Tags: Market studies 2012

New figures from a study sponsored by Ricoh show that by 2020 the impact of new technology in the workplace will force businesses into a new era of decentralisation. The research, conducted by the Economist Intelligence unit, shows that 63 per cent of business leaders predict a shift towards a more decentralised business model and that responsibility for business decision making will move from centralised management boards towards individual employees.

“We believe that businesses will be more process-orientated, requiring critical information to be more centralised in that data can be received, stored and retrieved by employees. Such transparency means decision making becomes less hierarchical and allows employees who are collaborating directly with customers to make important business decisions without delay,” says Chas Moloney, Director, Ricoh UK.

In the past, decentralised structures were generally viewed as inefficient in that they encouraged duplication and lack of consistent strategic direction. Recent Ricoh research shows that by 2020, effective business processes will empower workers to better meet the needs of the market place and enable organisations to be more agile in an uncertain economic climate.

Supporting closer customer collaboration is essential as the research shows that by 2020, business leaders believe that customers will be the main source of new product or service ideas. Furthermore, 86 per cent of business leaders participating in the research agree that customers will become an integral part of internal decision-making. In addition, project teams will typically include people from outside the organisation such as customers and business partners; this change is at the heart of the decentralised business of the future.

At the core of successful decentralisation in 2020, lies a network of integrated processes to manage information, and ensure that it is accessible by key knowledge workers, wherever they are, to make business decisions. In the future, there will also be a need to consider how experts outside the organisation can input and retrieve information to act on behalf of the business. The majority, 85.7 per cent, of business leaders agree that project teams will typically include members from outside the organisation, for example, customers, partners, communities.

Information will also need to be created, stored and retrieved securely by knowledge workers. Central governance is essential to protect business critical data, one of the organisations most valuable assets. However this will be challenging as currently 43 per cent of all business critical document processes in European organisations rely on hard copy data and only 22 per cent of organisations currently have a fully automated workflow[1].

Notes to editors

The Economist Intelligence Unit surveyed 567 executives in September-October 2011 on their expectations of the future technology impact on business. The survey sample is global, with 32 per cent of respondents based in Europe, 29 per cent in North America and 28 per cent in Asia-Pacific. They hail from over 20 sectors, with financial services, government and public sector (including healthcare), education, professional services, IT and technology, and manufacturing especially prominent in the sample. 46 per cent of the respondents hold C-suite positions and they work in organisations of different sizes, with 43 per cent earning annual revenue of US $500m or more.

To download the Executive summary visit http://thoughtleadership.ricoh-europe.com/uk

About Ricoh UK Ltd

Ricoh UK specialises in technology and services that transform high volume, document intensive business processes into more efficient ones.  This is achieved through Ricoh’s expertise in Managed Document Services, Production Printing, Office Solutions and IT Services.  By working with Ricoh, organisations can streamline the way they work, become more efficient and profitable, and share knowledge more effectively within their organisations.  With a global workforce of 109,014, Ricoh operates in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific, China and Japan.

Ricoh established an Environmental Protection Office in 1976, and has been striving to minimise the effect of its activities on the environment ever since. Ricoh UK’s environmental credentials are second to none; it operates a zero-waste policy at all of its manufacturing plants and is investing in carbon reduction technologies to reduce the environmental impact of its operations rather than merely offsetting its carbon footprint. The company operates a dedicated ‘Green Centre’, where old machines are re-commissioned and recycled in line with WEEE Directive guidelines and accredited with ISO14001:2004 for environmental management. Ricoh has been awarded the Carbon Trust Standard that requires an organisation to measure, manage and reduce its carbon footprint and, for the eighth consecutive year, has also been named as one of the “Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World” by the World Economic Forum in Davos. www.ricoh.co.uk