Ricoh has made known its value proposition so that Spanish companies can take advantage of the potential of artificial intelligence, a technology that they cannot ignore due to its high impact on productivity and efficiency and, therefore, on business objectives and business results. In a context of growing consumption of data and digital services, the company proposes a model that transforms the way organizations use AI.
This is the platform called Ricoh Intelligent Automation (RIA), through which companies can consume artificial intelligence as a service, accelerating adoption, simplifying integration and ensuring that AI becomes a transversal capability throughout the organization. This flexible consumption model allows companies to scale their solutions without the need for large initial investments.
According to Gartner, global spending on AI will reach $1.5 trillion by the end of 2025, and will exceed $2 trillion in 2026, driven by the expansion in daily technological consumption: from devices such as smartphones and personal computers to the entire IT infrastructure of companies.
However, taking artificial intelligence (AI) projects from the initial idea to their deployment in real production continues to be a great challenge, as was evident in the event “Implementing AI: less theory, more action”, organized by Ricoh together with some of its main partners in this field: Dell Technologies, NVIDIA and Microsoft.
RIA offers a flexible consumption model to companies to scale their solutions without the need for large initial investments
For Mario Hernando, director of AI Business Development at Ricoh Spain, “95% of AI projects do not go from proof of concept to production, since going from a controlled environment to integrating a project with real systems, with unprepared data, is where most initiatives fall by the wayside.” As the manager states, “it is not a problem of vision, but of knowing how to integrate technology, data and people. That is where the role of the integrator is key,” he emphasizes, highlighting the importance of managing resource consumption flows well.
Artificial intelligence as a service
During the event, Ricoh presented its proposal to more than a hundred companies to generate value with this technology, making the investments made translate into competitive advantage and guaranteeing efficiency, scalability and return on investment. This approach focuses efforts on optimizing AI consumption, allowing organizations to use only what they need, when they need it.
To achieve this, it relies on the experience of the Ricoh Cloud & Cyber team, which has more than 500 specialists in infrastructure, platforms, application development and cybersecurity, along with the company’s two other major business lines: Workplace and Process Automation. Both have evolved and reinforced their offering with AI, improving their personal productivity capabilities in the first case, and process automation capabilities for intelligent information management in the second, also optimizing corporate consumption models.
From the three lines of business, the company can deliver turnkey projects, but the novelty presented at the event is Ricoh Intelligent Automation (RIA), a platform that facilitates an operational and consumption model of AI as a service, in which Ricoh takes care of the infrastructure, the solution, the AI development stacks, as well as the integration of application or service through the platform.
Create real business value
This approach frees organizations from infrastructure and platform management and allows them to focus on creating real business value. “RIA allows us to drastically reduce time to value: we accelerate adoption, simplify integration and ensure that AI becomes a transversal capability throughout the organization,” said Mario Hernando. The company thus proposes a model based on responsible and adaptable consumption, which maximizes results without compromising efficiency.
During the event, clients such as Renta 4, OHLA and Iberdrola participated by presenting their experience of using technology in their digitalization processes. In conclusion, they highlighted that AI is already present in all sectors, even the most regulated ones. But to avoid the high failure rate, it must be implemented in a pragmatic and profitable way, always taking care of the technological and energy consumption patterns that accompany digital adoption.
They also commented that every AI project must be carefully evaluated: its impact must generate value, both for the company and the end user. Within the regulatory framework, customers demand the need to know where the data resides. The integration must be supported by a solid technological architecture, since a proof of concept is not the same as a scale deployment: the solution must be robust from the beginning, concluded the clients who participated in the talks.
