Ricoh and Cybozu Partner in the Digital Services Business

TOKYO, April 27, 2022 – Ricoh Company, Ltd. has today announced a Digital Services business alliance with Cybozu, Inc., the provider of the “kintone” cloud services teamwork platform, to accelerate digital transformation (DX) by being close to companies and organizations in Japan and overseas.

Ricoh and Cybozu will jointly develop a Ricoh-branded version of kintone. Ricoh will begin offering it in the Japanese domestic market from October 2022, ahead of its global launch.

Ricoh Japan, the domestic sales subsidiary of the Ricoh Group with nationwide sales and support branches in all prefectures of Japan, will deploy the Ricoh-branded version of kintone in Japan, by taking full advantage of the strength of its solid customer base and its capabilities of community-based services and support to a wide range of workers, including small and midsized businesses.

Furthermore, Ricoh plans to leverage its global customer base and support capabilities to expand the Ricoh-branded version of kintone to North America by the end of 2022, followed by Europe. While effectively utilizing the sales channels that Ricoh has developed over many years, Ricoh aims to introduce “kintone” and its benefits to global markets and create a business worth 10 billion yen by FY2025.

Background

There is a growing need to promote DX in all companies and organizations, utilizing digital technology to transform business and create new business models to enhance their future growth and competitiveness.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also upended people’s norms and lifestyles, and conventional wisdom has ceased to be common sense.

In this context, an increasing number of companies and organizations are reviewing their work styles. Regardless of whether they work in an office, at home, or in the field, they are faced with the challenge of improving productivity through automation and opportunities for labor savings by utilizing digital technology.

However, it is also true that the slow pace of digitization in the communication and sharing of information in business operations is a significant barrier to improving process efficiency and customer value. In addition, there is a shortage of IT personnel within companies, and there is a need to adopt tools that minimize operational burdens in the selection, implementation, and training of the most appropriate systems for the company.

“kintone” features database, process management, and communication functions, and low-code/no-code characteristics that allow easy system construction without programming expertise. This expands the number of users and usage scenarios as a tool for workplace-driven business improvement.

Therefore, the two companies have entered into this business alliance believing that they can help accelerate DX for companies and organizations in Japan and globally by providing “kintone” widely through Ricoh’s strong global channel and support network, centered on direct sales.

By combining Cybozu’s low-code/no-code development capabilities with Ricoh’s global channel support and problem-solving capabilities, the two companies will contribute to solving our customers’ DX issues through the Ricoh-branded version of kintone and support tailored to their operational needs.

Future Initiatives

Ricoh Smart Integration (RSI), the cloud platform provided by Ricoh, is evolving into a business platform that transforms business workflows. By linking data between RSI and the Ricoh-branded version of kintone, Ricoh aims to provide added value by analyzing and utilizing accumulated digital data to further advance and automate customer operations in the future.

In addition, the two companies will further strengthen their management base and DX promotion systems to transform Ricoh into a digital services company by implementing personnel exchanges of digital professionals and software engineers in the field close to their customers.

Desired Goals of Ricoh and Cybozu

During the five years of FY2021-FY2025, which are positioned as “Ricoh Lift Off,” Ricoh’s global strategy remains focused on driving transformation to become a digital services company to ensure sustainable growth and development.

This business alliance will support the business growth of digital services, as indicated in Ricoh’s 20th Mid-Term Plan.

Based on the Ricoh Group’s vision of “Fulfillment through Work,” Ricoh will strengthen its ability to provide Cybozu’s cloud service “kintone” to facilitate DX implementation at customer sites. This will accelerate the expansion of the office services business globally, which Ricoh positions as an area of accelerated growth in Ricoh’s business portfolio management.

Cybozu aims to achieve its corporate philosophy of “Creating a society overflowing with teamwork” by achieving an overwhelming share of the domestic “kintone” market and further expanding “kintone” on a global scale. With the partnership of Ricoh, Cybozu hopes to accelerate these efforts with a sense of speed and support for teamwork in all companies and organizations.

Ricoh and Cybozu will combine the creativity and collaboration of both companies to support the future growth and competitiveness of companies and organizations and contribute to the “DX of work” in the future by supporting the sharing of information and streamlining of business processes related to various operations through the power of digital technology.