*NEWS*RICOH OUTLINES 2006 STRATEGY

[Anonymous]

Ricoh outlines 2006 strategy
New products and technology to win users
Printer
and document management specialist Ricoh this week outlined plans for
major new products and technology designed to appeal to IT directors by
lowering costs and improving the manageability of their printingg
solutions.
Currently in beta in the UK, @Remote is an internet-based
support service for the remote management of multi-function devices
(MFDs), printers and other output devices which are connected to the
network.
It automates the time-consuming task of meter reading and
toner ordering, freeing up IT administrators to take on more important
tasks, and gives senior IT staff greater visibility into their printing
devices so they can manage their fleet better, according to Ricoh.
The
firm’s UK marketing director, Chas Moloney, said the system also
monitors the status of devices connected to the network and will
trigger a service call if it detects potential printer failures, thus
reducing the management burden for IT and increasing revenue by
limiting downtime.
“The challenge we face is that printing is a low
agenda item for the IT manager,” said Moloney. “We are trying to tell
them how much cost is leaving their business from a print perspective
and the huge opportunities for savings that could be made.”
Ricoh
also revealed it will unveil new ink technology in the UK, which is
designed to dry faster than conventional inkjet ink so it can print
faster and increase user productivity.
According to the firm’s
dealer sales director, Paul Cheetham, the new Gel technology is set to
be embedded in up to five new “cost effective and ergonomically
designed products”, aimed at the low volume market, for release this
April.
The announcements came during a press event in New York to
showcase the firm’s new product demonstration centre there, which will
be complemented by the launch of a similar centre in the UK this spring.
The
Ricoh Technology Portal is a purpose-built complex that allows IT
administrators to construct and view their existing printing set-up,
see where productivity and cost is being wasted and demo potential
solutions.
The centres highlight the company’s strategy of engaging
closer with IT managers to create solutions tailored to the specific
needs of their business, said Ricoh.
“Nothing is worse when you are
buying something than for the vendor to say ‘this is how it works, but
it will be different when you put it in your environment,” argued
Moloney. “This portal will give the IT manager confidence that it will
work in their unique environment, because no two companies are the
same.”
The portal can also enable IT directors to satisfy the
growing concerns of securing devices, legislative compliance, and
integrating printing devices with back office systems, added Andrew
Young, manager at the New York TechnoPortal.
Ricoh also announced
last week that it will be launching a new division, Ricoh Printing
Solutions, into the UK within the next couple of months, targeting the
high volume datacenter market with products the company acquired when
it bought Hitachi Printing Solutions in 2004.

[Author]

February 10, 2006 at 11:19 AM