Briefs

Canon’s plans for the office systems market

Alok Bharadwaj (right) and Som Gangopadhyay

While announcing its marketing strategy for the office systems and solutions business, Canon India launched 17 multi-function document management and document imaging products. Targeted at the workgroup, departmental and enterprise segment, the company plans to capture almost 23 percent of the Rs 453 crore market in 2005.

The company’s three-pronged strategy for this segment will be to concentrate on providing 24x7 services, establishing its vertical strength by gaining domain expertise, and customising applications. There is also a complementary effort to gain an edge through a new go-to-market strategy for the enterprise segment.

According to Alok Bharadwaj, Vice-president, Canon India, “The new range of high-end multi-function printers and high-speed scanners has been designed to meet the most stringent requirements of an enterprise in terms of customised embedded software capability, data security, networking ability and user-friendliness.”

Canon has established a network of specialist channel partners—the Enterprise Solutions Partner, along with a National Accounts Team—for strengthening its presence in different verticals such as BFSI and government.

Its marketshare for multi-function devices (MFD) is also increasing. With almost 44 percent of its business coming from the enterprise segment, Canon will now target the SMB segment as well.

Explains Som Gangopadhyay, Senior Manager, Office Systems and Solutions, Canon India, “We have a vast range of products, and in future growth will be driven by the needs of the BFSI segment along with the government, PSUs, and the BPO and telecom industry.”

In terms of functionality, the trend that Canon presented was wireless technology and colour on MFDs. “Though colour has taken some time to enter India, the market is warming up,” Bharadwaj informs. Although the colour segment has not entered the mainstream due to the cost factor, Canon believes that wireless and colour will be a niche.

The company has also introduced Multifunctional Embedded Application Platform (MEAP) in this new range of products. MEAP is a Java-based application platform that allows creation of customised software applications unique to different organisations’ business workflow.

The new iR series—iR3G—incorporates MEAP to deliver a secure and network-integrated document management solution with Internet-enabled capabilities. The company also launched multiple models of high-speed document imaging products as part of the DR scanners’ range with high-speed cheque scanner, MICR and OCR recognition facilities and multiple output pockets.

With a gross turnover of Rs 264 crore in 2004, Canon recorded 100 percent growth in its iR 1600 copier segment with 23 percent of the market. Further, the company saw a 500 percent growth in the digicam market and an almost 140 percent growth in projectors. The company grew 150 percent in the laser printer segment and 14 percent in bubble jet printers.

— Shivani Shinde