UAE Expenditure on It Products and Services to Reach USD 3.5 Billion in 2011 Driving Demand for Office Productivity Tools
Canon's intelligent document management solutions deliver greater office productivity and security
Document management systems are increasingly becoming an integral component in the growth strategies of business enterprises in the UAE, as recent surveys show that office workers spend almost an hour each day looking for information, while information leaks continue to be a legitimate concern in all office environments. While business enterprises across the UAE deal with growing volumes of documents in light of expanding business activities, a corresponding surge in demand has emerged for document management solutions that are highly efficient, secure and cost-effective.
One important aspect in document management is security, as almost a quarter of security breaches among enterprises are paper-based. Many companies adopt proven Information Data Loss Prevention (IDLP) approaches to classify and monitor the status of data and apply policies governing sharing and access. Unfortunately, many IDLP architectures do not cover critical automated document management areas such as the use of multifunctional devices (MFD). Enterprise IT and information security teams are often not given jurisdiction over the implementation and administration of MFDs despite the heavy document and information traffic serviced by such devices.
To address this gap, leading imaging solutions provider Canon Middle East has been focusing on helping organisations to safeguard business data and information around the MFDs, and complete their DLP infrastructure. For example Canon's uniFLOW V5 solution, uses keyword recognition technology to automatically classify the data in a document and decide how it should be handled. It enables organizations to apply existing IDLP policies and controls to their MFDs to prevent or detect information leaks.
The UAE has naturally emerged as one of the most lucrative markets for Canon's intelligent document management solutions, driven by a sustained increase in expenditure on IT products and services, which is estimated to reach USD 3.5 billion in 2011. Moreover, the UAE now ranks 24th in the world and number one in the Arab region in its use of information and communication technologies (ICT), according to the Global Information Technology Report 2010-2011, Transformations 2.0, released by the World Economic Forum. In particular, UAE businesses are aggressively investing in solutions to address a variety of document-related security threats, which are now a growing concern in various office environments. Canon has developed solutions such as the uniFLOW V5 to enable companies to effectively address these security issues and help streamline the entire document management process.
"Effective document management tools are essential in any business environment, particularly in this new era of rapid business growth and development. With the UAE being a major business hub in the region, offices across the country are particularly feeling the pressure with the increasing volumes of documents being processed every day and the growing need for effective and efficient document management capabilities. Canon's uniFLOW V5, which incorporates IDLP to the entire document management chain, serves as an ideal solution to address these emerging office challenges as it empowers all areas of the business to use document-based information more efficiently. With the eagerness of UAE-based companies to invest in reliable and secure IT-based solutions, the UAE certainly serves as one of the most lucrative destinations for Canon's premium range of intelligent document management solutions," said Naoshi Yamada, Deputy Managing Director, Canon Middle East.
UniFLOW is the first unified print and scan platform developed by Canon. The latest uniFLOW version includes new scan management functionalities including an optical character recognition (OCR) engine with extensive language support, advanced document compression technology and the capture of index information through zone OCR or barcode recognition. The system controls both the print and scanning processes of the MFD, thus enabling so IT managers to administer a single system with one set of user accounts and one database.
About Canon Middle East:
Canon Middle East FZ LLC (CME), a subsidiary of Canon Europe, is the Regional headquarters for Canon in the Middle East and North Africa and is based in Dubai, UAE. Canon has been represented in the Middle East for more than 40 years through distributors and partners which has successfully built a solid customer base and significant market share in the region.
In 1998, Canon set up a representative office in Dubai to help partners deliver even more with additional on-the-ground support. By 2001, Canon had transformed into a full subsidiary with extensive logistics facilities, and in 2002 moved into its spacious new head office at Dubai Internet City, with a rapidly growing staff. As of January 1st, 2005, Canon North Africa S.A.S. (CNA) based in Paris became a 100 per cent owned subsidiary of Canon Middle East and oversees French speaking African countries.
CME today manages sales, marketing and technical support activities across 36 countries; in the Middle East including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE as well as French speaking African countries.
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