Canon refreshes partner programme

Canon has cut the ribbon an a European wide channel partner programme refresh that should encourage resellers to sell more of the vendor's portfolio.

After plenty of channel feedback the vendor has launched the programme uniting all of the former schemes that it offered across the business.

The result is that for those looking to increase their interaction with Canon there is a chance now to work with one programme that covers hardware and software products and services.

James Pittick, director of B2B indirect sales at Canon UK, said that there had been high levels of feedback from partners to ensure that the programme met the needs of the market.

"There were two areas that featured heavily and one was around identifying and modeling the markets we serve and how that is changing. The second was the feedback from the partners and we have conducted partner surveys over the last 18 months to two years," he said.

"If you look at the entire partner landscapes and look at the partner programme for the B2B organisation we have had a couple of smaller programmes the have been taken into the programme allowing partners to head off into multiple directions," he added.

The vendor will be encouraging existing partners to consider looking at adjacent markets or identifying complementary technologies, like managed print services, that they are not currently selling.

Pittick is also open to working with fresh partners that identify the benefits of a unified programme and opt to work with the firm.

"We have a strong loyal community of existing print resellers and partners we want to continue to work with that group. If there are opportunities to identify new partners in new markets and territories [then we would be open to working with them]," he said.

Some of the areas where Canon is keen to generate channel interest is around its entry into the UV Gel printing market and to support the growing demand from customers for information management products.