Axis to sell and market Canon in North America

CHELMSFORD, Mass.—Axis Communications and Canon are changing their sales and marketing efforts in major regional markets worldwide in an effort to provide a wider portfolio of video products and solutions to their customers.

As part of the agreement, Axis will assume responsibility for the marketing and sales of Canon's entire network video product portfolio in North America starting Oct. 1 and in Europe, the Middle East and Africa starting Sept. 1.

Fredrik Nilsson, VP, Americas, Axis Communications, said that these changes show Canon's strong commitment to build a long-term presence for Axis in the market.

“We are excited about the announcement as this clarifies that Axis is truly in the lead position, and is responsible for everything that has to do with security and safety within Canon,” Nilsson told Security Systems News. “Canon has some of their own products that are unique and good as well, which means additional products for the Axis sales and marketing team to sell and market to our customers.”

The whole idea of the rearrangement of the sales and marketing forces, Nilsson pointed out, is to simplify the process for distributors and customers. “Now it is easier for customers to see the whole portfolio—the range of products that exists within Axis and Canon—and have one contact when it comes to sales and marketing and tech support and find the best cameras for those customers,” he said.

For Axis, globally, North America represents around half of its sales, said Nilsson. “We are quite strong in the North American market, and according to market research, the market leader in both IP cameras and in the overall video surveillance space, so it is a very important market for both Axis and Canon,” he said.

Since Axis became a part of the Canon Group in 2015, both companies have discussed various options for leveraging their network video product and solution offerings. With this new sales and marketing framework, which provides an effective means of maximizing the synergies of the Canon-Axis combination, Canon partners and customers will benefit from Axis's marketing, sales and technical expertise and will have access to a wider range of products and solutions in the network video market.

In addition to providing long-term and stable ownership, “Canon is the third largest patent holder in the U.S., so it is great for our patent portfolio and they have some pretty good technology when it comes to lensing and imaging and so forth,” said Nilsson. “Next week at ASIS you will see some of those results on how the two companies can work together on some new technologies, which we are very excited about.”