Canon is targeting small and medium enterprises to grow its B2B segment in Malaysia.
AS a global leader in photographic and digital imaging solutions, Canon Marketing Malaysia is targeting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to grow its “business-to-business” (B2B) segment in the country in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Canon Marketing Malaysia president and chief executive officer Andrew Koh said the company noted that SMEs are the backbone of the nation’s economy, contributing almost 40% to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP)₁.
“Yet, SMEs are the ones that are experiencing the biggest hit from the pandemic.
“While large companies have accelerated their digitalisation plans, 57% of SMEs ₂ have yet to take action, with less than half planning to do so within the next six months.
“As a total business solutions provider, Canon’s unique value proposition of customisable solutions and professional consultations can help educate SMEs on how to digitise their businesses seamlessly.”
Canon has a wide range of products to help businesses improve efficiency and achieve optimum performance, said Koh.
Koh said “Canon is well-positioned to help businesses to streamline processes.
“So, business owners can free up their time to focus on core business areas. Every business is different and there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution that works.
“Hence, Canon has a wide range of products to help businesses improve efficiency and achieve optimum performance. With the hardware and software solutions in Canon’s portfolio, the digital imaging solutions brand works together with the customer to understand their pain points. Then, design scalable and cost-effective solutions that cater to their environment.”
On the B2B segment, Koh said: “We also implement additional customer touchpoints for corporate clients during the pandemic, including conducting webinars to educate customers on Canon’s diverse range of solutions that are tailored to the specific industries.
“The service team also carries out product tutorials, so customers can maximise their resources to boost business efficiency.”
On the topic of product innovation, Canon constantly listens to customers’ needs from both B2B and consumer segments to develop cutting-edge technologies.
“It is important to create a deeper product engagement with end-users and diversify Canon’s offerings based on their current needs. Through a wide network of vendors and a strong sales force, these channels have provided valuable feedback in real-time,” he said.
For instance, with the Canon MP250 mini projector, users can project a larger secondary screen during video conferencing or work on complex tasks. After work hours, the mini projector can also be converted into a home entertainment system for families to enjoy an at-home cinema experience.
With the Canon MP250 mini projector, users can project a larger secondary screen during video conferencing or work on complex tasks.
On the business-to-consumer (B2C) segment, Canon has always strived to provide customers with an omnichannel experience through both online and offline strategies.
“The offline retail platform with retailers or distributors shall continue to provide personalisation, which will offer a positive customer experience throughout their purchase journey.
“On top of the brick and mortar model, Canon took steps to strengthen e-commerce presence offerings through Lazada and Shopee since the first movement control order (MCO). Many retail partners have also set up their own e-stores, creating even more channels to purchase Canon products and bringing even more convenience to the customers.”
Canon’s latest offerings and services to suit the home office setup, and data accessibility could play effectively to build business resilience in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“As long as the work-from-home trend is here to stay, there will still be a need for employees to purchase and upgrade their home-based office solutions,” Koh said adding that such technology adoption would improve the productivity of employees.
“With remote work becoming a norm during the pandemic, it becomes a top priority for businesses to digitise their processes to enable remote collaboration, document access and sharing important files without compromising security.
“To address this need, Canon also offers a document management system to empower agile collaboration by providing a secure central location for everyone in the company to manage and share their documents,” he said.
Besides that, the pandemic has increased demand for video content, as people spend more time at home whereby students follow tutorials for online-based education and businesses live stream to connect with consumers.
“Businesses also pivoted to video conferencing to connect with their employees, investors and retailers,” Koh added.
“With higher frequencies of video consumption both in the consumer and enterprise spaces, Canon introduced a few cameras that are perfect for producing professional-quality videos, including its first camera with 8K video recording capability, the EOS R5.”
To offer scalable solutions to meet changing business demands of its clients, Canon also commits over 8% of its worldwide net sales each year for research and development.
“The company was ranked third for the number of US patents awarded in 2020, becoming the only company in the world to have ranked in the top five for 35 years running.
“We also see the need to integrate business solutions with home-based solutions, to cater to the needs of a hybrid work module when the economy reopens.
“Hence, we provide comprehensive business solutions comprising software and hardware that are scalable to fit every business requirement, covering cloud storage for easy data accessibility to portable printers.”
“At Canon, we live by our tagline: Business Can Be Simple. That is why, our objective is to make businesses operate as seamlessly as possible,” he added.
