Ricoh Consulting Services is expected to account for a third of Ricoh New Zealand's revenue - currently about $100 million a year, and growing - within three years.

General Manager Cameron Mount heads a 20-strong team of IT consultants and document management experts, and is recruiting more specialists.

He says the new brand was a natural evolution as Ricoh expanded its core operation to focus less on hardware and more on information management.

"This is really the last frontier of business cost reduction. By reducing time-consuming or costly processes, Ricoh Consulting Services will improve clients' productivity and reduce their costs."

The systems Ricoh can improve include document and record management, accounts payable automation, scanning and digitization, and data extraction, using Ricoh's access to a suite of world-leading software - some exclusively.

"We are proving to a diverse range of clients that our team has the expertise to deliver big picture thinking which results in major efficiency gains."

"There is no question this service-based skill set is the way of the future in our industry. Our multi-function devices still have a big part to play, but the crucial value we now add is transforming clients' business processes through total understanding of their needs."

Clients of many different sizes and types, including Croxley Stationery, De'Longhi New Zealand, Foodstuffs, and several government ministries, have made excellent efficiency gains from calling in Ricoh Consulting Services, Cameron Mount says.

Kelly Beedie from Croxley says: "Orders which previously took up to three hours to process are now completed in four to five minutes."

Cameron Mount says key business processes such as accounts payable and human resources show major productivity gains with assistance from Ricoh to eliminate paper-based document workflows.

"Reducing time wasted dealing with information overload can save companies tens of thousands of dollars a year, depending on the size of their workforce."

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