Ricoh Australia Focuses on Top End Print Management

Ricoh Australia acquired Darwin Print Solutions (DPS Business Centre) in Darwin, Northern Territory to develop its print management business in that region. DPS has long been a key Ricoh dealer for Australia’s top end, which provides local organizations with Ricoh’s end-to-end print solutions. The acquisition of this business helps boost Ricoh’s document management focus in Australia.

Les Richardson, Ricoh Australia’s Managing Director, said, “We believe that the Northern Territory will be one of the strongest growth areas in Australia over the next 10 years. When the opportunity arose, it was a simple decision to acquire DPS. Through them, we have had a successful and long standing relationship with the Territory.” Richardson added, “This acquisition offers an excellent opportunity to expand our consulting and document management solutions to Australia’s top end.”

Ricoh regards the print-as-a-service model as a rapidly growing alternative to the traditional print-as-a-product model. The acquisition of DPS comes as Ricoh Australia is working to substantially broaden its print and document management map in the local market.

Earlier this year, Brian Nelson, Ricoh’s National Manager for its Managed Document Services (MDS) division, said that the area of managed document services is much more than just printing now. “There’s a difference,” Nelson explained, “between MDS and MPS. MPS is a forerunner to what a lot of the companies have been offering in the marketplace. MDS is about cost control and reducing CO2 footprint, looking at workflow in the business environment. It’s not purely about managing print, but what organizations are doing with documents from digital to printed.”

Around 8 years ago Ricoh won a contract with Woolworths to manage the retail and grocery giant’s internal print operations. Since then, Ricoh has signed up around 15 large companies in Australia to provide document and workflow management services.

Now, with the acquisition of DPS in Darwin, Ricoh is working to increase its national footprint and its range of services.