FEATURE: PRINTING SOLUTIONS
AYMAN ALY, MARKETING MANAGER,
CANON MIDDLE EAST
with advanced technology, printers
can nowadays be integrated with a
variety of services in order to ensure
that they are being utilised for efficient
customer communication. Whether it is
via connecting to an existing network,
offering cloud based solutions and/or
analytical tools. The end result, ought
to be work flow ease and convenience
as well as a measurable metric which
allows for the analysis of a
campaign’s effectiveness.
How are mobile and cloud based
solutions incorporated into
your products?
How is the role of printers changing
in today’s digital environment?
Today, printed communication
plays an important role in customer
communication, determined by
preference, impact and the ability
of written communication to be well
documented. As companies embrace an
integrated approach to communication,
print is increasingly being linked to
digital communication either through
augmented reality or QR codes. This
approach harnesses the benefits of
both mediums which greatly improves
personalisation and results in better
customer response and engagement
with brands.
Have printers moved away from
being devices to becoming
workplace assistants?
A
t one time printers just printed;
that’s all they did. Now in the
age of internet connectivity
and ubiquitous cloud services they do
much more. They are nothing less than
another powerful device with a range
of highly specialist functions, that meet
the expectations of customers that have
been transformed with the development
of digital technology. Printers play a
crucial role in the digital workplace and
nowadays they offer apps, true mobile
access and increased security. We spoke
to experts from three vendors that
operate in the Middle East to find out
more about the latest developments
and models.
www.intelligentcio.com
Print service providers must evolve from
offering only print services to being
an integral part of their customers’
marketing and communication strategy
by helping them link print to digital
communications. With the incorporation
of new technologies and innovations
such as improved document workflows
and an intuitive user experience, these
devices can also enhance end to end
productivity by going the extra mile.
How is the role of the printer
changing from being just a machine
to a connected device?
A printer’s role is no longer limited
to transactional printing. Equipped
Canon has a broad range of
connectivity solutions which offer
new opportunities for smarter ways
of working through mobile or cloud-
based services. Canon mobile printing
and scanning provides the flexibility
required by a mobile workforce while
cloud-based solutions and services offer
fantastic new opportunities to make
information and powerful services
accessible anywhere. For instance, a
customer can print directly from cloud
services, such as Evernote, Dropbox,
OneDrive and Google Drive, from the
printer screen or remotely from his or
her mobile phone or tablet using Canon
PRINT app. In addition, many of the
customer communication tools are
based on the cloud which reduces IT
and administration inconvenience at the
printer’s side.
How are you enhancing the security
features of your printing devices?
All Canon products and software solutions
are fully compliant with the latest IT
security standards. In addition, Canon
offers printing security applications which
control printing options and offer ID and
fingerprint recognition to release printing
jobs and to access the job history of the
device as well.
Do your printing devices have the
ability to recognise users through
fingerprint recognition?
Our products offer user authentication
via a fingerprint reader for
enhanced security.
INTELLIGENTCIO
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