Reliable and secure Managed IT Services help SMEs speed up digital transformation
After taking over the family business of Kwong Yin Wing Koo Timber last year, Thomas Chan launched a digital transformation initiative to boost the company’s competitiveness.
Times are changing. Today, business owners cannot expect to use the same old methods and approaches to run their companies. In recent years, many enterprises have sped up digital transformation. Leveraging new technologies, they hope to boost work efficiency and be able to use their resources flexibly, with the ultimate aim of optimising customers’ experience and improving their own business performance. Nevertheless, digital transformation is not merely about procuring technologies. It also involves making well-crafted plans in accordance with the ecosystem of an industry and corporate culture. Kwong Yin Wing Koo Timber, which was founded more than 40 years ago, began the process of digital transformation last year. With an open mind, the company adopted Ricoh’s Managed IT Services. By delegating experts to devise digital transformation plans, the company can focus on expanding its business, thus boosting its operation efficiency without undermining its competitiveness.
Content
- Digital transformation of the timber product industry: using the cloud to boost competitiveness
- Outsource IT management service: ease the workload of digital transformation through a reliable partner
- Overcome challenges of digital transformation; tackle operations and security issues
- Digital transformation for greater operational flexibility and more business opportunities
Digital transformation of the timber product industry: using the cloud to boost competitiveness
Kwong Yin Wing Koo Timber is a contractor that makes wooden doors for Hong Kong’s public housing and Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) housing. It also supplies custom-made wooden doors to private and non-government organisations, including the headquarters of the Scout Association of Hong Kong as shown in the picture.
Founded in Hong Kong in 1982, Kwong Yin Wing Koo specialises in making wooden doors and wooden products that are exported to different parts of the globe. The company’s Hong Kong operation mainly undertakes contracted work for public housing and HOS housing. Last year, Thomas Chan took over the family business. An overseas educated young man, he decided to launch a digital transformation initiative whilst the company moved office. “With the advancement of global technology, digital transformation is a matter of course for many companies today. In our industry, for example, drawings are all-important. Everything from the size of wooden doors to the exact area that they are installed is based on drawings. In the past, we had to print all the drawings before going to a meeting or paying a site visit. If there was any error or if something was missing, we had to rush back to the office to reprint. That was very time-wasting. Nowadays we can store all drawings in the cloud. If you print the wrong file, you can retrieve the right one from the cloud. This can also save printing costs and help protect the environment.”
For over a decade, Ricoh has been supplying printing solutions to Kwong Yin Wing Koo. Its consistently high-quality service gives Thomas the confidence to use its Managed IT Services.
Outsource IT management service: ease the workload of digital transformation through a reliable partner
According to Thomas, in terms of IT management Kwong Yin Wing Koo is ahead of its industry peers, not least because it has delegated all the related tasks to a third party. “As the popular cyber idiom goes, ‘don’t challenge a profession with your passion’. We previously delegated IT work to an employee, but the management soon realised that IT was an important task to be done by experts. So when we decided to undergo digital transformation, we were ready to delegate the work to specialists.” But soon some challenges arose. Kwong Yin Wing Koo’s long-time IT management service provider was unable to come up with comprehensive solutions. In particular, it could not provide any cloud systems or features supporting application services. That greatly undermined Kwong Yin Wing Koo’s confidence in the provider. Following discussions with his team, Thomas decided to look for another provider. The first candidate that came to everyone’s mind was Ricoh, which has been providing Kwong Yin Wing Koo with printing solutions for over a decade.
In supporting Kwong Yin Wing Koo’s digital transformation initiative, Ricoh’s professional team studied carefully the company’s IT needs and then drew up a series of bespoke solutions.
“Our day-to-day operations involve printing a huge amount of graphics and documents, and so the depreciation rate for printers is extremely high and we use a lot of toner. Our printer and toner suppliers in the past were slow in stock replenishment. When we had a printer issue, they couldn’t provide immediate support. Sometimes we had to wait two to three days for help. There were a lot of unpleasant experiences.” After switching to Ricoh, things have improved significantly. Ricoh is swift in replenishing printing equipment and providing technical support, and Ricoh printers are durable. From time to time, Ricoh’s team provides product recommendations and supplies printers made with the latest technology. Because of the consistently high-quality service, Thomas was interested in trying out Ricoh’s Managed IT Services.
Kwong Yin Wing Koo’s business involves printing a huge amount of drawings and documents. With all the files stored in the cloud, they can be retrieved remotely with ease.
Overcome challenges of digital transformation; tackle operations and security issues
Knowing that Kwong Yin Wing Koo needed support for digital transformation, Ricoh’s professional team held a meeting with Thomas and his staff members to glean an understanding of the timber product industry, Kwong Yin Wing Koo’s business model and any challenges it faced. Then the team identified the challenges facing the company on its digital transformation journey and proffered a variety of solutions.
Challenges |
Solutions |
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Printing and storing graphics Most employees have to work outside the office often. When attending meetings or carrying out on-site inspection of a project, they have to bring along drawings related to the project. Such documents take up much storage space, and it is costly to create backups and print them. If there is any error in the graphics, one has to return to the office to reprint. That is time-wasting and may slow down a project. |
All drawings can be stored in the cloud and the storage capacity can be expanded if needed, thus saving the time spent on procuring hard storage hardware as well as storage costs. Meanwhile, the industry is increasingly accustomed to using electronic devices such as tablets to display graphics. With the cloud, it is much easier to get connected with other business partners. |
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Lack of remote tools Employees in mainland China and Hong Kong mainly use instant messaging platforms to communicate with each other and send different files, such as orders and graphics. Disorganised conversation threads and file delivery records can get in the way of effective communication, cause misunderstanding and even lead to data leak. |
Cloud file sharing Different files are classified and stored neatly, making it easy to search and share them and reducing the risk entailed in different business partners opening the files separately. After a file is uploaded on the cloud, various parties can read it remotely, thus meeting the needs of employees in the mainland and Hong Kong and those on business trip. |
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Acute cybersecurity challenges Thomas has noted that cyberattacks have become a serious problem in recent years. In particular, ransomware can cause colossal losses and so companies must boost the defence of their servers. |
Kwong Yin Wing Koo uses the data transmission service monitored by Ricoh’s Security Operations Center, whereby Ricoh can help the company detect and stop all kinds of suspicious cyber activities. Ricoh also selects new gen firewall to help protect Kwong Yin Wing Koo from cyberattacks, such as ransomware and phishing emails. |
Storing files in the cloud and adopting new gen firewall can significantly reduce the storage space needed for hardware and servers.
Digital transformation for greater operational flexibility and more business opportunities
In November 2021, Kwong Yin Wing Koo moved office and set in motion its digital transformation initiative. According to Thomas, his team has already benefited a lot from the transformation. Nevertheless, the pace of the change cannot be too fast as the employees have been accustomed to the traditional way of working. So far Thomas is satisfied with Ricoh’s support. “They never give us the hard sell. Rather they give us suggestions based on our operation needs. Whatever requests we have, they do their best to help and recommend the right solutions to us.” Thomas is most pleased with Ricoh’s one-stop service, which encompasses everything from product sale to applying for the Innovation and Technology Fund (also known as “Technology Voucher”). The service has helped Thomas and his team ease their workload significantly.
Most employees at Kwong Yin Wing Koo have to work outside the office often. With work data stored in the cloud, they don’t have to frequently commute to the office and therefore can be more productive.
The precious experience has significantly boosted Thomas’ confidence about digital transformation. Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Chief Executive’s 2021 Policy Address has made Kwong Yin Wing Koo’s digital transformation plan all the more timely - the Policy Address proposed speeding up development of northeastern New Territories and building 330,000 public housing flats in the coming decade. The proposal is expected to lead to more contracts for Kwong Yin Wing Koo. As the saying goes, "opportunities are only reserved for the well prepared". By making preparations in advance, one can remain flexible and overcome all sorts of challenges.
Kwong Yin Wing Koo mainly produces and assembles wooden doors for public housing and HOS housing. Its high-quality products and services have won it many awards.