Ricoh Makes Strategic Investment in PTI Marketing Technologies

TOKY/SOLANA BEACH, CA—August 21, 2012—Ricoh Co. announced that it has made a significant investment in PTI Marketing Technologies, a leading provider of Web-to-print and marketing personalization solutions for both enterprise users and print service providers. This investment will be used to further enhance the development of new marketing collateral management tools to help enterprises and commercial printers on their continued path towards efficiency and growth.

This deal is another strategic move by Ricoh to provide complete, end-to-end production print solutions for customers, ensuring that they are equipped with all of the necessary resources to become marketing service providers, including marketing automation and brand management. Ricoh enables companies of all sizes around the world to help expand their businesses with tools such as data intelligence, document management software, industry-leading digital printers, and other solutions—all aimed to deliver a competitive advantage for customers.

Together, Ricoh and PTI will bring new technologies, software and services to market to enable companies to drive relevant, multichannel marketing campaigns at the global, regional and local levels. Ricoh has long been committed to helping companies leverage leading marketing and business development tools through such programs as Business Booster and the Ricoh Business Driver Program.

These value-added initiatives are aimed to help companies quickly pursue a more productive and profitable business strategy. With this investment in PTI, Ricoh customers can now extend that capability beyond the enterprise, making it easier to expand their portfolios from just one print channel, such as direct mail, to a full spectrum of multichannel communications, driving value and growth for their businesses and their clients.

“Today’s commercial printers are seeking solutions beyond the traditional print services to help them stay a step ahead of the competition. This is the goal of our ‘Print and Beyond’ initiative—to enable customers to drive new revenues, increase effectiveness, and seek efficiencies to lower costs, no matter what direction they want to take their business or department,” said Yasuhiko Hosoe, associate director and deputy general manager, Ricoh Production Printing Business Group, Ricoh Co.

“From data analytics to brand management to our new Clickable Paper tool, there are a wealth of offerings that can bring value-added benefits to any portfolio—beyond traditional hardware. Our investment in PTI, a leading innovator in the marketing technology space, further demonstrates our dedication to enabling our customers to go beyond today’s thinking and beyond print—and deliver upon an expanded view of the future,” Hosoe added.

“We are very excited with the investment from Ricoh. After many years of software development, it is especially gratifying to know that an industry leader such as Ricoh has recognized the importance of the marketing operations technology space to such a degree that they are making a strategic investment in our company,” said Coleman Kane, president and CEO, PTI Marketing Technologies. “Ricoh’s investment, combined with their expertise and worldwide footprint, will allow PTI to expand rapidly and deploy our MarcomCentral and FusionPro software globally.

“The combination of Ricoh’s best-of-breed solutions with PTI software will help both organizations stand apart from the competition,” continues Kane. “Together we will develop and distribute a global offering that will help companies succeed strategically, and at the same time, demonstrate a return on their marketing investment.”

In 2011, the companies announced that Ricoh will offer a cloud-based software solution that supports a multitude of output delivery formats for print and other media, including PDF, AFP and HTML email based on PTI’s SaaS software, MarcomCentral. This solution enables enterprises to provide distributed agents, salespeople and others with access to brand-driven collateral.

About Ricoh
Ricoh is a global technology company specializing in office imaging equipment, production print solutions, document management systems and IT services. Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh Group operates in more than 200 countries and regions. In the financial year ending March 2012, Ricoh Group had worldwide sales of 1,903 billion yen (approx. $23 billion). The majority of the company's revenue comes from products, solutions and services that improve the interaction between people and information. Ricoh also produces award-winning digital cameras and specialized industrial products. It is known for the quality of its technology, the exceptional standard of its customer service and sustainability initiatives.

Source: Ricoh.