Our interview with FedEx Kinko’s COO Brian Philips late last year ranked in the top ten articles for the year at WhatTheyThink in terms of number of reader accesses. With recent FedEx Kinko’s announcements and other press coverage, it appeared to be a good time to do a follow-up discussion with Philips to see how the company is progressing relative to its restructuring and expansion efforts and to learn more about what is new. Our readers who are interested in following FedEx Kinko’s may also wish to read the interview with FedEx Kinko’s CEO Ken May that recently appeared in Fortune Magazine. One important aspect of the FedEx Kinko’s business strategy covered in that interview that is not discussed here is increased focus on the trade show and convention business.

WTT:  Brian, thanks for speaking with us.  We wanted to offer an update on FedEx Kinko’s to our readers and appreciate your taking the time. Based on what I have been reading in the press, it seems like you are continuing to refine and expand the physical and digital network you spoke about the last time we talked.

BP:  It is all fitting together nicely. Since you have recently been able to take a look at Print Online ( see related Special Report Extra), I would like to explain how that fits with the strategy we talked about the last time we spoke.  We said our key competitive advantage is our network, and that our network is not only the physical brick and mortar, but the FedEx infrastructure and the digital backbone that networks it all together.  When we talk about being the back office for small business and the branch office for large and medium-sized business, Print Online is one of the tools that allows customers to print from anywhere to anywhere.  In terms of enabling the customer experience and creating efficiency and effectiveness in the network environment, we have that experience because of the monumental change that FedEx.com introduced into the shipping experience at the beginning of the Internet that made it easier to transact with us online than in any other form.  We believe the same convenience exists in Print Online and the rest of the offerings that make up our service bundle.  There are a number of other components that we are going to lay on over the next several years to continue to build on that print from anywhere to anywhere strategy. This extends even to making it simpler to pay for services and to track those expenditures. As I indicated before, you can use your FedEx account number today online to pay for shipping from FedEx Kinko’s, and we eventually will move to a single account number across all FedEx operating companies. It is a complex process and we are laying the groundwork for that today.