Ricoh Canada Buys MSP, Thirsty For More Deals

Ricoh Canada says it's looking to make more deals after revealing on Monday its first ever MSP acquisition: Calgary, Alberta-based Graycon Group.

"We think acquisitions are an excellent way to speed up our business plan," said Eric Fletcher, vice president of marketing for Toronto-based Ricoh Canada. "Acquisitions give us the ability to cross-sell our services to our existing set of customers and to increase our overall market presence. We would look at potential future acquisitions if they fit that same model."

Ricoh Canada has been aggressively broadening its portfolio for the past three years in an effort to expand from a document management provider to a full-service IT technology provider.

[Related: Best Buy Stops Dabbling In Managed Services; Sells mindSHIFT To Ricoh]

Fletcher says the Graycon Group deal "accelerates" its business plan to provide solutions in hot new technology areas including security services.

"We're excited," Fletcher said of the Graycon deal. "We think we've acquired some of the best IT services minds in the business in Canada and we're excited to be working with them to grow our business in this area."

Graycon Group specializes in the design, implementation, security, and support of all IT infrastructure, cloud and networking systems, and has operations in seven cities across Western Canada. Ricoh says it was drawn to Graycon's focus in the SMB space as it looks to grow in that area, in addition to gaining the strong presence in Western Canada that Graycon provides.

The deal is expected to close within 30 days. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Ricoh Canada says it has yet to finalize its channel strategy surrounding Graycon, but "potentially" will include VARs.

"We’re still working out a long-term strategy for that," said Fletcher. "We do see it as complimentary to our dealers. The channel is a big part of our business and will continue to be so. … We're anticipating some of the Graycon services will be able to be sold through that dealer channel and potentially the VAR channel."

Ricoh says there are some areas that it does sell direct that does not involve VARs. The company said it does not publicly disclose its channel sales or percentages.

Ricoh says Graycon is going to "operate in the same manner that it has always operated," adding that the brand name and management team will remain intact, while nothing will change for Graycon customers.

"We're going to continue to grow that business with them working together with our two sales teams to make that happen," Fletcher said. "This acquisition is about growing."

While this is the first IT acquisition of Ricoh Canada, Ricoh USA acquired Waltham, Mass.-based MSP mindSHIFT from Best Buy in February of last year.

PUBLISHED JUNE 29, 2015