Koh Ching Hong, CEO of FUJIFILM Business Innovation Singapore, stated that by capitalizing on the demand for digitalization, the company aims to achieve double-digit growth rates in its solutions and services business.
The special feature "CEO's Guest Room" suggests that the interview with the CEO takes place in a guest room, which is often a meeting room, but there are exceptions. Koh Ching Hong, CEO of FUJIFILM Business Innovation Singapore (FBSG), directly brought the reporter to his office. He is one of the few CEOs who has done this.
Formerly known as Fuji Xerox Singapore, FBSG is the Singapore branch of Japan's Fujifilm Holdings Corporation's business innovation division. It has a 59-year history in Singapore, currently employing 450 people and serving 22,000 customers, focusing on the financial, healthcare, manufacturing, and SME markets.
On the ninth floor of an office building in Mapletree Business City, Ching Hong used facial recognition to bring the reporter into his office. The first thing that caught the reporter’s attention was an adjustable standing desk at his office. Noticing the visitor's attention, he casually demonstrated the use of the standing desk while working on his computer, usually standing with his back facing the office door.
No "CEO Desk" - Office Instantly Turns into Meeting Room
The office does not have a traditional "CEO desk" or "CEO chair," but a large screen hangs on the wall near the door, with a conference table in front of it. Chairs were found around the table, and the office instantly turned into a meeting room. The content on the laptop was projected onto the wall screen, showing illustrations of Fujifilm Group's four major businesses. The interview officially began.
Ching Hong went straight to the point: "We have fully transformed, with people, organization, and business all focused on innovation." The group has four major businesses: healthcare, electronics, business innovation, and imaging, each generating quarterly revenue of about 100 billion to 300 billion yen (approximately 900 million to 2.5 billion SGD). Using the healthcare business as an example, he said, "We are like Foxconn, a contract manufacturer for Pfizer." Foxconn is a contract manufacturer for Apple.
Fujifilm's business innovation division was originally called Fuji Xerox, a joint venture between Fujifilm and Xerox Corporation. After the two parted ways, the business was renamed "FUJIFILM Business Innovation" in 2021. It has transitioned from a traditional copier and printer business to being divided into products, solutions and services, with annual revenue of 5 to 7 billion USD (approximately 6.5 to 9.2 billion SGD), accounting for about 29% of the group's total revenue.
Ching Hong revealed that the company began its digitalization journey 10 years ago, and the pandemic accelerated this process. Aside from corporate clients in finance, healthcare, and manufacturing, SMEs are increasingly looking at digitalization but lack the necessary technology. The company seizes this digitalization demand to provide IT services, shared services, server, computer security, and backend system maintenance for customers.
Currently, about half of FBSG's clients are SMEs, but more revenue comes from large enterprises. It even undertakes business process outsourcing and business process management (BPO and BPM) services. Therefore, it now understands its customers better than when it only sold hardware products.
By capitalizing on the rising demand for digitalization, he said, "FBSG aims to achieve double-digit growth rates in its solutions and services business."
He is very optimistic about digitalization demand because of the rise of AI based on large language models, and the vast data in paper documents that need to be scanned, digitized, and structured. He believes "this market will grow rapidly in the next 20 years."
Ching Hong’s leadership specialization is in change management, having spent more than half of his career with Fujifilm.
Ching Hong, who claims to have spent half of his career at Fujifilm, joined the then Fuji Xerox in 1990. Before resigning in 2007, he had worked at Fuji Xerox for 17 years and served as the managing director of Fuji Xerox Singapore for 10 years.
Speaking about returning to his old employer, Ching Hong said, "My leadership specialization is in change management."
In the 1990s, when he joined Fuji Xerox, the company was transforming, with fax, copier, and printer technology transitioning from analog to digital and connecting to the internet. In March 2020, before Singapore implemented COVID-19 circuit breaker measures, he returned to Fuji Xerox because the company was transforming, and he took on the task of managing this change.
For him, the challenges faced by the company include how quickly it can meet market demand amid the fast-moving market as well as having sufficient manpower to seize the demand. Therefore, FBSG focuses on certain market sectors, retraining, and hiring talent in finance, workflow, and AI from outside.
Believes in Talent Development - Awarded HR Recognition
In August this year, FBSG received the "Champion of Good" award from the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC), which made him proud. He said, "We believe in developing talent, and receiving this HR award affirms our capabilities in talent and sustainable development."
He revealed that the company also provides job opportunities for people with special needs, pays them based on their roles, and encourages employees to fully utilize the SkillsFuture funding to develop their skills.
Additionally, he said, "Although Fujifilm is a Japanese company, at FBSG, all senior leaders are Singaporeans or locals. In 1996, I became the first local managing director of Fujifilm Singapore, and previous managing directors were all foreigners. This is very unusual for a Japanese company, showing it is a very progressive company, and we all have opportunities. The local management team independently decides how to achieve the goals set by headquarters."
This aligns with his personal beliefs. He said, "As a senior leader, I spend a lot of time nurturing talent in the company and at church, especially young talents." He is also keen on helping young people who have been in the workforce for three to five years, as they face many challenges, including finding the right job, career path and company, whether to get married and how to cope with economic pressures. He believes, "Young people need to learn financial planning and saving."
Always energetic, Ching Hong loves sports, enjoying running, cycling, and diving. After a two-hour interview, he enthusiastically revealed, "I go scuba diving every three months and exercise every day - running or swimming, to stay healthy." This reflects his active lifestyle.
Translated from the original article, ["首席执行官高清风：富士胶片商业创新公司 看好未来数码化需求",ZB, 28 Oct 2024, p20. Any errors are the translator's own.]