Ricoh has announced an agreement to acquire DocuWare, a leading provider of document management and workflow automation software to over 12,000 customers in more than 90 countries across the globe.
“We are intent on building a thriving business which meets the growing need of companies around the world to digitize their businesses and workplaces, wherever they may be,” said David Mills, corporate senior vice president, Ricoh Company. “We see a strong demand from our customers to maximize the value of their documents and business content to support their growth. The agreement we have made with DocuWare, which has a market-leading, cloud-first content services offering, is a hugely significant step in meeting that need. We are delighted at the additional capabilities we will be able to offer current and new customers.”
Ricoh has a long-term existing partnership with DocuWare, and employs its software internally in its own operations and with existing customers.
“DocuWare takes the pain and cost out of business processes, helping reduce human error and, importantly, improve business efficiency to free-up valuable employee time,” Mills said.
“DocuWare will operate as a standalone subsidiary of Ricoh and we are committed to maintaining and growing its hugely successful partner program, through expanding its channel network and investing in further product development. DocuWare already seamlessly integrates with our new IM C series of multifunction printers through Ricoh Smart Integration, providing customers with a simple, secure way of scanning documents and feeding them directly into a highly effective, intelligent workflow process.”
Dr. Michael Berger and Max Ertl, presidents of DocuWare, said in a joint statement: “DocuWare has a bold growth plan, and that includes enabling current and future partners with leading document management and workflow automation technology. Having Ricoh as a strong investor and owner gives us the certainty that we can achieve our goals and continue to be a reliable, trustworthy and innovative provider for the entire DocuWare partner and customer community.”
The deal with DocuWare is expected to close over [northern] Summer 2019, subject to receiving clearance from the relevant competition authorities in Germany and Austria and completion of other customary closing conditions. Following completion of the deal, DocuWare will operate as a subsidiary of Ricoh, with Berger and Ertl remaining as presidents.
For more than 80 years, Ricoh has been driving innovation and is a leading provider of document management solutions, IT services, commercial and industrial printing, digital cameras, and industrial systems.
Ricoh operates in approximately 200 countries and regions, including Australia and New Zealand. In the financial year ended March 2019, Ricoh Group had worldwide sales of 2,013 billion yen (approx. 18.1 billion USD).
