Supporting businesses in the region to drive productivity, efficiency and sustainable development, Canon Middle East has strengthened their business-to-business (B2B) offering with the launch of 12 new B2B products and solutions. The new technologies were launched during an exclusive ‘Canon for Business’ event held on 25th April in Dubai, UAE, attended by 150 C-level executives, IT chiefs, partners and key decision makers. During the event, leading businesses were given on-site product demonstrations and shown how the full portfolio of Canon’s print solutions, services and value-added support can help them grow their businesses. The news comes at a time when market intelligence firm Smithers Pira estimates that the MENA printing industry will reach $26 billion by 2018. “Our business-to-business division is targeting exponential growth over the coming years, and the Canon for Business event is a very important milestone in that journey within the region. Through this event we are renewing our focus on verticals, aiming to provide them relevant expertise and value. We are also making a bold statement of our focus, our direction, and reiterating our commitment to our valued customers and partners,” said Hendrik Verbrugghe, Marketing Director, Canon Middle East and Canon Central and North Africa. According to research from the Insight Report Middle East & Africa 2013, 97% of companies in the region have rated printing as a ‘critical’ task. Another report by Gartner reveals that 75% of employees in the MENA region are unable to finish off their tasks without relying on printing, copying and scanning. However, this heavy reliance on technology has also led to more end-user time and effort around printing, with research by All Associates Group revealing that employees spend around 1.8 hours a day – 9.3 hours per week - searching, gathering, filing and storing documents they have printed unavoidable. “Printing is an inevitable operation for any business and to make it as simple and convenient as possible, we are introducing our latest technology platform in the imageRUNNER ADVANCE series. This new shared platform will offer complete consistency & faster evolution. With a smart-phone like user interface supporting industry-standard mobile print and scan functions, built-in Wi-Fi, NFC, BLE capabilities, consistent user and management experience across any fleet, our latest platform will now enable customers to work from anywhere, securely and with the right solution,” he added. The 12 new B2B products and solutions are designed to meet the increasing demand from both commercial and in-house print service providers ensuring enhanced throughput, ensure consistent colour, accurate registration controls, and flexible media handling and finishing. The new line-up includes: - Canon’s latest Generation 3 - imageRUNNER ADVANCE 6500 series - Canon’s new A4 products, imageRUNNER 1435 & imageRUNNER ADVANCE C1325 series - Canon’s flagship printer, the imagePRESS C10000VP - Canon’s imageRUNNERADVANCE 8500 Series - Canon’s imagePROGRAF PRO 2000. 4000, 4000s & 6000s - Canon’s imagePROGRAF PRO 1000 In addition to these products, Canon also demonstrated its workflow solutions such as Uniflow, ThereFore and IRIS in a specially constructed ‘Enterprise Zone’. These industrial style workflow solutions ensure automation and management of printing processes in organisations, driving productivity, saving their costs and delivering against the most demanding deadlines. For more information, visit www.canon-me.com