the interview Canon aims high after major acquisitions In just a year, Canon has gone from holding only a minor position in the security market to acquiring prominent industry leaders, Milestone and Axis. Now, the Japanese company is quickly building up its own IP camera brand and aiming to reach the IHS top ten manufacturers list. Detektor met up with Canon Europe’s Marketing Director, Julian Rutland at IFSEC to discuss the acquisitions and what is next on the Canon agenda. By Henrik Söderlund Why did you acquire Axis? “If Canon as a group is looking to be in this market and wants to be number one, then as a combination of players, this would be the natural choice. Axis has a lot of strength in terms of architecture, image processing, zip streams and more. If you look at all three companies individually, Axis, Canon and Milestone, and then you put them together, the result is quite a powerful combination. A key for Axis has been the way they work with their distributors, can you leverage on that? “We have only just begun to work together, and at the moment, we work as three independent companies and there is no plan to change that right now. What we do see is that when we are talking to the industry distributors - there is no singular reaction. Some people are positive, and see the opportunities in selling both brands, whereas some just want to sell only one brand and that depends on their individual strategy”. Why did you acquire Milestone? “Putting something into a chip or into a product is our strength, while software development as a whole has not been a priority for Canon over the years. So, having that market leading software capability makes complete sense. Looking at future products in terms of 3, 4, 5 or 6 years, and making sure we have cameras that link in the most optimal way with VMS solutions really is the key”. What about market collaboration? “Of course market collaboration is another strength. But to be completely honest, we operate in the same way with Milestone as we do with all other VMS companies. We have four VMS products on our stand here at IFSEC, only one is from Milestone. They have an open strategy, and there are some Canon products on their booth, but there are others as well”. How will the Axis and Milestone acquisitions affect the industry as a whole? “Looking at the acquisition of Milestone, the big discussion was whether Milestone is going to remain independent. There was so much distrust of this acquisition in the market. But, now we are one year on and we have been completely true to our word and have done exactly what we said. We are as open as we can be, say what we mean and stick to it. Any company of course is going to take decisions over time to change business, but we are very clear in terms of plans”. Looking at the size of your exhibition stand at IFSEC this year compared to previous years, it is obvious that you are growing. What is your target? “Our overall objective in any business is to be number one in that area. We recognise that we are probably one of the last big brands coming into the market, and that has a challenge associated with it. It is challenging in terms of product range and in terms of creating relationships with channel partners, so it is not something we are expecting to happen over-night. We need to invest and present both our products and our ambitions to the market, to say that we actually are serious in this industry. In terms of business objectives, we are not setting a particular figure that we need to hit – rather, our first target is to be perceived as a credible player in the market. We would love to be in the IHS top ten list”. Canon Europe’s Marketing Director, Julian Rutland. How fast are you growing? “In 2014 we achieved 350 per cent growth from a low base. We have experienced good growth once again this year, and our connections into the market are improving. We are revolutionising the way we are perceived in this market and the business we do”. Which is your biggest market? “In this industry, the Japanese market is our home market and that is where we are strongest with about 40 per cent of our revenue. Last year, the European market was in second place and the US market is very close to that”. Which are your strongest countries in Europe? “There are hotspots based upon where we enjoy good channel partnerships. At the moment we have reasonably strong sales in the Netherlands, Turkey, and the UK business is looking very positive for this year. We are also doing well in Spain and Portugal; these are our strongest countries. It really depends on finding the right people in those markets. When you are new and starting out, it is much harder to find the right fit”. In which regions can you find the biggest potential? “One of the areas where we want to put concentrated focus is the Middle East. The only issue with the Middle East is finding the right partnerships. Our focus countries this year are the Netherlands and the UK, and developing the business there, putting more emphasis on the organisation. We also have a dedicated sales team in the Nordics now”. What is your biggest challenge? “We have an opportunity to leverage the strength that Canon has, that almost no one else has in this market, and that strength is the number of customer contacts we have. We have a print business where we interact with customers all over Europe, and we have a monster database of more than 350,000 customers. We have some challenges in terms of bringing solutions to the market and to those contacts. But these people are confident in buying Canon products and understand what our company stands for. Plus they are already working with us on a regular basis or buying our products. If we can reach a small percentage of them, it is a massive opportunity for us”. Security News Every Day – www. securityworldhotel.com 36 • detektor i n te r n at i on al