The company has put in place a multi-pronged strategy to provide connected digital solution to address the communication and automation needs of business establishments.

Addressing a press conference here, Canon Indian managing director Alan D Grant said the company was putting in place several initiatives to enhance the coverage of its operations, increase its profitability to sustain growth and corner 30 per cent market share.

He said 1999 was a year of transition for the company and this year the focus would be on driving digital technology and web-enabled solutions.The company has also decided to step up the software development activities undertaken here and has decided to shift to development of application software from hardware embedded software as is done at present.

Canon general manager Ravi Bhatia said the company has decided to expand its channel network by increasing its dealer strength from 86 to 134 by the year end. The company has also put in place a direct sales force to tap new businesses.

In addition, it is setting up digital labs in major cities across the country to demonstrate its concept of office automation and communication and simulate work environments for customers. Two labs--one each in Delhi and Mumbai--are in place.

The company further stated that it would refocus its research and development efforts on information management.

The new initiatives would be supported with aggressive seeding strategy and other moves to bridge the gap between old and new technologies. Bhatia clarified that the company would however not take any specific price positioning the market.

The company has announced the launch of six digital imageRUNNER products to drive its transition to digital and attain 20 per cent market share of the office automation products by the year end. The new digital products, priced between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 20 lakh, would be targeted at large corporate houses, government and defence sectors, graphic arts segment and pre-press houses.