Thinking smarter with our partner FUJIFILM Business Innovation

Springboard Trust’s partnerships are wide-ranging, with organisations providing volunteers or resources to support our vision of Transforming Schools Together.

One of our oldest partnerships – in fact, one that goes back as long as any of us can remember – is with FUJIFILM Business Innovation (formerly Fuji Xerox). They’ve recently completed a significant renaming and rebranding project – so we caught up with their Marketing and Communications Manager, Kevin Ptak, to see how it’s all going!

How FUJIFILM Business Innovation and Springboard Trust work together

Fujifilm’s vision is creating the future with innovative solutions for our customers and, as Kevin explains, a big part of that is their sponsorship work.

“We have a portfolio with four main themes: education, sport, community and the arts. Part of creating a better future for New Zealand is focusing on what we’re great at in service of those themes, and working with Springboard Trust is a natural extension of that.”

“Education is hugely important to New Zealand. We do lots of work with schools commercially and through our sponsorships, and Springboard Trust’s work with educational leaders is a great way to support that. We love getting behind what you do.”

Fujifilm’s support for Springboard Trust is broad, ranging from technical support and printing services to our volunteer space, with Fujifilm employees taking part in our Strategic Leadership for Principals Programme as Capacity Partners!

Of course, Springboard Trust isn’t the only educational organisation Fujifilm works with. There’s the New Zealand Principals’ Federation, Independent Schools of New Zealand, regional principals’ groups and many more.

“Fundamentally, our work in this space is about supporting others to deliver better educational outcomes for young New Zealanders – it's as simple as that.”

A future-facing rebrand

If you look up at your nearest billboard or live near a Fujifilm office, you’ll likely have seen their name – and how it has changed – in the last few months. Kevin has been working on the change from Fuji Xerox to FUJIFILM Business Innovation since 2019, and notes it reinforces a strategic shift in how they work.

“Historically we’ve been synonymous with printing, but everyone has digitised so much of what they do, and last year really accelerated that shift as many of us learned to work remotely. The name change came about because of a global change in the organisation, but it also reflects a strategic shift.”

“In particular, we’re focused on helping organisations find or adapt to new ways of working. We now provide collaborative displays and supporting technology, virtual whiteboards for classrooms, and automating time-consuming work – working smarter with what we have.”

It’s a big shift, and the rebrand was a massive undertaking for Kevin in particular.

“We have 26 sites and more than 800 people working for us across the country, so it was quite a bit of work! But the April 1st launch is something I’ll remember for a long time, the excitement of it all – we got everything in place to basically flick the switch and have an overnight, nationwide change in our brand.”

And one thing that hasn’t changed with the rebrand? FUJIFILM Business Innovation’s commitment to supporting educational outcomes.

“It’s just fabulous how Springboard Trust helps create more capable educational leaders – we're keen to support that work in any way we possibly can!”