it with the team,” he adds. “I’ve spent years in this industry and one thing experience teaches you is that sustainable growth isn’t created by one salesperson or director. It’s created by good people who understand the market and are prepared to work together. We’ve assembled a team of professionals with genuine MPS and print expertise. My role is to give those people the direction, tools and opportunity to succeed.
“CTS is investing. We’re expanding. We have an exclusive UK and Ireland partnership with Pantum. We have an established trade customer base and decades of print-sector experience behind us.
“Now it’s about bringing all those ingredients together and turning that opportunity into growth – for CTS, for Pantum and, above all, for our reseller partners.”
This interview first appeared in Print in the Channel magazine issue #40.
