Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Takeshi Kurokawa

DS Business Center, Smart Vision Business Division

Q. Please tell us about your company's business, especially the overseas business in your department.

Our “Smart Vision Division” sells the “RICOH THETA”, a camera that can capture 360° images with a single shot, which makes it possible to capture the entire atmosphere of a place. 

Regarding products directed at the overseas market, we launched a service called “RICOH360 Tours” on July 1, 2020. This is a service that allows users to easily create online virtual tours for real estate properties and educational facilities. 

We have been selling the product in the U.S. since last year, but it was so well received that we decided to launch it on a full scale for the whole world.The need to secure social distance is becoming an issue worldwide due to COVID-19, and as as result, the demand to virtually introduce sites is increasing. We would like to contribute to such needs as well as contributing to the achievement of the “new way of working” in the pandemic.

Up until now, Ricoh has mainly sold its products through dealers around the world, but with RICOH360 Tours, we can offer our products worldwide through the Internet.We would like to take the lead in developing this service from our headquarters.

Q. Why did you choose our company?

The deciding factor was that OPTI had a very high level of expertise because there was no other company in Japan other than OPTI that specialized in VAT. It is true that local firms offered cheaper prices, but we were worried about the communication speed and quality, and the difficulty of managing business with local firms when expanding to multiple countries around the world. On the other hand, major consulting companies were expensive and their expertise was questionable.

In that regard, OPTI was very helpful in explaining the practices and systems of each country via Zoom many times before we signed the contract, preparing materials that compared the advantages and disadvantages of taking the initiative in taxation at the head office instead of the local office, and even helping us persuade other departments within the company. In addition, OPTI was very flexible in terms of tax payments, and we were able to trust you because you specialized in tax matters abroad, so we decided to ask OPTI to handle our company’s tax registration and filing in Europe and the United States.

Q. What are your ambitions for the future?

We would like to contribute to the achievement of a “new way of working” through the services we have made. By supporting the transformation of sales and marketing operations in various industries, we aim to have 300,000 users globally before the end of 2022. In fact, we have already received a large number of applications, and we are receiving high attention not only from apartments, hotels, residences and the field of education, but also from industries such as used car sales.

We are currently focusing on Europe and the United States. We are now preparing for marketing and sales in order to expand this to the whole world, including Asia, as soon as possible. 

We have heard that OPTI has a worldwide network, and we hope that we can both make an effort to develop our businesses towards the goal of providing services to the world.