Ricoh Announces Preparations to Activate Support for Customers During COVID-19

Ricoh, a leading provider of smart workplace technology, has launched its action plan for business continuity and customer support in response to the Australian Department of Health’s advice for businesses to prepare to activate their COVID-19 pandemic management program.

Roy Morgan has estimated that by mid-February around one in six Australian businesses (15%) were already being affected by COVID-19. This new threat to business comes after over a quarter of Australian businesses (28%) said they were impacted by the extensive bushfires over the last few months (according to the Roy Morgan Snap Survey of 1,170 Australian businesses). “We understand that the products and services which we have are critical to our customers’ business, so we have put in place several key actions to ensure our customers can continue to effectively run their businesses during a potential pandemic,” says Tori Starkey, General Manager, Ricoh Australia.

Ricoh’s action plan includes the following elements:

• The company will proactively work directly with customers that may be impacted by factory slowdowns in impacted areas, to ensure as smooth a delivery and deployment as possible.
• All non-essential international business travel is frozen.
• All staff are required to be quarantined for 14 days if they have visited mainland China and/or Iran; have had close contact with infected and/or suspected infected persons or are living in the same building of infected cases.
• A Health and Safety Committee has been established within Ricoh Australia to closely monitor the current situation, and ensure Ricoh is constantly updated with the Australian Health Sector Emergency Response Plan For Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) as well as the recommended measures and obligations to support it.
• The company’s workplace operations throughout Australia will follow all measures outlined by the Federal Government.

Helping customers overcome the business continuity challenge

For customers requiring support with building their own action plan, Ricoh has also announced that it is providing a free workplace assessment which will take organisations though a step-by-step business continuity program. The assessment includes:

• Building a contingency plan that incorporates team members and not just technology.
• An audit of collaboration, remote audio-visual assets, internet reliability and performance to enable increased work from home.
• Refreshing team training on the usage of smart connectivity, smart meeting and smart process tools.
• Reviewing workspaces to enable better communication and collaboration solutions to ensure continuity of work between branch offices, overseas suppliers etc to overcome travel restrictions.
• Securely digitising, classifying, storing and sharing paper assets enabling sustained document collaboration.
• Providing real time workplace and guest communication during evacuations with digital signage and visitor management solutions.

Starkey said, “Many business sectors have been impacted by COVID-19, whether they be tour operators, education providers or any business working across the globe with either a subsidiary or head office in Australia. Our staff, partners and customers are always a priority for Ricoh and this action should support our ability to continue to provide the excellent service for which our brand is known to behold in the Australian market. We will continue to monitor the situation to ensure we provide our customers with the latest advice and support and to ensure the safety of both their employees and our own workforce.”

About Ricoh

Ricoh is empowering digital workplaces using innovative technologies and services enabling individuals to work smarter. For more than 80 years, Ricoh has been driving innovation and is a leading provider of document management solutions, IT services, commercial and industrial printing, digital cameras, and industrial systems.

Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh Group operates in approximately 200 countries and regions. In the financial year ended March 2019, Ricoh Group had worldwide sales of 2,013 billion yen (approx. 18.1 billion USD). For further information, please visit www.ricoh.com