Ricoh Australia has launched a COVID-19 (coronavirus) action plan after the Australian Department of Health called on businesses to prepare pandemic management programs. All non-essential international business travel by Ricoh staff has been frozen.
Researcher Roy Morgan has estimated that by mid-February, about one in six Australian businesses were already being affected by COVID-19, said the printing technology manufacturer in a statement. “This new threat to business comes after over a quarter of Australian businesses said they were impacted by the extensive bushfires over the last few months.”
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'Many business sectors impacted':
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Ricoh Australia’s Sydney-based general manager Tori Starkey says: “We understand that the products and services which we have are critical to our customers’ business, so we have put in place several key actions to ensure our customers can continue to effectively run their businesses during a potential pandemic.
“Many business sectors have been impacted by COVID-19, whether they be tour operators, education providers or any business working across the globe with either a subsidiary or head office in Australia. Our staff, partners and customers are always a priority for Ricoh and this action should support our ability to continue to provide the excellent service for which our brand is known to behold in the Australian market.”
Ricoh’s action plan
The company will proactively work directly with customers that may be impacted by factory slowdowns in impacted areas, to ensure as smooth a delivery and deployment as possible.
All non-essential international business travel is frozen.
All staff are required to be quarantined for 14 days if they have visited mainland China and/or Iran; have had close contact with infected and/or suspected infected persons or are living in the same building of infected cases.
A Health and Safety Committee has been established within Ricoh Australia to closely monitor the current situation, and ensure Ricoh is constantly updated with the Australian Health Sector Emergency Response Plan For Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) as well as the recommended measures and obligations to support it.
The company’s workplace operations throughout Australia will follow all measures outlined by the Federal Government.
Helping customers overcome the business continuity challenge
- For customers requiring support with building their own action plan, Ricoh has also announced that it is providing a free workplace assessment which will take organisations though a step-by-step business continuity program. The assessment includes:
- Building a contingency plan that incorporates team members and not just technology.
- An audit of collaboration, remote audio-visual assets, internet reliability and performance to enable increased work from home.
- Refreshing team training on the usage of smart connectivity, smart meeting and smart process tools.
- Reviewing workspaces to enable better communication and collaboration solutions to ensure continuity of work between branch offices, overseas suppliers etc to overcome travel restrictions.
- Securely digitising, classifying, storing and sharing paper assets enabling sustained document collaboration.
- Providing real time workplace and guest communication during evacuations with digital signage and visitor management solutions.
“We will continue to monitor the situation to ensure we provide our customers with the latest advice and support and to ensure the safety of both their employees and our own workforce,” Starkey said.
Ricoh is a leading provider of document management solutions, IT services, commercial and industrial printing, digital cameras, and industrial systems. Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh Group operates in 200 countries and last year recorded sales of about $US18 billion.
The company last month donated 116 million yen (about $A1.5 million) for coronavirus recovery activities in China. “We will donate funds to support a recovery project in Hubei Province through the Red Cross Society of China Shanghai Branch. Additionally, we will donate Multi-Function Printers (MFPs) and duplicators to the education department as well as elementary and junior high schools in China. We will also provide free support and supplies to our production print customers in Hubei Province. Ricoh sends its best wishes to all patients for a speedy recovery and hope that the virus infection will end quickly.”
