Costa Mesa, Calif. — Cognizant of the changing dynamics of the U.S. camera market and the importance of keep imaging professionals and demanding enthusiasts well satisfied, Canon USA has gone west in expanding its U.S.-based service and support operations.
The company this week cut the ribbon on two new West Coast service, technical support and education centers in Southern California and New Mexico.
The new operations mark a significant investment in growing the Canon Information Technology Services (CITS) footprint to the West Coast using well-trained, 100 percent U.S.-based Canon employees.
The new locations also help bring service center operations closer to the thousands of Canon users, retailers and resellers in the west to accelerate repair turnaround time, while helping to promote Canon products and services to potential new customers.
The new customer service and support operation centers include the Canon Experience Center in Costa Mesa, Calif., and the western expansion of CITS, a customer call center in Albuquerque, N.M.
The 38,000-square-foot Costa Mesa facility houses the Canon Experience Center, a new branch of the Canon Americas Marketing Engineering Technology Center (METC), offering enthusiasts a showcase of Canon’s many award-winning cameras, lenses, and photo and business printers.
The new CITS customer call center in Albuquerque, which had a formal send-off on Nov. 6, brought out Albuquerque Mayor Richard J. Berry to celebrate the opening with top Canon executives.
“The grand openings of the new Canon Experience Center and the additional CITS call center are a testament to Canon’s commitment to our customers,” stated Yuichi Ishizuka, Canon USA imaging technologies and communications president and COO. “These facilities will allow us to connect with our customers on the West Coast and further support the needs of all our customers, no matter where they are located in the U.S.”
The Costa Mesa Canon Experience Center now offers Southern California Canon equipment owners and important professional clientele innovative, meaningful face-to-face service and support experiences.
It also provides a customer education center and 35-seat theater where Canon Live Learning, Explorers of Light (EOL) and Canon Professional Services (CPS) events will be held throughout the year.
The Center is comprised of a nearly 5,000-square-foot showroom. It also includes a CPS members-only lounge where members can relax while equipment is cleaned or repaired. It provides an operational photo studio providing onsite convenience to Canon customers.
Canon also uses the center as a gallery to display exceptional images from Canon’s vast family of professional enthusiast photographers, including two Canon CPS members and four participants of a Canon Live Learning Destination Workshop.
The Canon Experience Center houses approximately 75 employees providing call support, service and repair and ongoing Canon employee training.
In addition, the Canon Experience Center features repair and maintenance operations for Canon’s lineup of consumer and professional products, including Cinema EOS and EOS DSLR cameras; PowerShot cameras; high-definition camcorders; 4K reference displays; and all of Canon’s lenses, including EF-series photography lenses, Cinema lenses and broadcast lenses. Repair operations at the facility include 10 state-of-the-art camera body and lens adjustment rooms, Canon’s most advanced adjustment and calibration equipment, and a spare-parts inventory.
The 33,682 square-foot CITS call center in Albuquerque, which officially began operations in June 2014, provides support to Canon’s professional photographic, cinema, printing and office solutions customers. By spring 2015, the center will also support customers using small office and consumer imaging products, including digital cameras, camcorders, large-format printers and copiers.
Canon’s call center investment also includes data center technology providing support 24-hour-a-day, 365-days-per-year to the Albuquerque and Chesapeake, Va., locations.
Canon said the Albuquerque location will help better serve customers in multiple time zones, using a workforce estimated to grow to 150 over the next three years.
Eliott Peck, Canon information technologies and communications group senior VP, said the company will underscore its 100 percent U.S.-based customer support efforts in a new advertising campaign launching in mid-November.
A comical “Rigorous Training” video that is part of the campaign features real employees at the East Coast call center in Chesapeake.
Additional camera and lens service facilities for both professional and consumer clients are located in Jamesburg, N.J.; Itasca, Ill.; and Newport News, Va.
