Message from the top: Anurag Agrawal, managing director, Canon Middle East and Turkey

This is an exceptional period for all: Humanity is challenged and the world stands united in its fight against the Covid-19 outbreak. The socio-economic impact of the Covid-19 situation is forcing mankind to relook the ways they work – and live – as concepts such as work from home and social distancing become part of one’s daily life.

I personally believe that nothing is more important than ensuring that your team is safeguarded – and that has been one of the first steps taken by Canon Middle East in response to the situation. We ensured that all guidelines regarding health and wellness are followed and that the welfare of our team, as well as that of our partners and suppliers is not compromised.

The new ways of working have been a learning curve for all of us. But they have also opened us all to the opportunities that exist thanks to technology and the enormous potential we have before us to leverage it to strengthen productivity and efficiency at work even through testing times as these.

To support our employees, we have rolled out a series of virtual working support sessions that smoothen the transition to work-from-home. We have also introduced interactive online weekly sessions on themes such as personal wellbeing. Our focus is also on supporting continuity for our customers and partners.

To further drive work efficiency, we have increased the number of engineers in our remote technical support team who are equipped to deal with most issues our customers may be facing, over the phone and through Canon’s remote support system that is inbuilt in the machines.

We have also secured next day delivery for products and supplies such as printers, inks and papers easing the transition into their new home working environment.

Our aim is to stay even closer to our customers during this difficult period during which businesses must adapt quickly and stay connected.