PRINTITRESELLER.UK 43 PrintIT Reseller: How are you changing strategy and evolving your offering to capitalise on increased demand for cloudbased solutions, workflow automation and AI-driven solutions? Ryan Green: I feel differentiation can be achieved by tailoring products and services to the unique needs of specific industries. Healthcare, education, legal, energy and finance sectors, for example, have distinct requirements for document security, regulatory compliance, and workflow efficiency. We have also further increased our emphasis on environmental responsibility and sustainability which has proved a potent differentiator through our eco-friendly digital practices and products. Ultimately, differentiation is achieved not by selling devices, but by solving real business problems, anticipating future needs, and delivering value that resonates long after the last page is printed. Daniel Maddox: Cloud and AI aren’t buzzwords anymore – they’re the new normal. We’ve built services that enable smaller firms to operate like big firms: secure cloud storage, automated scanning, and smarter workflows that run themselves. We’ve launched our new ‘innovation circle’ where we collaborate with key clients to develop better solutions together. The aim? It’s to make those tools simple, affordable, and local – so businesses don’t need an IT department to keep up. Greig Millar: Compatibility is the key to success in the sector. We want to make sure that businesses have confidence that their printers will connect to the systems they already rely on securely, simply and without IT headaches. Our Brother Cloud Solutions platform ensures that our models are ready to work with the software customers have already, so they can trust that machines will boost productivity from the minute they’re plugged in. This is important because it makes everyday processes simpler and more efficient. For example, our integration with Tungsten Automation’s AutoStore and Printix, gives employees the ability to capture, process and share documents from anywhere. This allows organisations to create flexible workflows that reduce manual admin, strengthen compliance and support hybrid working. AI is already a common feature in the UK’s workplaces and it’s only going to become more prominent, building on its role driving automation and document processing. It has the potential to open new doors for enhancing customer outcomes in the future, but we’re already delivering strong results without it. Predictive maintenance is built into our MPS and is helping to achieve device uptime rates of 99%, ensuring customers stay productive without disruption. AI will evolve, but trust is already being earned through the reliable tools that simplify life now, not just the promises of tomorrow. Dennis Scannell: We’ve adopted a cloud-first strategy across our entire portfolio, ensuring customers can access scalable SaaS-based print and document management solutions that deliver support for modern work environments. This approach delivers the flexibility organisations demand, whether managing information across multiple sites or enabling secure remote access for hybrid teams. Our acquisition of Natif.ai in April 2024 further reinforces Ricoh’s commitment to embedding AI-driven capabilities into our offerings, complementing established solutions like DocuWare to create a powerful, integrated ecosystem that supports end-to-end digital transformation. This evolution allows us to deliver intelligent workflow automation, AI-powered analytics, and seamless integration with platforms such as Microsoft 365 and leading ERP/CRM systems. AI is transforming the way we work; it powers predictive maintenance, automated document classification, and data extraction. These capabilities reduce manual effort and improve accuracy. Data is at the heart of what we do. Our goal is clear: to help customers digitise processes, enhance security, and unlock actionable insights from their data, all while maintaining the agility to adapt as their needs evolve. Graham Foxwell: Over the last few years, and in collaboration with our strategic partners, we have reshaped our product and service portfolio and repositioned ourselves as a managed service provider and business transformation partner, not purely a print company. Key to this change in strategy has been a comprehensive diversification of our service offering, particularly in areas such as cybersecurity, workflow management and managed cloud services. We have also embraced a cloud-first or as we call it a cloud-appropriate philosophy, meeting the demand for cloud-based services by ensuring all of our new offerings – whether related to print, security or document and workflow management – are underpinned by the right cloud technology for our customers’ requirements. We are continuing to transform at pace as far as AI is concerned too. Our latest print devices, such as all new TASKalfa MZ7001 Series, incorporate AI-powered features including predictive maintenance, self-diagnosis of issues, and automatic enhancement of low-resolution print data. Our wider managed services are also integrating AI functionality, ensuring our offering continues to evolve. All of the above is helping our customers streamline operations, reduce costs, enhance VOX POP continued... Cameron Mitchell Kerry Rush Daniel Gilbert
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