Integrated Resource Centers for print innovation

Integrated resource centers

Leading the way in print, mail and digital media innovation

by Kenneth Tucker, Senior Manager, Strategic In-Plant Development

Summary

Learn about integrated resource centers and the 10 reasons it should be part of your print center or in-plant strategy.

Read time: 4 minutes

On-site printing centres and in-plants are transforming into business-critical and highly relevant necessities, despite evidence of living in a digital-first world. According to IDC research, 63.8% of knowledge workers surveyed say that printing is “very important” or “important” to their organizations.¹

The organizations that are focused on print optimization and print innovation — including mailrooms, digital media and signage — are the ones with the ability to scale for growth. These organizations are taking a new approach to business transformation and are becoming revenue generators instead of remaining in the red. They are implementing extensive and integrated ways to modernize and automate their technology, processes, equipment and services.

This growth mindset looks at a combination of innovative, fully integrated software, hardware and services to find the most cost-effective, productive and customer-friendly way of doing business. At Ricoh, we call this evolution “integrated resource centres,” or IRC, supporting both on-site — at the customer site or a Ricoh site — and cloud-based solutions and services.

What does an integrated resource centre do?

An IRC finds the best fit of people, processes, performance, and technology for any print and mail operations. Specifically, working with Ricoh as an expert industry consultant or managed services, we evaluate and strive to transform every IRC into a source of generating revenue and reducing spend by:

  • Developing a business plan for efficient operations throughout your document ecosystem

  • Improving order intake processes

  • Integrating existing systems to capture, connect and secure data

  • Transforming manual tasks into automated workflows

  • Configuring production area for efficient job flow and economic utilization of space for equipment and inventory

  • Optimizing postal processing, rates, security and compliance

  • Evaluating equipment training, sales and marketing best practices, administrative overhead, and production expenses

Customer spotlight: Deer Valley Unified School District

One example of an IRC transformation is illustrated by Deer Valley Unified School District’s Print Services Department in Arizona. They struggled with high overhead, staff challenges, high offset press costs, excessive turnaround time for print jobs, legacy equipment, and a lack of internal and external trust. Martin James, head of the District’s Print Services worked with Ricoh to instill best practices and create a profitable IRC with advanced technology, timely project delivery, access to ordering, reorganization of staff, and modern, integrated software and equipment.

The impressive results showcase a 257% revenue growth over six years, a 1,252% growth in curriculum impressions, the ability to expand their print services outside revenue of the district by 545% with 90 new clients and is now the fourth largest K-12 Print Services department in total revenue ​and first in revenue per employee.

10 benefits of print innovation, integration and optimization with an IRC strategy:

  1. Gives facilities leaders the ability to scale and offer new services that enhance and transform value to the organization

  2. 25-35% cost-savings on average with an IRC

  3. Significant revenue growth

  4. Improves operational efficiency via automation, which leads to cost containment and optimization

  5. Leverages new AI technology, integration and predictive analytics to improve workflows, reporting, insights, and tracking

  6. Enables information governance

  7. Improves security and privacy compliance

  8. Promotes environmental, social and governance (ESG) targets

  9. Offsets labor issues with services

  10. Builds trust and confidence in fast, high-quality print projects

IDC predicts that “by 2027, 40% of companies will adopt a new sourcing model for print technologies and services to better support their shift to an increasingly digital business operation.”²

Keeping up with document innovation and business transformation

Navigating best practices with a strategic approach can be daunting for many organizations with heavy print and mail volumes. Challenges such as reduced mail usage, rising postage rates, return mail, labor, application sprawl, and hybrid work are common struggles for in-plants, leading to lost revenue.

What’s often commonly overlooked — but should not be — are the resources to provide print and mail automation services. Many challenges faced by organizations need trained people to provide best-in-class services for internal and external customers. Managed services with highly trained professionals can often be the key to unlocking new levels of workplace excellence. Knowledgeable, hands-on expertise can lead to faster production times, scalability and deeper insights.

IDC predicts that “by 2027, 40% of companies will adopt a new sourcing model for print technologies and services to better support their shift to an increasingly digital business operation.”² The ability to keep up with constant change, compliance, security, technology and operations is why many organizations are turning to a full-service IRC approach.

Furthermore, IDC also predicts that “by 2026, 60% of enterprises will have print-related carbon offsetting goals” and “by 2027, 10% of global enterprises will seek to shift their fleet acquisitions to remanufactured or refurbished devices,” as a response to sustainability efforts.³ Analysts also predict that AI and GenAI will augment print services, which requires organizations to continually modernize and refine their processes, technology and devices.

The key to growing your in-plant or mail departments requires transforming existing operations into data-driven services, analytics and output that enhance value and provide a competitive edge. It’s about understanding what’s available, what your existing resources can do and applying the right strategy to accelerate growth. Once inbound and outbound projects, documents, mail, and communications are evaluated, organizations can create benchmarks and future growth goals.

Ricoh, a trusted partner

Similar to Deer Valley Unified School District, we can help you build and grow your in-plant into an integrated resource center or tap into one of ours. Our experienced team of Managed Services professionals is available on-site or can be outsourced, bringing technology expertise, service bandwidth and access to cutting-edge equipment.

Do you have an IRC?

Check to see if there's potential for improvement by taking this quick operations self-assessment

About the Author

Ken Tucker headshot.png

Kenneth Tucker

Senior Manager, Strategic In-Plant Development, Ricoh USA

Kenneth Tucker (Ken) is a Senior Manager at Ricoh North America with 30 years of global experience in the print industry, specializing in strategic enterprise print and in-plant initiatives. As a recognized expert in print, graphics and mail industry optimization and digital integration, he has been recognized by the In-Plant Print and Mail Association. Ken holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado and an MBA from Suffolk University.

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  1. 1IDC. “IDC PlanScape: Print Modernization to Enable an Effective Hybrid Workforce.” Doc #US51982024, June 2024.
  2. 2IDC. “IDC FutureScape: WW Imaging, printing & Document Solutions 2024 Predictions.” #US51283923, October 2023.
  3. 3IDC. “IDC FutureScape: WW Imaging, printing & Document Solutions 2024 Predictions.” #US51283923, October 2023.