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

Friday Apr 09, 2021

Talking sales with Superstat’s Alex Dunn

Friday Apr 09, 2021

The guest on this episode of OPI Talk is Alex Dunn, Managing Director of UK dealer group Superstat.

Superstat has just introduced an initiative called the Sales Academy, which aims to help sales professionals in the business products industry develop their selling strategies and skills.

The conversation with Alex touches upon the Sales Academy, but is mainly focused on the challenges sales people have had to face over the past year and what some of the permanent changes to their role may be post-COVID.

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 Mar 26, 2021

Office products opportunities with NPD’s Leen Nsouli

Friday Mar 26, 2021

How did the pandemic impact the US office supplies retail channel in 2020, and what are the opportunities for resellers in 2021?

In this episode of OPI Talk, Leen Nsouli, the Industry Analyst for The NPD Group’s Office Supplies division, discusses results of the firm’s research into the retail channel in 2020.

She also looks ahead to opportunities for the 2021 back-to-school season and highlights other market trends that office products resellers ought to be focusing on.

Friday Mar 19, 2021

EOPA 2021 award winner, Richard Scharmann, CEO of PBS Holding

Friday Mar 19, 2021

OPI speaks to Richard Scharmann, this year’s recipient of the Industry Achievement award at the 2021 European Office Products Awards.

OPI News Editor Andy Braithwaite caught up with Richard shortly after he was presented with his award. They spoke about what the award meant to him, how PBS has navigated the COVID crisis, market trends and recent acquisitions. Richard also gave his views on the dismantling of the Staples and Office Depot businesses in Europe.

Wednesday Mar 03, 2021

Circular economy and sustainability with Lyreco's Isabelle Daubney

Wednesday Mar 03, 2021

For procurement departments, sustainability and corporate social responsibility criteria are increasingly playing an important role in supplier selection. Global business products reseller Lyreco has a strong track record in these areas, and last year launched its Circular Economy Pledge, a five-year project that aims to develop fully circular solutions for its customers.

Following on from last November’s article in the How to… section of OPI’s Green Thinking special issue, OPI News Editor Andy Braithwaite caught up with Isabelle Daubney, Lyreco’s Circular Economy Project Leader, to speak more about the Circular Economy Pledge project and other sustainability priorities at Lyreco.

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.

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.