Creating an Ecosystem of Solutions for Innovative Digital Transformation
In discussions regarding the future of business, perhaps no other word is more frequently used than innovation. But what does innovation mean in a landscape where rapid, large-scale change happens every day, especially in the field of digital transformation?
If everyone is aiming to innovate, what will set companies apart and enable them to rise above the competition? According to Kozo Kimura, General Manager of BSS Solutions for FUJIFILM Business Innovation Asia Pacific, true innovation always goes back to the fundamentals: delivering customer value and building resilience through ecosystems of solutions.
The Case for Innovation
As a company that has had to adapt to stay relevant, FUJIFILM Business Innovation has continued to embrace change and innovate products, solutions and services to provide better value to customers as their needs evolve. How important is it for businesses to innovate?
Kozo Kimura: All companies must prioritise innovation. It’s so crucial to the business journey that even market leaders need to innovate in order to remain one step ahead of the competition. Most of our customers also recognise this need to stay ahead of the curve by adapting their brand to an innovation-oriented angle.
We see this in current innovation trends that call for artificial intelligence (AI) and process automation. Now and even more so in the future, businesses will require innovative solutions: not only to meet their customers’ ever-evolving and changing needs, but to keep up with the accelerating pace of competition.
Customer Satisfaction: The Bigger Purpose
Innovation can change the way business is done by helping employees and customers adapt. How can businesses ensure their change management plans are effective? Given that Digital Transformation (DX) is critical to business innovation—for instance by creating an agile environment—what are some FUJIFILM Business Innovation solutions that support the DX journey?
Kozo Kimura: Most companies want to use their own data and DX is essential for facilitating and fulfilling that priority. Our company specialises in Multifunction Printers (MFPs), which enable the core DX tasks of digitising documents and scanning them to PDF or DocuWorks. Having said that, we’ve also moved up one level on the DX journey by using our solutions to enhance customer business processes in general, not just improve paper-oriented processes. We do this by focusing on the bigger purpose of digitisation, which is to streamline our customers’ workflow.
So within that bigger perspective, our company provides various solutions and tools, such as data management and analytic services. These enhance customer experiences for both SMBs (Small and Medium-Sized Businesses) and enterprises.
Our focus is on delivering value and benefits to our customers. It’s not just about selling products. This is why we always ask, how can we strive to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction by removing complexity and friction in our customers’ workflow? How can our offerings create a more intuitive and efficient workflow so that it leads to CHX (Customer Happy Experience)?
With new technology comes new challenges. What challenges do customers face the most in their DX journey or when making the shift toward DX?
Kozo Kimura: President and CEO of FUJIFILM Business Innovation Corp Naoki Hama has emphasised the importance of providing standardisation with excellence. Our own basic concept is of putting customers first and meeting their requirements to their satisfaction. However, it can be inefficient and costly for us if we have to customise solutions for every single case. We also need to keep an eye on staying ahead of the curve as technology trends continue to evolve.
Our approach of striking a balance between standardisation and customisation enables us to efficiently adapt to new standards while also meeting unique client needs. By focusing on standard functions, we can actually adapt to new industry standards more efficiently. At the same time, we also develop customised solutions when necessary, such as when a client has unique requirements during their migration or onboarding process.
We need to explore new concepts and embark on new DX journeys to stay relevant. Some of our SMB customers are unfamiliar with new technologies, therefore providing them with case studies of successful DX transformations can help them understand the benefits of our solutions and imagine possible scenarios of improvement for their own situation. These cases serve as best practices that showcase the potential of our offerings.
Facing the Future with Resilience
What advice do you have for businesses on how to withstand multiple disruptions and thrive in the future business landscape?
Kozo Kimura: As I mentioned earlier, creating a solid foundation of a standard procedure and standard system is the first step. It’s not just about the functionality of the solution, but how to carry it out effectively in different contexts.
Second, establishing an ecosystem is crucial for building resilience. Our solutions work because we understand that no single company can cover every possible area of innovation. That’s why we create an ecosystem based on our foundation of MFP solutions, which acts as an enabler that can connect and integrate with other applications. When we integrate our competencies with other companies’ strengths—through 3rd-party products and solutions—we compound the benefits for our customers. Our goal is to establish a unique ecosystem that leverages our strengths and integrates with other solutions to deliver even greater benefits to our customers as they undertake their digital transformation journey.
"In FUJIFILM Business Innovation, we look at the solutions Ecosystem, one company cannot provide everything, you need to connect with other companies’ technology and solutions. Thus, we want to establish our ecosystem based on our MFP which act as an enabler and integrate with solutions to bring greater benefits to our customers in their DX journey."
