 K. Bhaskhar Director How is it like working for Canon? I have been with the company now for the last 13 years, ever since its India operations started. It is fun to work in Canon. Here, people come first in terms of grooming, nurturing and developing their strengths and making sure they contribute to the overall success of the company. This is one element that is paying off really well for Canon. I feel very proud and fortunate to be a part of this organization. Please throw some light on the newly-formed OIS division of Canon? OIS (Office Imaging Solutions) division is a new division formed in the current financial year 2011. Canon has taken over a new company called Oce and with this new addition the company's product portfolio has increased. We now need focussed attention on the emerging and existent market segments accordingly and this necessitated the formation of a new division which is the OIS division. This division would handle all the office imaging requirements right from entry-level products like an A4 copier to an A3 multifunctional printer. In addition to this, two new divisions have also been formed, namely the PPD (Production & Printing division) and WFI (Wide Format Imaging) division. The PPD division handles all kinds of graphic cards requirements on the cut sheets or continue sheets and will be a combination of both Canon and Oce products. WFI division, on the other hand, will take care of large format printing applications or solutions required for various media and various sizes. So, the earlier BIS division has been divided into these three new divisions to drive business acceleration for Canon. What would be your role at OIS? My responsibilities at OIS would be largely to ensure that both my dealer channel and the direct channel reach out to the market and position ourselves as the #1 vendor in terms of grabbing the maximum market share in the A3 MFD segment. My role would also include bringing in more focus on the colour business which is growing at the rate of 40% and introducing new solutions in this segment. Presently, most of the solutions are available for the direct channel and we want this to get replicated for the indirect or the dealer channel too. We want to provide them with the complete solutions instead of just giving them the box. So, we want to migrate all our partners to a solution-based approach and that is where my focus will be in the OIS division. What traits and prerequisites would you look for in your partners? Normally, partners are always keen at taking their products and selling them at a discounted rate as they don't prefer keeping the stock for a longer period of time. My biggest challenge would be to make them move from selling a low-end box to a high-end box, which means asking them to climb up the value chain. For this, they need to have quality sales people. So, I want all my partners and sales people to be well trained on the high-end solution. 80% of the business of our direct channel comes from our existing customer base, thus leaving them a scope to add another 20% more to it every year. This is a result of the excellent services and high-level of customer satisfaction that our partners provide. So, this is what we want to bring to our other partners too. Would you encourage any restructuring in your channel base? There are certain territories where we would like to have additional partners, based on the potentials of those territories and the level of commitment we would want from them. For instance, if a partner does not have an adequate number of sales people due to which he is not able to tap into the potentials, we are going to find him the right solution. We would also enlighten him on the potentialities the particular market offers and whether he was addressing the right market or not. If we find any gaps in it, we would look at bringing in additional partners. We are also focussing on penetrating into tier-II and tier-III cities. As we see different verticals expanding themselves in these cities, the need for copiers and other multifunctional devices also increase in these places. Currently, we are being able to tap only 80-85% of this market and are working to increase this tap further. This might require us to appoint more and more partners. Which are the major verticals that you are addressing? Our partners predominantly address the government vertical extensively. We are 60% in the government space and the remaining 40% in the commercial space, though in the non-metros, you would not find our business in the government sector picking up that well. Almost every segment is showing high growth rate, except for the insurance segment that has not come up yet. BFSI is also a very important vertical for us for the simple reason that they are looking at business expansions, followed by segments like IT-ITeS, pharmaceuticals and consulting firms like KPMG. What message would you like to take across to your partners? With the changing customer landscape, partners today are looking at adding value to whatever solutions are provided by their vendors. Today, most of my partners are happy that our engagement of giving total solutions by understanding the pulse of the customers has reaped them good benefits and also helped them in retaining their customers. We normally don't keep a track of whether my customers are happy or are contented with the kind of solutions provided by us. But, today, most of the partners are engaging themselves into a high level of customer relationship management and this I think if every partner adopts, would give them the key to success. Maintain the existing customers and grow, meaning never lose a single customer to anybody. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have been associated with Canon since 1999-2000. It is a great company to work with and our 12-years-long association with it is, in itself, an evidence to this very fact. Faxonics deals in all kinds of imaging products for Canon like copiers, facsimiles and the products that come under the ambit of the newly-formed PPD division in Canon. We make most of the profits during the post-sales and I would say that Canon is a name to reckon with when it comes to its sales support services. With Canon taking over Oce and the formation of the new divisions to cater to its expanding product portfolio, it is a forward-looking step that the company has taken and has added to its future standing in the market. We welcome and congratulate K. Bhaskhar for this new addition. We do participate in the channel initiative programmes taken up by Canon and we wish to make our relationship stronger by being a part of such programmes and also giving them good business. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amit Aggarwal, Our association with Canon has been since 1997, so it has been 13 years now. We deal in products like A3 and A4 photocopiers, multifunctional printers and all the high-end imaging products handled by OIS. If asked about Canon's most popular products in the market, I would say that its photocopiers and MFDs are doing really good and giving us good business deals. We look forward to more interesting product line from Canon that would help in retaining its leadership position in the market. We are a part of several channel programmes that Canon initiates from time to time. Such initiative programmes always give us a chance to interact with people and also know about the latest market trends, product offerings and accordingly gear your business to meet all these requirements. We have also been qualified several times for the glorious trips that Canon conducts for doing an incredible business for them. The formation of the OIS division and the appointment of K. Bhaskhar are decisions taken by Canon in the positive direction and we as its partner would continue owing our allegiance to it in the years to come. For more contact: |
