logo
  • Login
  • Register
  • Home
  • News
  • Products
  • Knowledge Bank
  • Community
  • Insights
  • Showcase
  • Drupa
  • Fespa
  • Awards
  • Reports
  • Events
  • Jobs
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • International
    • India
    • Druck & Medien
    • MENA

News Categories

Applications
Awards
BPO
Briefings
Business
Contracts
Direct Mail
Events
Environment
Investment & Installations
Labels
Packaging
People
Print Buying
Product News
Publishing

Product Categories

Consumables
Design
Digital
Equipment manufacturers
Me & My
Post-press
Pre-media
Presses
Star Products
Substrates
Technical Features
Wide-format
Printweek special supplement

Marketing Technology Report 2023

  • News
  • Products
  • Community
  • Insights
  • Showcase
  • Awards
  • Jobs

Search


Sponsored Content

Suppliers supply the tools, but partners power the growth

Sponsored
Sponsored Content by Simon Isaacs
21 June 2021
Business
Simon Isaacs: a focus on purpose is key
Simon Isaacs: a focus on purpose is key

From split-second processes to big picture strategy, Ricoh’s digital transformation experience is helping customers to innovate and grow.

Amidst the many profound changes that digital technology has wrought upon the print industry is one that we at Ricoh feel is often overlooked: the relationship between a printing company and its technology suppliers has fundamentally evolved, and expectations of the nature of that relationship have become a key consideration for us as a manufacturer.

Most printers, as they grapple with myriad pressures, want more from their vendors. In fact, they don’t want them to act like a traditional vendor at all. They want them to act as a partner – being interested in and engaged in the challenges and the opportunities the print business faces, contributing technology, yes, but much more besides – to be a sounding board, a source of ideas, fresh thoughts, knowhow, and a spirit of innovation.

The reason that printers want this level of engagement from equipment manufacturers is simple: their own customers are coming to expect very much the same from them. A print business that wants to be seen as a leader must be bold and confident; it must be a solution provider to its own customers, often in areas outside of its traditional print expertise.

It can seek to meet these challenges itself; it can partner with other service providers who perhaps bring new skills and capabilities; or it can harness the rich vein of digital experience and knowledge that sits within many technology suppliers.

The downloadable ebook covers topics from what makes a successful print company to what success looks like

At Ricoh, our response to these changes in the print market has been to ready ourselves for exactly this kind of partnership role. It is no longer just about price, or “selling boxes”. We can assist print businesses to make a digital transformation because we have already undertaken one ourselves. We can help them to innovate because it’s what we do each and every day. We are not afraid to say to our customers: whatever it is you need to find a solution for, challenge Ricoh!

Through our extensive R&D activity and the partnerships we have forged, we believe we have the biggest portfolio of print & enterprise solutions on the market. We are working with big printing firms and major brands on exciting new applications that bring both our own and other parties’ technology to the fore. Here are just a few examples where we are creating tailored solutions for our customers:

  • Bespoke print with security features using infra-red toner
  • Integrating robotics and third-party technologies that enable print and pack in one go
  • Digital factories incorporating digital experiences
  • Utilising applied print solutions
  • Building custom-made, secure workflows to connect multiple production sites

These are all real-life jobs that are helping to propel our customers into new and exciting worlds of commercial growth and opportunity. We believe that anything in print is possible and we are committed to taking these kinds of journeys with our customers.

This has called for a new ethos for Ricoh as a technology partner. We have been through the digital transformation, but our culture and how we use it to approach our customers’ problems is also critical. The way we address this now is by taking a purpose-driven approach.

Everything that a print business does – from its big picture strategy to the day-to-day, minute-to-minute processes by which it tries to implement that strategy – must have a purpose. Our consultative outlook demands that, before we even talk about selling a piece of equipment, we must understand what the business is trying to achieve and how it wants to achieve it, from the big picture to the small details.

We’re happy to start small because we have done so many times and watched great things grow from it. As a partner to your print business, this is what you can expect from us: real engagement, and a tailored solution, based on an understanding of your purpose, and designed to maximise the contribution that everything makes to that purpose, at every level of the business. This is our purpose; for us, it’s how solution providers are supposed to work.

Business Digital Equipment manufacturers People Print buying
Business

Printweek welcomes informed debate, but please read our House Rules before posting

Have your say in the Printweek Poll

Related stories

‘Plan for the future, don’t dwell in the past’

Sponsored
Ricoh: We will ask questions and listen

Customer satisfaction is the goal for 2022

Sponsored
Carter: continuous improvement should be the aim

Controlling the controllables to challenge the challenges

Sponsored

Latest comments

"Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this Jo, and PrintWeek! Please feel free to get in touch with the Howden Print Team to arrange your own Free of Charge Cyber Micro-Penetration Test to help..."
Luke Wildey profile image

View comments for: Printers urged to check exposure to cyber crime

"I never quite understand the statements such as "achieved such a positive outcome for this well-established business". The established business unfortunately failed and no longer exists, a..."
Set Off profile image

View comments for: Peterborough printco sold in pre-pack

"Genuinely sorry to read this."
Mitesh Chouhan profile image

View comments for: Peterborough printco sold in pre-pack



Up next...

Nearly 40% of UK businesses were subjected to a cyber attack or breach in the last year. 
Certification can help

Printers urged to check exposure to cyber crime

News by Jo Francis
21 May 2025
Business
Cassidy: The theme of data is starting to underpin all of Xerox's services
Held at Aston Martin Racing Technology Campus

Xerox highlights power of data at client event

News by Richard Stuart-Turner
21 May 2025
Events
Support for important local event

Fujifilm contributes to Operation Dynamo commemorations

News by Jo Francis
21 May 2025
Wide-format
Standout addition to press hall

Digital Plus bags limited edition Ciervo with DZIA artwork

News by Jo Francis
21 May 2025
Investment & installations
Printweek

Printweek is the premier website for the print industry

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertising/Feature List
  • Subscriptions
  • Awards
  • Jobs
  • Reuse permissions
© Copyright 2025 Mark Allen Group
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookie policy
  • Terms & conditions
  • Cookie Settings