PlaceWare Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corp. and a Real-Time Collaboration Solutions provider, today announced that the Distributor Sales Division of Canon USA (a subsidiary of Canon Inc. (NYSE "CAJ")), has realized cost savings, increased productivity and a shorter sales cycle through using PlaceWare Web conferencing to conduct product launches and training for its distribution sales channel.

Canon regularly trains the resellers in its distribution sales channel on new products and wanted to find a faster, more cost-efficient way to deliver training information. With PlaceWare, Canon was able to reach out to resellers in eight territories nationwide in a fraction of the time it would have taken to meet with each one individually. Canon estimates the cost of reaching each reseller through the webinar format at approximately $82 per location, compared with the cost of traveling to each reseller's location. The reseller sales representatives have limited time for training on new products, so getting information into their hands quickly and simply is critical to the success of the manufacturer's product launch.

"Canon's turnaround for launches is now quicker, and we have seen a significant savings," said Patty Morrison, marketing programs specialist in the Distributor Sales Division at Canon USA. "To maximize our budget, we needed to find the right avenue to deliver this training, and PlaceWare offered a competitive solution that has been easy for our product managers to deliver. In addition, our attendees have given very positive feedback, with 100 percent of them stating they would attend another PlaceWare training session. We can see from the interactive PlaceWare seating chart that people are attending, staying, and, when polled, giving the program high marks in their evaluations."