Real Business at Xerox

by Erin Isselmann, Social Media, Xerox PR

When she isn’t sharing insights on social media, Erin is an avid fan of pop culture and mom who is always learning new ways to juggle.

Christa Carone, Xerox’s CMO recently blogged about her experience as a member of the Arthur Page Society and how their new marketing model has helped to shape the Xerox brand repositioning effort.

I have to admit, this is one of the first marketing models that has captured my attention in a long time.   As a B2B marketer, I look for ways to tie marketing efforts to real world business results.   The idea of forging a shared belief with our customers was not something new to me; what was different was that now we have strong two-way engagement platforms to see this strategy in action every day.  

In previous roles, I have started each day with a least an hour spent on email (mostly internal).   Now, I spend the first part of my day, looking for insights to share with @XeroxCorp’s Twitter followers, then I quickly move to check and see how the latest blog post is doing.   I want to know if people have found the blog interesting enough to share via LinkedIn or Twitter and most importantly I look at the comments on blog posts.   It is wonderful to open a comment and see that a prospect or customer has benefited from our perspective.    

 I bet the changes in my behavior are not all that unique.  Perhaps by focusing on forging a shared belief with our customers, we are freeing ourselves.

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by, Christine Winter, XMPie

Christine is the PR/marketing programs manager for XMPie, A Xerox Company, Karaoke Queen, and Bride-to-Be.

There’s a joke going around the Xerox stand at drupa 2012 that says the trade fair is like Groundhog Day (the movie). Every day, like clockwork, the stand staff arrives at the Messe sometime between 8:30 and 9:00 a.m., attends the Sunrise Meeting at 9:15 a.m., gives the first of several demos/presentations around 10:30 a.m., catches a glimpse of Cirque du Soleil at 10:45 a.m., then 1:45 p.m., then 4:45 p.m., followed by Happy Hour and a 20-minute ride back to the hotel.

And while this scenario is not quite what the attendees experience, I’m willing to bet that there’s one aspect that is the same for all of us. After about 30 minutes to one hour of catching up on emails, calling home, and freshening up at the hotel, we are all hungry and wondering where to go for dinner. And since many of us don’t call Düsseldorf home, this becomes a drawn-out dilemma – keeping us from that nice, warm bath or extra hour of sleep.

So, to save you time and deliberation so you can focus on whatever you came to the show for, XMPie has partnered up with Düsseldorf Inside and dataNovo to bring you the Dusseldorf 1:1 Dining Guide. With cuisine choices ranging from Asian to Italian to Fine German and Swiss, the personalized guide will provide you with dining recommendations in the area based on your preferred cuisines, as well as a QR code with a map leading you wherever you choose to go.

Drupa Dining Guide

We hope you’ll stop by the XMPie area of the Xerox stand in Hall 8b anytime to create your personalized guide and see the power of 1:1 cross-media!

by, Sophie Vandebroek, Chief Technology Officer and president of Xerox Innovation Group

I participated in a The Atlantic’s Innovation Summit in Washington DC earlier this week. My professional colleagues and I discussed how to best nurture talent and fuel breakthroughs that create a competitive American future.

Sophie Vandebroek, Xerox CTO at The Atlantic's Innovation Summit

It was exciting to hear what others had to say about this important challenge. We feel a shared responsibility to keep America a strong global player and an innovative nation. A nation that is able to attract the best and brightest from around the globe and enables them to create thriving companies here.

As Alan Kay, a researcher at PARC in the 70s, used to say: “The best way to predict the future is to invent it”. Indeed, the future technologies and capabilities are being created right now, including in the Xerox research labs around the globe. In my job leading Xerox research, I have the privilege to collaborate with researchers and partners across the globe to envision the future and then create it such that our clients and Xerox will thrive. Many uncertainties remain. How will individuals get knowledge work done a decade from now? Where will they be working? How do these trends affect how business will be conducted in America… in Asia…. in Africa?

No matter where you have this dialogue about our future, and I had it not only in Washington this week, but also in India and Belgium recently, it all comes down to two trends:

1. Businesses in the future will consist of a small core workforce, surrounded by a crowd of free agents. Individuals will form flexible value-chains to bring innovative products and services to the world.

2. The exponential computer processing power increase combined with the huge information explosion allows individuals, companies and governments to harvest new knowledge rapidly. Mining the abundance of information and analyzing it offers many opportunities to better our lives, our cities, our country and the world.

Since our acquisition of Affiliated Computer Services two years ago, Xerox researchers have been transferring knowledge in imaging, color science, sensing, natural language processing and analytics to new industries and customers. It’s is an exciting time for Xerox innovators as we seek to solve new and difficult problems. We are solving these problems applying analytics and mining data to help companies and our government become ‘smarter” and “simplify” the way they do business.

Let me give you a few examples. Researchers are applying imaging algorithms that currently enable our fastest printers to consistently print high-quality images, to monitor infant heart rates in a hospital in India. In France we are mining unstructured patient records to detect hospital acquired infections much earlier than ever before. We are helping companies track and anticipate consumer satisfaction and buying behavior. We are creating greener cities by mining traffic data and adjusting mass transit schedules and parking pricing to minimize unnecessary driving. We are enabling justice faster by detecting and preventing fraud and by enabling lawyers to mine huge amounts of unstructured documents without human intervention.

Doctors, lawyers, mayors and police chiefs and indeed all of us have huge amounts of data available at our fingertips. In addition, the means of easily analyzing this data is now affordable and available. As a result, the impact Xerox researchers and the services professionals, in collaboration with customers, can make to the world is larger now then it has been in many decades.

It was exciting to hear that we are not the only optimists. Other companies, including IBM and Google, shared at the Atlantic’s Innovation Summit this week how we must continue to innovate and apply this innovation to create a better and prosperous society.

by Patti Quinn, Xerox PR

drupa, the largest print show in the world certainly is living up to its reputation.  It is a whirlwind of cultures, sounds, commotion and excitement.  With a front row view, I watch people from around the globe enter the Xerox booth – a steady stream of printers looking to us to help them succeed. 

Xerox Stand at drupa

There’s a lot of competition at a show like this – just like in business every day.  Staying focused and being productive is always the goal, but can be challenging just the same.  One way we’re helping customers do more is by eliminating bottlenecks – so more work can be completed faster and better.

For printers looking to print more profitable applications such as booklets and manuals, there’s a new solution that allows them to side-step the time-consuming efforts to put finishing touches on the booklets, such as stitching and folding.  What’s even better, this solution can be used by multiple print engines so devices are used to their maximum potential.  Early reviews are in and they are good – check out Jim Hamilton’s (InfoTrends) tweet.

We also know that very few print shops rely on just one vendor for their printing needs and each brand requires its own workflow and print instructions, contributing to complexity and bottlenecks. So, at drupa we’ve introduced software that eliminates the hassle of a multi-vendor environment so users can run jobs to a number of different printers.  Being able to print more jobs to more printers without any issues; now that is cool.

Productivity resonates across different time zones, continents and languages, which is so evident at drupa.  Watching drupa, an amazing international gathering unfold in front of me, it’s clear that we’re in the right place, at the right time, to do things faster and better for our customers.       

Beyond managing PR for Xerox, Patti’s second life is that of a hockey Mom.

by, Bob Wagner, Xerox Technology Communications

By May 16 about 100,000 people will visit the Xerox stand in Hall 8b, and I’ll have a chance to meet with hundreds of them from dozens of countries.  That’s what I like most about this quadrennial mega show.  Like-minded people from around the globe come together in picturesque Dusseldorf—people with a passion for printing.  In fact, there’s no better place in our industry than drupa to make friends and rekindle long-standing relationships.

This is my fourth drupa since 2000, and over the last 12 years coming to Germany I’ve met many interesting people and made many good friends.  My drupa “BFF” list includes Andreas Weber, a prominent industry analyst, journalist and publisher who hails from Mainz. I met Andreas on my first trip to drupa.  Since then we’ve worked on numerous projects—here in Europe and in North America—promoting the role of digital printing in the marketing communications mix.  Andreas is one of our industry’s biggest evangelists for digital print.  He fluently speaks the language of marketing to marketers—and that truly sets him apart as an influential voice in our industry.  Every time I think of Andreas, I think of drupa, where our friendship began.

Me and my good friend, Andreas Weber (left), at the Xerox stand in Hall 8b at drupa 2012.

And that’s the best part of drupa: re-connecting with colleagues and customers who I haven’t seen in four years.  As Jeff Jacobson, the new head of our global graphic communications business, says: our industry starts and ends with “all-encompassing relationships”—many of which begin and get rejuvenated right here at drupa.

by, Devisa Ransom, Xerox Analyst Relations

Oprah Winfrey said, “I’ve learned that you can’t have everything and do everything at the same time. “  I love Oprah, but I’ve never understood why I couldn’t have my cake and eat it too.  Why should I choose between the things I love – spending quality time with family and friends, volunteering at local charities and having a rewarding career? 

I must admit, I get overwhelmed at times.  It seems there is always something to do and somewhere to be.  Deadlines at work, my nephew’s tee-ball game, a food and clothing drive for the local shelter… the list goes on and on.  Everything seems worthwhile and important.  How can I do them all? 

Then it struck me.  While it is impossible to accomplish everything at the exact same time, you can still accomplish everything you set out to do.  The key is to prioritize and compartmentalize.  In other words, you determine what’s most important and organize it into smaller, more manageable projects. 

For example, I find working with research analysts stimulating and rewarding.  Being rated a market leader by top industry influencers is extremely gratifying.  But, anyone who has ever participated in a major market assessment knows the process can be overwhelming.   There is complex data-gathering, client reference coordination and capabilities briefings – all on top of numerous daily e-mail queries, analyst inquiries, surveys and strategy sessions.  While this keeps me stimulated, juggling deadlines can be daunting.  This is especially stressful after becoming committee chair for a high-profile museum gala within the same timeframe.     

So how do I pull off the impossible?  I prioritize and compartmentalize by:

• Logging in all project requests:  write down everything and use one calendar for both work and personal commitments

• Determining deliverables and deadlines:  identify what is expected and when it is due

• Organizing by relevance and deadline:  realize not everything can be done at once, so  establish criteria to determine relevance and prioritize to ensure deadlines are met

• Developing and implementing a project plan:  determine what needs to be done, how to do it and complete the task

• Evaluating and refining the process:  determine what worked and change what didn’t so that the process works smoother the next time

This is not unlike what Xerox does for our customers every day.  We simplify complex business processes so our customers can focus on what matters most – their real business.  I’ve learned that by setting priorities and dividing things into smaller, more manageable projects, I CAN accomplish everything I set out to do.

By Christa Carone, Xerox CMO

What a week I’ve had, and I’ve got the social media scars to prove it.  It started last week with my participation in a panel discussion at Digitas’ NewFront.   Fellow panelists and I discussed moving beyond ‘like’ in customer engagement on social media. It’s a topic timely and relevant to consumer and B2B marketers like Xerox. During the discussion I mentioned that we had recently experimented with paid Tweets and that this type of activity was something that a B2B company should consider carefully.   I also cautioned other B2B companies against gravitating to the ‘hot’ new social platform and questioned whether Pinterest was really where a B2B company would engage with its customers?

For the record, I am a supporter of social media and the transparency, honest insights and marketing possibilities it can provide – I am willing to take risk, experiment and push our people to find new ways to engage our many stakeholders in meaningful ways.

I have spent a large part of my career in communications, so I wasn’t surprised to see an article based on my comments posted on ClickZ, reading:  Xerox CMO Not Sold on Twitter and Pinterest.   I know that provocative headlines drive interest, and ClickZ got its SEO worth for sure.

Healthy dialogue is good, and ClickZ reached out to me to continue the conversation next week, so stay tuned. As a follow up Ragan.com interviewed people who had commented on the original Click Z article and wrote its own story which I provided comments for, but when the article went live, the headline read : “Is Social Media Simply a Bad Choice for B2B?”, which is again, umm, provocative.  

I’m happy to see a lively debate on my behalf, and if my comments are used in tweets to drive discussion and debate, then I’m happy to take one for the team.  And for accuracy and clarity on our company’s involvement in social media: Xerox has over 50 Twitter handles, we use Facebook to reach our employees and retirees and our most successful social media platform is YouTube.   Our blogs are where we choose to provide insight and drive deeper engagements and conversations. As I look to the future of B2B in social media, I see great opportunity, on Twitter and on the new platforms of tomorrow to share insightful content that will help our customers make decisions that help their businesses grow and prosper.

Curious marketer & communicator on the hunt for cut through creative… Road warrior and marathon runner, follow me on Twitter @ChristaCarone

By Armando Zagalo de Lima, president, Xerox Technology Business

drupa is called the Olympics of printing, because it’s the industry’s biggest show, it’s held every four years and it attracts such a global audience. In 2008, visitors came from 54 countries, and this year promises to match or top that. 

Xerox has come of age at this global trade fair. We morphed from a more or less detached observer in the 1990s into an upstart revolutionary in 2000, proclaiming that digital would change the business forever. As our bold predictions came true, we evolved further into the anchor drupa exhibitor that we are today.

Over that time we’ve learned a few lessons from our drupa experiences, as well, and some are reflected in the new organization we established for the business earlier this year. 

For the first time, Xerox has a single organization that is dedicated to graphic communications worldwide. Not that we weren’t devoted to this market before. But now our structure is built entirely from the customer out to deliver a consistent, benchmark experience everywhere in Europe and North America and eventually, around the world.

drupa 2012 is the coming out party for this organization and its president, Jeff Jacobson, a 25-year industry veteran, who joined Xerox in February. What I saw on the first day of drupa fully reinforced my belief that we are headed in the right direction. With the new Xerox iGen150 and CiPress announcements, workflow and cloud offerings, and business development tools, we continue to lead the digitization of this evolving industry. And we continue to make a strong case for being the industry’s partner of choice.

But what really struck me was the passion for this industry that I saw from Jeff and our entire team. Because of our heritage and the fact we work so closely with many of the world’s top graphic communications providers, we know this industry well. Our passion is for using that knowledge to help our customers succeed in all of the 160-plus countries we do business in.

drupa is the perfect time to ask ourselves: What am I doing to keep pace with changes in an increasingly global graphic communications industry?

Armando Zagalo de Lima has served as president of Xerox Europe, Xerox Global Customer Operations and currently leads the Xerox Technology Business.

By Darren Spence, managing director, Bytes Document Solutions, a Xerox partner

A few years ago, the CEO of Europe’s largest outsourcer, Atos, issued a challenge to its suppliers: find new ways to save us money and keep us competitive. Not an unusual or surprising challenge from customer to vendor, but one that required the team at Bytes Document Solutions to change our game plan.

More and more, being a trusted partner – not a just a supplier – is critical to the success of managed print services (MPS) relationships. The companies seeking our help want to know how what we’re going to do with their print environment will impact, and improve day-to-day interactions with customers, employees and business prospects. We had enjoyed a trading partnership with Atos for several years, but we needed to add new value to keep the relationship strong.

How do you transform from supplier to trusted partner? Here’s what we did at Atos:
Listen: We assessed the print environment – not just evaluating equipment but really listening and understanding what Atos needed and wanted. For example, we learned that Mike Shanahan and his facilities team were spending too much time on printer-related problems and employees were frustrated.

Find the win-win: The Xerox-centric, MPS approach we recommended from Bytes is built around a “business continuity” mind-set, whereby the only truly acceptable state is one which allows office workers to print without any concern over the operating condition of any specific printer. The MPS solution relieved worker frustration and eliminated the resource-heavy and costly maintenance and repair burden on the Atos facilities team.

Define and agree on objectives: Upfront, we agreed to deliver hard cost savings as well as other “intangible” benefits to support the way Atos does business. Using Bytes’ Core Managed Print Service, which forms part of its “Inspire 360” workplace proposition, Atos saved over 15 percent of costs, and we transitioned 30 sites in just three weeks. Other benefits like improved employee productivity and business continuity helped us meet the challenge to keep Atos functioning more competitively day-to-day.

Inspire 360 consists of carefully selected Xerox hardware, together with some clever authentication and workflow components. Every component of the solution co-exists and offers the office worker faster ways to print, copy, scan, fax, and route, archive and recover documents. The Atos project was so successful that three years on, Bytes enhanced the whole environment yet again, delivering further tangible and intangible savings.

As Xerox Partner of the Year, Darren Spence and Bytes Document Solutions have accumulated experience on the art of partnering. In his free time, Spence enjoys writing and is an avid Formula 1 fan. He tweets business and sales tips as @4eyedSalesGuy.

by, Becky Dziedzic, Xerox PR

My sister-in-law is coming to visit in August and it’s already making me nervous. Why? Because I’m messy. My house is clean, my kids are neat and punctual, my inbox is organized, my multiple calendars are updated, and my mind is like a steel trap – but underneath it all I’m messy. And so are my closets, my desks, my drawers, my basement and anything else you can’t see. So now that I’ve admitted that little known fact, back to my sister-in-law. Her closets are immaculate, her bins and drawer are labeled, her spices are alphabetized, and when she opens the door to my guest room closet, I fear she will have a heart attack.

This life as I’ve described it reminds me of a sign that hung in my parents’ house growing up. It said, “Be like the duck. On the surface look calm and unruffled. Below the surface, paddle like [heck].” I saw it probably every day of my life, but now it make sense. Isn’t that what we all do? In life, in business – we put our best foot forward and work like crazy behind the scenes to keep it that way.

So how do I cope? I:

• write it down: at any given time I have least 10 lists going
• label for easy access: I have 330 Outlook folders and I can find anything from the six years I’ve worked at Xerox
• outsource: a cleaning lady was best thing I ever did
• have strategic plans: a weekly dinner menu, the kids’ outfits for the week, every hour of my day so I can fit a workout in
• know my strengths: fortunately I have a very good memory when it comes to details, so my mind helps when my messy desk does not

It’s not unlike what Xerox does every day with our clients and our partners. We understand their priorities and behind the scenes, we’ll do whatever it takes to keep them focused on their business, their customers. It’s the same in my life – what I do behind the scenes is whatever it takes to keep my focus on what’s really important. To make sure I have time with my kids, time to stay healthy, time to succeed at my job, I have to plan ahead. But, I don’t have time to clean my closets. Maybe I can outsource that to my sister-in-law…

Becky Dziedzic has a passion for spin – from public relations for Xerox to regular cycling sessions at the gym. She’s a dedicated mom, sports and exercise enthusiast, and looks forward to resuming her world travel adventures when her kids get older.