Executive Q&A: Francis A. McMahon, Sr. Vice President, Canon Solutions America and Vice President, Business Imaging Solutions Group

1. Tell us a little about your company, the segment of the market it serves, and what you consider to be your "core" users.

Canon Solutions America was recently rated as a Leader in this IDC MarketScape analysis for its comprehensive and full breadth of lineup of production inkjet devices. We have a complete direct sales force to cover all regions, and as an early entrant to market, we have high levels of expertise in not only installations and support, but services and business development, as well. We offer top-rated workflow with PRIMSA solutions and industry leading hardware, especially for production inkjet. We currently are the worldwide market share leader in continuous feed inkjet and we are a leader in the industry in terms of R&D spend. Canon Solutions America aims to prove ourselves to be a trusted partner for our customers. We have traditional been strong in our core markets of transaction and corporate/large enterprise print and have worked to expand more into the commercial printer, book, and photobook printing space with new technologies and platforms.

2. How did you get involved with the company? What is your background before that?

I’ve been in the printing industry for more than 20 years and I’ve done it all in that time period including strategy, product marketing, business development, sales training and development, marketing communications and press, and analyst relations. Out of college, I wanted to be associated with Eastman Kodak Company. I was determined that was where I would work, and luckily enough, they hired me as a copier salesman. I did that for many years and moved into a variety of roles including sales management and product marketing. I then moved to HP where I worked in future product marketing and was part of the team that brought the Indigo business into HP before I began managing outbound Go-To-Market for HP.

I came to Canon Solutions America from HP because I recognized the tremendous potential for growth with this company. I was on the Sea of Galilee with a group of HP customers when I got the phone call that Océ was looking for a VP of marketing. When I learned that Océ was soon to be acquired by Canon, I got excited. The culture of innovation and emphasis on community building, which is incorporated into the company philosophy of Kyosei, is what ultimately what convinced me to take on this new opportunity.

3. What do you consider your greatest achievement in this market to be?

I tend to put others before myself and I’m willing to do what is right over what is popular. Because of that, I’ve always been able to bring people together. With talented teams behind me, I’ve brought people together through various organizations like Dscoop and thINK. Through these learning environments, I’ve been able to help people – to help small businesses grow and thrive and take care of their families – and that is what makes me proud. The printing industry is one large community and it's the collective knowledge and expertise amongst us all that keeps reinventing the future of print. Launching an organization that fosters the future of our industry is my greatest achievement. I believe the future of printing is bright if we keep remaining innovative and re-imagining what print can be.

4. If there was anything you could change, either about your career in regards to the print industry, your company, or the market as a whole, what would it be and why?

As mentioned, the combination of the printing industry and my belief in community has had a huge impact on who I am today. While I can honestly say that my early career was focused on getting the job done, it was when I took the time to pay attention and listen to titans of the industry that I realized how they played a critical role in me growing in my roles. I wish I had recognized that earlier and spent more time learning from them. Every day is an education and how you approach it is what you get out of it.

5. What do you consider the greatest challenge to be for the industry right now? Why?

The greatest challenge will be our ability or inability to change in a world with such a rapid change of pace. It’s about our cultural mindset – can we embrace a new way of doing things? From there, the challenge is aligning yourself with people who are prepared for the future. We have to be able to recognize which of our partners and whom in our organization can adapt to the future and who cannot.

6. What do you consider the greatest asset to be for the industry right now? Why?

Our greatest opportunity is that our customers are getting smarter, looking to proven ROI, and as a result they are asking the hard question of how we can make our printed campaigns stronger. This trend is pushing innovation in the printing industry. Designers and printers are willing to take risks and employ things such as omni-channel campaigns and integrating augmented reality technology that find new ways of targeting ROI and delivering results for end users through print.

7. In your opinion, what have been the biggest changes to the way we communicate with one another in the past few years? How would you recommend this industry take advantage of that?

One big change I’ve seen in the past few years is the industry’s growing willingness to share and collaborate with each other in the interest of pushing the entire industry forward. We are all faced with the challenge of either helping our industry grow - or letting it idle. I believe that if we come together, learn from each other, and stay on the leading edge of technology and innovation, we can push our industry towards growth. Conferences like the annual thINK Conference or the Inkjet Summit are important because they bring together many different companies within the industry - from equipment manufacturers to workflow providers, paper mills, and finishing equipment companies, as well as graphic designers, commercial printers, book printers, direct-mail printers, and in-plant printers - all with the goal of growing our industry. These events build a sense of community and sharing that is so powerful, it brings together companies who might be considered competitors, and fosters an environment where those companies become each other's advisers and advocates. My recommendation is to get involved in events like this and be open to learning and sharing.

8. Looking ahead, what major innovations or technologies do you believe will shape the future of the industry? Why?

We expect to see improvements in sheetfed inkjet technology shape the future of the industry. Inkjet offers the advantages of digital printing – personalization, electronic collation, white-paper-in to full-color-out just-in-time manufacturing, forms replacement, workflow automation, high productivity, and flexible use of color – as well as the ability to produce higher-volume applications more quickly and efficiently than digital toner devices. Sheetfed Inkjet technology is ideal because it offers a more affordable way than offset or toner-based presses to create impact by using both color and personalization, which improves response rates. Inkjet has opened the door to cost-effective on-demand printing allowing for shorter turnaround times and virtually limitless customization and personalization. Sheetfed inkjet devices take this technology to a new level with lower cost of acquisition and lower running costs.

9. What is the biggest piece of advice you would give to printers and others involved in this industry?

We need to pay attention to other industries and what is happening as it relates to technology and any influence it could have on our industry. The way in which we link print to online and mobile communications will be critical to our future success. Our world is growing increasingly more interconnected and we need to stay on top of these trends in order to discover new ways that print can be a part of a digital world.