SMEs get big boost from office automation giants
Giants like Canon adapting to tepid economy by targeting smaller Hong Kong firms with services and systems that boost efficiency
Amid a sluggish economy, some of the big guns of office automation are targeting Hong Kong's 300,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with a range of packaged hardware, software and services to help boost efficiency in their businesses.
"It's a major trend that will make it more affordable for SMEs to stay competitive by adopting business solutions typically used by larger companies," Oliver Yau, the vice-president of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Small and Medium Business, told the South China Morning Post last Friday.
Tokyo-based Canon is the latest office-automation giant to throw its hat in the market for packaged information-technology services catering to SMEs.
The company last Thursday unveiled its collaboration with business-software firm FlexWorkflow, and with office-records specialist Kerry Business Outsourcing Solutions - under Kerry Logistics - to address the requirements of that market.
Its launch followed those of Japanese rivals Ricoh and Konica Minolta, which separately introduced earlier this year their own SME-focused technology-services offerings.
In terms of the full range of solutions, I think we have the biggest scale
Fuji Xerox, which is also based in Tokyo, has been offering its own line of information-technology and document-consultancy services to SMEs since last year.