Ricoh-branded Kintone platform to launch in 2022.
Above: Ricoh President Yamashita (left) and Cybozu President Aono
On April 27, Ricoh, which aims to expand its digital service business globally, announced it has agreed on a business alliance with Cybozu, a provider of cloud infrastructure services in Japan. Cybozu will launch the Ricoh-branded version of Kintone (tentative name), a platform jointly developed by Ricoh and Cybozu. The Kintone platform, which can implement business systems with no-code and low-code, will be introduced to the Japanese market in October 2022 and the North American market by the end of 2022. Ricoh plans to start test-marketing Kintone in the European market within a year.
Kintone developed by Cybozu creates business applications, such as sales prospect management, customer inquiry history management, project progress and task management, and daily employee business reports. These applications can be developed without programming. In addition, using communication functions such as in-house SNS (Social Networking Service) enables speedy information sharing and improved business efficiency. Yoshihisa Aono, president of Cybozu, commented on the value of Kintone, “Using the cloud, we can flexibly improve the system according to the situation of the site with no code and low code. Furthermore, the system can be easily expanded according to customer needs.”
For this reason, it is an easy platform for even SMBs that lack IT-savvy personnel to adopt. Many OEMs will be able to see Kintone as a powerful platform that can help them propose improvements to customer’s operations and strengthen relationships with customers in the Japanese market. Aono explained the reasoning behind forming this business alliance with Ricoh: “To be honest, this business alliance has tremendous benefits for us. I was also deeply moved by the enthusiastic efforts for the business alliance with Ricoh. Ricoh has greatly succeeded as an office automation manufacturer and is transforming into a digital services company. ”
While tapping into the channels that Ricoh has cultivated over many years of business development, the company is expected to generate interest in Kintone in the global market and aims to create a 10-billion-yen business by fiscal year 2025. The Ricoh brand version of Kintone allows the Ricoh Smart Integration (RSI) cloud platform to evolve into a business reform platform that smoothly integrates DocuWare in the document area and Kintone in the digital process area. In the future, the company plans to provide new added value by analyzing and using the accumulated digital data to further enhance and automate its customer operations.
This business alliance offers a potential win-win relationship for Ricoh, which is looking to promote the digital services business globally and Cybozu, which is seeking to expand its business globally. Cybozu’s Kintone already has a high degree of recognition and market share in Japan and provides enhanced functionality to the company’s customers globally, immediately integrating with various applications like DocuWare and AXON IVY that Ricoh owns, as well as other applications in RSI platforms. Among them are printing, where Ricoh excels, and Ricoh’s unique Kintone plug-ins that can be incorporated into the RSI platform. As a result, Ricoh will be able to contribute to the digital transformation of SMB customers and build closer relationships with them.
Cybozu also plans to extend its overseas expansion with the support of Ricoh’s global customer contact capabilities and RSI platform.
Cybozu’s Kintone sells mainly through partners in the Japanese market and partner sales are increasing year by year, accounting for 60% of the company’s cloud sales in 2021. In the U.S., Cybozu has already established Kintone Corporation in San Francisco selling direct. Ricoh plans to incorporate plug-ins into the Ricoh-branded version of Kintone, while conducting marketing activities targeting Ricoh customers to learn what kind of plug-ins are required by U.S. customers. Ricoh President Yoshinori Yamashita commented on the biggest deciding factor for the great success of this alliance, “I believe that we will be able to obtain unprecedented customer satisfaction by working together with Cybozu’s developers and engineers at the point of contact with overseas customers, in particular.”
Cybozu currently has earned 720 subdomain contracts in the U.S. and is targeting 10,000 user companies through Ricoh’s sales network. However, when Ricoh president Yamashita heard this at a press conference, he ambitiously remarked, “Ricoh has 300,000 customers in offices across the U.S., and we can sell more and I look forward to it.”
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