Our Enterprise-wide solution enthuses Canon India

Date: February 13, 2004

 When Canon India Pvt Ltd was looking for an enterprise-wide solution for its sales force automation project, it found a perfect match in the customized solution offered by FCS Software Solutions Ltd.

According to Mr Rajesh Kumar, who heads Canon's Special Projects division based in Delhi, before handing over the project to FCS, his company reviewed a number of similar software packages. But he found that most off-the-shelf solutions were not meeting his requirements and required Canon to model its workflow according to the software, and not the other way round. The cost, according to Mr Kumar, was another factor that went in favor of FCS.

"We provided Canon with a customized solution after analyzing and extensively mapping the company's workflow and sales processes," says Mr Vineet Narang, Vice President (Strategic Planning and Business Development), FCS Software Solutions Ltd. "We developed the application on a turnkey basis as a 'soup to nuts' solution."

The solution that was delivered [by FCS] will help in increasing the productivity of our sales force," adds Mr Kumar of Canon.

 Within six months of its implementation, the application displayed such positive results that Canon may soon decide to extend its coverage to include its partners too. In addition, Canon decided to add the Human Resources components, such as employee database management, performance appraisal process, and employee survey within the application. A personalized dashboard keeps even the most remotely situated sales personnel abreast of all the events happening at the company.

"We harnessed the strengths of the Lotus Notes platform based on the Groupware concept for this project," says Mr Narang of FCS. Groupware refers to an application that enables groups of people to collaborate in creating, sharing and using information more effectively. This allowed FCS to develop an application that could seamlessly integrate all future components and could be scaled or expanded as per the requirements. The application also had to be capable of integrating with other enterprise-wide applications such as Oracle 11i, the accounting application being used at Canon.

The concept of Virtual Office empowered the Canon sales and distribution personnel to work from almost anywhere. This has meant a huge volume in savings for the company. Canon now has the opportunity to increase its penetration into the Indian market, extending coverage to even the most remote areas.

According to Mr Kumar of Canon, the final FCS product is an intelligent link between the front office (sales team) and the back office (support team). It helps the top management of Canon in keeping track of sales projections and making proactively progressive decisions.

In fact, so enthused is Canon with the application that it has decided to adopt a scaled-up version for its South Asia region.

About FCS Software Solutions Ltd

FCS Software Solutions Ltd is a KPMG-certified ISO 9001 IT solutions company with a clear roadmap to CMM SEI Model 5. It has its development center at Noida (near Delhi, India) and offices in California and New Jersey (USA). The company also has ready-to-be-deployed similar size development facility at Gurgaon (near Delhi, India). FCS is in its 10th year of successful operation.

FCS provides IT services to US and India based companies. It is currently servicing more than 65 clients, 11 of which are Fortune 500 corporations. It provides services in business applications, E-learning and Digital Content, and Product Engineering Services. The software product companies can use the services of FCS from building to launching their products. FCS works in Java, .NET, Oracle, MS SQL Server, Open Source Code solutions around Linux, Apache, and MySQL. FCS provides voice and web based 24X7 Technical Support services to end users of its clients' services and products.

About Canon India Ltd

Canon India Ltd is the 100% subsidiary of Canon Singapore Pvt Ltd, the world's leading IT digital imaging company. The Indian operation was established in 1996 with its headquarters in New Delhi. Canon sees India as a growing market.

Canon India, striving to register a turnover of Rs 250 crore by this year-end, aims to become a Rs 500-crore company by the year 2005.