XTEN-AV helps RICOH Europe adopt a centralized platform that streamlines and standardizes workflows across its different subsidiaries
RICOH Europe PLC, a conglomerate of several operating companies across Europe & MEA such as RICOH France, Italy, Germany etc., with Jon Alessi as Technical Director EMEA for its Communications Services line of business. The organization had been struggling to bring consistency amongst the subsidiaries, all acting independently and using different unstandardized tools and software.
"We realized that XTEN-AV had a platform that we could use that would help us harmonize and create synergies between our operating companies. We were able to quickly establish a platform, working closely with XTEN-AV, to come up with a mechanism that allowed us a consistent platform that we could share across our group of companies," claims Jon.
RICOH Europe adopted XTEN-AV, to streamline their workflows, with a team of 20 users in the beginning. The platform has now been embraced organization-wide with over a hundred
fully-trained and equipped users.
Tools being used before the shift to XTEN-AV: AutoCAD, Corel Draw, StarDraw, Oracle, Excel spreadsheets, etc.
"What we found from our research both internally and externally, was that there was no central, single tool that could do everything we needed. That's where XTEN-AV was very unique," added Jon.
"XTEN-AV complements having a skilled solution architect or an AV designer and allows them to grow and nurture the talent; XTEN-AV helped us educate them with AVIXA based standards. We could save time and cost by using the platform"
Challenges faced by RICOH Europe
1. Use of multiple, unstandardized tools by operating companies
The issue of using multiple tools by different subsidiaries of RICOH Europe was 2-fold. First was the issue of collation of data from multiple tools being used for the same step of an AV project. Adding to this, was the usage of different tools for the various steps of a project and multiple licensing costs across several unconnected platforms.
2. Unorganized and inconsistent workflows
Every subsidiary/ department/ team using different software and attempting to collaborate manually created a gigantic issue of inefficient workflows.
3. Dearth of a centralized tool in the AV industry
RICOH Europe's inconsistent workflows was a direct result of the lack of a conclusive tool that could support all stages of an AV product from design to documentation to CRM and more.
4. No software with central licensing & contracting models
With RICOH Europe having subsidiaries being spread across the continent, finding a single or even multiple tools that offer licenses in each and every country was difficult. Thus creating the need to buy different software in every country.
5. High costs incurred in the completion of a project
Multiple licenses and tools, being run across different companies, incur increasing bills as well. Tutorials for each tool, hiring technical resources to support the tools was an added cost to the company.
6. Manually tracking information and collaboration on projects
Yet again, the issues with tracking and collaborating on AV projects, for RICOH Europe, was two-fold. Tracking and collaborating with multiple different tools to collate a final project as well as collating and collaborating between the different subsidiary companies.
Key benefits drawn from XTEN-AV
A consistent platform shared across the conglomerate
XTEN-AV created a consistent platform that houses design, documentation, CRM, tracking and data preservation. XTEN-AV forms a standardized platform that every employee, every team, every company of RICOH Europe now uses.
Streamlined, standardized workflows followed everywhere!
With the XTEN-AV platform combining design, documentation, CRM, collaboration, tracking and reporting, structured workflows could be designed for Jon's teams and the others to follow. This saved time, reduced repetitive and manual work and made collaboration efficient.
Exhaustive support to ensure the company's gears are kept well-oiled!
XTEN-AV's exhaustive support, comprising of live chat, well-trained teams, free resources, and more, stand by the RICOH team and ensure it achieves its full potential.
Easy integration of the platform into RICOH Europe's workflows
XTEN-AV not only helped Jon and team create structured workflows but also integrated seamlessly into their existing workflows. The numerous features and tools offered by XTEN-AV, like X-DRAW, reporting, My Library, etc., made XTEN-AV the centre of all their processes.
Cost-effectiveness unlike ever seen before!
Elimination of different tools being used, various licenses being purchased, multiple resources being employed to support the tools, to implement a single platform that supports your projectflow from beginning to end proved to be exceptionally economical for RICOH Europe.
"XTEN-AV has been central to our entire process. We continue to invest in the platform and it's certainly a part of our business for the foreseeable future."
