The office print market has been changing for more than a decade. Declining print volumes, hybrid work and the shift to digital document workflows have forced manufacturers to rethink how they operate.
Increasingly, vendors are moving away from direct sales toward partner-led distribution.
In South Africa, one of the clearest examples is Ricoh South Africa’s decision to restructure its print business around a partner-only channel model.
The move reflects both local market conditions and broader global trends shaping the print and document management industry.
A strategic shift in distribution
In 2025, Ricoh South Africa announced a strategic realignment of its office and selected production print operations. The company confirmed it would move to an Accredited Business Partner-only distribution model, placing channel partners at the centre of how Ricoh solutions reach customers.
Ricoh will no longer operate a direct sales force for office print solutions in South Africa. Accredited partners will instead manage sales, implementation and customer support.
“These changes are about placing our partners at the centre of our growth strategy,” says Ricoh South Africa marketing manager Jolene Castelyn. “Our partner network has strong customer relationships and deep technical capability. By empowering them to lead customer engagement, we can build a more responsive and scalable business.”
Partners will deliver services ranging from device installation and maintenance to managed print services and digital workflow solutions. Ricoh will focus on product development, platform strategy and partner enablement.
The move forms part of a broader shift toward a leaner operating model built around channel relationships and specialised service delivery.
Responding to market change
The restructuring comes as the office printing market faces several structural pressures. Traditional print volumes continue to decline as organisations digitise processes and move documents into cloud-based systems.
At the same time, hybrid work has reshaped how businesses manage printing infrastructure. The shift toward hybrid work has accelerated demand for flexible print infrastructure.
The global cloud printing market was valued at about $1,65-billion in 2024 and is expected to grow at more than 11% annually through 2030, reflecting the need for secure printing across distributed workforces.
Instead of large, centralised print rooms, organisations have smaller, distributed fleets across offices and remote locations. This has increased the complexity of managing print environments and created demand for more sophisticated management tools.
“The workplace has changed dramatically in recent years,” Castelyn says. “Customers are looking for ways to manage information securely, digitise documents, streamline workflows and support hybrid teams.”
As a result, the industry has moved beyond selling devices to delivering services that manage the entire document lifecycle – from paper output to digital capture, storage and workflow automation.
The rise of managed print services
The global managed print services market reflects this shift. The sector was valued at roughly $49,3-billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $98-billion by 2033, highlighting the growing demand for outsourced print management and document services.
Rather than purchasing printers and managing them internally, organisations increasingly outsource the management of their print infrastructure.
An MPS provider typically takes responsibility for the entire environment – from device deployment and monitoring to maintenance, consumables and usage analytics.
The model offers predictable costs, reduces administrative overhead and provides better visibility into printing behaviour.
For vendors such as Ricoh, managed services also provide a more stable revenue stream than once-off hardware sales.
Delivering these services, however, requires close customer engagement and local technical expertise.
“Our partners are ideally positioned to deliver these services,” says Castelyn. “They understand the local market, they work closely with customers and they can tailor solutions to specific industries and operational requirements.”
Why partners are becoming central to the print ecosystem
Channel partners have long been part of the print industry, but their role is expanding rapidly.
Traditional copier dealers and print resellers are becoming broader technology service providers. Many now offer managed IT services, cybersecurity solutions, cloud infrastructure and workflow automation alongside print solutions.
This expanded capability makes them well positioned to manage increasingly complex digital workplace environments.
In Ricoh South Africa’s partner-led model, accredited partners act as the primary interface with customers. They assess document management needs and implement the appropriate mix of hardware, software and services.
Because partners operate close to the customer, they are also better able to understand sector-specific requirements and local operating conditions.
“Partners bring agility and specialist expertise,” Castelyn says. “By strengthening the channel ecosystem, we can ensure customers receive solutions that are aligned with their evolving workplace needs.”
A leaner operating model
From Ricoh’s perspective, moving to a partner-only distribution model allows the company to streamline its local operations.
Maintaining large direct sales and service organisations can be costly, particularly in a market where hardware margins are under pressure. By working through accredited partners, Ricoh can reduce overhead while expanding its reach across the country.
“This model allows Ricoh to focus on innovation and technology development while our partners focus on delivering value to customers,” Castelyn says. “It is a collaborative approach that benefits the entire ecosystem.”
In this structure, Ricoh provides the technology foundation – including hardware, software platforms and document workflow tools – while partners deliver the services that connect these technologies to customer environments.
Expanding beyond traditional printing
Another driver behind the shift is Ricoh’s evolution into a digital services provider.
Across global markets, the company has been investing in technologies that support digital workplaces, including document management platforms, workflow automation tools, collaboration systems and analytics. Many of these solutions sit at the intersection of print, IT and business process management.
“Print remains an important part of the workplace, but it is now part of a much larger digital ecosystem,” Castelyn says. “Our goal is to help organisations manage information more effectively across both physical and digital environments.”
Artificial intelligence is also beginning to play a role in this transformation. AI-driven document management tools can classify documents automatically, extract key information from scanned files and route documents through business workflows with minimal manual intervention.
“AI is starting to unlock new possibilities around document processing and workflow automation,” Castelyn says. “It allows organisations to turn unstructured information into usable data, which helps improve efficiency and decision-making.”
For Ricoh and its partners, these technologies expand the value of print environments by connecting physical documents to digital workflows and business systems.
“By working closely with our accredited partners, we can ensure customers continue to receive innovative solutions and the support they need as the workplace evolves,” says Castelyn.