The Business Case for Managed Print Services and Variations Thereof: Solutions to the Corporate Junk Drawer
Over the past several years small organizations have compiled dozens, medium-sized organizations hundreds, and large organizations thousands of printers, copiers, multifunctional devices, faxes and scanners to produce documents. These same organizations have contracted with courier services to distribute documents and invested in software applications to help manage them. Many also outsource document production and even destruction. As of 2006, Hewlett Packard has placed over 100 million laser printers in North America. Copier manufactures have installed over eight million copiers and multifunctional devices. Even with the surge of attaching documents to e-mail for distribution, faxing documents is still very popular. Two years ago FedEx bought Kinko’s. What does this marriage tell us about the connection between document production and distribution? They are a perfect match. At the time of this writing FedEx® stock is $116 per share reflecting a bullish outlook on corporate America’s appetite for outsourcing document production and distribution.
Even with the massive investments and dependence on document technology and related services, the print space in most organizations can be likened to corporate America’s junk drawer. Just like the junk drawers in our homes, print spaces are rarely managed effectively and even less rarely cleaned out and reorganized.
Managing Security Through Services Process Leadership
Challenge Question # 1
To maintain network security, Acme corporation tightly controls software on devices connecting to their network.
Xerox’s iGen4 Press Drives Prints, Profits, and New Business Opportunities Around the Globe
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Hailed as the “ideal press” for producing high-end collateral, direct marketing and photo specialty products, Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) has added new product enhancements and a customization program to its Xerox iGen4™ press. The features extend the range of print jobs that generate new business opportunities and profits for print providers.
Dependable image quality key to Xerox iGen4 users; drives business
Print service providers from Maine to Russia rely on Xerox’s iGen4 press to expand their digital businesses with direct mail pieces, photo books and specialized calendars.
DMM, Inc., a direct marketing solutions provider based in Scarborough, Maine, produced a fundraising campaign for the Biodiversity Institute on its iGen4 press. “Adopt-a-Loon” postcards were designed to raise awareness and drive funding for the institute’s environmental efforts – sharp detail and accurate color reproduction were musts to preserve the quality of the wildlife photography.
Green production was essential since the Biodiversity Institute studies the impact of contaminants on the environment. The postcards were printed without chemically processed inks on Forest Stewardship Council certified paper. The campaign resulted in 80 new loon “adoptions” and a 14.4 percent increase in donations over the previous year.
Adlis SAS selected the iGen4 press when it expanded its business to include photo books. The Paris-based digital print company’s storefront near the Louvre Museum is the perfect location to showcase its artistic photo books and the image quality made possible with the iGen4 press.
Xerox Extends Black-and-White Print Dominance with Productivity, Finishing Enhancements
ROCHESTER, N.Y., May 11, 2010 – Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) continues to strengthen its position as the worldwide leader in digital black-and-white production printing, today unveiling a host of productivity and finishing enhancements for its award-winning Nuvera® portfolio.
“Xerox leads the worldwide high-end black-and-white market with more than 75 percent of all production class cut-sheet shipments," said Angele Boyd, IDC group vice president, imaging/output document solutions. “The company is well positioned to maintain or extend its leadership position by constantly upgrading its Nuvera family of devices.”
Xerox's Nuvera portfolio, spanning from 100 to 288 images per minute, delivers high-quality prints and increases productivity. The 10 new productivity improvements and finishing options are designed to streamline production and expand the scope of black-and-white printing jobs. By boosting the range of professionally finished applications that can be created – such as manuals, brochures, booklets and calendars – print providers can take on a wider range of jobs and move them quickly through the shop.
How Do You Talk To Your Customers? A Customer-Centric Approach to Communications for Financial Services Companies
Europe’s top 25 Financial Services companies spend an estimated1 €9.2bn on sending information to their customers every year. Research commissioned by Xerox shows that customers tell us that they receive too much information and most if it is irrelevant; banks tell us that they believe better targeted communication would improve cross-selling and grow their revenue.
As part of our research, we wanted to understand how the money devoted to customer communications could achieve maximum impact from their customer communications by banks.
Our Research
We commissioned Coleman Parkes to carry out a wide-ranging European Research Study canvassing the views of 259 retail banks in France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK.
We had in-depth discussions with Heads of Customer Communications, Heads of Operations and Heads of Distribution. We also conducted1,729 detailed consumer interviews online in the same countries.
Finally, we interviewed 35 major retailers (five in each country). Involving the retail industry in our research was vital: this industry has a proven track record tailoring its communication to their customers needs – it was the voice of experience that our research needed.
Creating Outsourcing Success: Avoid the Pitfalls and Gain Competitive Advantage Through High Impact Customer Communications
Chances are your organization already outsources some aspect of its operations. In the past, companies would only outsource non-vital aspects, such as the food service and vending, office cleaning, etc., where opportunities for innovation are of little consequence and low-cost is an acceptable criteria.
Today, outsourcing is a strategic initiative in many organizations and includes vital aspects of the business such as IT, Human
Resources, Call Center, Manufacturing and Accounts Payable.
This paper focuses on outsourcing another critical area – customer communications. These are the multi-channel communications that help companies acquire new customers, welcome and on-board those customers, service them and cultivate their loyalty.
While most outsourcing strategies have a primary goal of saving money, if done right, the benefits can go far beyond lower costs. Outsourcing customer communications can be an effective way to bring world-class capabilities to your organization that can impact both sides of the profit equation – cost savings and revenue growth. The key is to combine competitive pricing with innovation to gain a competitive advantage. Here are some lessons learned, based on 12 years of assessing and implementing customer communications outsourcing solutions.
Focus On Security Xerox Remote Services Security White Paper
Introduction
NOTE: This document refers to Remote Services as a collection of tools used on various Xerox products. The features and information contained in this document refer to the Production Remote Services, prInteract and SMart eSolutions tools.
Xerox is responsive to the security concerns of our customers. Xerox Remote Services are designed to avoid making networks more susceptible to viruses. Remote Services transactions always originate from the device, based on authorizations made by the customer. Remote Services can only communicate with a secure server at Xerox that conforms to the stringent requirements of the internal Xerox Corporation information management infrastructure. Customers do not need to make any changes to Internet firewalls, proxy servers, or other security infrastructure.
Xerox systems are designed to integrate within customer workflows. They connect to the network and push machine data to Xerox Communication servers where the information can be reviewed and analyzed to be used to evaluate service issues as well as to automate billing and supplies replenishment. This built-in knowledge-sharing feature of Xerox systems is what makes Xerox Remote Services viable and its approach unique.
Xerox Remote Services helps differentiate Xerox machine performance and support from other equipment suppliers. While other vendors may remotely
monitor some of their machines, Xerox has developed integrated systems and remote tools, and coupled them with highly skilled Xerox support teams who
are tasked with working to make Xerox customers more productive and satisfied. This combination creates a high value Remote Services capability that
provides proactive problem resolution, and a robust underlying knowledge of the customer’s needs.
Range of Xerox Digital Color Systems Gives Print Providers Competitive Advantage
PHILADELPHIA, April 21, 2010 – Print providers who rely on digital color technology from Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) have proven that applications such as custom photo books, personalized creative mailers and scrap booking supplies are providing new profitable revenue streams and business opportunities.
Their testimonies correspond to a Caslon1 forecast that reports digital color page volume in North America will grow from nearly 10 percent of digital pages in 2008 to almost 50 percent of all digital pages printed – more than 325 billion pages – by 2017.
Martech, a strategic communications and digital imaging firm based in Kansas City, Kan., recently installed two Xerox iGen4™ Presses with Xerox FreeFlow® VIPP PRO Publisher, to expand its printing capabilities and attract new clients.
“The iGen4’s outstanding color matching and variable-data printing capabilities have led to innovative new projects and growth,” said Sam Schembri, chairman and CEO, Martech. “The heavy weight stock options allow us to print on a range of coated, uncoated and specialty papers – enabling us to produce pieces with creative, one-to-one messaging that differentiate them from traditional mailers or collateral.”
Looking to support a growing photo book business, AlphaGraphics®, based in Henrico, Va., installed a Xerox DocuColor® 7002 Digital Press with Xerox FreeFlow Print Server. The press is used to produce photo books, calendars, note cards and other photo specialty products for AlphaGraphics’ customer, MemoriesAlive.com. The decision to purchase the device came after Lloyd Cozens, general manager, AlphaGraphics, attended one of Xerox’s Business Development Thought Leadership Workshops on book publishing.
Xerox Flexes Innovation Muscle to Develop New Color Digital Presses
ROCHESTER, N.Y., April 20, 2010 – In a world where “high def” has quickly become the norm and paper flies through printers at ever increasing speeds, researchers at Xerox Corporation (NYSE:XRX) and Fuji Xerox have developed technology to meet the challenge of printing high definition images at speeds of 80 to 100 pages per minute.
Five new Xerox innovations “under the hood” set these new digital presses apart from anything ever designed, by addressing a print provider’s need for vibrant image quality and the ability to complete complex jobs faster.
“With paper moving at these speeds, there are countless engineering challenges along the way,” said David Mueller, engineering manager of the new Xerox Color 800/1000 Presses. “The technologies we developed, especially the new fuser and clear toner, really push the envelope in terms of how these presses perform.”
The new technologies include:
- Clear EA toner– This transparent dry ink is a new formula of Xerox’s ultra low-melt EA (Emulsion Aggregation) toner. Developed jointly by researchers at Fuji Xerox and the Xerox Research Centre of Canada, it uses no fuser oil and gives images a smooth offset-like finish. The clear toner also adds visual variety. Highlighted images appear to “pop off” the page, and customers can use the feature to draw attention to headlines, variable text, photos, logos or images and create a range of artistic digital effects including watermarks.
- Long-life photoreceptor – The presses feature a new photoreceptor with a protective overcoat that lasts twice as long as conventional technologies, As a result, the photoreceptor, which is the light-sensitive drum used to transfer the image to paper, can withstand making up to 800,000 impressions.
Xerox Ups the Ante in Production Color Printing; Adds Clear, Dry Ink to New Presses for More Vibrant Images
PHILADELPHIA – Print service providers looking to expand their digital businesses now have two new options to produce sophisticated, full-color sales collateral, direct-marketing pieces and photo publishing products – the Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) Color 800/1000 Presses.
The systems – printing 80 and 100 pages per minute respectively – can produce high definition image quality on a wide range of paper stock. An optional clear dry ink station, a feature exclusive to these devices within the Xerox color portfolio, amplifies full-color jobs. This clear, dry ink allows for images and text to be highlighted for visual impact, or digital watermarks applied for artistic effect or security. It is also beneficial for variable-data applications using Xerox’s XMPie software, as it displays personalized content in more vivid ways.
“The image quality of applications coming off these new presses is absolutely superb,” said Frank Romano, professor emeritus, Rochester Institute of Technology. “Print providers want to increase the worth of every page they sell, and the clear, dry ink delivers. It adds vibrancy, quality and value to an application.”
The high-volume devices, designed for commercial and in-plant print operations as well as marketing communications firms, are positioned between the award-winning Xerox DocuColor® 7002/8002 Digital Color Presses and the flagship iGen4™ Press.
