Barry Venter, CEO of Nashua discusses how to keep a legacy brand relevant in a fast-changing market. As technology, customer behaviour and market conditions change, businesses need to keep up. In some cases, that might mean making wide and deep changes to the business model to ensure that the company remains relevant. The challenge for a well-established business lies in innovating and evolving, while retaining its brand equity and customer relationships.
At Nashua, we have gone through a significant business transformation over the past decade, from office automation specialist to a major player in the ICT industry. Before that, we evolved from a specialist in the sale and service of liquid toner copiers into an office automation leader.
Here are some of the lessons that our over 50-years history offers for other businesses that are reinventing their legacy brands for the digital age:
Innovate Within Your Offering
Evolution starts with rethinking what you already provide and looking at how you can leverage existing infrastructure and customer relationships to grow. You don’t need to build something completely new or abandon existing businesses to remain relevant. Our approach was to expand into areas that were adjacent to our existing business to meet new customer requirements.
Invest In The Skills Your Industry Needs
Investing in new skills is expensive and it takes time, but it is essential. Building the right team is as important as building the right product. There is a balancing act between ensuring the continuity of the core business, while investing in the revenue streams of the future.
With our move beyond print into ICT, we had to invest in new skills, including presales, implementation, and after-sales specialists, to support our expanded solutions.
Bring Existing Partners With You On The Journey
As a business changes and evolves, the support of its existing business partners is as important as building new vendor relationships. Customers are more likely to trust you with new solutions if you build on established relationships. A strong partner ecosystem also helps smaller companies to compete more effectively by pooling knowledge, resources, and reach.
Respect Heritage Clients, But Focus On New Ones
A successful reinvention is one where you don’t leave your existing customers behind. We still support many customers that depend on legacy print solutions and who are not yet ready to invest in digital solutions. We continue to serve this market, while prioritising the next generation of SMEs with needs in connectivity, cybersecurity, and green energy. Balancing the old and the new helps maintain credibility with long-time clients, while showing newer ones that you are forward-looking and relevant to their needs.
A Solutions Mindset Pays Off
Business reinventions pay off when they are oriented towards solving your customers’ problems. Over the past 10 to 15 years, we’ve moved away from the ‘box drop”’mentality of selling equipment, towards providing turnkey solutions that help customers achieve their goals and future-proof their operations. One element of this is building industry-specific solutions for each sector, from agriculture to education and beyond.
It’s A Journey, Not A Flick Of A Switch
Perhaps the biggest lesson is that reinvention takes time. Our evolution spanned decades, not months. Patience and persistence are the key to success, especially when bringing new offerings to market. Reinvention is not about one big launch, but about steady, deliberate steps to change the business. Each improvement lays the groundwork for the next. Over time, these incremental changes build trust and position your brand as a long-term partner to its customers.
NASHUA
https://www.nashua.co.za
