Doing business with Roly Smoldon of Ricoh New Zealand

The general manager IT services of Ricoh NZ talks about the nuances of his role, helping not for profits, and the athlete who challenged – and changed – the thinking of a generation.

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Name:

Roly Smoldon

Title: General Manager IT Services, Ricoh New Zealand

Twitter handle: @RicohNZ

What business technology issue is your role focusing on?

Making the complex (i.e. technology) simple and predictable so our customers can focus on their business.

What are your interests away from work?

Read more: A lesson in disruptive innovation

My daughters, aged 7 and 10, take up a great deal of time with sports and activities. I’m a long suffering Warriors season ticket holder and I’ve recently encouraged my daughters t accompany me to share the pain. Keeping active, gym, cycling and indoor football (soccer).

What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?

From my great Grandfather: "Always spend money on good shoes and a good bed as that's where you spend most of you time." I also like the saying: facta, non verba, which translates as deeds, not words: "A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds"

Professionally, who do you admire most?

No one professionally springs to mind, but Muhammad Ali is a person I admire greatly for his unwavering self-belief and ability to challenge the thinking of a generation. He is the ultimate self-starter.

Muhammad Ali: He is the ultimate self-starter.

How long have you been working in your field? How did you get into your role?

I’ve been working in IT for 20 years. I started in sales working for 3Com in the UK.

If you weren't working in your field, what would you be doing?

I’d be a business advisor and/or a board member. I’ve had the pleasure of being a director for a few not-for-profit organisations in the past and I really enjoyed providing input and direction to help the organisations grow and transform.

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