We may be international in scale now, but RCH still maintains an incredible feeling of connection to its roots – our more humble beginnings back in 1969 in the heart of Treviso, Italy. We take a lot of inspiration from our roots and our history – and even as we’ve grown into overseas markets we try to remember what brought us here.
Of course, it’s not hard to draw inspiration from a country as rich and passionate as Italy. One of the most notable things about Italian towns is the sense of community and social connection. Cafés are an important gathering place in the morning where Italians start their working day with an espresso, cappuccino and eventually a croissant. A short chat with the barista and other customers meets the social need. The evening aperitif at local bars is the second daily opportunity to meet friends, customers and strangers while enjoying some drinks and snacks.
We should of course be careful to make generalisations about a place and its culture – and the modern world moves at a pace that means that even in Italy this sense of community is diminishing slightly over time.
This sense of community and social interaction are part of our RCH heritage and philosophy, and inform all that we do. Working within the technology industry is always dynamic and full of challenge – but at times parts of it can seem cold and sterile. There can be such a focus on the development of new and innovative technology – of squeezing more speed and performance out of chips and lines of code – that we might forget what is at the heart of the industry: people.
As a predominantly B2B industry, this idea of viewing the industry as a community – a network of people – is even more important. Our growth means growth for the market – the ideas, the opportunities, the user base. The success of our vendors means success for us. The growth of the end user market means growth and progress for everyone. Indeed, in this way even our competitors are our collaborators; we have long recognised that as we innovate and push the market forward, our competitors are granted the opportunity to join us and move the industry forward too, and with this every stakeholder has the potential to enjoy the benefits.
This is why training has always been and continues to be a fundamental part of RCH’s operations. We have always invested in delivering training and recognised that with every new product or software upgrade, there is a need to share our knowledge. This has included the development of training schemes for the release of “my-movie” (one of the first ticketing machines for the entertainment market) and for “PC GLOBE” (the first smart fiscal printer with a Microsoft Windows CE operative system). Changes in technology markets are fast-paced and driven primarily by engineers. But the people who use our products – and even the people who sell our products – will not necessarily have an intimate knowledge of the technology that drives them. Keeping abreast of these changes, understanding the technology and – perhaps most importantly – understanding the application of these technologies in a real world is vital for our clients to avoid confusion and keep the industry moving forward. It is for this reason that as well as providing industry-leading innovation, we provide industry-leading training as well. We view it as a part of our role in a wider community of technology professionals.
One of the most recent examples of training that we’ve provided exists back in our home market of Italy. Italy will soon be introducing legislation that changes the way in which fiscal reporting needs to be undertaken. Italian bureaucratic processes can be something of a headache at the best of times, and RCH believes strongly in pushing functionality whilst driving simplicity – so we really believe in the importance of making this legislative change an easy process for both our vendors and end users.
Operating with other key members of our community – including Ultroneo who conceivedthe “Get Your Bill” system and has supported us with electronic invoicing – we have provided training the length and breadth of Italy, so that vendors can learn about the change and demonstrate effectively to end users how RCH products allow them to meet their legislative obligations in a straightforward and uncomplicated manner. The courses have proved so popular that we actually had to add extra dates.
For those that aren’t able to make it to training courses in person, we’re proud to have created a video in conjunction with Dr. Robert Braga – chartered accountant of Novara and president of the Prodigitale association – to describe the fundamental principles of the new Italian fiscal regulations and demonstrate how RCH products make it easy to meet them.
We believe that the incredible demand for our training courses – and the positive response to our training video – demonstrate how important it is for technology companies to see themselves as part of a holistic ‘community’ process, rather than merely an isolated part of a wider chain. The Italian fiscal training program provides just one example of RCH’s commitment to training and supporting its vendors – we implement training tailored to the needs of multiple international markets – and we hope that other practitioners across all different technological sectors take our lead in seeing themselves as part of a community, with the responsibilities and privileges that are incumbent on that.
