Q: Tell us about Océ North America, the segment of the market it serves, and who you consider to be your core users.

A: Océ North America (ONA), led by president and CEO, Joe Skrzypczak and headquartered in Trumbull, CT, provides end-to-end document production, management, consulting and outsourcing solutions for customers in a variety of professional printing environments.

With annual revenues of $1 billion, ONA comprises three sales divisions–Document Printing Systems, Production Printing Systems, and Wide Format Printing Systems. While the three divisions serve distinct markets, they share a common goal—driving results that enable our customers and the company to achieve profitable growth. In addition, customers turn to Océ Business Services for outsourcing and professional services and Océ Financial Services supports for a full range of financing options. ONA serves customers throughout the US, Canada, and Mexico. We are recognized for our focus on customers, a direct sales force, an award-winning service organization and complete support.

The business unit that I’ve joined is the Production Printing Systems division, which is headquartered in Boca Raton, FL. Led by president Mal Baboyian, we are a direct sales organization that serves customers in the transactional and graphic arts markets, including commercial printers, book manufacturers, service bureaus and direct mail facilities, newspaper publishers, and print centers/CRDs in Fortune 2000 corporations. We provide these customers with industry leading black-and-white and color continuous feed and production cutsheet printers and end-to-end workflow software solutions.

Our core users have historically been in the transactional market, which includes the utility, financial services, insurance, and retail sectors. In fact, the most recent InfoTrends market share data states that Océ is the U.S. market leader in continuous feed black-and-white printers and has been since 2003. Last year, we increased our #1 share position in continuous feed color to 26 percent. In the 200 ppm or higher cutsheet printer category, Océ currently holds a 50 percent market share. While we lead in the transactional environment, we view the graphic arts market as a key strategic growth opportunity.

Océ is a very pragmatic company and our customers love this about us. Meaning, many vendors make the buying process very complex. We, instead, keep it simple by applying the right people to engage in customer opportunities. We don’t need small armies of people and endless hours of meetings with our customers. We keep it easy and our customers appreciate it. This pragmatism leads to radical improvements for our customers and that’s what is most important. We are a very reliable organization.

Q: What is your background and how did you get involved with Océ?

A: I spent the first half of my career at Eastman Kodak Company in sales and marketing, beginning in the copier business, and later moved over to Kodak Professional, where I worked with professional photo labs, photographers, and commercial printers. When NexPress was developed, I joined that team to help bring the first NexPress to market. The second half of my career was with HP in the Graphics business, where I spent time in all aspects of marketing. I’m now celebrating my six-month anniversary with Océ, where I lead the marketing efforts for Production Printing Systems.

The first 10 years of my career were in sales, and then I made a very purposeful move into marketing. My father gave me some very practical advice early on, saying “Good marketers spend time in the field understanding customers and their behaviors—how they buy, why they buy, what they buy, what keeps them up at night, and where their opportunities are.” I took his advice to heart. Because of this experience, I have been able to deliver programs and products that drive incremental revenue potential for my customers. My sales experience has sensitized me to the day-to-day challenges salespeople face. As a result, I’ve been able to help salespeople in way that would not have been possible without my own personal experience in the field. It has been, and continues to be, a fascinating ride—and a continuing source of inspiration and discovery.