PRINTITRESELLER.UK 29 Q: Are there any ways in which you’re evolving your partner program or partner services to help partners address challenges and opportunities? A: When I came into this role, almost two years ago, we embarked on a fit for future success program within the channel. We really wanted to make sure that we were providing our partners with the best possible chance of being successful in their business. We launched a new partner program towards the end of last year, which gives lots of good collateral, literature and information, that our partners can use. We’re also in the beta testing phase of a new partner ordering platform, which will make engaging with their customers, based around the award-winning hardware and software that we have in the portfolio. Q: In what areas is Canon seeing strongest demand at the moment? A: Well actually on the software side that represented the greatest demand last year, particularly around our print management software uniFLOW. For the last six years, it’s picked up the BLI award for the best cloud-based print management software but it also hits on a subject that’s particularly relevant in the marketplace just now – security. Every organisation is concerned and rightly so, about the security of the network and uniFLOW gives security on the print network. It’s the only print management software in the marketplace today that offers zero trust properties, so that gives us a real leverage and more importantly gives our partners’ salespeople a real USP when they’re talking to their customers. And that’s been a source of the greatest demand from last year. Q: What do you see as the main concerns of partners today and where do they need most support from Canon? A: Apart from the obvious – diminishing print volumes – our partners are looking at ways of replacing that and it’s incumbent upon us to help them through diversification, but also working on a value proposition that they can embrace and their salespeople can take to market. Value propositions around sustainability, around quality and around security, are particularly relevant and we have them on our radar to work with our partners on developing these value propositions and taking the conversation away from purely a price‑based conversation. Q: Perhaps to start, you could give me a brief description of your role at Canon. A: As the director of Canon’s channel partners in the UK and Ireland, it’s my privilege and pleasure to work with and support more than 120 of our most valued business partners. Q: How would you characterise the market for office print devices and software solutions at the moment? A: Three words sum that up for me – challenging, resourceful, and resilience. We’ve seen global recessions and more recently, a global pandemic. But the industry has a fantastic ability to bounce back and regenerate. It’s tremendously resilient. And we see that resilience in the performance of our partners. 2023 was a really successful year for our channel partners and consequently, we shared in the success that they had. Q: What sort of growth did you experience last year? A: We experienced the highest growth in five years last year. And our growth from a Canon perspective was the best in Europe across all our national sales organisations. So fantastic growth for us but predicated on the successful year that our partners had. Q: And what role did Canon play in helping your partners achieve those successes? A: I think the most significant role that we played was to maintain relevance. We ensured that our partners were relevant in the conversations that they were having and interactions that they were having with their customers. We helped the partners’ salespeople with multiple discussion points when they were Q&A continued... Q&A with Stuart Miller In this exclusive interview, James Goulding sits down with Stuart Miller, UK & I Director of Channel Partners at Canon. Stuart delves into Canon’s award-winning hardware and software portfolio, highlighting how Canon’s uniFLOW Online print management software delivers zero trust security for partners and customers. He also shares insights into the benefits for dealers and resellers in becoming Canon partners, emphasising how they can enhance their portfolios with Canon’s full range Stuart Miller
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