OKI has established a direct presence in New Zealand, opening an Auckland office to service resellers and customers.

The opening of the office comes on the back of master distributor Comworth's decision to pull out of distribution.

Comworth's Panasonic Toughbook and Zebra Card printer agencies were acquired by Sektor.

OKI says it has recruited former sales and technical staff from Comworth to assist with the New Zealand operations.

Dennie Kawahara, OKI Data Australia and New Zealand managing director, says establishing a direct presence assures continuous product availability for authorised distributors and resellers and customers.

“We'll be working closer and more strategically with our partners, enabling us to be more responsive to and more closely cater to reseller and customer pre- and post-sale requirements,” Kawahara says.

OKI's New Zealand partners will be able to be part of OKI's new partner program which includes marketing support, hands-on-technical training, online training via the OKI Academy, and the chance to be part of the annual ‘OKI Club' incentive trip.

OKI says it has been working with local resellers over the past month to ensure a seamless transition to new trading accounts and ordering processes.

“We cannot be more excited about this and look forward to working with our partner in New Zealand,” Kawahara says.

Comworth announced its exit from the distribution business last month, saying it will instead focus on its high-margin cloud, managed services and software-as-a-service opportunities, through its Virsae and Agile businesses.