OPI TALK

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Episodes

Hear the latest news, interviews and analysis from the business supplies industry hosted by OPI, the leading media organisation for the international office products sector.

Episodes

Tuesday Feb 16, 2021

Part 3 – A deep dive into the new way of working with Fellowes Brands’ Louise Shipley

Tuesday Feb 16, 2021

At the end of January, Fellowes Brands launched its New Way of Working survey to understand how employees cope with working from home.

The survey questioned 7,000 employees across Europe to discover how lockdown has affected them and the consequences on their physical and mental health.

In this final episode in the series, OPI CEO Steve Hilleard discusses the survey with leading expert and Fellowes’ Head of European Marketing for Workplace Health Solutions, Louise Shipley.

Louise delves into the results, providing a fascinating insight into how the events of the past year are expected to reshape the world of work. She also reveals the opportunities for the business supplies industry.

Episode produced by Michelle Sturman
Music by:
Extreme Energy by MusicToday80: https://soundcloud.com/musictoday80/r...
Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Music provided by Free Vibes: https://goo.gl/NkGhTg

Wednesday Feb 10, 2021

Part 2 – Fellowes Brands' Louise Shipley on hybrid working and sales opportunities

Wednesday Feb 10, 2021

In the second episode of OPI Talk with Fellowes Brands’ Head of European Marketing for Workplace Health Solutions Louise Shipley, the discussion revolves around hybrid working.

The term ‘hybrid working’ is a relatively new phrase related to when employees will work in the office, home or elsewhere, and is widely believed to be the future of working post-COVID.

In this conversation with OPI CEO Steve Hilleard, Louise delves into what this means for employers moving forward. She also explains the role our industry’s resellers can play in supporting customers with a hybrid working set-up, as well as the potential commercial opportunities.

Friday Feb 05, 2021

Part 1 – Fellowes Brands’ Louise Shipley discusses how to support businesses with employees working from home

Friday Feb 05, 2021

Early 2020 saw the unprecedented mass migration to homeworking due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As many offices and businesses remain closed, just what are the implications for those remote workers in terms of comfort, safety, and productivity?

In this first of a series of three podcasts, OPI CEO Steve Hilleard talks to leading expert and Fellowes Head of European Marketing for Workplace Health Solutions Louise Shipley about this new way of working and its impact on employee health and well-being.

Louise also details the opportunities that exist for business supplies dealers to support those companies that still have a majority home-based workforce, and what the ‘new normal’ means in terms of legislation and an employer’s duty of care obligations.

Thursday Jan 28, 2021

CEO Greg Liénard discusses challenges and change at Lyreco

Thursday Jan 28, 2021

Our guest in this episode of OPI Talk is Greg Liénard, CEO of Lyreco. Greg – a long-standing company executive – has been at the helm of the global business supplies reseller since July 2019. During the past 18 months or so, he’s certainly had his work cut out, first continuing on the transformation path that his predecessor set out and then dealing with a global pandemic while at the same time putting a new long-term strategic plan in place.

OPI’s Heike Dieckmann caught up with Greg just before Christmas for a chat that formed the basis of our Big Interview in the January/February issue of OPI. This is an excerpt from this interview. For more information on topics such as Lyreco’s global footprint – and why it exited markets such as Canada and Australia – plus its five new strategic pillars, make sure you are subscribed to OPI, so you can ready the full feature in the magazine.

Music by:
Extreme Energy by MusicToday80: https://soundcloud.com/musictoday80/r...
Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Music provided by Free Vibes: https://goo.gl/NkGhTg

Monday Jan 25, 2021

Mike Tucker discusses the IOPFDA (NOPA) merger with ISSA

Monday Jan 25, 2021

OPI speaks to Mike Tucker about IOPFDA’s new relationship with cleaning association ISSA.

Towards to the end of last year, it was confirmed that the Independent Office Products and Furniture Dealer Alliance (IOPFDA) – which includes NOPA – had merged with worldwide cleaning association ISSA.

OPI News Editor Andy Braithwaite caught up with IOPFDA Executive Director Mike Tucker for more details of this partnership and what it means for IOPFDA and its members.

Episode produced by Andy Braithwaite
Music by:
Extreme Energy by MusicToday80: https://soundcloud.com/musictoday80/r...
Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Music provided by Free Vibes: https://goo.gl/NkGhTg

Friday Jan 15, 2021

Why did Paragon Group acquire Spicers-OfficeTeam last year? Interview with Sean Shine and Steve Horne

Friday Jan 15, 2021

In this OPI Talk podcast, we feature part of an interview that OPI CEO Steve Hilleard and News Editor Andy Braithwaite conducted with Sean Shine, CEO of Ireland-based Paragon, and Steve Horne, CEO of OT Group, the entity created following Paragon’s acquisition of those SPOT assets.

If, like many in the office products industry, you had never heard of Paragon until last year, this podcast will give you a better understanding of the group. You will also learn why it decided to acquire OfficeTeam, ZenOffice, Spicers Ireland and certain other assets, and what the underlying problems were at SPOT that forced it into administration.

Make sure you are subscribed to OPI to read more from this interview in the January/February 2021 issue of OPI magazine and online at opi.net. It will cover topics such as the strategic priorities for the OT Group, how it is responding to market conditions in the UK, adapting to work from home and dealing with Brexit, plus its new relationship with the EOSA purchasing organisation.

Note: this interview was conducted in December 2020, before it was publicised that Steve Horne will be stepping down from his role as CEO of OT Group, effective the end of March 2021.

Monday Dec 21, 2020

OPI editorial team: 2020 round-up and 2021 predictions

Monday Dec 21, 2020

OPI's editorial team, along with CEO Steve Hilleard, take a look at the biggest stories and developments in the business products industry in 2020, and make their predictions for 2021.

Wednesday Dec 16, 2020

ACCO Brands' Boris Elisman on the office products channel

Wednesday Dec 16, 2020

The guest in this episode of OPI Talk is Boris Elisman, CEO of ACCO Brands.

ACCO has recently announced a significant acquisition, buying video games accessories manufacturer PowerA in a deal worth up to $400 million. This is part of a strategy to transform ACCO into a consumer products-oriented branded supplier.

With this in mind, OPI News Editor Andy Braithwaite asks Boris about how he views the office products channel, given the secular declines in many core categories and the challenges thrown up by the COVID-19 crisis…

Friday Dec 04, 2020

Podcast: Jonathan Withey talks about business and sustainability

Friday Dec 04, 2020

This week’s episode of OPI’s podcast, OPI Talk, is all about sustainability and how to improve a company’s environmental credentials.

OPI Deputy Editor Michelle Sturman speaks with The Planet Mark Head of Business Development Jonathan Withey, an expert on sustainability who also has in-depth knowledge of the business supplies industry.

He discusses the journey to becoming more sustainable, how to reduce your carbon footprint and aim for net zero, the benefits of social value, the rise of plastics, and employee engagement.

The podcast features exclusive extracts from the Big Interview conducted with Jonathan for the November/December issue of OPI. Read the interview here.

Episode produced by Michelle Sturman (assisted by Andy Braithwaite)
Music by:
Extreme Energy by MusicToday80: https://soundcloud.com/musictoday80/r...
Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Music provided by Free Vibes: https://goo.gl/NkGhTg

Friday Nov 27, 2020

ECI CEO Ron Books talk about latest private equity transaction, the independent dealer channel and business life during COVID

Friday Nov 27, 2020

Software provider ECI – a key partner for many business products dealers –recently announced it is to be acquired by private equity firm LGP.

Earlier this week, just before the Thanksgiving break in the US, OPI News Editor Andy Braithwaite spoke to Ron via Zoom to find out more about the transaction and for his thoughts on how the independent channel has been faring during the coronavirus crisis.