Frost & Sullivan honors Ricoh at 2014 CIO Impact Awards Gala

MALVERN, Pa., April 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Ricoh Americas Corporation was named a top winner at the CIO Impact Awards earlier this year. Frost & Sullivan recognized recipients of the CIO Impact Awards Best-in-Class, Technology Partner, and CIO Game-Changer honors, at an awards gala held at the 2^nd Annual ConNEXTions 2014 Executive MindXchange in San Francisco, CA.

Winners of the CIO Impact Awards are recognized as individuals and companies enabling breakthrough new business models and strategies through the innovative use of transformative technologies. Ricoh received three awards – Enterprise Architecture, Best in Class and CIO Innovator of the Year – for facilitating a five year strategic systems integration roadmap initiative that brought together HR, field services, CRM, and ERP systems, while also embracing mobile, social, and cloud technologies to better service both employees and customers.

With Ricoh's acquisition of IKON Office Solutions in 2008, there was an opportunity to create an enhanced, streamlined organization. Not only was efficient operations important, but there was a desire to tap different resources and cloud applications to help all employees become more knowledgeable and bring efficiencies in workforce especially sales productivity. The overall architecture Ricoh implemented is easy-to-use, more efficient due to the use of cloud-based applications, and offers access to more services for the customer.

"The CIO Impact Awards Judges were very impressed with how Ricoh Chief Information Officer Balaji Rangaswamy and his team built on an ambitious end-to-end infrastructure integration initiative to enable a host of new benefits such as enhanced field services, improved sales productivity and better customer engagement," said Jeff Moad, Frost & Sullivan Research Director. "These achievements not only saved Ricoh millions, they also reinforced the company's position as a leader in information services."

Balaji Rangaswamy was named CIO Innovator of the Year for leading the successful integration initiative which was completed at the end of 2013. Rangaswamy served as the primary driver for the majority of budget and technology decisions involved with this rollout plan.

"It's an honor to have this integration recognized by Frost & Sullivan," expressed Rangaswamy. "It further validates Ricoh's leadership in helping our employees and customers succeed in a new world of work. As a leader, we are committed to having the most knowledgeable sales force in order to best serve our customers' evolving needs."

For details on Ricoh's full line of products, services and solutions, please visit www.ricoh-usa.com.

For more information on the 2^nd Annual ConNEXTions: A Frost & Sullivan executive MindXchange, go to: www.bestinformationtechnologyevent.com. For more information regarding the CIO Impact Awards & Gala, please go to: www.frost.com/cioawards.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants.

Our "Growth Partnership" supports clients by addressing these opportunities and incorporating two key elements driving visionary innovation: The Integrated Value Proposition and The Partnership Infrastructure.

• The Integrated Value Proposition provides support to our clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation including: research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation and implementation.
• The Partnership Infrastructure is entirely unique as it constructs the foundation upon which visionary innovation becomes possible. This includes our 360 degree research, comprehensive industry coverage, career best practices as well as our global footprint of more than 40 offices.

For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Is your organization prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics and emerging economies?

| About Ricoh |

Ricoh is a global technology company specializing in office imaging equipment, production print solutions, document management systems and IT services. Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh Group operates in about 200 countries and regions. In the financial year ending March 2013, Ricoh Group had worldwide sales of 1,924 billion yen (approx. 20 billion USD).

The majority of the company's revenue comes from products, solutions and services that improve the interaction between people and information. Ricoh also produces award-winning digital cameras and specialized industrial products. It is known for the quality of its technology, the exceptional standard of its customer service and sustainability initiatives.

Under its corporate tagline, imagine. change.,Ricoh helps companies transform the way they work and harness the collective imagination of their employees.

For further information, please visit www.ricoh.com/about/.

© 2014 Ricoh Americas Corporation. All rights reserved. All referenced product names are the trademarks of their respective companies.

Contact:
John Greco
Ricoh Americas Corporation
(973) 882-2023
[email protected]

Jill Searl
Brodeur Partners
(603) 559-5824
[email protected]

SOURCE Ricoh Americas Corporation