“4 years ago, I was researching user behavior in the Silicon Valley Laboratory’s Customer Research Section. The results of my research lead to the idea of App2Me.”
---So, that means that the idea itself started a long time ago?
“Yes that’s right. After that, about 2 years and a half ago, we started to examine the how to create a product out of App2Me, and planning was smooth until then. But after that, the project started to get hard.”
I was told “What is this? Why do we need to take MFP functions out of the MFP? We don’t believe this project can become a product,” right from the start of the product study.
---So you needed a good internal plan to make App2Me a product, yes?
“Correct. It was very difficult to bring such a new idea to Ricoh. Our company delivers full solution MFPs with featured complex functions as a one complete product. We needed to share all the information about Widgets, App2Me, PCs and Web services, and how when all these components are synchronized with a Web Service, even more solutions will be available for our customers. It was necessary to convince the other departments that the possibilities created by App2Me are good for the customer.
In addition, there was so much besides the development of the App2Me software: we needed to determine how to distribute Widgets; how to collect feedback; and we had to work with PC and web service vendors to agree on how the App2Me platform will be handled while expanding the widget lineup.
It took a year, but thanks to the hard work of every project member, we were able to come up with the concrete concept that is App2Me.”
---What process was used to commercialize App2Me?
“First we started bringing on people who were knowledgeable about web services and smart phones from the research, design, and sales departments. We discussed what App2Me’s characteristics were and how should develop proceed. It was very hard for us to work on the project and share information at that time because we didn’t have a working prototype yet.
After that, we started to consult and listen to end-users and different IT professionals (IT journalists, writers, venture capitalists, bloggers, etc.) to develop a more concrete vision of App2Me’s value. That finally gave us a solid foundation to start development of App2Me as a product.
---This time, besides MFP development, what was the real reason on developing a totally new type of service?
“Up until now, Ricoh has been a manufactured products company, and our business stopped with the sale. But today delivering a on-going service with good value, in a timely manner, is very important. This is not just my Product Planning team’s opinion, but the opinion of the whole company. Even the company president has expressed this view. However, the words are easy to say but difficult to carry out. Of course product development will continue to remain an important focus for us, but I believe that App2Me will lead to interesting new challenges.”
---Can you tell us anything about any future plans for App2Me?
App2Me is designed so that Widgets can connect our MFPs to any web service. That means that it is now possible to do things that were impossible before. There is still a lot of work to do, of course. Still, we are very excited with all the possibilities that App2Me gives users.
For example, App2Me can allow users to send a scanned document to or print a document from a cloud-based service. Another possibility is automatically translating a document from Chinese to the language of your choice when you print it on one of our MFPs. Finally, it is possible to scan a handwritten paper and automatically digitalize it using an OCR service. We are willing to partner with the large variety of current and future web services and development companies out there so that we can create new services for our customers. Our vision is to create a collaborative relationship between paper and the web.
Development of App2Me has just begun and offers enormous potential. We are looking forward to the realizing that potential. For us as Ricoh, the challenge has just begun.
