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Customer Satisfaction
Turning customer feedback into products and services
In our continual pursuit of RICOH Quality, we reflect feedback from customers and rapidly respond to their changing needs. This allows us to provide customers around the world with value that is unique to Ricoh. We also look ahead to anticipate what new values customers will require in the future, and engage in customer-centric improvement initiatives.
A promotion organization of increasing customer satisfaction
In order to enhance customer satisfaction, Customer First Center (CFC) that direct reports to CEO was founded in 2018.
It leads to create manufacturing processes and cultivate our corporate culture from customer-centric viewpoint across the Ricoh group.
Customer Contact Center, one of organizations in Ricoh Japan Corporation (an operating company in Japan), moves to CFC to shares voice of customers directly and quickly with manufacturing processes to improve these processes.
CRM databases enable us to propose products and solutions for the customer’s future needs
In the approximately 200 countries and regions where we operate, Ricoh Group sales and support companies establish close ties to the local market while maintaining a consistent global strategy.
Sales companies in each country within our four major business regions—Japan, the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific —have direct contact with customers, operate and oversee equipment information and maintenance histories with customer relationship management (CRM) databases.
Each company continuously carries out customers’ needs analysis and inspection to discover these challenges and problems, using their CRM databases. That enables us to offer products and solutions to meet their specific needs. Apart from national CRM databases, the Ricoh Group has centrally and globally managed information on customers around the world that covers not only sales and equipment information but also histories of special orders and customizations.
Our mechanism of customer satisfaction survey
In order to improve customer satisfaction, Ricoh has regularly conducted customer satisfaction surveys in all regions of the world (Japan, Asia Pacific, the Americas, and Europe) in which the Company operates. These are two kinds of survey. One is conducted by a third party to understand our strengths, weaknesses and positioning in the market in comparison to our competitors. The other is conducted by each business and area of Ricoh to discover our problems. These survey results are reported to our senior management, and the results are considered in management decisions on the Ricoh group and improving new products design and sales and services.
In addition, we have set customer satisfaction survey results as one of the ESG targets linked to our material issues since fiscal 2020, and we have disclosed the results.
Materiality for the Ricoh Group
Ricoh Japan Corporation, an operating company in Japan, leverages a survey result on customer satisfaction conducted by J.D. Power Japan Inc., a survey company, to improve its products and sales and services. In 2022, Ricoh Co., Ltd. and Ricoh Japan Corporation got the 1st rank at 3 categories. (Refer to the following chart)
Making full use of customer comments
We listen closely to customer comments and have programs in place to apply this vital input to the development of our products and services.
These customer needs are sent these customers needs to development division, who use it for R&D and product improvements. Sales and product planning and development divisions also share data and observations whenever we launch a new product or develop a new market.
Listening to customer voices
Call Centers
Call Centers in more than 50 locations worldwide respond attentively and in a manner appropriate to regional conditions, channeling customer input to those working to improve products, sales and service.
Customer Centers
Sales companies in each country give us direct contact with customers, but the Ricoh Group also has independent Customer Centers that customers can contact directly. Customer requests, complaints and claims are fed back to relevant departments within our organization.
Global Technology Centers and Customer Experience Centers
The Ricoh Group has Global Technology Centers in six countries and Customer Experience Centers in four countries around the world. These on-the-ground facilities are extremely useful in picking up customer needs that can lead to the creation of new technology.
Endeavoring to enhance user-friendliness based on customer feedback
The Ricoh Group constantly evaluates customer satisfaction with its products and services.
We have identified ways to make our products better by analyzing customer satisfaction surveys and by planning and developing offerings that customers find useful.
Here, we will present initiatives that reflect customer feedback.
Empowering immediate usage
We drew on feedback from a customer satisfaction survey to explore new issues. In the process, we learned that many customers want their systems to more quickly wake up from standby mode. We therefore set about improving functional specifications.
We assessed behavioral patterns to determine what customers really seek in terms of MFP performance.
In the process, we found that the startup speed that customers was not just quick wakeups from standby mode but also a swift readiness for usage.
We applied that readiness as the concept for our activities and endeavors to minimize perceived wait times, thereby providing new value to customers.
By employing motion sensors, we were able to make MFPs ready so users could quickly operate panels.
Quick wakeups of parts of panel that customers would first use gave them instant operating access.
A customer satisfaction survey after a new model launch led to greatly improved satisfaction in terms of startup speed.
We will continue to undertake improvement initiatives and provide new value to customers through our products and services.