Wendy shares her experiences over the past decade, what she’s learned, and the highs and the lows of our unique and challenging industry
PrintIT Reseller (PITR): You’ve been working in the print and IT industry for more than ten years. What led you to enter the sector?
Wendy Sharp (WS): I was working as an Admin Manager at Bupa when a patient asked me if I enjoyed my job. He said that he was looking for someone to recruit who could look at internal processes, streamline them and create a more efficient, cost-effective way of working and was I interested. It was a fairly new print dealership, so I went to see him, we hit it off and he offered me a job. I was there for 16 years before they sold to Danwood.
PITR: Tell me about your career in print?
WS: My first job in the print sector, as mentioned earlier was at KPS. I was charged with working really closely with the Operations Director to help streamline systems to give the business owners far better visibility of the company’s performance along with a far more efficient set of processes.
After they sold to Danwood, despite headcount cuts, I was kept on and within six months I was promoted to Head of Admin for the entire group. My knowledge across the sector increased dramatically whilst I was there, being involved with areas of the business that I had not been party to until I had worked my way up through the ranks. I built relationships across the sector that have stood me in great stead through the years. I worked really closely with our funding partners which helped leverage my position as my career progressed.
I then spent a few years at Apogee, moved to Direct-tec, who ironically sold to Apogee, so I ended up back there. Apogee, now owned by HP, are leaders in their field, I embarked upon a project that had never been seen before in Apogee, the introduction of a lease desk which won special recognition awards in 2022 which was a great achievement for myself and my team.
Then unexpectedly, Gavin Auckland (Managing Director at Parallel) approached me. He said that he’d love me to join the business, but as a new start up he wasn’t in a position to make an offer at that time. He promised he’d get back in touch when the time was right.
PITR: What has been the high point of the decade?
WS: This ties in with my answer to my proudest moment – it was joining Parallel in September last year. I feel very lucky to work here and that Gavin gave me the opportunity to hold the position I have here. He is great to work with, consults me on everything and the difference between working for a large organisation where you are one of many, to be an integral part of a smaller team and really have an impact is incredible.
PITR: And the low point?
WS: For me personally, it was when my former employer Direct-tec sold to Apogee.
PITR: What (or who) has had the greatest impact in the sector in the last 10 years?
WS: The pandemic I think has had a massive, long lasting impact on the industry. It’s created a new status quo where work from home is the norm. Having people in the same room sharing ideas was a big thing in our industry and that’s gone – perhaps forever. There is a new generation entering the workplace now and their mind-set is very different, they are much more forward about setting out their expectations and demands, and ensuring they are met.
PITR: If you could change one thing about the last decade, what would it be?
WS: I suppose COVID is the obvious answer (again), but negativity aside, the one good thing to come out of it was that it did bring people closer together. I think we’ve all been guilty of taking people for granted but during the pandemic, we all had to pull together to keep everyone safe and keep business ticking over.
PITR: What has been your proudest moment of the past 10 years?
WS: Getting a call from Gavin to say he hadn’t forgotten his promise to follow up on his offer to me, and now that he was in a position to move forward, he wanted to invite me to join him at Parallel as his Operations Director. A great honour and I am very excited to see where we can take Parallel in the coming years.
PITR: Sum up the decade in three words.
WS: Exciting. Challenging. Non-dimensional.
