IT Print Vendors Vie To Catch Government Eye

Considering the IT investments the government is making in various e-governance projects, IT vendors are coming up with strategies specially targeting government officials. Some leading IT companies have already established separate departments to expand their reach into this segment. Players in the ICT sector are already working with various ministries and government associations like C-DAC and NIC for projects like State Wide Area Network (SWAN), Community Service Centres (CSC), Deployment of Voter ID cards, Land Registration Records etc. In order to extend the benefits of ICT practices to the masses, the government is steadily building a strong ecosystem involving private players. Among its various initiatives, the government has decided to digitalise the documents relating to various projects undertaken by it. The digitalisation process is already under implementation, this step is giving vendors yet another chance to cater to government executives.

Government-Focussed Strategies

Canon India has recently established a separate department to cater to various government projects and thus, indirectly expand its reach across the country. Canon has identified some state bodies, central government bodies, both state and central government departments and 14 different ministries as potential customers for its imaging solutions.

Som Gangopadhyay, Canon India, says, “We have seen tremendous growth in the government vertical in the recent past. As far as investment in IT infrastructure is concerned, this is an important vertical and is marching ahead steadily. As part of our effort to help government agencies to provide last mile connectivity through intelligent printing solutions, we have started discussions with various government representatives. Out of the 36 eGovernment projects that we narrowed down upon, work has already started on 10 projects from our side.”

Among other major projects, Canon India is also involved with the CSC or the Community Service Centre project of the Government of India, which aims to establish kiosks across rural India.

HP India too has identified the tremendous potential of e-governance in India and has already announced its Print 2.0 strategy specifically for the country. Under this strategy, the company is eyeing the government sector aggressively along with enterprise and consumer segments.

Samir Shah, director, Commercial and Enterprise Printing, Imaging and Printing Group, HP India says, “We are already involved with various government projects like the Land Registration Record System, the CSC initiative and others. We are also creating content on the Web and publishing it for our clients. We already have a strong presence in the defence, PSU, state government and central government sectors. We are approaching the government sector through our enterprise sales team and our partners are also helping us to expand our reach in this segment. Under our Print 2.0 strategy, we aim to offer various solutions to government agencies”.

Expanding Offerings

Companies are not only making specific strategies to tap the government sector, but are also launching special products to meet the needs of this burgeoning segment. Canon has launched specific products to help the government provide last mile connectivity to end users. HP India is not too far behind either. On the one hand, the company is expanding its product portfolio under its Print 2.0 strategy, while on the other hand it is introducing customised software and solutions required for various e-governance projects. Recently, the company launched a wide variety of printing solutions to bolster its leadership position in the government vertical. The company is also expanding its offerings for the SMB segment.

In its intelligent printing segment, Canon has a wide variety of solutions for scanning, archiving, digital printing, imaging and cameras. Gangopadhyay says, “There are huge opportunities lying in the printing and imaging solutions space in India that are waiting to be tapped. The Government has hoards of documents in its various departments, which it has decided to digitise, thus, opening up a range of chances to provide all kinds of solutions. We are ready to meet this demand as we have all kinds of solutions in our basket starting from scanning to photocopying to archiving in Web format. Our software developers are also constantly working to bring newer offerings on this front. We are looking to get about 20 percent share of the printing and imaging market in the government vertical in the next two years.”