DALLAS and MELVILLE, N.Y., Sept. 12, 2018 — (PRNewswire) —  Hitachi Consulting Corporation ("Hitachi Consulting"), a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd (TSE: 6501), and a leading provider of digital and IoT business solutions, together with Canon Information and Imaging Solutions, Inc. ("CIIS"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Canon U.S.A., Inc., today announced a new strategic alliance to deliver digital solutions to customers throughout the Americas.

Working together, Hitachi Consulting and CIIS will leverage their respective strengths to integrate imaging into digital solutions that will help clients reduce costs, accelerate innovation and create new revenue streams. 

The alliance strengthens the delivery capabilities of both companies and builds a go-to-market partnership for the collaborative creation of client solutions. For example, CIIS imaging technology can be applied in Hitachi Consulting video analytics for security in smart city projects and manufacturing clients' video and image analytics for predictive failure and maintenance.  

"Our alliance with CIIS will improve Hitachi Consulting's suite of digital solutions and provide our clients with the opportunity to efficiently and reliably deploy imaging capabilities," said Hicham Abdessamad, president and CEO of Hitachi Consulting.  "With the new CIIS alliance, Hitachi Consulting further strengthens its capabilities to help clients work toward innovating faster, increasing operational efficiency and realizing measurable, sustainable business and societal value."

Hitachi Consulting has pioneered innovative methods by capitalizing on video data to provide real-time analytics that work toward improving a business's bottom line and operational effectiveness.  For example, by tracking and analyzing employee movements, a video system can identify quality issues at the source, which can help increase the overall productivity of the line and improve employee health and welfare.

A variety of CIIS solutions can support business process optimization efforts across multiple industries. For example, healthcare delivery can be improved by using imaging at remote points of care. Imaging can also help increase energy and environmental efficiency and streamline manufacturing operations.

The two companies will collaborate to create innovative offerings around data mining and business intelligence of Accounts Payable (AP) automation process flows, statistical monitoring and other high-value business functions.

"We are excited to bring together Hitachi Consulting's leadership in leveraging data as a strategic asset with CIIS's advanced image-related technology," said Kevin Sato, President and Chief Executive Officer of CIIS. "With our new alliance, Hitachi Consulting and CIIS will bring valued services designed to aide our mutual customers in digitally transforming their most critical business processes."

Hitachi Consulting is collaborating with CIIS on its AP Invoice Automation solution, which enables digital imaging capture of travel and expense receipts for improved and automated expense reporting and processing. Hitachi Consulting will also become an American reseller of CIIS's AP Automation solution, to bring customers more efficient processes for AP invoicing and travel and expense orchestration.

About Canon Information and Imaging Solutions, Inc.

Canon Information and Imaging Solutions, Inc. (CIIS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Canon U.S.A., Inc., brings together Canon's world-class imaging technologies and information management expertise to assist organizations in achieving their digital transformation objectives. With a focus on innovation, CIIS's software development and solutions delivery capabilities scale across several practice areas: Business Process Automation - including Procure-to-Pay invoice input automation, Document Solutions, Information Management Services with a focus on content capture, management and collaboration, and Security and Infrastructure Management. CIIS deploys its solutions in partnership with leading technology providers and offers comprehensive consulting and professional services that are trusted by organizations of all sizes. Additional information about the company, its programs and mission can be found at www.ciis.canon.com

About Hitachi Consulting

Hitachi Consulting is the global solutions and professional services organization within Hitachi Ltd., a global innovation leader in industrial and information technology solutions and an early pioneer of the Internet of Things. Hitachi Consulting is a business integrator for the IoT era and a catalyst for digital transformation. Using our deep domain knowledge, we collaborate with clients to help them innovate faster, maximize operational efficiency and realize measurable, sustainable business and societal value. As a consulting-led solutions company, we can help you leverage data as a strategic asset to drive competitive differentiation, customer loyalty and growth. Visit hitachiconsulting.com.

About Hitachi, Ltd

Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, delivers innovations that answer society's challenges, combining its operational technology, information technology, and products/systems. The company's consolidated revenues for fiscal 2017 (ended March 31, 2018) totaled 9,368.6 billion yen ($88.4 billion). The Hitachi Group is an innovation partner for the IoT era, and it has approximately 307,000 employees worldwide. Through collaborative creation with customers, Hitachi is deploying Social Innovation Business using digital technologies in a broad range of sectors, including Power/Energy, Industry/Distribution/Water, Urban Development, and Finance/Social Infrastructure/Healthcare. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com.

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SOURCE Hitachi Consulting