Jason Sullivan, Corporate Communications Manager, Canon UK & Ireland

Jason was appointed Corporate Communications Manager for Canon UK & Ireland in September 2006 having originally joined the company in 1994.

His overall responsibility is managing the corporate image of the organisation including positive promotion of the brand and corporate initiatives in the UK & Ireland. Jason’s role includes overseeing a team that works on all aspects of corporate public relations, sponsorship, events, internal communications, internet and intranet content. He also works closely with the specific business units to deliver, and bring synergy to, communications activity.

Prior to this appointment, Jason worked in a number of different areas within the marketing services and marketing communications arena, building a great deal of knowledge and experience.

Jason is married and has twin daughters and in any spare time that he does have, enjoys cooking, swimming, playing golf, and good food and wine.

The Value of Partnerships – working with suppliers to hit your business objectives

IDC’s Research Manager, Phil Sargeant, explores the evolution of partnerships in the IT industry and how a collaborative approach between suppliers and customers is crucial for business success.

Canon’s article discussed the need for businesses to look beyond simple cost savings from their supplier relationships. Gary Horsfall, Head of Consultancy Services, Canon Europe, argued that as European

financial markets start to re-build, there’s a real need for clear collaboration between customers and their suppliers in order to meet the current and future business objectives of pan-European organisations.

This is a key consideration for businesses targeting growth and looking to come out of the economic downturn in a strong position. One of the most dynamic ways in which a business can grow is by developing effective partnerships with service providers that can help them gain the full benefits and value add from their IT infrastructure and business processes. Continual investment in expertise and knowledge in technology is the key to maintaining competitive advantage, but it doesn't have to be expensive or complex.

Companies often have a solid understanding of the basic services they require but due to the lack of awareness, they often struggle to understand what solutions could improve their business process further whilst increasing efficiency and continually reducing cost. There are great opportunities for any partner or supplier willing to go the extra mile and provide consulting services to companies who are lost in the myriad of options that could potentially benefit them.

An example of this is in the IT industry. Rather than trying to keep updated with fast-moving technological advancements, businesses require specialised skills and help without significant investments. This is a clear sign to partners that they need to listen more closely to customers and provide both breadth of service and customised solutions. There is no one-size-fits-all model, but companies want to keep provider relationships simple by having a single or few points of contact, that provide a seamless service.

For any partner, the ability to demonstrate both continuous improvement and added value across a customer's business is key to a successful relationship.

These partnerships can manifest themselves in many different forms from collaborative agreements to accreditation programmes and beyond. They can involve a wide range of providers including consultants, manufacturers, software developers and ultimately the customer themselves.

Successful partnerships or alliances often exceed the sum of individual companies combined and give greater access to resources than might be available when dealing with separate organisations and customers. A credible and trustworthy partner isn't looking for a simple one off transaction but will work

over the long-term for the benefit of both parties to ensure their common goals and objectives are met. After all, it's in the partner's best interest to focus on increasing revenues per customer.

Many IT manufacturers and suppliers utilise partners to great effect as they provide access to new opportunities and increase penetration into existing markets. By partnering, suppliers are able to increase their own credibility and image which, in turn, can give a huge boost to business. Once a partnership is secured it shouldn't be taken for granted. Partnerships between suppliers need to be nurtured and maintained in the same way as relationships with end customers.

Partnerships have a crucial role to play in the IT sector, both in improving services provided by suppliers and also in delivering more customised solutions to end users. Built on trust and loyalty, these partnerships ensure all parties reap the benefits of their investment and suppliers and customers not exploring this route will be left behind in a fast moving technological and business environment.

Canon destroyed Nikon in 2010 global DSLR market share (YiR #6)Email

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In yesterday's post talking about the IDC 2010 global digital camera market shares published on Bloomberg, we missed the short paragraph above the table talking about the interchangeable lens camera market shares! Oh my!

According to the global IDC numbers for 2010, Canon had a 44.5% global market share versus 29.8% by Nikon and 11.9% by Sony. The text uses the words SLR and interchangeable lens as synonyms, but when you do the math (44.5% + 29.8% + 11.9% = 86.2%), it looks like they are probably talking about interchangeable lens cameras, not just DSLRs. It's highly unlikely for the 2010 DSLR line-ups of Pentax, Olympus Four Thirds and Sigma to have had a combined 13.8% market share.

Either way, since Canon and Nikon only have DSLRs, this was an epic 3:2 ratio victory for Canon over Nikon!

UPDATE (April 28, 2011): A new article at USA Today quotes IDC quoting the Olympus 2011 global DSLR/iLC market share to be 5.1%. This leaves 8.7% to be "shared" among Pentax, Panasonic, Samsung, Sigma, etc.

The report mentions the years as 2010 and 2009, there is no mention of fiscal years. A fiscal year ending March 31st is popular in Japan, and the report came out of Japan, so that may create some confusion. However, there is no mention of fiscal years in the report, and reports that refer to time frames that are not overlapping with the calendar year typically qualify the time frame in the report. Not all the manufacturer fiscal years end in March (for example, Kodak is December 31st). Reading what is written in the text, and based on how long it takes for quarterly reports to come out, it is clear this refers to the 2010 calendar year. There is no "Soundscan" for cameras world-wide, it would be a miracle for IDC to complete this report in 15 days, before even the quarterly reports came out. However, since this is not mentioned explicitly in the text, we cross out the next sentence in this blog-post: Please keep in mind, these were purchases made during the 2010 calendar year which ended on December 31st, 2010!

Canon UK

Canon is a world-leading innovator and provider of imaging and information technology solutions for the home and office environments.

Canon (UK) Ltd is the UK marketing and sales operation for the global company - Canon Inc - based in Tokyo, Japan. In the UK and Ireland Canon currently employs around 1,450 people in various locations including the head office in Surrey (pictured), London, Birmingham, Livingston (Scotland) and Belfast.

Our business

The main business focus for Canon (UK) Ltd is in two clearly defined market segments:

Business Imaging covering both the office and professional printing environments including: multifunctional printers, IT consultation, photocopiers, printers, large format printers, fax machines, document management hardware & software, solutions and services

Consumer Imaging - input solutions such as film and digital SLR cameras, digital still compact cameras, camcorders, binoculars, calculators and scanners; and output solutions -inkjet and laser printers, faxes, desktop all-in-ones and multimedia projectors

In addition to our business and consumer operations, Canon's Broadcast Division is an extension of our product portfolio covering the supply and servicing of professional lenses and their accessories to the Television Broadcasting industry.

Heritage

Canon’s success story began in Japan in the 1930s, when a small group of enthusiastic scientists set out to establish their presence in camera technology. The company first established a presence in the UK in 1976. At that time its activities were confined to the sale of calculators, micrographic equipment, copiers and similar products for the business market. In 1982 a separate camera sales operation was merged to form Canon (UK) Ltd, and since then the company has grown to become a world-leading provider of market-driven digital imaging solutions for the office and home environments.

Company philosophy – "Kyosei"

In 1988, one year after celebrating its 50th anniversary, Canon first adopted “kyosei” meaning “living and working together for the common good” as the corporate philosophy. Nowhere is this better reflected than at Canon’s UK headquarters at Woodhatch near Reigate in Surrey where the emphasis is strongly on achieving greater harmony between individuals and their working environment.

Our headquarters

Canon invested more than £21 million in the construction of its UK Headquarters at Woodhatch, Surrey, and the building was officially opened by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh in April 2000. The purpose-built head office fuses visually stunning architecture with the latest in business solutions technology. The environmentally friendly building is landscaped to blend into the natural slope of a hill, preserving existing meadowland and tree areas.

The concept of energy conservation was adopted from the outset, with the recycling of demolition material and the preservation of the original site. Solar panels generate up to 35kw of power, and energy is further conserved through various features, including a natural air conditioning system and the use of special heat-absorbing concrete. Designed to showcase the company’s cutting edge products, the building is not only a landmark but also a symbol that represents everything Canon values - a "living showroom".

Awards

Woodhatch is the recipient of nine awards including the Royal Fine Art Commission Trust 2001 Building of the Year Award, and the project also achieved the highest rating by BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) for its energy saving initiatives. This impressive building made such an impact in its own community that it won The Reigate Society Award 2000. Other awards received were The Civic Trust Award 2001, British Council for Offices (Best Corporate Workplace 2000), British Institute of Facility Managers (Green Office of the Year Award 1999), Institution of Structural Engineers (Structural Award 2000), Brick Awards 2000 (encompassing Best Commercial Building and Landscape Project) and the Times/Gestetner Digital Office Collection 2000.

Research and Development

Building upon a consistently successful history of innovation, we keep investing resources and energies in identifying and serving the future needs of mankind.

Our Research and Development engineers have filed more than 600 patents in Europe. This provides Canon Europe with a strategic lead on our competitors.

Canon Europe’s Research and Development is never complete until we’re satisfied that every effort has been made to fully understand what tangible end-user benefits our innovation will help deliver

The desire to discover

Canon's future success lies in the creation of extraordinary new products and we place enormous importance on research and development (R&D). The Advanced Technology Business Unit (ATBU) was established to create a strong marketing focus for all our R&D activities in Europe.

Incorporating our two R&D sites in France (Canon Research France) and England (Canon Research Europe), the ATBU aims to turn every innovative technology into a commercial venture. Although the focus lies in creating new market opportunities for Canon s Business Units, mainly in Europe or on a global scale, we also offer new technologies to third party companies.

R&D is so vital to us that the Canon global Group invest 7.5% of consolidated revenue in it, significantly more than other companies. Our Research and Development engineers have filed more than 600 patents. This provides Canon Europe with a strategic lead on its competitors.

Our R&D focuses on a variety of areas including: text and image retrieval technologies, 3-D graphics, speech recognition and natural language processing, image communications, plus networking technologies.

Many of the technologies we develop are embedded in other products, devices or software solutions. Frequently they provide the additional features which transform a good product into an outstanding one.

For the first time ever, Canon Europe has the ability to research, develop, manufacture, market and sell products developed in and for its region.

Competitive Landscape

Demand is tied to consumer and business income. The profitability of individual computer companies depends on purchasing and production efficiencies, and on technological expertise. Large companies have economies of scale in purchasing and production. Small companies can compete successfully by specializing in certain products or by developing superior technology. The industry is capital-intensive: annual revenue per employee is about $400,000.

Canon UK provides sales and marketing functions for its Japanese parent in the UK and Ireland. The company's operations are divided into two units: Business Solutions provides printing and imaging equipment and supplies for the office and professional markets; Consumer Imaging supplies digital cameras, fax machines, printers, projectors, and scanners. Other products include television broadcasting equipment, wireless networking systems, calculators, Web cameras, and binoculars. Canon UK also provides consulting and integration services. The company has offices in England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. Canon established its UK operations in 1976.

• Canon is listed on the Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Sapporo and New York stock exchanges

• Canon Inc. results showed annual net sales of ¥3,209 billion and net income of ¥132 billion in 2009

• Canon Europe contributes approximately a third of the company’s global revenue

Canon invests about 9% of sales on R&D worldwide annually

Canon (UK) Limited · Reigate, Surrey United Kingdom

With around 1,450 employees in various locations in the UK and Ireland, we have job vacancies for professionals in Sales, Marketing, Consultancy Services, Customer Service and Support Functions - Human Resources, Finance, Administration, Facilities Management, IT and Corporate Communications

Canon has a global philosophy of Kyosei living and working together for the common good which clearly demonstratescommitment to customers staff and the environment shared by all Canon UK Ltd is the UK marketing and sales operation for the yen 4 157 billion global company based in Tokyo Japan Inthe UK Canon employs around 1 800 people in various location.