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40
‘To Infinity and Beyond’ may have
been Buzz Lightyear’s goal, but
the directors of Infinity Document
Solutions have a narrower target in
mind. “Our focus is on Wales and the
West,” explains Rob Stanton, one of
the company's five directors.
Stanton and co-directors Gareth
Williams, former Welsh rugby captain
Bleddyn Bowen, finance director Julie
Harris and technical director Lee Wiltshire
all worked together in the Swansea branch
of a major manufacturer of document
imaging systems, but accepted redundancy
when the sales operation took a different
direction.
“They wanted us to operate on vertical
market lines instead of geographic areas.
That’s probably a good approach in big
urban areas, but here in Wales it didn’t
make much sense for one person to go
all the way to Pembrokeshire to see a
public sector body and another to see an
accountancy firm, when one person could
cover both calls. So the five of us decided
to leave and do it our own way,” says
Williams.
Infinity Document Solutions began
operations at the start of 2013 and
immediately set about securing a
dealership.
“We wanted a clean break from our
former employer so we didn’t approach
them. An old colleague who had also set
up independently recommended Develop
as the machines were essentially the same
as those we were used to selling, so all
our product knowledge would be relevant.
We talked to DSales, the distributor for
Develop, and they were pleased to take us
on-board,” explains Stanton.
“It’s a very simple and easy relationship
with no big corporate bureaucracy.
We know everyone there on first name
terms and they all know us. If we order
a machine it arrives in 48 hours. They
are interested in what we’re doing and
genuinely want to help.”
Unlimited potential
been very supportive and the combination
of Develop and Ricoh works very well as
they both have different strengths.”
Infinity’s main customer base is legal
firms, accountancy practices, estate agents
and SMEs with one or two machines,
although it does have some major
accounts and is able to support devices
across the UK.
Stanton says that its focus is
increasingly to sell solutions rather than
hardware alone. “Margins are tight on
hardware and profit is becoming more
difficult to achieve. There is also a general
decline in printed paper output. So our
approach is very much around document
management and the consultancy and
support we provide around that. We will
be offering our customers DocuWare as
a hosted solution and anticipate a big
uptake. We also offer PaperCut for print
management, Planet Press for variable
data and several other leading solutions.”
Williams adds: “Lee, our technical
director, has a wealth of experience
and knowledge in software and one of
our engineers is a networking specialist
with an IT background. Networking and
solutions is the way to add value and
margin to the sales process.”
As Infinity expands its offering and
word spreads throughout the local
business community, Stanton expects
software sales and integration to continue
to be an important part of the company’s
success.
“Our customers are generally
well established businesses that have
survived the recession. The local business
community here is pretty tight knit and
word quickly gets around. People know us
and trust us which is crucial to our success.
Customers now are pretty savvy about
solutions and the demand for electronic
filing and so on is coming from them.
Going out on our own has allowed us to
evolve to meet that demand with new
technology, such as cloud-based solutions.
Setting up Infinity was definitely the right
move for our customers and ourselves.”
In our first
year of
trading we
managed
over £1
million in
turnover and
now have a
MIF of 400
machines.
The Develop range of document
imaging systems are manufactured by
Konica Minolta Holdings and extend from
the entry-level ineo 164, a 16ppm mono
multifunctional, to the ineo+ 8000 high
speed colour production system.
“Our customers know and trust the kit
because it’s basically the same machine
with a different badge, so that made the
switch easy for us,” says Williams. “In our
first year of trading we managed over
£1 million in turnover and now have a MIF
of 400 machines. Not bad going from a
standing start.”
More recently, Infinity has secured
a second dealership from Ricoh, a
combination that Williams says is proving
very successful. “Ricoh could see the
potential of Infinity within Wales and were
keen to get us on board. They have also
Infinity, the DSalesWelsh Dealer of the Year 2013,
is focusing on solutions for continued growth
