Ricoh Americas Corporation Announces Launch Of Five Stars Program

Ricoh Americas Corporation, the leading provider of digital office equipment, announced today it will be launching the Ricoh Five Star Program for its indirect channel. This new, year-long training program was co-developed with Gartner Consulting for sales and technical staff and will help the indirect channels better assess and deliver image workflow solutions to customers.
The Five Star Program offered by Ricoh’s Document Solutions & Services Division (DSS) emphasizes Ricoh’s shift from a hardware-driven to a solutions-led business model as it is designed to focus on identifying, delivering and servicing industry solutions. The program will support Ricoh, Savin and Lanier dealers who will benefit by gaining opportunities to obtain industry standard certifications. Garnering this knowledge will enable them to rapidly diagnose workflow issues and propose industry solutions, expand their penetration into the IT market as well as generate revenue growth through reinforced IT credibility.

In order to create a comprehensive program, Ricoh has assigned program managers to dealers to provide them with performance metrics to evaluate their achievement. Dealer partners will have access to competitive profiling, subject matter experts and best practices. An added value will be to map the market, prospects and competitive ecosystems and determine actionable processes to win new business.

“At Ricoh, our focus is on providing the best customer service. The development of initiatives such as the Five Star program will strengthen our capabilities, thereby enhancing our ability to provide more value-added solutions,” said Hede Nonaka, senior vice president, Document Solutions and Services Division, Ricoh Americas Corporation.

The official launch of the program is slated for June 2007.

About Ricoh’s Document Solutions & Services Division

The Document Solutions & Services Division (DSS) of Ricoh Americas Corporation is leading the industry with a portfolio of solutions that transform paper documents into information that easily integrates into existing business workflows to measurably improve document workflow efficiencies. DSS is committed to creating new “document-centric” customer value that will revolutionize how individuals and businesses use digital and paper-based information.

DSS offers a complete package of products, services and support programs to all our channels, comprising of direct and indirect operations under the Ricoh, Savin and Lanier brands.

Ricoh Americas Corporation, founded in 1962, is headquartered in West Caldwell, N.J., and is a subsidiary of Ricoh Company Ltd., the 71-year old leading supplier of office automation equipment.