![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/B-roll-Selects.00_24_00_04.jpg\")
Coriddi sat down with ENX Magazine to provide perspective behind Ricoh\u2019s wide-ranging initiatives, from smaller-scale dealer meetings that cut to the chase of business integrations and efficiencies to the JV with Toshiba and other elements that may not necessarily be product-driven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How did Ricoh fare in the U.S. during the first three quarters of 2024, and what were some of the variables that played a role in shaping the year? How did expectations line up with results?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Coriddi<\/strong>: It\u2019s been a solid year. I think we certainly held our own relative to the industry for the calendar year. But quite frankly, it wasn\u2019t the same type of year-over-year growth we had seen the past couple years since COVID. It\u2019s difficult to make an apples-to-apples comparison, because I think there was a lot of pent-up demand because of supply chain blockages that got shipped last year on top of the regular business. In that sense, we had a 15-month year last year from a pure shipment standpoint. The good news is production has been very strong, particularly in the higher segments where we play. We didn\u2019t have as much unit growth, but we had good revenue growth because of the mix on the higher end. We think that\u2019s because print is increasingly going from the office devices to more volume on the production units. I think that market trend certainly plays to our strategy. There\u2019s a continuous focus on sustainable workflows and the demand for adjacent offerings to help customers manage their information. In the core, I think we maintain our leadership position as a top-tier provider, along with production and the cloud-based applications and services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What can you tell us, progress-wise, about the Etria joint venture with Toshiba? Is everything on schedule, including the timetable for technology development?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Coriddi<\/strong>: We announced that joint venture with Toshiba Tec [in 2023], and as of July 1 [2024], the new manufacturing company, Etria, was launched as a Ricoh subsidiary, and we own 85% of it. The most significant part of this venture is that it emphasizes Ricoh\u2019s innovative commitment to stay ahead of the business landscape when it comes to MFP print devices. This is a big commitment and investment, and everything\u2019s moving on schedule. As we stated initially, we\u2019re not going to see any newly manufactured product for 18\u201324 months, and there\u2019s been no departure from that schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We learned a lot from the supply chain issues a few years ago. From a manufacturing standpoint, it\u2019s really all about sourcing the parts and components, and having a wider variety of vendors. This joint venture puts us in a position where there\u2019s much more flexibility by having additional facilities and different sources for these components. That part is very positive. And I think it\u2019s important to stress that Ricoh and Toshiba remain two totally different, independent companies. Neither company has a line of sight into each other\u2019s plans. We\u2019ll continue to market and support the businesses exclusively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It seems as if Ricoh started a trend when it comes to OEM agreements. Considering the new players in the landscape, do you think we\u2019ll see any fundamental changes in the U.S. market?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Coriddi<\/strong>: Each of these partnerships have different characteristics to them. In terms of OEMs establishing different types of relationships, Ricoh has been an innovator for a long time. In years past, we acquired Savin, Lanier and IKON, and in a lot of ways those deals were different from what had been done in the past. When we acquired Hitachi and IBM print solutions, we used that as a catalyst to be a leader in production. That was a big thing. In 2017, we basically transferred our SMB strategy to our dealers. So we\u2019ve been at the foreground of those types of deals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2024, these OEM relationships kicked into high gear. I think the new players in the market are going to be challenged by a lack of customer support footprint. Some of our competitors have chosen to reduce their dealer field support, and we\u2019ll see what it all means. Customers look to their providers for more adjacent offerings, and this is right in line with Ricoh\u2019s strategies. We\u2019re in a strong position as these changes continue. And we expect there will be more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What stands out as some of the watershed moments for Ricoh over the past 12 months? What resonated the most with you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Coriddi<\/strong>: The business is changing on so many levels. One of the recent investments we made, Etria, really exemplifies our commitment to support our dealer partners. We also had a provocative acquisition of a software company called natif.ai, which is going to allow us to bring artificial intelligence into the DocuWare content management platform. We also acquired Cenero, an A\/V services company that brings new revenue value to our offering. In fact, we\u2019re launching a dealer support system to provide that to the dealer. Ricoh has made all of these acquisitions in a coordinated, thoughtful way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another thing that stands out is how we\u2019ve dramatically increased communications with our dealers. We\u2019ve gone to smaller conferences and venues so we could have more transparent dialog and more intimate business discussions with our dealers. That\u2019s critical because we plan to work together with them to take share. It\u2019s important to have a strong connection and an element of integration with the strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What does this mean for the future of the Partner Summit?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Coriddi<\/strong>: We had two national meetings in 2024\u2014one in Washington, D.C., the other in Los Angeles. The total amount of time we were together with our dealers during each meeting was 24 hours. The idea was to ensure dealers didn\u2019t have to be out of the office for long. It was an intense 24 hours, however, and the feedback from our dealers was that it was an extremely transparent dialog. It was high impact because it was business focused. It was our next step in coming out of the larger meeting that we had in Denver in 2023. We\u2019re able to dive deeper into business efficiencies with them. There\u2019s always talk about products and programs, as in all OEM-client conferences, but we\u2019re looking to take this relationship with our key dealers to another level, and that\u2019s integrating and making our business more efficient working together. In 2025, we plan to have more connections with our dealers and their teams and do these smaller events. We\u2019ll couple that with more webcast-type initiatives where we can talk directly to the sales forces and leaders at the dealerships. Are we planning one large event for this coming calendar year? Probably not. A larger event will probably happen sometime after 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What innovations can we expect to see during 2025?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Coriddi<\/strong>: We\u2019re going to be leveraging AI a lot more in our overall solutions. AI is such a broad term, but we\u2019re utilizing it a lot now in how we\u2019re going to provide our portfolio, how we\u2019re going to support our portfolio and how we\u2019re going to work through to the customer. I think you\u2019re going to continue to see an expansion on our focus on security and sustainability. As we launch our new products, we\u2019re developing more extended life parts to drive fewer service calls. We\u2019re leveraging Ricoh intelligence support that allows quicker resolution of the more common issues with dispatching and things of that nature. The other thing you\u2019re going to see is the business integration, in which Ricoh is going to be offering more x-as-a-service\u2014supply chain and marketing, for example. That\u2019s where you\u2019re going to see a lot more different innovations in how we do business. We\u2019re really looking to take the whole business efficiency element to another level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ve already addressed the role AI will play in future Ricoh technologies. If a manufacturer isn\u2019t talking about AI actively or pursuing it, then they\u2019re kind of falling behind the rest of the pack.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Coriddi<\/strong>: No doubt. We\u2019re all going to be talking about it. The concept of AI is a broad stroke, but we\u2019re taking practical action. The natif.ai component is playing a large role in the DocuWare IDP that we\u2019re launching in 2025. We\u2019re looking to bring the AI functionality more into what we call our Ricoh Smart Integration platform, and that\u2019s already starting to be more and more embedded. The AI piece of it is going to take on a lot of different forms. It\u2019s going to make the content management and document handling more intelligent than we\u2019ve done in the past. It\u2019s also going to be creating efficiencies in how we support and service the product. This isn\u2019t Star Wars anymore\u2014this is in our lab and coming soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What will be the keys to Ricoh garnering a greater market share moving forward?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Coriddi<\/strong>: When we look at print, we have to grab it wherever it is, including office machines, single-function printers, production, getting into print centers and going more remote\/work from home. While we feel our core business remains paramount to where we\u2019re going to be, we\u2019ve also been preparing for and investing in different types of adjacent technologies. When I talk about the A\/V services and what DocuWare brings, they\u2019re all the things we\u2019re doing to provide more value to print, to differentiate ourselves, to be able to secure more market share. We\u2019re providing something that\u2019s not just about print. It\u2019s about helping customers manage their information. We\u2019re going to continue along the more traditional lines and get more aggressive with print, but it\u2019s also about bringing our partners a more well-rounded overall value and offering to secure their positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Is there anything on the horizon from a program or partnership standpoint?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Coriddi<\/strong>: When we talk about partnerships, we\u2019re looking to take our current ones to another level. It\u2019s not as much going out and engaging new relationships. Ricoh is in an acquisition mode as far as looking at entities that could add to our portfolio in an adjacent manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What will a successful 2025 look like in your estimation? What are some of your goals?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Coriddi<\/strong>: When I think about our goals, it\u2019s really to accelerate the growth of our dealers by providing a portfolio that\u2019s more aligned with the changes in the marketplace. It\u2019s not just the traditional elements, but putting our dealers in more of a position to change the conversation with their customers, to be more consultative, to be more in line with helping their customers manage their overall information. We certainly anticipate growing our market share in the core. We\u2019re looking to expand with our dealers, particularly as production continues to grow, and building out the software and services capabilities we have with our dealers. We\u2019re targeting a lot of growth in specific markets, and that includes the public sector on the print side as well as health care in managing the overall information management solution. So I guess to net it out, it\u2019s growth. I know that sounds trivial, but that\u2019s growth in a flat to slightly declining industry. It\u2019s a big claim, and we feel as if we\u2019re going to be able to grow the business. We\u2019re going to need to do that by taking share, and that\u2019s what success looks like in my estimation. If we have 4%\u20135% growth by taking share, that would be considered successful in 2025. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If there\u2019s one thing Jim Coriddi abhors, it\u2019s the thought of his company falling behind the curve. But the chief dealer officer, U.S. dealer division for Ricoh USA doesn\u2019t have to worry about the manufacturer becoming complacent from a market or technology standpoint. Not to mention a partnership point of view. Or through the M&A lens. Actually, Ricoh gets credit for crossing M&A with technology courtesy of the 2024 acquisition of natif.ai by its Tokyo parent company. That promises to proliferate the product and service catalog with various incarnations of artificial intelligence. Its joint venture with Toshiba Tec seems to have triggered a new wave of manufacturer-to-manufacturer agreements. Closer to its U.S. headquarters in Exton, Pennsylvania, the 2022 addition of Cenero\u2014a service-focused audio-visual technology, unified communications and IT solutions provider\u2014buttressed Ricoh\u2019s desire to expand the conversations its dealer partners have with their customers. Coriddi sat down with ENX Magazine to provide perspective behind Ricoh\u2019s wide-ranging initiatives, from smaller-scale dealer meetings that cut to the chase of business integrations and efficiencies to the JV with Toshiba and other elements that may not necessarily be product-driven. How did Ricoh fare in the U.S. during the first three quarters of 2024, and what were some of the variables that played a role in shaping the year? How did expectations line up with results? Coriddi: It\u2019s been a solid year. I think we certainly held our own relative to the industry for the calendar year. But quite frankly, it wasn\u2019t the same type of year-over-year growth we had seen the past couple years since COVID. It\u2019s difficult to make an apples-to-apples comparison, because I think there was a lot of pent-up demand because of supply chain blockages that got shipped last year on top of the regular business. In that sense, we had a 15-month year last year from a pure shipment standpoint. The good news is production has been very strong, particularly in the higher segments where we play. We didn\u2019t have as much unit growth, but we had good revenue growth because of the mix on the higher end. We think that\u2019s because print is increasingly going from the office devices to more volume on the production units. I think that market trend certainly plays to our strategy. There\u2019s a continuous focus on sustainable workflows and the demand for adjacent offerings to help customers manage their information. In the core, I think we maintain our leadership position as a top-tier provider, along with production and the cloud-based applications and services. What can you tell us, progress-wise, about the Etria joint venture with Toshiba? Is everything on schedule, including the timetable for technology development? Coriddi: We announced that joint venture with Toshiba Tec [in 2023], and as of July 1 [2024], the new manufacturing company, Etria, was launched as a Ricoh subsidiary, and we own 85% of it. The most significant part of this venture is that it emphasizes Ricoh\u2019s innovative commitment to stay ahead of the business landscape when it comes to MFP print devices. This is a big commitment and investment, and everything\u2019s moving on schedule. As we stated initially, we\u2019re not going to see any newly manufactured product for 18\u201324 months, and there\u2019s been no departure from that schedule. We learned a lot from the supply chain issues a few years ago. From a manufacturing standpoint, it\u2019s really all about sourcing the parts and components, and having a wider variety of vendors. This joint venture puts us in a position where there\u2019s much more flexibility by having additional facilities and different sources for these components. That part is very positive. And I think it\u2019s important to stress that Ricoh and Toshiba remain two totally different, independent companies. Neither company has a line of sight into each other\u2019s plans. We\u2019ll continue to market and support the businesses exclusively. It seems as if Ricoh started a trend when it comes to OEM agreements. Considering the new players in the landscape, do you think we\u2019ll see any fundamental changes in the U.S. market? Coriddi: Each of these partnerships have different characteristics to them. In terms of OEMs establishing different types of relationships, Ricoh has been an innovator for a long time. In years past, we acquired Savin, Lanier and IKON, and in a lot of ways those deals were different from what had been done in the past. When we acquired Hitachi and IBM print solutions, we used that as a catalyst to be a leader in production. That was a big thing. In 2017, we basically transferred our SMB strategy to our dealers. So we\u2019ve been at the foreground of those types of deals. In 2024, these OEM relationships kicked into high gear. I think the new players in the market are going to be challenged by a lack of customer support footprint. Some of our competitors have chosen to reduce their dealer field support, and we\u2019ll see what it all means. Customers look to their providers for more adjacent offerings, and this is right in line with Ricoh\u2019s strategies. We\u2019re in a strong position as these changes continue. And we expect there will be more. What stands out as some of the watershed moments for Ricoh over the past 12 months? What resonated the most with you? Coriddi: The business is changing on so many levels. One of the recent investments we made, Etria, really exemplifies our commitment to support our dealer partners. We also had a provocative acquisition of a software company called natif.ai, which is going to allow us to bring artificial intelligence into the DocuWare content management platform. We also acquired Cenero, an A\/V services company that brings new revenue value to our offering. In fact, we\u2019re launching a dealer support system to provide that to the dealer. Ricoh has made all of these acquisitions in a coordinated, thoughtful way. Another thing that stands out is how we\u2019ve dramatically increased communications with our dealers. We\u2019ve gone to smaller conferences and venues so we could have more transparent dialog […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2938],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63119"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63119"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63122,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63119\/revisions\/63122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}