Last August, Canon U.S.A. announced its One Canon initiative. Its goal was to get all of Canon’s internal groups serving the B2B market working together. For dealers, this means better and faster access to all of Canon’s products and services. Those B2B-focused entities include Canon Solutions America, Canon Information & Imaging Solutions (CIIS), Canon Financial Services (CFS), and Canon Business Process Services (CBPS). All are consolidated under the Canon Business Imaging Solutions Group (BISG).
Mason Olds, the senior vice president and general manager for sales, BISG, is charged with redeveloping Canon’s channel strategies to “provide the best service for each customer and partner with a one-to-one approach,” in the words of Toyo Kuwamura, executive vice-president and general manager of BISG at the August announcement.
ENX Magazine had the opportunity to speak with Olds, who discussed his role and the positive effect of One Canon within the company and in the market.
Tell us a little about your background.
Mason Olds, SVP and GM for Sales, Canon BISG
Olds: I’ve been with Canon for over 25 years, following my time with Eastman Kodak as a sales rep in Manhattan in the 1980s. I’ve always appreciated Canon’s color laser technology, and about ten years into my time with the company, I began overseeing the color division. From there, I spent seven years with Canon Canada, where I directed operations and the dealer business for seven years. Upon returning to the U.S. in 2010, I began leading the sales in the United States for the BISG division, where I have been ever since.
In my current role, I’m involved in all facets of the B2B side, including copiers, production and software. I also work closely with our subsidiaries: Canon Solutions America (CSA), CFS (our finance company), and CIIS (our special technology company).
You manage both Canon’s direct channel as well as the independent dealer channel, right?
Olds: Yes. In addition to our independent dealer channel, we have our direct sales channel, CSA. I have the overall responsibility for all products sold, whether they are sold into CSA or into our dealers. CSA has separate management, headed by my boss, Toyo Kuwamura, and BISG has the overall profit-and-loss responsibility for the total business in North America.
We sell through at least eight channels, which I oversee; the biggest of which are CSA and our dealer business.
At the Canon summit in August, there was talk about how your mission is to build the strongest U.S. dealer partnerships that you can. Can you speak to that?
Olds: The dealer channel has always been the main channel for Canon. Working with dealers is in our DNA; we still sell more units through dealers than we do through direct operations.
We started a new program called the Advance Partner Program (APP), which focuses on our top 30 to 35 dealers. Twice a year we meet with these channel partners to discuss business, but more importantly we listen to what they have to say.
This input truly allows us to achieve growth. For example, in November we achieved double-digit revenue growth thanks to the feedback provided by our dealer channel. Obviously, over the years, a number of dealers have been sold to competitors, which presents its challenges and results in a loss of business, but with challenges come opportunities.
Now, we can be very focused on a customized approach with our dealers. Every market varies, and what works in one market might not work in another. You have everything from the very large regional dealers like Gordon Flesch, Ray Morgan, DEX, POA, RJ Young, LDI, Loffler, Marco, among others. Yet, we see that the vast majority of dealers are midsized, or very localized. For those more localized dealers, they are limited in their ability to sell software and solutions, due to factors like expense and the ability to obtain good people. We recognize these challenges, and tailor our approach to those dealers’ needs, offering them a chance to grow.
In the overall copier business, return per click keeps decreasing every year. The black-and-white volume goes down a little bit every year. In response, dealers must keep placing more machines in the field (MIF), often by means of acquiring other dealers; but even with acquisitions and increased MIF, many still need to branch out into other areas to be successful.
We recently purchased Axis Communications, the world’s leader in security cameras and video surveillance, and some of our dealers have already recognized the success of selling these products. We think this market can be a natural extension of our dealers, who already have many good customers in their local markets that require equipment like security cameras and video surveillance, including schools, banks, public offices and hospitals.
Looking back at the last year, what do you see as your biggest highs and lows?
Olds: This will be the sixth year in a row that we grew both our revenue and our unit sales through the dealer channel. As I said, that’s our biggest channel.
Canon is unique in that we have a very strong, wholly owned leasing company. We’re able to use that to our advantage because most of our competitors rely on third-party leasing.
The business is very solid in the U.S., and we’re also seeing strong sales of our uniFLOW print management software, which helps to differentiate us from the competition.
Our unit sales have been very strong, helped by the introduction and success of the imageRUNNER ADVANCE C3300, imageRUNNER ADVANCE C5500, imagePRESS C800/700 and most recently the launches of the imagePRESS C850/C750 and imagePRESS C10000VP/8000VP.
These products are light years ahead of their predecessors, helping us to gain share. Perhaps the largest single customer in the U.S. is FedEx Office, formerly known as Kinko’s. FedEx Office recently put all of its equipment up to be refreshed, at which point Canon won four out of the five categories, almost all the units installed.
We’re so proud of this because they’ve been a long-term customer; it’s a testament to the value they see in our company. Sometimes if you go in with a low price you can obtain new customers, but in order to keep winning business year after year, you not only have to provide good service and support, you must also keep bringing new ideas to the table.
How important is production print to Canon?
Olds: Very important, as demonstrated by our commitment to providing a full complement of production equipment, from the low-end to the very high-end. That was one of our main reasons for acquiring Océ; we realized there was a large amount of analog printing in the production space that would be transitioning to digital, so we made a bold move, which has proven to be a great success for us.
We’re big believers in production print, but I also remind dealers of the importance of entering into this business correctly. Equipment is typically more expensive and dealers must be able to service equipment around the clock, so I also remind dealers to take these two points into consideration.
Has One Canon made a visible difference to the dealer channel?
Olds: Yes. In the past, different areas within Canon were more “siloed”.
One Canon has allowed us to combine the expertise of all our subsidiaries for a more customer-focused approach. For example, lease programs were introduced to the dealers on a variety of products, which simply did not exist before because you had to work between groups.
We’re seeing more interaction between our dealer channel and CSA. While there may be some competition between these two parties, it has encouraged more sharing of best practices, making both parties stronger. We saw this recently when we hosted an APP group in Boca Raton, Florida where owners of top dealerships came together with the top management of CSA. The event allowed us to strengthen relationships through candid discussions and an informative question and answer session. We spoke of things that happened in the past and the way things could be better. We had never done anything like that in the past and it was very well received.
How do you see HP’s acquisition of Samsung affecting Canon?
Olds: HP is a wonderful partner of ours on the laser printer side, truly a great story. For more than 25 years we’ve worked together, providing very big business for both companies.
In areas like inkjet and large format, we compete. They’re our very best partner on one side, and on the other side, they challenge us to bring our best technology to the market.
Together HP and Samsung have less than five percent market share in the A3 space in the U.S. I think it’s going to be a challenge for them, but we certainly think a lot of HP and its capabilities.
Sometimes people look at the copier business and think it’s easy, but in reality it’s not an easy business. Many industries recruit out of the copier business because the salespeople are known for being some of the toughest men and women out there. Often, the copier business doesn’t get the respect it deserves.
What are your predictions or expectations for the industry as a whole for next year?
Olds: While there’s a lot of negativity about the industry and the financial results of a number of the companies are challenged, the sky is not going to fall anytime soon.
I think you will see black-and-white volume continue to decline a little bit, with click rates continuing to fall slightly or remain flat, at best. We may see some growth in production and large format/wide format areas, and we anticipate customers will still be looking for more software solutions.
The state of the industry can’t be too bad; a number of the dealers that I speak to have private equity partners now, and they are looking to acquire other dealers. The fact that companies like HP is now targeting the A3 market, that the private equity is there, indicates that the industry still provides a very solid and large business.
On the dealer side, I think you will also see some of the larger, more regional players buying the more local and midsized dealerships, maybe more consolidation, even from the manufacturer’s side.
Overall, I think it will be fine. The wild card is the economy. We’ve all heard so many things with the election, and the day after the election some people said, “Shouldn’t we all get out of the stock market?” Then, boom, the stock market has been up lately. I don’t have a crystal ball, but that could actually help fuel growth if the economy is stronger than it is now.
