Moving beyond speed-of-paper, PFU provides businesses, government tools to digitise

Fujitsu subsidiary PFU limited generates over $1bn in turnover annually, says EMEA manager of public and social relations

PFU Limited, a Fujitsu subsidiary and the maker of Fujitsu document scanners, generates over $1bn turnover annually and has come to be known for high performance and quality.
Daily News Egypt interviewed Sabine Holocher, the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) manager of public and social relations manager at PFU Limited about the company's scanner solutions and platforms. Holocher said they have the two best-selling scanner families worldwide: the fi Series, which is meant for professional use, and the ScanSnap, for personal use.
How has PFU performed so far in the international market? What is the company's strategy to accelerate growth internationally?
PFU is a Fujitsu subsidiary and the maker of Fujitsu document scanners. Fujitsu scanners lead the market. This is undisputed. We have the two best-selling scanner families worldwide: the fi-Series, for enterprise users, and ScanSnap, for improving personal productivity. We listen to what customers need and design our products accordingly. We have a very good business model and we work very closely with leading channel partners and independent software vendors (ISV) that are experts in their field and know the region. This collaborative business style is helping us a great deal. We have a broad range of document scanners to suit different purposes, including personal, office, production and networking applications. Fujitsu scanners are capable of processing various types of documents, from business cards to A3-paper sizes at scanning speeds from 7.5 to 130 pages per minute. A starting point for an electronic document workflow, Fujitsu scanners come with features such as optical character recognition (OCR) and connectivity to office software and cloud applications.
What distinguishes PFU from other scanner manufacturers?
PFU stands for high performance and quality. We have a very broad offering of document scanners for users in the personal, workgroup, departmental and production-level scanner categories. Our solutions are based on a uniform operating concept over all members of each respective product line and are extremely scalable and reliable. Fujitsu sells only through channel-sales, so it has always depended on partners for growth. Two years ago we introduced the concept of channel enablement.
A big investment has been made on our part to support knowledge transfer between us and our reselling partners, our system integration partners and everyone in the channel down to the end customer. This concept covers training and information material via a powerful imaging partner portal and a whole suite of social media channels, which are customised to local markets. This ensures that resellers have better and more relevant information when they are talking to a customer.
We have established processes, systems and tools to give channel-sale partners the information they need. This includes partner programmes, online training modules, social media material and all manner of content that partners can re-purpose, customise and use for their own marketing. To support our new strategy we have extended our channel enablement proposition with the establishment of new facilities in several cities of our EMEA region, where channel partners, software providers, customers, and Fujitsu can collaborate on solutions and share knowledge.
What are the current solutions offered by PFU? Are there any plans to strengthen the company's product portfolio with new products?
Before talking about individual scanners or even features, we have to discuss all of the customer's needs and possible solutions. We offer two major scanning platforms: a customer is directed towards the ScanSnap platform if their aim is to improve personal productivity, or towards the PaperStream platform if the requirement is to scan for an enterprise process. The ScanSnap platform is a complete document management solution that improves productivity in the home office, at work, or even on the road. PaperStream is for enterprise users that wish to automate their high quality capture and optimise their batch processing. Both platforms make documents more useful by integrating them in a digital business process. We are constantly enhancing our product portfolio. In 2015, we introduced a completely new product line, the SP Series. The line includes economical scanners for first-time enterprise use with a scanning speed that ranges from 20 to 30 pages per minute. This year will see further additions to our portfolio, including a new desktop production scanner that will set new standards in compact, high-performance scanning.
What are the most integrated imaging solutions offered by PFU? Are these solutions suitable for all business sectors?
Fujitsu's comprehensive range of imaging solutions caters to all vertical markets such as finance, education, insurance and healthcare. In addition, we partner with leading channel partners and local ISVs to offer integrated imaging solutions.
What is the annual sales volume of Fujitsu around the world? How much is the research and development budget?
I can only speak for PFU, a subsidiary of Fujitsu and the makers of Fujitsu scanners. PFU has been engaged in the document imaging scanner business for more than 25 years and generates an annual turnover of over $1bn.
Considering global environmental problems, how does PFU address these challenges and are there any products that help to address global climate change?
We consider environmental sustainability a topmost priority and strive to work towards reducing our global footprint. We continue to adopt and implement energy saving initiatives to help reduce global warming.
In 2014, we consolidated our Tokyo PFU Headquarters and our Tokyo Development Center into the Yokohama headquarters with the goal of significantly reducing our energy consumption. Our energy consumption has been reduced considerably through district cooling and heating systems and the use of LED lighting in our Yokohama building.
We have placed a heat-shielding sheet on the south side of our headquarters at the Ishikawa Development Center as well as installed an exhaust air duct on the compressor to enhance the efficiency of air conditioning at the ProDeSCenter. On top of all these local activities, I must stress that scanning, by itself, helps save on paper because you no longer need paper copies to distribute information, when it is digitally available.
What is the social role played by PFU in international markets and can it help in developing and improving the economic and social conditions of the developing societies around the world?
As a global organisation, we are sincere and passionate about our corporate social responsibility. We involve all our employees in promoting environmental sustainability through various activities such as social contribution and biodiversity conservation. Some of our ongoing programs include Kahoku Lagoon Reclaimed Land (Volunteer Activities), Green Curtain, Local Environment Beautification Activities, Creation Workshop, and Green FundDonation/Plantation of Nandina Saplings.
For our efforts, we received the ‘Ishikawa Satoyama ISO (Ishikawa)' certification to engage in the activities for conserving ‘satoyama' (community-based forests) and ‘satoumi' (community-based sea areas) in July 2014. We were also certified as a ‘Hama' road supporter in Yokohama for the revitalisation of local roads and towns.
How can Fujitsu document capture solutions help small and medium sized enterprises (SME)? How does it support entrepreneurs around the world?
Fujitsu document scanners support digital transformation in all types of businesses and also government institutions. Companies realise that "business-at-the-speed-of-paper" will no longer be economically feasible. Fujitsu scanners help create an electronic workflow to ensure that important documents are integrated into business processes. Our capturing solutions maximise productivity by easily creating searchable digital documents and integrating them into customer's business processes.
Fujitsu offers cost-effective solutions that feature smaller-scale, highly-integrated scanners specially designed to suit the needs of SMEs without compromising their finances. We are very serious about supporting entrepreneurs. Until the end of March 2016, Fujitsu is running the ScanSnap Enterprise Innovation promotion running in various European countries. Entering the competition gives start-up companies, entrepreneurs and SME customers the opportunity to win cash prizes.
How can Fujitsu's scanning solutions help government institutions in supporting their work and improving their services?
Governments in the Middle East are undergoing digital transformation to make their services quick, easy and transparent for the convenience of their citizens, residents, and visitors. Fujitsu scanning technology complements digitisation efforts. Fujitsu supports the regional governments in their desire to enhance their services by offering a broad range of scanning solutions. All our products offer seamless integration of scanned documents into any organisation's electronic workflow.
What are the latest innovations provided by PFU in the field of imaging and scanning solutions?
We have recently introduced the SP Series which provides economical but powerful scanners for first-time enterprise use and complements our existing range of fi Series and ScanSnap scanners. These scanners offer seamless upgrade paths for companies in the region looking to implement professional capture processes.