Hin Sang Group

Mr. Ricky Mak
Assistant IT Director
Hin Sang Group

CLIENT

Hin Sang Group is a leading advocate for national health. With a strong commitment to improving the well-being of urban families, Hin Sang Group has been providing high-quality traditional Chinese medicine products and herbal supplements since 2004. The company is determined to continue researching, developing, and distributing herbal products to help people achieve optimal health.

Its signature products – Hin Sang Exquisite Packing Milk Supplement and Hin Sang Health Star – focus on babies’ and toddlers’ healthcare, and are household names in Hong Kong and China. These products used to be distributed mainly through individual pharmacies or retail chains, but the pandemic has prompted the company to pivot into e-commerce and reassess its distribution channel.

CHALLENGE

The pandemic brought drastic changes to Hin Sang Group’s business. Not only did the company diversify from distributing herbal products to COVID testing kits, but it was also selling them directly to consumers. 

Although Hin Sang Group no longer sells COVID testing kits after the pandemic, its online purchase orders have continued to grow rapidly, with a 16-fold increase in volume in the two years. The company’s distribution channel has completely transformed from offline, cash-on-delivery wholesale transactions to pharmacies, now everything is done online with e-commerce. 

“Our distribution systems, processes, and workforce all need to be more agile,” said Ricky Mak, Assistant IT Director of Hin Sang Group. “Relying on our traditional on-premises ERP and logistics processes means more IT staff is needed to manage the hardware, network, and security.”  

With a high turnover and shortage of IT talent, hiring IT staff to maintain a stable and reliable IT operation has become a major challenge. As a listed company, Hin Sang Group also relies on its existing ERP system to help comply with the strict security and documentation regulations. Therefore, when the company’s hardware lifecycle was approaching its end, Hin Sang Group turned to FUJIFILM Business Innovation Hong Kong (FUJIFILM BI HK) to explore cloud computing to drive agility in distribution and IT management.

SOLUTION

FUJIFILM BI HK has been a long-term partner supporting Hin Sang Group's distribution systems with multiple digital transformation tools, enhancing the day-to-day business communication. Multi-Channel Variable Data Platform (MVDP) Solution automates supply chain document processing at the warehouse and frees frontline workers from hand-amended delivery notes. ParaDM SmartShare Enterprise intelligently streamlines document lifecycle management from creation and revision to distribution and archival while ApeosWare Management Suite (AWMS) digitalizes the operational workflow across departments.

Thanks to its thorough understanding of Hin Sang Group's distribution system, IT infrastructure, and reliable services, FUJIFILM BI HK was appointed to advise and implement its cloud migration journey.

FUJIFILM BI HK’s technology consultants advised the company’s initial cloud migration to cover its ERP and distribution systems. Project management team then implemented the cloud migration in multiple phases. It also designed Hin Sang Group’s network and security infrastructure to ensure stable and secure connectivity to the cloud.

On top of supporting the company’s cloud migration journey, FUJIFILM BI HK also provides Managed IT Support Services (MITSS). The offering includes weekly visits to support the maintenance of the company’s IT infrastructure and remote support for its users.

RESULT 

The collaboration between Hin Sang Group and FUJIFILM BI HK brought a smooth and speedy implementation. In less than three months, the company was able to migrate its core ERP system to the cloud securely, together with all the associated software in its distribution system.

“FUJIFILM BI HK had a clear and comprehensive planning for the cloud migration, allowing us to continuously take online and offline orders with zero downtime, even on the first day of production,” said Ricky.

Cloud migration has significantly lowered the IT cost for Hin Sang Group by 20%. A cloud-based infrastructure also enables more reliable communications and better collaboration across Hin Sang Group’s multiple sites, including two offices and a warehouse in Hong Kong.

In addition, embracing cloud computing has transformed the company’s IT spending from CAPEX to OPEX, providing financial flexibility to enhance its distribution channel. With a dashboard to report the company’s overall monitoring and maintenance, Ricky can also enjoy better visibility of Hin Sang Group’s IT needs for future planning. He said the next step of this cloud journey is to migrate its human resource system to the cloud.

“Different technology vendors have approached us to support our cloud journey. But our long-term and trusting relationship with FUJIFILM BI HK gave us great confidence to work with them on our ongoing cloud journey.”

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