Fujitsu retains hardware development in its DNA, but the focus is on providing services with a vendor-agnostic approach. As an organization with a Japanese headquarters, the company believes it is now ideally suited to guide companies in the Benelux in their digital transition projects.
The time when you could buy a Fujitsu laptop is long gone. At least, outside of Japan. In the birthplace of the large company, hardware still plays a role. Worldwide, and certainly in Europe and the Benelux, however, Fujitsu has developed into a pure service firm.
“Fujitsu is currently undergoing its second transformation,” says Michael Verveckken, Managing Director of Fujitsu Benelux. “Fujitsu started as a company that made telecom equipment. From there, the company transformed into a manufacturer of IT equipment. In this second major shift, we are making the transition to a service company.”
Integrator
Fujitsu is therefore no longer competing with hardware specialists such as Dell Technologies, Lenovo, or HP and HPE. “Our major competitors at the moment are the large Indian players such as TCS and Cognizant, but also Accenture, Atos, and Capgemini,” Verveckken illustrates.
In the Benelux, Fujitsu’s role revolves around services such as the management of PCs, data centers, and the cloud, but also application development or platform implementations, such as with ServiceNow. Consultancy and integration are the main priorities, and Fujitsu is not afraid to promote solutions from former competitors.
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“We build and manage Dell hardware at LCL, manage PCs from various manufacturers, and implement cloud solutions at hyperscalers such as Azure and AWS,” Verveckken further clarifies. The Federal government, for example, is a client for an HR project based on ServiceNow.
In the Benelux, Fujitsu employs around 2,000 colleagues for this purpose. Approximately half of them work locally, for example at client sites, while the other half serves clients from foreign competence centers in, among others, Portugal and Poland, but also India.
Blockchain and quantum
Fujitsu also claims some specializations in which it is strong. Verveckken points to blockchain projects. “The hype around blockchain has subsided,” he realizes. “The technology is not going to replace banks and Swift. But now blockchain has found a limited place in a niche. A strong use case, for example, is traceability of parts in the supply chain.”
We are more than a classic integrator; we continue to develop technology ourselves.
Michael Verveckken, Managing Director Fujitsu Benelux
With that, Verveckken himself makes the bridge to the more technical expertise that is still part of Fujitsu. “We are more than a classic integrator. We continue to develop technology ourselves, such as quantum.”
Fujitsu is collaborating with universities such as TU Delft for the development of quantum technology. While waiting for real quantum computers, the company is working with clients on quantum-inspired solutions, and it is also trying to make its mark on the evolution of quantum itself.
“A major problem, for example, is the coupling between the qubit part of the quantum computer, where the temperature must be around absolute zero, and the rest of the system,” Verveckken explains enthusiastically. “We are looking for materials that allow us to operate the rest of the system at such low temperatures as well.”
Hardware in the DNA
R&D and hardware development thus remain an important part of Fujitsu worldwide. “We have not completely separated our hardware division, but retain the department within the group,” Verveckken explains. “It helps us to make services better, possibly with our own technology. This way, we sell more than just integration.”
We have not completely separated our hardware division, but retain the department within the group.
Michael Verveckken, Managing Director Fujitsu Benelux
In addition to the software expertise around blockchain and the research into quantum, Fujitsu, unsurprisingly, is also involved in AI. There, the company (like just about all other parties) collaborates with Nvidia. “But we are not going to develop AI ourselves. We want to build technology that can make existing solutions better or more efficient,” says Verveckken.
Expertise from Japan
In Japan itself, that focus on hardware is even more visible, although Fujitsu’s achievements are by no means under the radar. Just think of the Fugaku supercomputer, built by Fujitsu based on its own processors and for a while the most powerful computer in the world. Fujitsu is not only working on a next version of that system and the processor, but also distilled the system into a cloud offering, available to customers. That is immediately an illustration of how R&D ensures that the vendor-agnostic Fujitsu is still able to offer customers an extra from its own stable.
Verveckken further believes that Fujitsu’s Japanese roots can be a plus. In doing so, he does not want to point too much to souring relations with the US. The focus is on its own strengths: “Japan and Belgium have had good bilateral relations for 160 years. We have strong historical ties and Japanese investments in Europe are legion. Conversely, Europe has many interests in Japan.”
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In Japan, Fujitsu is also the technology player of choice. At Toyota alone, the company has around 2,000 consultants. An integration project in which experts from Japan are integrated into local teams should ensure that this knowledge also bears fruit here.
Mission in the Benelux
Armed with that extra knowledge, Fujitsu wants to further distinguish itself in the Benelux as a unique integrator. A vendor-agnostic approach is not unique compared to the other major integrators at the global level, but the far-reaching R&D, which further builds on an era in which Fujitsu did position itself as a pure hardware specialist, is.
The fact that Fujitsu is a Japanese company, and not an American or Chinese one, certainly cannot hurt at the moment. Looking more at its own strengths, Verveckken is working on bringing expertise gained in Japan, also concretely to here. That should suffice for the company to position itself as an attractive consultancy partner that is ready to support specialized projects. Undoubtedly, the plans will become more concrete when Fujitsu unveils its new three-year vision in a few months.