28 01732 759725 INTERVIEW Workplace technology and employee experience Research from Ricoh Europe reveals that the majority of organisations lack the technology to support flexible working. Paula O’Brien, Board Director of Sales at Ricoh UK, explains how Ricoh can help improve employee experience in the post-pandemic workplace Ricoh offers a range of services to help businesses streamline operations, enhance security, and address the sustainability agenda. The company’s roots in print still remain a key focus area but driven by a number of acquisitions, the past few years has seen it expand its offering with a range of IT and digital services all of which fall under a broader ‘workplace experience’ banner. Print remains important to Ricoh. “It’s our heritage and we’re never going to move away from that at all. But I think it makes total sense, especially given the acquisition trail we’ve been on over the past three to five years, to wrap everything around a managed service rather than purely a managed print service. People are printing less because of hybrid working, but they are still printing, just in a different way,” Paula said. “We do so much more than print, and our offering continues to expand. We want to be seen as a digital services company and we’re working with lots of organisations on implementing digital services to increase operational efficiency, reduce cost and strengthen their cybersecurity.” As a case in point Paula cites Southend-on-Sea City Council which partnered with Ricoh to improve productivity, security and sustainability. As part of Ricoh digital services, the council deployed three key solutions – production and office print, hybrid mail and cybersecurity. The council’s reprographics centre is staffed and managed by Ricoh employees using Ricoh digital colour production printers and associated finishing equipment. Reprographics used to print letters, but that is now handled by a Ricoh Hybrid Mail service which is an important part of revenue generation for the council. It has made the mailing operation quick, cost-effective and less time consuming. Working with Ricoh to refine the print contract, the council has cut its print volume from three million items a year to one million. It has also managed to reduce the number of print devices it uses and has introduced more eco‑friendly products that use less power, print more efficiently and have sustainable and recyclable consumables. The Ricoh service has helped the council reduce its print costs by 17 per cent. Ricoh’s RansomCare cybersecurity solution is also now a key part of the council’s defence against cyber-attack, enabling the organisation to block attacks and stop them once inside the environment. Effective collaboration “Post-pandemic, the workplace experience and employee engagement has become so important, to companies, to workers, and to the economy. IDC research found that the percentage of hybrid workers in the UK this year is around 49 per cent, the highest in Europe,” Paula explained. “Productivity is vital to an organisation’s success, yet many workers still lack the basic tools to collaborate effectively. Just 28 per cent of UK and Irish employees say they have the technology to be able to collaborate seamlessly, which is really low.” Ricoh study revealed that one quarter of business decisionmakers acknowledge that collaboration technology isn’t really up to the industry standard and that’s making it difficult for employees to do their jobs in today’s hybrid world. Notably, employees cite having the ability to plan and schedule to ensure their workplace needs are met in advance of the working day, as one of the primary reasons to reconsider leaving their role in the next 12 months. Evolving workplace demands Paula continued: “When people do go back into the office, they’re finding it’s not so easy anymore, they are frustrated around things like booking meeting rooms or Paula O’Brien
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