KMUK PR: review of the year

KMUK's good friend Dan Ilett has just published his round up of the year's developments at Greenbang, and not being one to pass up the opportunity to rip off someone else's idea, I thought I'd take a brief look back at the past year at KMUK.

At the beginning of 2010, I'd just about got my feet on the ground after returning from maternity leave the previous September, and KMUK was heading for its best financial result ever, an achievement which was confirmed in April and celebrated with bonuses all round.

April saw another UK first with the opening of the Kyocera Technology Suite just off Regent Street in London. The opening ceremony was compered by Dan Ilett, performed by Consul General Sumio Kusaka of the Japanese Embassy, and ably supported by Sir John Madejski. The suite acts as a showcase for Kyocera Mita products and philosophy, and we also offer it free of charge to organisations holding events promoting sustainability. Its proximity to the nation's shopping heartland has also proved popular with those of us with more money than sense.

Product-wise the Kyocera range has continued to strengthen, with new devices launched in all segments from desktop to departmental. The hardware continues to bring in accolades from industry pundits, with BERTL and BLI both lavishing excellent product ratings on us. It's been the company awards that have meant the most, however, and we were more than thrilled to win the Microscope hardware vendor of the year award earlier this year, which we followed up with a Highly Commended in the Vendor of the Year category at the CRN awards in November. For a company that operates solely via the channel, these are the awards we want to be winning.

As well as being a channel-focused company we are, of course, an environmentally-focused company also. We were fortunate to receive significant industry recognition for our contribution this year, picking up the Green IT Magazine company of the year award, the BOSS industry Award for Environmental Manufacturer, and the Sustainable FM award for Sustainable supplier of the Year: Office Products.

July saw the entire company head off to Eynsham Hall in Oxfordshire for Kyocera Culture and Philosophy training. The two-day exercise, which was conducted in either 30+ degree heat or teeming rain, depending on which of the two sessions you attended, saw employees singing nursery rhymes to children in playgrounds, hacking through undergrowth, and creating "pavement art". We all learnt a great deal about our colleagues' strengths and weaknesses, and helped to define the kind of company that KMUK will become as we continue to grow.

In October we suffered a blow, as one of our environmental partners made an extraordinary and unprecendented error of judgement, which left us with a damage limitation exercise to conduct. We learned a lot about crisis management, the power of personal response, and the 24/7 nature of social media. We weren't at the centre of the crisis, but the lessons that we learned, both good and bad, will stand us in good stead as we move forward.

2010 has been another record-breaking year for KMUK. We celebrated with an almighty Christmas knees-up at the Ice Bar in London, which reaffirmed the genuine friendships that exist between most of the staff at KMUK. Many of us have worked together now for the best part of 10 years, with some closer to 20 years' service, and it's great to see that dedication and enthusiasm being shared with new staff members, along with the odd drink or two, of course!

As we head into 2011, we've got some very exciting projects on the go, not least of which is smashing our FY11 masterplan target, and setting the target for FY12 which will drive us towards our aim of doubling the size of the company by 2015. There's plenty of hard work still ahead of us, but we're confident that we can make it happen.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Peaceful and Prosperous New Year.