KYOCERA MITA and UTAX South Africa enter into strategic partnership

Underpinned by an increasingly competitive marketplace, the combination of KYOCERA’s infrastructure and brand dominance together with Corporate Business Solution’s strong direct sales model, will fundamentally change how customers think about printing and office automation. The partnership will enable customers to exploit the best of both companies’ core strengths achieved through the combination of an elaborate product portfolio as well as a strengthened sales, service, logistics and marketing offering.

“This partnership comes at a time of aggressive expansion for KYOCERA, both in our channel and in our infrastructure. We believe that Corporate Business Solutions brings a direct sales strength that will enhance our partner portfolio and assist us in delivering a compelling value based proposition to the market, “ says Wayne Holborn, general manager of KYOCERA MITA South Africa.

According to InfoSource for the period January – June 2011, KYOCERA Mita South Africa has significantly grown its marketshare across the multifunctional (MFP), colour MFP and laser printer segments for business use categories, making it undisputably the fastest growing office automation brand in South Africa.

“As a result of the tremendous growth we are experiencing and the long standing relationship with UTAX South Africa, the partnership has come at a prime time. We understand customers are demanding competitive pricing which can further be achieved by the economies of scale we expect from this strategic partnership,” indicates Holborn.

According to Gary Trant, CEO of Corporate Business Solutions: “Our partnerhsip will see us transition from being an OEM distributor, to a fully fledged KYOCERA Premier Partner, with access to KYOCERA’s comprehensive product portfolio, warehousing and logistics infrastructure and managed document solutions methodologies”.

Both parties are excited about the new venture with the aim to achieve greater market share as a result of the combined knowledge and expertise that will be brought into the mix. “Whilst Corporate Business Solution’s immediate focus is to take care of our existing UTAX clients, we are undertaking a parallel drive to continue the expansion of our customer base with equipment sourced from the same manufacturer. As a result, we will be using the KYOCERA name instead of the OEM name of UTAX. This will ensure continuity of supply of spares and consumables to our existing customers, whilst at the same time enhancing the product range on offer,” concludes Trant.