Office Power partners with Stylus stationers

Office Power has further bolstered its partner network with the addition of Stylus Stationers.

Stylus is based in south east London and was founded in 1984 by Kathy Bugden (pictured). She continues to run the business with her husband Nick, who joined in 1991.

Post-recession, rising overheads and reduced margins took their toll on the business, like they have for many dealers. The company’s IT system and ecommerce solution was also in need of modernisation. Yet, just two months after partnering with Office Power, Kathy is already confident the business can return to its heyday and a £2m turnover.

“For many years, we were constantly fire-fighting. Instead of running the business, the business was running us. We knew Stylus had to evolve and change if it could ever be as strong as it once was, but we struggled to find a solution that was right for us – we were worried we would lose our independence by joining a dealer group,” explained Kathy Budgen.

“We approached Office Power because it’s different. It supports dealers to be independent. We operate as Stylus, not Office Power. It’s our branding across the website and all of our marketing, not Office Power’s. It’s still me making the decisions. Finally, I feel like I’m in control, which is something I could not say two months ago.

“By removing the unnecessary burden of managing menial tasks, we already have more time for ourselves and more time to run and grow the business. With all of our back office systems together and automatically updated in one place on the Office Power platform, we recently managed our business from an iPad in the hills of Tuscany. You really can’t get better than that.”

Office Power CEO Simon Drakeford added: “We’re delighted to welcome Stylus to the Office Power partnership and the team is really looking forward to giving Kathy and Nick the control and confidence they need to build their business and reach that £2m turnover figure once again.”