CEOs share their resolutions for 2023

Con­tin­u­ing to sup­port cus­tomers on their dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion jour­neys is Ricoh’s num­ber-one pri­or­i­ty for 2023. Some cus­tomers have pow­ered ahead on their jour­ney, while oth­ers are yet to deter­mine what their dig­i­tal ambi­tions could and should look like. It’s impor­tant for cus­tomers to remem­ber that dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion is not achieved on the back of a sin­gle defin­i­tive act. Tech­nol­o­gy advance­ments, process devel­op­ments and new demands mean that busi­ness­es need to con­sid­er a state of either adop­tion, adap­tion or fine-tun­ing.

Build­ing on Ricoh’s lega­cy in work­space opti­mi­sa­tion, dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion and print inno­va­tion, our aim is to con­tin­ue help­ing cus­tomers to grow, enter new mar­kets and attract the best tal­ent, while enabling them to work in more cre­ative and pro­duc­tive ways. Our research shows that near­ly two-fifths (39%) of people’s days are occu­pied with admin­is­tra­tive tasks or over­com­ing tech­nol­o­gy issues. It all comes back to our com­mit­ment to lead change that unleash­es human poten­tial through the pow­er and oppor­tu­ni­ty of tech­nol­o­gy.

On cli­mate change, we have a series of high-lev­el goals, such as zero green­house gas emis­sions across our entire val­ue chain and using 100% renew­able ener­gy by 2050. Our com­mit­ments at a glob­al cor­po­rate lev­el mean that we are fea­tured in the Dow Jones Sus­tain­abil­i­ty World Index and that we have an Eco­Vadis gold rat­ing for our sus­tain­abil­i­ty prac­tices.

Our Ful­fill­ment through Work vision is key to all we do. Our research shows that only 4% of office work­ers across Europe say they are doing the “bare min­i­mum” at work, sug­gest­ing that qui­et quit­ting is not the issue, but a lack of pur­pose­ful work. Almost two-thirds (64%) of those sur­veyed said they would find work more enjoy­able if they had time for cre­ative tasks. This high­lights the need to under­stand and act on what work­ers want, espe­cial­ly if you are seri­ous about attract­ing and retain­ing top tal­ent.

The past year has shown us all that a peo­ple-focused approach isn’t the pre­ferred way but the only way. Like many things where the results aren’t always tan­gi­ble from the off­set, it’s easy to pay lip ser­vice here. A mis­sion of mine dur­ing 2022 was to put our peo­ple front and cen­tre of every­thing we do. Annu­al land­marks such as Inter­na­tion­al Women’s Day and Pride are great for shin­ing a spot­light on the val­ue and con­tri­bu­tions of par­tic­u­lar groups. But at the same time, how we tack­le issues that can impact all col­leagues, such as men­tal health, lone­li­ness and strik­ing a healthy work-life bal­ance, must be woven into day-to-day oper­a­tions. I’m proud to say that this com­mit­ment came to the fore at Ricoh Europe in 2022 and will remain just as promi­nent in the year ahead.

Like many peo­ple, I have found exer­cise a god­send when striv­ing for a bet­ter work/life bal­ance. Reformer Pilates has improved my phys­i­cal resilience, which I’m pleased to say has car­ried over to my work life. Bal­ance is key, of course. The impor­tance of find­ing time to read, exer­cise, sleep and think can nev­er be under­es­ti­mat­ed. Some­times the most obvi­ous things to do are the eas­i­est to for­get to make time for.

The main tar­get for us is to devel­op brand aware­ness, focused par­tic­u­lar­ly in the UK and the US, through tar­get­ed social media cam­paigns and brand ambas­sador pro­grammes. We feel that invest­ing in the Arthur Knight brand is key to sus­tain­able growth and build­ing repeat cus­tom. A good pro­por­tion of men tend to be loy­al to just a small num­ber of shoe brands – pro­vid­ed their online shop­ping expe­ri­ence was smooth and, most impor­tant­ly, the shoes ‘fit’ com­fort­ably.

Dress shoes that include built-in com­fort tech­nol­o­gy are a real growth area in the footwear sec­tor. Younger gen­er­a­tions are intol­er­ant to shoes that require ‘break­ing in’ yet still have a need to wear smart shoes with a for­mal out­fit. Rub­ber-sole tech­nol­o­gy, sheep­skin lin­ings and mem­o­ry-foam insoles allow us to offer footwear that fea­tures the best of both worlds.

As an online retail­er, we are acute­ly aware of the impor­tance of search engine opti­mi­sa­tion. SEO is one of the best long-term sources of traf­fic to any web­site look­ing to sell footwear. Cre­at­ing engag­ing and share­able arti­cles is the key to suc­cess in this area, so we will be look­ing to expand our team of blog writ­ers and to lev­el up on YouTube video con­tent.

On a per­son­al lev­el, as a father of two young chil­dren, bal­anc­ing fam­i­ly life with work life as a direc­tor is some­thing I need to work on for 2023 and beyond. In this dig­i­tal age, it’s pos­si­ble to work remote­ly dur­ing all hours of the day, which means set­ting aside qual­i­ty time for my wife and kids can only be healthy for myself and the busi­ness!

Last year was a year of enor­mous growth and change after we acquired Guardi­core and Lin­ode. While we have many more excit­ing plans for 2023, it will also be a year for con­sol­i­da­tion and reflec­tion on our new posi­tion. I want to ensure we retain a dis­tinct and inclu­sive cul­ture across the region and help reas­sure and sup­port our peo­ple through the uncer­tain­ty in the wider world.

At Aka­mai, we have long been focused on fos­ter­ing a fun, inclu­sive and col­lab­o­ra­tive work­ing cul­ture and this will con­tin­ue in 2023 as we adjust to a post-pan­dem­ic work­ing world. Nine­ty-sev­en per cent of our peo­ple told us they want­ed to con­tin­ue work­ing in a hybrid way and we are com­mit­ted to lead­ing into 2023 with a choice-first approach.

Our main aim remains solv­ing prob­lems for our cus­tomers in ways that no one else can. A key goal in 2023 will be to dri­ve for­ward with our cloud com­put­ing offer­ing. In a glob­al econ­o­my, enter­pris­es need to instant­ly scale appli­ca­tions to respond to demand and geo­gra­phies in a server­less way. We’re open­ing 13 new data cen­tres and intro­duc­ing dis­trib­uted sites designed to access loca­tions that are dif­fi­cult to reach and under­served by oth­er providers.

In 2023, cyber­crime will con­tin­ue to be a huge threat to busi­ness­es and con­sumers. Crim­i­nal enter­pris­es have made cyber attacks a repeat­able and scal­able busi­ness and these bad actors will have wors­en­ing impacts in the future – includ­ing our abil­i­ty to access fuel, food, and health­care. Find­ing solu­tions will require cross-sec­tor, mul­ti-indus­try col­lab­o­ra­tion and robust invest­ment in secur­ing the soft­ware and sup­ply chains we rely on.

Increas­ing­ly com­plex busi­ness demands com­bined with eco­nom­ic uncer­tain­ty will shake up the cloud mar­ket­place, hav­ing a huge impact on how mul­ti-cloud setups are decid­ed – with pres­sure on bud­gets plac­ing greater scruti­ny on cost effi­cien­cy and val­ue for mon­ey.

On a per­son­al lev­el, I have promised myself not to be too hard about get­ting it com­plete­ly right. But I am set­ting more time aside to spend with my fam­i­ly, hug my daugh­ter and make pre­cious mem­o­ries togeth­er. At Aka­mai, we are lucky to have Well­ness Days that allow us to switch off from work and recharge, so I’ll be using those to enjoy some won­der­ful moments with my fam­i­ly.

I want to con­tin­ue to find cre­ative and fun ways of nur­tur­ing an inclu­sive work­force at Aka­mai. Last year, we host­ed our first EMEA Employ­ee Day, which fea­tured inter­ac­tive ses­sions for our employ­ees with sev­er­al great speak­ers, includ­ing the Par­a­lympian Claire Cash­more. And it is my per­son­al goal to launch fur­ther ini­tia­tives like this at Aka­mai to invig­o­rate and inspire our team to keep build­ing our com­pa­ny’s future togeth­er.

New Year’s Res­o­lu­tions:

Finance chiefs

New Year’s Res­o­lu­tions:

Tech chiefs

New Year’s Res­o­lu­tions:

HR lead­ers

New Year’s Res­o­lu­tions:

Mar­ket­ing boss­es

Continuing to support customers on their digital transformation journeys is Ricoh’s number-one priority for 2023. Some customers have powered ahead on their journey, while others are yet to determine what their digital ambitions could and should look like. It’s important for customers to remember that digital transformation is not achieved on the back of a single definitive act. Technology advancements, process developments and new demands mean that businesses need to consider a state of either adoption, adaption or fine-tuning.

Building on Ricoh’s legacy in workspace optimisation, digital transformation and print innovation, our aim is to continue helping customers to grow, enter new markets and attract the best talent, while enabling them to work in more creative and productive ways. Our research shows that nearly two-fifths (39%) of people’s days are occupied with administrative tasks or overcoming technology issues. It all comes back to our commitment to lead change that unleashes human potential through the power and opportunity of technology.

The past year has shown us all that a people-focused approach isn’t the preferred way but the only way

On climate change, we have a series of high-level goals, such as zero greenhouse gas emissions across our entire value chain and using 100% renewable energy by 2050. Our commitments at a global corporate level mean that we are featured in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and that we have an EcoVadis gold rating for our sustainability practices.