The photographic imaging division of Fujifilm has launched an online, mobile and in-store digital image-storing, printing and gift-ordering platform making use of Dimension Data’s cloud.
Called Imagine, and built on cloud-based technology, the platform allows people to retrieve their photos from any location, and store them in the central repository. From there, they place orders for products including photobooks, canvas prints, and personalised gifts such as calendars, bags, and other items that use images.
Wessel Visser, director: Corporate Group at Fujifilm South Africa, says, “Innovation has always been at the top of Fujifilm’s agenda. Around the world, people are taking millions of photographs of special, shared experiences and storing them on hard drives or cell phones, and never looking at them again. Fujifilm wanted to give its customers secure, instant and easy access to those memories using the latest technology.
“What makes the Imagine platform the first of its kind in the world is the fact that it’s entirely cloud-based, so it doesn’t rely on a particular operating system. Imagine is integrated with all the major social media sites, and can be accessed from a smartphone, laptop, a kiosk in a store, as well as commercial printers that can print and deliver the final products.”
According to Grant Morgan, GM: Cloud at Dimension Data Middle East and Africa, “Fujifilm signed up for a trial period using Dimension Data’s Managed Cloud Platform (MCP) in the US. The development team in Australia used the MCP to build and test the Imagine platform before taking it into production using Dimension Data’s MCP in Johannesburg, South Africa. The location helps Fuji address compliance requirements relating to data sovereignty, as well as integrate with local payment gateways. The South African platform was up and running in a matter of weeks. And because the MCP also allows Fujifilm to quickly and easily scale up to grow storage capacity, the company can look at offering longer-term storage solutions for customers wishing to store photos in the cloud.”
“The platform is a foundation for Fujifilm’s future innovation and market growth,” says Visser.
According to InfoTrends’ 2014 Worldwide Image Capture Forecast, consumers would take 810-billion photos worldwide in 2014. This number will grow to 1-trillion photos in 2015 and 1.3-trillion photos by 2017. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2014 to 2017 will be 16.2%.