KUALA LUMPUR: HP Malaysia is future-proofing its business with a three-year transformation plan to become more resilient, focused and ready for the future.
The plan involved three key focus areas of the business namely people, portfolio and operations, HP Malaysia managing director Alex Tan told NST Business.
"We are working across multiple areas to create a portfolio that is future-ready, especially in terms of solving the complexities of hybrid work, protecting customers from threats with upgraded security, and delivering the most sustainable solutions.
"This includes us continuing to build upon several business segments which have delivered more than $11 billion (RM48.5 billion) this year – namely peripherals, workplace services and solutions, subscriptions through our Instant Ink and Smart App users, and 3D and Industrial Graphics," Tan said.
Its future-ready operations will strengthen and simplify its core business in three main areas.
Firstly, it will improve operations through delivering products on time, at the right cost and quality, with better forecasting, and through disciplined sales processes.
Secondly, it will be advancing digital transformation throughout the nation by simplifying and accelerating process improvements that increase the speed of business and enable business models to capture more value.
Lastly, it is also driving cost efficiencies internally, which will free up resources, allowing the company to invest in its growth areas.
Like most businesses, HP Malaysia faced major disruption since the pandemic, but it has managed to overcome the challenges and had been on a steady path towards transformation.
Tan said the way businesses operate had changed, and it was crucial for companies to evolve in order to keep up and thrive.
"The pandemic fundamentally changed how businesses operate and expedited trends in digital transformation and work styles overnight. We live in an age of the 'empowered employee' who defines when, where and how they work in a blended world," said Tan.
He said delivering the right technology to workers to support these new ways of working has become increasingly complex and time consuming for companies, as it involves multiple vendors, distributed workers, security concerns, and IT support, among others.
The company leveraged the remote working and schooling trend by developing new products to facilitate the shift to remote and distributed workforces, which has accelerated many companies' efforts to digitise workflows and operate in the cloud.
"As customer buying behaviours continue to evolve, everyone from large enterprises and governments to SMBs, SMEs and consumers have increasingly transitioned to services models.
"With that, our strategy is designed to capitalise on these trends and drive long-term profitable growth," said Tan.
He said the company plans to capitalise on the trends through building a stronger core by advancing its leadership through innovations in Personal Systems and Printing.
It will also invest in key growth business including gaming, peripherals, workforce solutions, consumer subscriptions, industrial graphics and 3D printing.
Tan believes that digitalisation is now a key component for almost every business.
"Both large enterprises and small businesses have been leveraging innovative new technology and embracing digitalisation to grow faster, improve their business operations and reach new heights of success.
"Established corporations have already deployed digital transformation strategies over the past few years, and small and medium businesses need to pursue the similar trend to not only keep up with customer wants, but also customer expectations," he said.
Another change that the technology industry has seen in recent years is an uptick in subscription-based services, which Tan says HP has fully embraced and is primed to engage the sector to fulfil its customer's needs through its future-ready strategy.
According to Tan, HP's vision was to create technology so industries, communities, and individuals can evolve how they operate, ideate, and create what matters most to them.
"We are embracing 4IR technologies as it promises renewed investment and digital transformation of manufacturing processes and the workforce. For HP, Digital Transformation and the move to IR4.0 manufacturing is non-negotiable, and a process we started years ago," said Tan.
He added that HP's manufacturing innovation was well aligned with Malaysia's vision to grow the manufacturing sector, accelerate the 4IR push, and support the national building agenda, while spurring economic advancement and transforming industries.
"HP works with the Malaysian government closely to build a highly skilled workforce and create upskilling opportunities for the larger talent ecosystem, improving sector resiliency and creating an accelerated path towards the Future of Manufacturing," he added.
HP Penang, more commonly known as HP Malaysia Manufacturing (HPMM), houses HP's biggest microelectronics mechanical systems (MEMS) factory and produces inkjet supplies that ship to 175 countries.
The facility is set to unveil the next generation of Thermal Inkjet (TIJ) manufacturing in the near future, built with 4IR technologies.
The HP manufacturing facility in Penang opened in 2016, bringing high-value technology jobs and skills training to Malaysia.
The multi-million-dollar factory, a strategic investment to advance HP Print Consumer inkjet supplies, digitalises and optimises its print solutions production such as printheads for inkjet cartridges and ink supplies, integrating robotics and automation, industrial IoT, additive manufacturing and predictive analytics into its production lines to achieve highly digitised, automated, and AI-driven processes.