01732 759725 ONE-TO-ONE 46 Stuart Miller, Director, Channel Partners, Canon UK&I Industry insight Q: With artificial intelligence fast becoming mainstream, how do you see this impacting your go-to-market strategy, product roadmap, and indeed the wider channel? A: In order to provide value in such a fast paced industry, Canon is consistently innovating to provide solutions for the ever-changing business environment. There’s no doubt that artificial intelligence is already transforming the working world, in terms of how businesses operate and what’s possible in the workplace. In particular, it’s driving changes around the volume of information a business needs to manage, but also around the effectiveness of business solutions and software to support critical business processes. Q: What do you see as the key challenges or pain points businesses are facing in today’s hybrid working model and how can you help your partners/customers to address these? A: Today’s hybrid businesses have greater complexity in their office equipment needs - particularly when it comes to print and document management. Many businesses have different physical office spaces today than pre-COVID, either because they’ve changed location or because footfall within these spaces is different. Employees are likely to have more office equipment at home, whereas an increase in satellite offices providing a point of connection for remote workers has also changed the dynamic of office spaces. As a result, we’ve seen shifting demand in the type of print infrastructure required, particularly in those smaller, more flexible set-ups. In addition, the behaviour of workers in a hybrid set-up has had an immense Q: What’s currently having the greatest impact on your business? A: At the centre of the Canon brand, and critical to its success as a business, is its partner sales channel. Investing in strong relationships with our partners has enabled us to better understand not only their needs, but their customers’ needs, so that we can provide valuable consultancy to support their growth. Q: How do you stay ahead of the curve and ensure that your company remains at the forefront of innovation? A: Our partner relationships have been a crucial part of driving innovation at Canon and have inspired us to continually improve our portfolio of products and services based on changing needs and demands. Not only have we been able to make our products faster, smarter and more secure, but we can confidently provide businesses with personalised advice and guidance around the range of solutions we offer. It is this combination of cutting-edge technology and a hands-on approach to offering support to our customers that sets us apart in the market. impact on print security. Rather than having documents and information confined to the walls of one large office, sensitive material could now be dispersed across different locations and shared across more vulnerable networks. Therefore, it is more important than ever that businesses work with a trusted print provider that understands how important secure printing is as part of an organisation’s broader security strategy. Our team of security experts work alongside partners to ensure that businesses are not only investing in technology that is agile and flexible, but that maximises security at every point in the document lifecycle. The introduction of uniFLOW has been a significant breakthrough for us at Canon and has further strengthened our offering for key channel partners. Q: Looking towards the future, what do you envision as the next big breakthrough or game-changer in the industry, and how is your company preparing for it? A: Sustainability will continue to be high on the agenda for businesses this year. At Canon, our sustainability approach focuses on three core areas: reducing environmental impact, making a positive social impact and ensuring product ethics and compliance. There is no doubt that inkjet technology will also continue to drive innovation when it comes to sustainable print. As a trusted advisor in the inkjet market, Canon takes pride in helping partners transition to cutting-edge technology that is faster, smarter and more sustainable. www.canon.co.uk Stuart Miller
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