Joseph Yu Shu-cheung, president of Fuji Xerox China Ltd, said the company is transforming its business from selling hardware printing products to providing enterprise information management solutions.

"We have seen the industry go from standalone copiers to multi-function print, copy, scan and fax devices. Now, we are in an era when business needs more than that. Digital devices, together with document management solutions, are the future," he said.

Yu said the company has been utilizing cloud and mobile technologies to provide document service and communication.

Fuji Xerox has equipped its devices with a document portal on the cloud that hooks into its multifunction copiers, enabling users to send, receive and share documents in offices or in a mobile environment.

Yu said cloud storage services contribute to the utilization and distribution of documents that are used in group work within or between corporations, enhancing business efficiency greatly.

"The future office will be increasingly mobile. Getting documents across different operations can be a huge headache. With the cloud service, documents can be accessed anywhere at any time," he told China Daily.

Fuji Xerox is not alone in focusing on document management solutions in recent years. Its competitors, such as Ricoh and Canon, are also integrating their hardware with software applications.

Yu said Fuji Xerox uses different strategies in Hong Kong and on the mainland to distinguish itself from others.

"Hong Kong is a relatively mature market. The lack of corporate operational efficiency has been one of the most significant obstacles holding back Hong Kong's performance. We have to keep asking what our next step would be and what else we can do to improve productivity for customers," he said.

But he noted the situation on the mainland is more complicated. "The market there is little patchy in terms of needs. Our strategy is to provide a complete range of products, from simple home-use printers to office document management solutions to high-speed printing presses," he explained.

"We offer customized solutions of document workflow for our customers," said Yu, adding that the company needs to understand a customer's business process in order to help create a document management system.

"Our sales staff are trained to provide services to customers. They are not only sales people, but also document consultants. We evaluate customers' requirements in document workflow and then offer solutions for them," he added.

amandahua@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 12/03/2014 page8)