BLI caught up with Canon executives Hiro Imamura (Vice President and General Manager, Business Imaging Solutions Group), Tom O’Neill (Director of Marketing, Enterprise Solutions) and Rich Reamer (Director of Product Marketing, Large Format Solutions) to discuss Canon’s stress on simplicity, technology convergence and its newest wide format marketing niche.
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Color and uniFLOW Major Contributors to Sales Growth Last Year
According to Imamura, Canon had really good growth last year. In 2015, Canon saw solid growth in its color MFP sales across both its imageRUNNER and imageCLASS lines. Canon’s A4 color range saw particular growth, as the imageRUNNER ADVANCE C350iF was given a BLI Pick award in Summer 2015, while the imageCLASS line updated and expanded its color offerings to small offices and SMB customers via a pair of launches.
Canon’s uniFLOW (also a 2015 BLI Pick award winner) was another major factor in Canon’s sales growth, proving a key differentiator for deals in numerous areas, including MPS and fleet deals as well as equipment sales. ”uniFLOW was a major driver of our growth in 2015,” Imamura said. “Its sales grew about 50 percent in the last year, which is twice its previous growth in the channel.”
Imamura mentioned one reason Canon experienced such a high growth with uniFLOW is that while it used to be just a platform for print management solutions, it’s now also a platform for scanning. “uniFLOW is becoming a standard,” Imamura said. “These developments are opening up new areas of growth as more customers are looking into the platform.”
O’Neill pointed out this growth has added traction to vertical solutions. “It used to be a horizontal print management system for everyone, but now it’s also becoming a vertical solution driver,” O’Neill said. “We believe this trend will continue into next year, with continuing expansion of functionality based on the uniFLOW platform planned in 2016 and beyond.”
Imamura also noted that Canon offers a one-stop shop that includes hardware, software solutions, professional and managed services, print management, and technical support and service. Canon also continues its flexibility, through Canon’s MEAP platform, to work with many third-party software providers that make up the business process solutions ecosystem. This holistic solutions approach is enhanced further by making the user experience easy when interacting with Canon systems through the consistent look of the user interface, from small desktop devices through production-level solutions, and is a particular help in attracting customers from large enterprises.
Expanding the Wide Format Audience
In 2015, Canon launched “an unprecedented amount” of new production and large format printers, and also integrated the popular Océ production print line into its existing lineup. “Canon always had a good large format line with imagePROGRAF line, and the Océ line really complements what we were missing,” Imamura said.” It’s very high-end technology and offers some great benefits.”
“Large format is such a versatile area of the market and can take us in so many different directions. Seventeen-inch has been the traditional crossover point between consumers and professional printers.” –Hiro Imamura
The October 21 announcement of the 17" imagePROGRAF PRO-1000 printer is aimed at a completely new market for Canon and is the result of close collaboration between Canon’s PIXMA PRO and imagePROGRAF large format print technology groups. Canon is taking aim at the photography market, photography schools in particular, with the goal of building brand loyalty that carries through once students graduate into careers. The 17" model is the first in a new series that will be released in wider formats for the photo and production markets in the coming year. Reamer stressed that the new and future devices will deliver consistent technology and user interfaces throughout the entire range.
“Large format is such a versatile area of the market and can take us in so many different directions,” said Imamura. “Seventeen-inch has been the traditional crossover point between consumers and professional printers, with this new printer geared toward professional photographers, graphic designers and people who do concept and intermediate printing. “We’re very confident about its overall photo quality and its large color gamut with deep, rich blacks and an attention to fine detail in the shadow and dark areas.”
Also new on the wide format front is the imagePROGRAF iPF MFP L Series Large Format Printer, another release aimed at developing the large format market beyond its traditional borders.
“We’re trying to get more people into the large format scanning and printing areas, so with the transition to decentralization our focus is on the lower volume customer. We now have an entry-level large format MFP product for this market that will be priced under $6,000.” –Rich Reamer
“The Océ brand of large format solutions is a great fit for those with high volumes, but we’re trying to get more people into the large format scanning and printing areas, so with the transition to decentralization our focus is on the lower volume customer,” Reamer said. “We now have an entry- level large format MFP product for this market that will be priced under $6,000. It will be a much more basic architecture, but for subcontractors in areas like plumbing, heating, air conditioning and electrical, for example, who need to print and are currently outsourcing their scanning, we’re trying to give them an affordable in-house solution.”
He noted that in addition to being a large format device, “The imagePROGRAF iPF MFP L Series is more than just a technical document solution but also a robust color printer, which gives users the capability to do things like create their own signage through vibrant, professional-looking color output. And there is Canon no-charge software included that allows for easy creation of signage and posters. So while it’s geared for technical documents, we have the capability to do much more.” The new device is targeted toward the
AEC market, but grocery stores and other retail businesses can also use this solution to create in-store advertising on a variety of media.
Easy Does It: Continued Focus on Keeping It Simple
When looking toward 2016, Imamura stressed Canon’s focus on its customers and channel partners. “Our focus is not just to add more pieces to Canon’s hardware, software and solutions portfolio. Our focus is to make things easier, for both our channel partners and our customers. Our goal is to make our products and services much easier to implement, and much easier to use. That’s an important objective for us going forward.”
“We see our challenge as providing platforms that are aligned with changes in the industry or market. We will leverage and converge Canon technologies to deliver more value and more ease of use, 2016 and beyond,” Imamura said.
In the year ahead, Canon will be continuing to refine this convergence strategy (as demonstrated at the Canon Expo in September) focusing on creating and refining ways in which its existing technologies can work together seamlessly. Canon executives see improving work life experience and customer’s business success through the use of technology and services as the driving force behind continued growth and strength in a constantly changing market.
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