Russian version

Japan has a tradition of making amusing Daruma dolls that look like Russian «matryoshka» dolls. Usually, the dolls are made of wood, papier-mâché or paper; the dolls they do not have arms, legs, or eyes. The Daruma doll is commonly used by the Japanese in a wish-making ritual: after making a wish, its owner paints one pupil on a Daruma doll. The doll is then is placed in a conspicuous location in the house. If the wish comes true within one year, another eye is painted on the Daruma doll; otherwise, the doll is taken to a temple and burnt.

The senior management of the Japanese company OKI Data, one of the world leaders in developing printing technology solutions, respects his national traditions: after announcing the launch of a Russian trading company “OKI Systems RUS”, the President of OKI DATA, Mr. Harushige Sugimoto, gave a colorful wooden Daruma doll to the Moscow Office of his company. His wish to his colleagues was quite logical for any business: "I just wish you don’t hurt your budget!"

The Russian representative office of OKI was established in April 1996. For several years, the Company has occupied a fairly strong position in the small and medium size printer segment, as wel as in the office multifunctional device segment.

In the color printing device (A3 size) segment, the Japanese vendor has ranked first. The Company has maintained a solid strategy during the world financial crisis, and at the end of 2009 OKI’s sales in Russia grew 4% in comparison with the initial period.

"It is important to explore new opportunities in the development stage. At the beginning of the crisis, we realized that we had grown up to a good level, and we decided that it was possible to achieve a breakthrough while our competitors remained undecided", said the General Director of “OKI Systems Rus” Nikolai Pakhomov. In the course of the year, the decision to start a trading company became reality. This move is part of OKI’s strategy to expand its share on the Russian market, which is regarded by us as one of top priorities in worldwide development”.

The recently registered LLC OKI Systems Rus" intends to ensure that products are supplied at competitive prices, improve the quality of after-sales service, strengthen relationships with partners and is expected to expand its distribution channels. In any case, the company is not going to change its existing distribution and dealer networks. “At the moment, we do not have many dealers capable of selling monochrome office equipment, said Nikolai Pakhomov. However, after becoming a trading company, the Russian representative office is going to start negotiations with partners that can help us gain a foothold in this and other segments of the Russian market."

As of today, OKI has 6 distributors in Russia. The Company realizes that the simple arithmetic approach of expanding its networks will produce nothing, and plans to maintain a balanced approach to each partner. It is expected that within a year there will be 1-2 new distributors. The Russian Representative Office of OKI, Ltd. has no plans involving direct sales." This won’t be a good thing, it can only destroy distributor loyalty", said Nikolay Pakhomov.

In 2009, the position of the OKI’s Russian representative office among all OKI’s RO (on printer market - other than ink-jet devices) was ranked 11th. By the end of 2010, it is planning to become No. 7. The company plans to gradually gain 7% of the market in Russia, i.e. the share it already has on the European market.

OKI’s strategy in Russia provides for active participation in various tenders for supplying printing equipment (incidentally, the Company has recently won a major tender put out by the RF Pension Fund). In addition, the company's plans include promoting MPS services (managed print services) on the Russian market. Over the past few years, the demand for MPS in many Western countries has been growing much faster than the deliveries of the related hardware.

At present, these services are not yet very popular in Russia, but OKI’s management is confident that they will become a “hot trend” within 1-2 years. This service must be especially interesting to small offices, branch offices, banks, etc., i.e anyone who does not want to bothered with servicing their printing devices. In most cases, they should see excellent benefits from copy-based contracts and equipment leasing. The use of MPS will involve taking some functionality from small printing houses, such as the printing of presentations, postcards, business cards, etc.

As stated by Mr. Sugimoto, the main IT innovation introduced by the company is the use of its unique proprietary LED technology in its printers. What is very interesting, however, is that the LEDs are used not only in the printing modules, but also in the scanning modules of the multifunctional devices. The President of OKI has lifted the veil of secrecy from the concept of its future printer. Right now this model is basically just an idea. Howerver, it is known that OKI’s future printer is going to be fully sensor control-enabled, friendly to the environment, speedy, cost-effective, silent and small-sized.

For a year, the Daruma doll will be waiting to meet its fate, watching the achievements of “OKI Systems Rus”. However, there is little doubt that Mr. Sugimoto’s wish will come true and a second pupil will be painted on the Japanese tilting doll with due respect.