Canon hosted 110 guests from more than 70 partner companies across the UK and Ireland at its 2025 partner conference which was held at The View at The Royal College of Surgeons, London on June 12. Michelle Ryder reports
This year’s partner conference showcased how Canon is consistently innovating to offer solutions for the evolving business environment, particularly in response to trends like security, sustainability and artificial intelligence, to help its partners grow and evolve.
Ryan Mitchell, Print & AV Director at Westcoast was there and he said: “With so many events focused on the popular talk tracks, such as AI, sustainability and security, it can be somewhat bewildering. However, Canon nailed it. Giving partners the toolkit to grow and evolve. Westcoast is privileged to be able to support all of this.”
Investing in strong relationships
In an exclusive Director’s Cut interview last year, Stuart Miller, Director of Channel Partners at Canon UK & Ireland, said that the company’s partner sales channel is central to its success. He spoke about Canon’s commitment to investing in strong relationships with partners and how that enables it to better understand their needs and their customers’ needs, to support mutual growth.
Miller opened the event on a high note announcing that in 2024, Canon secured the number one market share position within the A3 colour market. “Thank you for helping us to achieve that,” he said.
Next up was newly appointed Managing Director Guido Jacobs. In his address he reiterated Miller’s sentiments that the partner channel is critical to the company’s growth strategy. “Your success is our success,” he said. In particular, Jacobs spoke about the value in partners’ local presence and deep understanding of customers’ needs, to deliver a personalised service and secure strong trust among their client base.
“Working in partnership we can expand into new markets and industries, develop and implement innovative tailored solutions and turn our technology into real business value for customers,” he said.
Industry trends
Fabrizio Falzarano, Marketing Director, Canon Europe provided an overview of some of the current and emerging trends shaping the market landscape. He explored several key themes including sustainability, AI, cloud and security.
Speaking about the standards- driven shift towards longevity, sustainability and serviceability, Falzarano explained how Canon produces longer lasting products with longer-life consumable parts and how this enables partners to differentiate on sustainability, as well as improve efficiency and profitability within their service operations.
Canon’s focus is firmly on providing solutions that address ongoing digital disruption in the technology landscape, marked by the continued rise of AI, accelerated cloud adoption, and cybersecurity challenges.
Falzarano pointed out that industry analysts report that AI adoption and cybersecurity continue to be top agenda items for organisations of all sizes. “You are the experts in print security,” he said, adding that AI is the new competitive battleground, and by expanding their knowledge of AI solutions and focusing on countering AI-driven cyber threats in particular, partners have an opportunity to get ahead.
AI-driven technology
George Harot, Portfolio Marketing Specialist, Canon Europe provided an in-depth overview of Canon’s offering and explored how performance, security, sustainability and serviceability are redefining its next-generation products. He explained how the new imageFORCE series integrates AI-driven technology to enhance reliability, security and efficiency in office printing, leveraging machine learning algorithms to optimise performance, enabling predictive maintenance and reducing downtime.
Additionally, AI helps set up security settings. This says Falzarano, provides an opportunity for partners to position themselves as trusted security consultants and build a new service to help customers address vulnerabilities in the print infrastructure and combat the continued threat of cyber-attack.
Unlock new opportunities
The shift in procurement practices and how more organisations are choosing to purchase online, was another topic Falzarano explored. He urged partners to look at new sales channels such as marketplaces which offer a wider reach and lower cost to serve, as an additional route to unlock new opportunities.
In closing, Falzarano cited four reasons to partner with Canon – its comprehensive portfolio, business consultancy and value-added services, cloud-based technology, and infrastructure and customer support services allowing 24/7 business continuity.
The day continued with a keynote from Tom Wilks, Technical Director at Unlimited Group who explored the role of AI and its implications for our industry. Quentyn Taylor, Director of Information Security, Canon Europe provided an insightful overview of the security landscape, pointing out that cybercrime today targets everyone and that vulnerabilities are multiplying, making it ever more important to ensure partners’ and their customers’ businesses are more resilient than ever before.
Partners also attended three rotation breakout sessions giving them the opportunity to dig deeper into topics including unlocking business security opportunities, serviceability benefits with Canon, as well as speak to Canon subject matter experts on security, sustainability and digital transformation. The event closed with a Q&A panel session, moderated by Miller and featuring Falzarono, Taylor and Wilks, who were joined by Canon’s digital transformation specialist Stephen Hastings and field service specialist Lee Maylin.
Partner awards
In the evening, guests enjoyed an audience with footballing legends Ray Parlour and Paul Merson and a celebratory awards dinner, during which Canon recognised a number of long standing partnerships amongst its partner base. These included:
PBS – 50 years
Vision – 40 years
SOS Group – 35 years Alternative Business Machines – 35 years
First Class Business Solutions – 15 years
Bechtle – 5 years
AI and cyber security take centre stage
Commenting on the event, Chris Pollard, Director at Dupliq said: “Canon’s annual conference was a real thought provoker, with generative AI and cyber security taking centre stage. While there’s still a lot of uncertainty across many industries as we adapt to the evolving role of AI, it’s clear that embracing it is essential. The focus now is on how AI can enhance efficiency and support business growth, without losing the human touch that remains so important.
“We were particularly excited to learn more about the new Canon imageFORCE, which looks set to be a real game changer in the market. Exploring how we can bring this to market and leverage it for future growth was a key highlight.
It was also fantastic to celebrate Canon’s continued success and being number one in terms of market share. Their ongoing investment in R&D to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving industry is really important as we embrace future change. Always a pleasure to reconnect with familiar faces and make new connections. Overall, a very rewarding and enjoyable day.”
Warren Colby, Managing Director, Agilico Print concurs: “Canon held an engaging conference at such a great venue, where all things security and AI were the main discussion points. It was great to meet up with some old contacts, and to meet some new ones too. The print fraternity is definitely alive and kicking and looking to reinvent themselves as the security experts.”
