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How the company has moved from traditional printing to creating new value through digital hybrid solutions
Whether you check yours or not, most people receive a bank statement every month. It is a well-established routine, but have you ever wondered who prints and digitises these records? Thomas Wan, chief executive and deputy managing director of Toppan Edge, has the answer.
High security, high value
Toppan Edge was established in Hong Kong in 1972 under its Japanese parent company. Over the past five decades, it has become a leading one-stop business information management solutions provider.
“Back then, we provided computer forms. Now, we handle security printing for the finance industry. We process personal data for bank statements and credit cards with extreme detail and discretion, and we help our clients deliver it to their customers,” says Wan.
The Hong Kong Government is among Toppan Edge’s heavyweight clientele. “We were involved in the most recent District Council election; we were responsible for sending out notification letters to voters and processing ballot data,” he says. “Needless to say, data security is extremely important to our company and clients, and we have invested a lot of resources into it.”
Toppan Edge recently received a gold award from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data in Hong Kong (PCPD) for its efforts to respect and protect data privacy. “To ensure data security, having a discrete, standalone manufacturing site is crucial, and the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) made it possible,” comments Wan.
In fact, Toppan Edge’s relationship with HKSTP dates back to 2000, when the company moved to one of HKSTP’s industrial estates. “It was affordable for the space it offered, especially in Hong Kong, where space is scarce,” he recalls.
Now, as InnoPark tenants, Wan and his team are exploring collaboration opportunities with start-ups in fintech, insurtech and process automation. “Our clients include some of the most powerful corporations in Hong Kong. If we collaborate with start-ups, we can bring their innovation solutions to the table and help our clients simultaneously, which is a triple win.”
Going hybrid
In an era when the virtual world increasingly reigns supreme, Wan and his team are keeping up with the times by accelerating digitisation. “Apart from digitising documents, we also help companies streamline their data collection and develop apps for consumer onboarding,” he explains.
Through digitisation, Toppan Edge is also bringing convenience to the daily workplace. “We have always printed name cards, but now we also produce e-business cards,” he says. “Using Near Field Communication (NFC, a subset of RFID) technology, people can use their phones to scan information and save it to their contact list. All it takes is one tap.” The company’s cutting-edge Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is also deployed in the e-toll cards used by Hong Kong commercial vehicle drivers every single day.
Despite the increasing demand for digital solutions, Wan maintains that a balance must be struck in a business hub like Hong Kong, where many big corporations operate in a traditional bureaucratic manner and cater to an ageing population of long-time customers. “In our commercial environment, it is hard to leave paper behind, which is why we provide digital hybrid solutions,” he says. Alongside its cutting-edge digital solutions, Toppan Edge offers traditional printing services, according to client preferences. The company continues to showcase its multifaceted expertise in printing products like cash coupons and tickets, which require anti-counterfeit technology.
AI and collaboration
Wan and his team are embracing AI and intelligent data processing technology to improve business process management. “Information can be unstructured and there can be multiple documents with different layouts, which makes it extremely hard to do data capture and conversion with traditional optical character recognition (OCR),” explains Wan. In the past, Toppan Edge has worked with its Indonesia branch to process SME loans for banks. “This is where AI OCR comes in handy, because it can keep on learning how to extract useful information,” says Wan, adding that he would like to explore the potential of this exceptional tool in Hong Kong.
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