Sydney - This week sees the Australian launch of Canon Managed Document Services (Canon MDS) as part of its global initiative to provide effective management of a customer's entire document environment. This includes printing devices, user printing behaviour, document management and workflow solutions.

"The service goes far beyond just innovation in hardware. It's about partnering with a business to deliver a highly flexible, integrated approach to workflow, document and print management. It's about finding a solution that saves money, increases productivity and provides a sustainable approach for environmental responsibility," said Danielle Brender, Product Manager MDS, Canon Australia.

While Canon has offered Managed Print Services in the Asia Pacific region for more than six years, this is the first time the service has been expanded with a wider remit around document management, and provides a standardised methodology to deliver service globally. For customers with a regional or global footprint, this means greater efficiency and reliability while retaining the importance of local understanding and contacts for management of the service.

Canon MDS also supports devices beyond the Canon range, allowing customers to optimise the printer fleets they have, while working with Canon expertise to design a technology roadmap to meet the future needs of the business.

"Canon's approach is to first analyse, then design and deploy a customised solution based on the unique needs of our customers' business. Following that, we provide ongoing support to evaluate and review processes to ensure ongoing benefits for customers throughout the life of their partnership with us," said Brender.

A key difference of Canon MDS compared with other managed print service providers, is its system for proactive remote management of its printer fleets. Through its eMaintenance software, Canon can actively identify issues remotely with a printing device and solve them before they impact business operations.

According to Rishi Ghai, Senior Program Manager, Peripherals at IDC Asia/Pacific, by hiding the complexity of servicing devices and processes from end users, remote maintenance can lead to significant improvements in both productivity and cost savings.

Canon MDS has been designed to take full advantage of the recently launched imageRUNNER ADVANCE series of imaging devices. The imageRUNNER ADVANCE models feature enhanced interoperability and integration, allowing for collaboration with enterprise systems such as ERP and document management systems enabling customers to realise business efficiencies.

Although initially targeting larger businesses operating in Australia, Canon has plans to extend its MDS offering to small to medium businesses in the future.