Ricoh Provides Opportunity for UK Businesses to add Customer Value by Introducing Model for Mobile Printing
London, UK, 9th June 2010 – Digital office solutions and production printing specialist, Ricoh UK Ltd, today launched HotSpot Printing for Mobile Devices, enabling secure and easy printing, when on the move. The technology is ideally suited for placement in service oriented environments, helping businesses provide an added value service to customers, whilst increasing footfall.
Finding a convenient place to print e-mails and documents from laptops, smart phones or PDAs has not been easy for the growing number of mobile device users. This is despite more than 75 per cent of users expressing a need for such a service.[1] Ricoh is providing businesses with an opportunity to resolve this issue for their customers. By installing a HotSpot printer on their premises, businesses make it possible for their customers to send e-mails and documents securely via their mobile devices to a printer and retrieve their documents by simply keying in a password that has been e-mailed back to their mobile device. The HotSpot printer is easy for businesses to set up and doesn’t require installation of software or drivers.
“The demand for HotSpot Printing is apparent in the market place”, Helen Berentzen, Office Solutions Marketing Manager, Ricoh UK. “In fact many office workers find themselves missing the ability to print documents and e-mails while away from the office. As a company where innovation is customer-driven, we recognised the need to develop Ricoh HotSpot printing to help service focused businesses such as airports, hotels, and coffee franchises capture the opportunity to add value for their clientele.”
“PrinterOn is excited about expanding our already successful relationship with Ricoh North America to now include Ricoh Europe,” said Ken Noreikis, Vice President, Sales & Marketing, PrinterOn®. “This expansion into the European market is a major milestone towards the eventual worldwide adoption of mobile printing.”
How it works
Ricoh HotSpot printing technology is easy to use, convenient and secure. As a service provider there are two delivery models developed by Ricoh and their partner PrinterOn®to choose from:
1. Printing via e-mail
· Select e-mail with or without attachments
· Forward e-mail to the HotSpot Printer’s e-mail address (on a label affixed to the printer)
· Retrieve printed documents by inputting a PIN which is e-mailed to the user’s handheld device
2. Printing via a website.
· Upload attachment to print, via webpage
· Receive PIN for print job via e-mail
· Retrieve printed documents by inputting a PIN which is e-mailed to the user’s handheld device
Benefits: Simple, Mobile and Secure
Ricoh HotSpot printing delivers numerous benefits to service oriented businesses. By using the HotSpot printer as a day-to-day network printer as well as a service offering, such as placing it at a company reception for use by visitors, businesses can maximise return on investment while strengthening their customer experience. The improved level of service will contribute to increased length of stays, repeat visits and differentiation from the competition.
“The advantage of Ricoh HotSpot printing is that its technology is simple and secure, said Steve Barnes. “By leveraging cloud computing and SaaS we ensured a high level of flexibility and scalability, making certain that it meets different location requirements without needing a particular network supplier. Customers can print from any platform without having to download a specific driver or software, but document security is guaranteed thanks to the file encryption and the unique release code system.”
The service will be available starting May 11, 2010. For more information contact Helen Berentzen,helen.Berentzen@ricoh.co.uk, +44 (0)20 8261 4287.
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Note to Editors
About Ricoh UK
Ricoh designs, develops and manufactures a complete range of print and document management, hardware, software and services which are tailored to meet individual customer needs. Its devices print, copy, scan and fax documents as an integrated part of the IT network and enterprise content management system. Software is used to audit usage, manage document flows, simplify business processes, control print expenditure and secure access. The company takes an innovative approach to research and development, having invented the first digital black & white copier and introducing the colour-capable device.
Ricoh established an Environmental Protection Office in 1976, and has been striving to minimise the effect of its activities on the environment ever since. Ricoh UK’s environmental credentials are second to none; it operates a zero-waste policy at all of its manufacturing plants and is investing in carbon reduction technologies to reduce the environmental impact of its operations rather than merely offsetting its carbon footprint. The company operates a dedicated ‘Green Centre’, where old machines are re-commissioned and recycled in line with WEEE Directive guidelines and accredited with ISO14001:2004 for environmental management. Ricoh has been awarded the Carbon Trust Standard that requires an organisation to measure, manage and reduce its carbon footprint and, for the fifth consecutive year, has also been named as one of the "Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World" by the World Economic Forum in Davos.
About Ricoh Supplies
Ricoh Supplies has evolved over 20 years to become one of the largest office products & printer consumable suppliers within the UK. Offering award winning services and customer care, Ricoh Supplies is a trusted source of office supplies to UK PLC and has over 20,000 products available for next-day UK delivery. All products are ISO9001, ISO14001 & ISO27001 compliant.
Further information can be found atwww.ricoh.co.uk.
For further information, please call the Ricoh UK PR team at Burson-Marsteller on +44 20 7300 6172
About PrinterOn Corporation
PrinterOn is the world’s leading mobile printing solution provider. The PrintSpots solution from PrinterOn allows users to print documents to any networked printer anywhere in the world using a smartphone or laptop. PrinterOn solves the problem of incompatible hardware and software by moving data securely across the Internet without the use of drivers. The PrintSpots mobile printing solution has been installed in over 35 countries across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific within the hospitality, education, airport, library, food service, corporate and healthcare industries. PrinterOn is based in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, and has been delivering award-winning document handling solutions for over 25 years. www.printeron.com
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[1]Lyra Research’s, “Mobile Users Interest in Wireless Printing,” Mobile Office Equipment Users Survey
