Canon to get aggressive on enterprise solutions

Claiming to be the only player to offer total solutions in the document
management (DM) space, Canon is gunning for the number one spot in the Indian DM
market by January 2006. Xerox is currently the market leader in the DM space,
which includes high-end printing solutions, multi-functional devices (MFDs) and
software. Canon's current market share is around 20% in India.

To achieve the numero uno position, the company has set up a focused channel
for enterprise business solutions consisting of 12 service providers. Apart from
this, Canon also has a direct sales team. The company's Marketing
Manager-Solutions Business, Sidharth Shakdher said that though DM was not a
vertical specific area, Canon would focus on 'paperwork-heavy' verticals
like BFSI, pharma, telecom, supply chain management and logistics and the
government sector.

"Our MFD business is growing at a CAGR of 35%. The concept of complete
document management solutions is gaining ground," he added. Plans to
increase the enterprise wins include market expansion through education and
awareness and growing the company's partners so that they can move from having
a city footprint to a regional footprint. For this, Canon intends to grow its
enterprise service provider base from 12 to 20 later this year.

"Our rivals don't have the kind of comprehensive solutions that we
have. We provide secure printing, peripheral security, automation and document
management software," Sidharth said. He also added that Canon customers
could get a TCO benefit of 50% on comprehensive document management solutions.
The enterprise solutions business accounts for about 25% of the company's
revenues in India.

PRIYA PADMANABHAN