Michelle Ryder caught up with Kristian Samler, COO at MyQ to find out more about the company’s growth plans and its focus on strengthening partnerships with OEMs and channel resellers
Kristian Samler rejoined MyQ as its COO at the beginning of this year, after a five‐year break which saw him co‐running an IT outsourcing company and serving as CEO of a software development company.
“I spent five years at MyQ and previously held the position of Chief Sales Officer. Coming back was an easy decision to make, there is so much more we can achieve, our goal definitely is to grow, we have very ambitious targets, and that’s one of the things that got me excited when I was asked to come back on board as COO,” he explained.
As COO, Samler is managing some of the operational and strategic elements of the business, freeing up CEO Martin Janus to focus on other areas. MyQ’s C-level team report into him.
Personalised print solutions
MyQ’s ethos is centred around providing an advanced printing ecosystem which can be precisely adapted to any needs, fits seamlessly into a customer’s existing IT environment, and is user-friendly.
At the end of last year, it announced a number of exciting new features to its flagship product MyQ X which can be deployed on-premise or in a private cloud. Highlights included a fully redesigned UI that seamlessly streamlines workflows and elevates the entire printing experience; an improved end-user experience, thanks to improved terminal action layouts, enhanced navigation, and a consistent design across all devices; game-changing printer provisioning, the system automatically installs printers on end-users’ computers, ensuring that each person can only view and access the printers assigned to them; and a simplified experience for IT admins, with the return of a new and improved MyQ Theme Editor which enables IT admins to edit the design of the MyQ embedded terminal by adjusting the colour of the background and tiles, customising icons, or by adding the company’s logo.
Samler mentioned that evolving the single tenant architecture to enable the solution to be hosted in a public cloud is on the roadmap.
MyQ Roger
In November 2024, MyQ announced that the MyQ Roger mobile app surpassed one million downloads on Google Play. The MyQ Roger cloud-based, mobile-first digital workplace assistant also features advanced AI features including AI-powered summarisation and translation capabilities, document scanning and OCR recognition.
Samler said that further AI-powered features, available as a paid subscription will be released shortly.
In April this year, My Q announced the release of the new MyQ Roger app for Kyocera MFPs. Users can scan, print, and browse files directly from their preferred cloud storage services including SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, and Google Drive, without needing to shuttle documents back and forth manually. This deep integration with cloud platforms turns each Kyocera device into a digital workspace hub, not just a printer.
One of the standout features of the new MyQ Roger release is cloud job spooling. This means that print jobs can be securely routed to cloud storage platforms like OneDrive or Google Drive, rather than passing through or residing on local servers. Notably, this capability supports zero trust principles by ensuring documents are stored in trusted cloud environments under the organisation’s control.
The new Kyocera version of MyQ Roger also introduces seamless integration with Microsoft Universal Print, allowing organisations to manage printing across distributed teams without the need to deploy or maintain any print server infrastructure. This is especially valuable for hybrid workplaces, where employees expect the same access and efficiency whether they’re at the office, at home, or on the move.
Unified user interface
Another major enhancement is the introduction of a unified user interface across device brands. With a consistent, intuitive experience now available on Kyocera, HP, and Ricoh devices, organisations with mixed fleets can simplify training and reduce support requests. The uniformity not only boosts productivity but also makes life easier for IT departments tasked with supporting end-users across multiple device types.
Further updates are also on the horizon. “MyQ Roger’s multi-tenant architecture presents lots of opportunity for us to introduce brand new features and approaches that we’re not able to do within MyQ X, we’re working on some interesting things internally, which will hopefully be released in the coming months,” Samler said.
Multi‐vendor strategy
Aligning the product vision, leveraging AI within its day to day operations to deliver operational excellence and strengthening relationships with OEM and channel partners are key areas of focus designed to support the company’s ambitious growth plans.
“From a sales perspective, we are heavily focused on our multi-vendor strategy and growing our business across all printer brands. I would really like to make sure that we get the best use of all the embedded terminals that are in our portfolio. Our goal is really to focus on our multi-brand strategy and make sure that we are growing the partner base across all brands,” Samler explained.
Investing for growth
North America is a key market for MyQ and the company is doubling down on efforts to expand in the region.
“We are expanding the existing team in the US and strengthening relationships with key dealers and key players in this territory. We are also hiring new people and targeting growth in APAC and in Africa. We have a strong presence in APAC and we recently opened up a new branch office in South Africa,” he concluded.
