Fan, Chan & Co. Limited is a member firm of Nexia International, a worldwide network of independent accounting and consulting firms. The key services they provide include audit, tax, accounting and secretarial services for SMEs, multinationals and listed companies. In their day-to-day operations, managing a large number of varied hard copy documents was unavoidable. The use of paper documents has undoubtedly made work processes complicated and time consuming for their employees, and resulted in inefficient information sharing and team communication within the firm.

With Canon Hong Kong’s extensive experience in information management, the team offered Therefore™ Online and Professional Scanning Service to Fan, Chan & Co. Limited. As a result, a closer connection between their Hong Kong and Shenzhen offices was established via the cloud platform, further enhancing the cross-border collaboration and ultimately making digital transformation possible.

Tackling Dull and Repetitive Tasks

For Fan, Chan & Co. Limited, employees are their most valuable resource. Tedious and repetitive tasks made new employees unmotivated to adapt to the work process, leading to a high turnover rate. This resulted in wasted time and resources for re-hiring. With the introduction of Canon’s Therefore™ Online and Professional Scanning Service, manual tasks were automated where files were digitised, synchronised and stored on the cloud platform. The intuitive design employed in the system allows existing and new employees to easily adapt to the automated process in a new paperless workflow, maintaining a high level of productivity and efficiency.

Eliminating High Operation and Storage Costs

Like any accounting firm, it was necessary for Fan, Chan & Co. Limited to keep a huge volume of customers’ paper documents for their accounting services and auditing purposes. When the volume of paper outgrew the physical premises of the firm, they rented warehouse spaces to store the hard copy documents. It was both costly and troublesome whenever the need to access certain document arose.

By digitising paper documents and storing them on the cloud platform, Fan, Chan & Co. Limited managed to reduce the costs associated with unnecessary operation and storage. On top of that, the issue of discolouration of paper over time becomes a thing of the past, as the firm gradually transforms their office into a paperless workplace.

Boosting Productivity with Easy Document Search and Retrieval

To search for a specific document within a huge archive of hard copies was both time-consuming and laborious. The problem was exacerbated when additional time was required to retrieve the document stored in another physical premises. By leveraging on Canon’s Therefore™ Online and Professional Scanning Service, documents were seamlessly digitised, synchronised and stored on the cloud platform. Through document indexing and classification, employees can now easily search using keywords to retrieve files in almost an instant.

Enabling Real-time Sharing of Documents While Ensuring Data Security

With offices spanning across Hong Kong and Shenzhen, sharing the same paper document between employees was challenging previously, as it took significant time for the document to be transferred between the offices. With Canon’s Therefore™ Online, sharing files simultaneously via the cloud platform among multiple employees not only enhanced productivity but also improved service quality. The system allows the administrator to set access permission for each of their employees as well as audit trails, version control and file locking. These security measures deter any unauthorised access and ensure maximum information security.

Digital Transformation for Greater Efficiency and Simpler Workfow

The traditional work process involved transferring huge amount of physical documents, which required at least two working days from Hong Kong to Shenzhen office. This led to a serious delay in work progress and affected the overall efficiency.

Implementing Canon’s Therefore™ Online, the employees of Fan, Chan & Co. Limited can now conveniently access shared documents via the cloud platform, which enables multiple users to retrieve documents anywhere, anytime. The results are both cost-saving and time-saving, with enhanced productivity and data traceability, leading to a higher level of service quality.

Canon’s Therefore™ Online has simplified Fan, Chan & Co. Limited’s business workflow, and accelerated the processing of large amount of data, saving employees time to focus on other key business functions. The gradual transformation into a paperless workplace also created a closer connection between the Hong Kong and Shenzhen offices, allowing seamless sharing of information and cross-border collaboration.