Fujifilm: Born ready – building the foundations for AI, security and efficiency in modern law firms
Major law firms are investing millions in AI platforms while also looking for ways to improve efficiency, strengthen information security, increase profitability and deliver better outcomes for clients.
However, digital transformation does not begin and end with software. It also depends on how information enters the firm, how easily authorised users can find it and how securely it moves between paper and digital formats.
These priorities place greater importance on how firms manage the information their people and systems rely on. A firm’s document strategy needs to cover both paper and digital files, ensuring staff capture documents accurately, store them where authorised users can find them and protect confidential information during scanning, storage and printing.
Fujifilm’s Apeos portfolio of multifunction and single-function printers supports these everyday processes. The range offers printing, copying and scanning capabilities alongside document-handling tools, information-security controls, resource-saving technologies and configurations for different workloads.
Fujifilm, a company that has been at the forefront of toner print technology development for more than six decades, now brings these capabilities together by being ‘Born Ready’ – an approach based on four key benefits: Smart, Secure, Sustainable and Dynamic.
Smart: helping legal teams work more efficiently
Legal professionals spend significant amounts of time creating, reviewing, sharing and retrieving information. The more efficiently documents move through these processes, the more time lawyers and support staff can devote to higher-value work.
Selected Apeos multifunction printers can help streamline document capture by scanning both sides of a sheet in one pass and automatically correcting page orientation, straightening pages and removing blank pages.
Fujifilm also works with software providers including PaperCut and Tungsten Automation to offer additional print-management, access-control and document-capture options. These solutions help firms capture, route and manage documents, depending on the software and configuration selected.
Secure: helping protect confidential client information
According to Quocirca’s 2023 Print Security Landscape research, 61% of IT decision-makers reported data losses linked to unsecured printing environments, highlighting the risks that can arise when print infrastructure is overlooked within wider security strategies.
Law firms need to include printers and multifunction devices in their information-security strategies, as these devices receive, process, store and release confidential documents.
The “Secure” pillar of Fujifilm’s Born Ready approach addresses these risks through controls that help protect information during printing and scanning. Secure print release holds jobs until an authorised user identifies themselves at the device, while user permissions restrict access to selected functions. Protection also extends to documents in transit through file encryption and encrypted connections, and to the printer itself through device-hardening controls that restrict administrative access and check software for tampering.
Sustainable: reducing paper, energy and consumable use
Sustainability is often associated with major technology investments, but many opportunities come from everyday operational decisions. For example, print settings, energy consumption and unnecessary output can all contribute to avoidable waste over time.
Practical measures such as lower-temperature toner technology, energy-saving modes, double-sided printing and print-release controls can help reduce paper, energy and consumable use without disrupting everyday workflows.
Fujifilm also addresses resource use in the devices themselves, incorporating recycled plastics and flame-resistant bio-based plastics made from wood-derived cellulose into parts of the Apeos range.
Lighter designs can also help reduce transport-related emissions. For example, Fujifilm reports that the four-tray Apeos C3061 series weighs 10% less than the equivalent previous-generation C3060 series configuration, contributing to lower CO₂ emissions during transport.
The practical opportunity is to establish sensible defaults and controls that reduce avoidable consumption without making routine legal work more difficult.
Dynamic: technology that evolves with the firm
A law firm’s document needs can change as it recruits staff, moves offices or introduces new software. Companies’ greater use of digital files may increase scanning requirements, while a move to shared workspaces may change where staff need printers and how they access them. Firms should therefore consider how printing and scanning will work with the systems they already use, including the software that stores client documents and manages case files.
The Apeos A3 and A4 portfolio also gives firms a choice of multifunction and single-function printers, with different paper capacities, scanning capabilities and finishing options.
Building on everyday document processes
As firms invest in AI, automation and knowledge management, they should also examine how documents enter and move through the business.
Fujifilm’s Born Ready approach provides four priorities for that review: simpler document handling, stronger access controls, reduced resource use and equipment matched to the work. Addressing these everyday requirements can help firms improve their current processes and prepare information for wider digital use.
