Canon to offer total printing solutions through SIs

Inline with its theme for the year-growth, Canon has launched two new

sub-division-Government Business and System Integration (SI). One of the major

trends is document management space is that of opting for a complete printing

solution from a single vendor. Seeing the huge revenue in printing solutions,

Canon has decided to explore the opportunities here. Though the vendor does not

have server space or a PC, it is going ahead and venturing in this space with

the help of its SI sub-division. Speaking about the initiative, VP Sajeevan,

Asst Director-Consumer Systems Products (CSP), Canon India said, "The SI channel

contributes as much as 25 percent to the IT industry and hence, as a part of the

strategy for CSP, a SI division has been created to grow the SI business for

Canon. For the printer business, we felt that there is a huge segment which is

relatively untapped and that is the government tenders, turnkey projects, IT

Infrastructure, etc. Our key partners will provide the required end-to-end

solution or SI to our customers."

As e-governance projects and the BFSI sector are increasingly adopting

document management solutions, Canon will be working with its SIs to make paper

a part of the electronic workflow in the organization. The vendor has created

the new sub-division to address this burgeoning market. Through the Government

Business sub-division, Canon is looking at doing a business of Rs 100 crore this

year and has selected three states, which include Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra,

for this initiative. Speaking about the division, Alok Bharadwaj, Senior VP,

Canon India shared that the government sector is one which is never impacted by

a slowdown, hence the decision to focus on it. Sharing details about the

partners Canon is looking to sign up, Sajeevan said, "As a part of the company's

strong focus on distribution and channel network Canon currently has nine

national SIs and is planning to have 22 regional SIs by the end of the year. To

pursue its retail strategy, Canon has already initiated 140 IT imaging zones,

the multi-brand retail outlets for printers. Canon's presence in printer

retailing is conducted through 320 IT Imaging Zones across the country and 3,000

IT resellers."