COMPARE offices in Myanmar today to those of the 1980s and the advances in equipment are obvious.

Photocopiers, fax machines, scanners and top-end computers were rarely seen in offices in Myanmar 20 years ago, but are now regarded as essential for efficient operations.

“Our office cannot do anything important – especially when it comes to communicating with businesses in foreign countries – with older electronic devices,” said U Thiha Soe, a marketing executive with the Asian World Company in Yangon.

Sales centres in Yangon, Mandalay and Pyinmana provide electronic office equipment for all of the companies that run offices.

Examples in Yangon include the Canon and Gandamar showrooms at Aung San Stadium, High Point at the Junction 8 complex and Direct2 in Latha township.

U San Nway, showroom manager for Myanmar Golden Rock International’s (Canon) Yangon office, said there were two main kinds of fax machines – laser and inkjet – on the market.

“They have the same basic functions but differ in their memory abilities,” he said. “For example, the L 220 fax machine can store more than 250 pages in its memory.”

Canon also makes copiers, scanners, and printers, ink and toners.
“Among scanners, one of our top models is the LidE 600F, that produces scans with a resolution of up to 9600 colour dots per inch,” U San Nway said.

“Some customers demand the latest scanners which they see on websites but they are not always available in Myanmar. But if the customer asks, we always try to get them the equipment, they might just have to wait a month or two.”

U San Nway said Canon’s iR1210 copier increased office productivity and saved time and space. The design of the iR1210 combines a fast digital copier with high quality laser printer.

“But now we have the latest model, the iR 2270, which reproduces more than 20 pages a minute. It’s good for big offices like the United Nations Development Program and other large agencies,” he said.

He said Canon always encouraged customers to use its inks and toners.

“Some customers choose to use other kinds of ink and toners, which cost only K3000 or K4000, but if the ink jets get blocked while printing, it costs as much as the printer to fix,” he said. “We guarantee that will not be the case for customers who use Canon products.”