Dec. 5, 2005—At Vision 2005 in San Diego, Nov. 17, Ricoh U.S.A. touted its numbers, showed off its technology, debuted a new advertising campaign, and answered a few lingering questions on dealers’ minds.

With the tagline “Leverage the Power,” Ricoh sought to show attendees how to use their equipment and services to produce high-quality work in less time.

“I’d like to think that the key reasons we win on our playing field are the precision, speed, and intensity we apply to taking care of each of you and that you in turn, apply to taking care of your customers,” said Alan Nielsen, vice president, indirect and major accounts, in his opening speech. He went on to note the success stories of jobs done for companies like Anheuser Busch and Westchester County, N.Y., and how Ricoh equipment not only improved operations, but changed the way they viewed document management and production, as well.

The theme for the event—and heard throughout the industry today—was finding ways to not just be a printer or multi-function in an office, but to be a partner in document creation, helping businesses streamline operations and improve their bottom line.

Fixing the Problem
Tom Salierno, president of Ricoh U.S.A., said “I think about the information I get from a lot of different sources, what I see, what I read, advice and recommendations from my staff... Then I think about all the different actions and decisions that are needed to move Ricoh forward and make it successful. Every day, with a lot of help, I put the two together. Then I step back, look at the big picture, and trust that I like what I see. When I step back today, I think that the big picture looks great for Ricoh, Ricoh dealers, and IKON...with one exception that has stained our reputation as a good partner...and unacceptably impacted your business operations—Ricoh’s launch of Oracle.”

The failure of the Oracle launch, a new system designed to unite the back-end of all Ricoh machines, has been a rocky process thus far, with issues that have caused problems for dealers and customers alike. Ricoh’s management took the opportunity Vision presented them with to address the concerns of their community and reassure everyone that they are working to fix the problem.

“The advice I got early in my career was, when you make a mistake the best thing to do is own up to it and fix it,” said Mr. Salierno, pictured at right. “That’s what we’re doing. We share the credit for the most compelling, long-running partnership success stories the industry has ever seen, and I am not going to let Oracle spoil that.” He went on to note that the firm is directing all of its resources toward fixing the problem.

“Here’s where we are,” Mr. Salierno explained, “and what we’re doing regarding aspects of the new system that you have had the most concerns about. In terms of input, normal wholesale order input and pricing is working well, but for RMAP and DMAP, order entry and pricing is complex and labor intensive, which has caused unacceptable delays. The order entry process for DMAP is being streamlined, and a new series of dealer input screens you will see by the end of this month will reduce the number of screens to speed things up for you and our own people.”

Mr. Salierno went on to note that, “In terms of throughput, we found that inventory behaved differently in Oracle than we expected. In short, the order status that Oracle generated did not match the way we run our business. We revised the look and content so that the order status gives dealers real information they need... RMAP inventory is behaving differently, especially in terms of ship date and ETA. The entire process for DMAP and RMAP orders is still too long, and we are committed to fixing it as soon as possible.

“In terms of output, initially there were Oracle-related problems with dealer uploads and meter reports, which impacted billing and commissions. However, the meter collection rate has improved, which has gone a long way to remedying commissions shortfall and billing issues.

“Finally, the I-suite had some problems on launch, but we’ve been tweaking it every week so that performance is improving.”

A Bright Future
Ricoh pointed out that they have had a great year, despite the Oracle setback. For the first half of the fiscal year, the company saw an 8 percent growth for its suite of brands, in addition to a 13 percent growth in its independent dealer revenue.

Ricoh also debuted a new integrated campaign to promote its products, including television commercials, print materials, and radio spots. The new advertising features two characters, Stan and Jerry, seen below, touting Ricoh dependability and reliability.

The characters will be seen on CNN, CNBC, and Fox News, as well as in Business Week, Time, Forbes, Fortune, Newsweek, Wired, and the The Wall Street Journal.

“...We’re going to show you how we are going to evolve and extend the ‘Moving Ideas Forward’ campaign into a wide range of new properties that you can use to help you ‘Leverage The Power’ of our formidable Ricoh brand,” said Mark Pollack, vice president, product marketing and marketing support. “This message provides the big, visionary idea that, by concentrating on ideas, the real product of business, Ricoh is the brand that helps you move your business ahead.

“We will continue the advertising approach that has produced tremendous increases in Ricoh familiarity and purchase consideration. In our business, if you’re not evolving you’re dying. So, based on our continuous monitoring of the office imaging business, we have evolved this message to capitalize on what is consistently shown by users year after year to be the most important influencer on purchase decisions: dependability.”

Showcasing Innovation
Finally, Ricoh held a Technology Expo during the event, where both its own equipment and many of its vendor partners displayed solutions and ideas for using Ricoh equipment to its best advantage.

Among the displayed equipment were the new Aficio 2016/ 2020/2020D machines, which were officially launched at the event. The new digital systems offer throughput speeds of 16, 20, and 21 pages per minute respectively, and come in a variety of models to allow for scaling to fit any need.

The new units feature software such as Scan-to-E-mail, which allows users to scan documents and have the electronic forms sent to a desktop for later use, as well as SmartDeviceMonitor and Web Image Monitor, which allow IT professionals to remotely monitor device functions, check toner and paper levels, and receive error notices.

“I’m optimistic and confident about the future, and you should be, too,” said Mr. Salierno. “Look at our market share. Look at our technology and the breadth of our line. Look at our reputation in the marketplace, and look at the investments we are making in our future. When we all look at the big picture, we’ll find that we’ve been successful, and we’ll be successful, because we count on each other. That’s really ‘Leveraging The Power!’”