Was 2020 the year of change? It was certainly a year of unprecedented, world-changing events. However, we might argue that change in itself wasn’t a unique feature for 2020, in fact it has become our one constant. 2020 accelerated many of the burgeoning trends we were seeing in the workplace. While home and mobile working was becoming increasingly popular in recent years, it was the necessity to operate remotely during lockdowns which changed the office from the default working location, to one option of many. This has had a fundamental impact on how we use the office and what we need from office technology. The experience also forced many businesses to accelerate their existing digital transformation plans, in order to give employees the digital tools to stay connected and work effectively from anywhere.

While there are fewer of us working in centralised offices worldwide, offices will remain an important part of our business future. But to meet today’s working needs, office devices need to adapt. That’s why at Canon, we’ve been developing our portfolio to help meet your evolving challenges. Our latest launches, the imageRUNNER ADVANCE DX C5800 and the imagePRESS C170 Series’, are designed to give you the tools to thrive in a changing landscape.

The most obvious trend accelerated in 2020 is remote, distributed, or ‘de-linked’ working – whereby employees no longer have to be tied to a physical location. Already rising before the pandemic, the experience of global lockdowns expedited and cemented the trend in our new way of working. For print, this has important implications – what customers need from their head-office printers is changing.

To meet today’s hybrid working styles, a device needs new capabilities to make it a hub for both print and digital workflows. Canon’s portfolio has been designed with effective hybrid working in mind. Our smart devices are built with the latest document capture and processing technology, and inbuilt, advanced cloud connectivity to common cloud storage and workflow applications. This means workers can easily transform print documents into digital information, which can be stored in applications such as OneDrive or Dropbox or plugged directly into company workflows such as SAP’s Concur. This enhanced connectivity makes sure that information is made available to colleagues regardless of their location, supporting more effective working from anywhere.

With more employees working remotely, when they do come into the office, it’s likely to be to complete specialist tasks they can’t do from home; one of these is to print, or to digitise physical documents delivered to the head office, particularly in high volumes. What employees need, is reliable, productive devices which can support them to complete these tasks as efficiently as possible. That’s why we’ve built on our state-of-the-art imageRUNNER ADVANCE DNA, to launch the imageRUNNER ADVANCE DX C5800 Series. It’s the fastest yet, with 70ppm print speeds combined with 270ipm scanning to deliver the most productive experience.

Meanwhile, when it comes to marketing collateral, we know that many of our customers outsource production. But this can add unnecessary delays. With the imagePRESS C170 Series, you can skip the complexity of a third party and create customer-facing assets – from banners to brochures – inhouse, even when they require complex finishing capabilities. This means workers make the best use of their time in the office by producing what they need, there and then.

This capability is also essential for meeting the new demands of the customer experience landscape. With so much disruption to our traditional working habits, and fewer opportunities to communicate with customers in person, businesses need more effective ways to keep customers engaged. But the reality is that creative communications also have to be balanced against tight budgets, particularly in the wake of the pandemic.

We understand that print communications come with a higher price tag, particularly when it comes to outsourcing production. That’s why the imagePRESS C170 Series is designed to deliver against everyday office needs, but also to allow you to experiment with producing more creative, quality external assets inhouse. Not only does this allow you to explore new ways to create cut through, but do so while avoiding the cost of using an outsourcing partner.

The imagePRESS C170 series can handle distinctive formats including standard size A4 and A3, envelopes, media up to 350gsm and a comprehensive range of in-line professional finishing options. Choosing a device that can output diverse formats, with better finishes and superior colour, could be an important competitive differentiator.

Against a backdrop of constant change, we’re always investing in the development of new products designed to suit your evolving needs. With the imageRUNNER ADVANCE DX C5800 and imagePRESS C170 Series’ we’ve created two smart devices designed to showcase our expertise in seamless document workflow integration and smart print and scan technology, tailored to your needs.

Our devices continue to act as digital transformation enablers and, in the case of the imageRUNNER ADVANCE DX C5800 Series, are unrivalled in enabling reliable and easy document digitisation at speed. For businesses looking to produce high quality creative output and customer communications on a wide range of media inhouse, imagePRESS C170 Series is the perfect solution.

Find out more about how our latest devices support your digital transformation journey.

Interested in flexing your professional print capabilities? Discover more about how the imagePRESS C170 Series is designed to help you deliver quality outputs inhouse.