By Robert Palmer, Palmer Consulting

Any successful managed print services (MPS) program begins with a good assessment. It serves as the foundation for the service by uncovering such issues as device redundancies, utilization problems, and process inefficiencies. At the same time, the assessment helps to establish a baseline to measure against over the course of the managed print engagement.

What makes a good assessment? That question has come up quite a bit during recent Xerox Focus Forward customer events. Of course, it starts with a good assessment tool. One that can easily and graphically show customers not only how assets are deployed but also provide summary report data on issues such as device economics, distribution, page volumes, and usage patterns.

One thing is certain: a good assessment involves much more than simply collecting and analyzing device data. Experienced customers consistently agree that you need to understand how equipment is used—whether individually or within the team, workgroup, or department. That typically means employee interviews and long-term monitoring of the document environment. A close, working relationship between the provider and the customer is crucial to that process.

Once in place, a good assessment can unveil important information about your document environment, which could be used to drive output costs lower and, more importantly, improve productivity. Consider one such example provided recently during the Xerox Focus Forward event held in Atlanta. Christopher Swezey, director of auxiliary services for Berkley College of Music, explained that their initial assessment conducted in partnership with Xerox uncovered that only four (yes, four) students were responsible for 90 percent of their entire print volume.

It seems highly unlikely, but it turns out that those four individuals had basically established their own on-campus print centers—providing print services for other students who simply found the process too intimidating or too time consuming to tackle on their own.

On the one hand, you have to applaud the entrepreneurial spirit of those four individuals. On the other, it speaks volumes as to how inefficient processes and hidden print costs can go uncovered in any organization. What unknown gems might be lurking within your own document/print environment? It could be time to find a good partner and conduct your first MPS assessment.

Robert Palmer is an independent market analyst and industry consultant. With more than 20 years of experience in the printing industry, he has covered technology and business for prominent market research firms such as Lyra Research and InfoTrends. He was managing editor of the Hard Copy Observer for six years and more recently served as director of office document services for Photizo Group. Mr. Palmer recently formed Palmer Consulting, an independent consultancy focused on transformation, mobility, MPS, and the entire imaging market. 

By Mark Duffelen, director and general manager, Channels Group, Xerox UK and Ireland

When you hear someone say Xerox, you probably think of a big corporation with sales offices across the globe. While this may be true, the reality is that Xerox, alone, can’t be everywhere, serving everyone. To help us do that, we rely on our network of channel partners including multi-brand resellers and concessionaires.

With the strength of the Xerox brand behind them, our channel partners provide customers with local sales, support and service, the length and breadth of the country.

Our expanding network of channel partners provides customers with what they want: new technologies that support their key business objectives of creating a simpler, more efficient work environment. Like Xerox’s new ConnectKey offering and our industry-leading channel managed print service offering – Xerox Partner Print Services.

To celebrate the achievements of our UK-based channel partners during 2012, we recently held our own version of the Oscars, the Xerox UK and Ireland Partner Awards, in Lisbon, Portugal. All winners were selected based on business results, quality of service and their dedication to enhance our global network.

Drum roll please…

Partner of the Year & Finance Partner of the Year – Advanced Business Equipment

Systems Integration Partner of the Year – Commercial IT Services

Managed Print Services Partner of the Year – Xenith Document Systems

Office Premier Partner of the Year – Bytes Document Solutions

Production Partner of the Year – ROI 360º

Xerox Authorised Reseller of the Year – The Danwood Group

My sincere congratulations to all of the winners!

We look forward to engaging with current and new partners in 2013. If you’d like to know more about becoming a Xerox channel partner, I’d be pleased to hear from you. Please drop me a note at mark.duffelen@xerox.com.

By Ed Gala, vice president, Marketing, United States Client Operations, Xerox

As a proud parent who’s writing rather large checks to two colleges, I love hearing about creative ways to keep tuition costs down and deliver better student services.

That’s exactly what happened when I dropped in on a gathering of about 25 higher education IT and administrative leaders from Tulane, Tuskegee, Saint Louis, Dillard, and other schools at a recent Focus Forward event.  The conversation was filled with interesting insights and strategies about how to lower expenses in the face of tighter government appropriations and increasing demands to do more with less.

Opportunities for savings and efficiency sometimes come in unlikely places.  In fact, based on the experience of one senior administrator, it pays to look in little-used closets where unknowing staff have been known to stash broken personal printers.

You can see how it happens.  The little ink jet on the assistant dean’s desk clogs up and she innocently stashes it in the closet vowing to call someone to pick it up another day.  Only that day never comes and some unfortunate department — usually shared services or IT — is still paying for charges on that discarded machine, incurring invisible costs.

Meantime, back at my house, I’m griping with fellow parents of college students about tuition bills that only go in the up direction.  And my daughters are calling to remind me that the sorority dues need to be paid and talking about that exciting opportunity to study in London next semester. Cha-ching.

So you can’t blame me if I get a kick out of hearing how one college took $215,000 of annual cost out by outsourcing their print shop.  And you’ll understand if my eyes light up when I learn a major university cut the number of individual printers in staff offices from 573 to 140 and saved $881,000 by conducting a campus-wide scavenger hunt for underutilized equipment — including that machine hiding in the closet.

I admit to nodding involuntarily when told of a 60 percent reduction in paper costs through centralized purchasing. And I applauded at the end when they talked about how all of this freed up dollars to invest in other priorities and student-centered programs.

Let me know if you’re aware of other things colleges and universities are doing to make the business of education less costly and more productive.

It won’t be long before two more tuition bills come due. And I need all the encouragement I can get.

By Robert Palmer, Palmer Consulting

Teams and teamwork: how you have your team configured makes a big difference in today’s business world. So says Richard Karlgaard, columnist and publisher for Forbes and the keynote speaker at Xerox’s recent Focus Forward event held in Chicago. Karlgaard covered a lot of ground in the keynote address, but his discussion around the “soft virtue” of teamwork really resonated with me and tied perfectly with what turned out to be the theme of the day.  

One of the real advantages to attending the Focus Forward events is the opportunity to hear directly from customers—those who are deep in the midst of transformation and dealing with the challenges involved in that process. In Chicago, Xerox asked two such customers to tell their stories: Bill Rouse from US Foods and James McDonald Jr. from ING. Both described how the transition to managed print services (MPS) has not only reduced costs but more importantly, helped drive operational efficiencies throughout their organizations.

During the course of the day, the conversation consistently reverted back to the issue of change management. While most recognize the benefits associated with MPS, many still search for the best way to communicate those benefits to their employees. The fear of change remains a difficult obstacle to overcome—especially for employees that feel threated by that change. One question that seems to surface at every event: how do we deal with employees who simply do not want to give up their desktop printers?

Interestingly, both Rouse and McDonald shared similar experiences and meaningful insight. The secret lies in making sure that employees are invested in the process. First, educate employees up front on the entire value proposition and explain how they stand to benefit from MPS: through reduced costs to improved productivity and better environmental policies. More importantly, involve individual employees in the ongoing process of transformation. Let them carry the message for you. Teamwork, after all, will make the difference.

Robert Palmer is an independent market analyst and industry consultant. With more than 20 years of experience in the printing industry, he has covered technology and business for prominent market research firms such as Lyra Research and InfoTrends. He was managing editor of the Hard Copy Observer for six years and more recently served as director of office document services for Photizo Group. Mr. Palmer recently formed Palmer Consulting, an independent consultancy covering the imaging market. 

By Robert Palmer, Palmer Consulting

The only constant is change. It is an often-used quote these days but one that is particularly relevant when thinking about today’s fast-moving business environment. So much of how we conduct business today is in a constant state of flux, and the pathway to success for most companies lies in the ability to not only accept change but to embrace it.

This point was hammered home for me during the inaugural 2013 Xerox Focus Forward event held recently in Dallas. That word—change—was repeated often during the one-day program, and the challenges we face today were summed up nicely during the opening introduction: “Change is good, change exemplifies progress, change is what’s next.”

Building on the success of last year’s program, Xerox has put together a strong schedule of Focus Forward events for 2013. Designed to bring customers together with industry experts, technology providers, and other thought leaders; the Focus Forward program provides an important venue for learning about the future of business—to discuss best practices for dealing with today’s many business challenges and to see examples of how customers have solved real business problems.

The managed print services breakout session in Dallas kicked off with an inspiring keynote from Bill Taylor, author and co-founder of Fast Company. Several comments from the keynote resonated with me, but one in particular struck me as crucial when thinking about the issue of change. “You can’t let what you know limit what you can imagine,” he says. Excellent point.

I am fortunate enough to have been asked to attend and participate in each of the Xerox Focus Forward events this year. You can follow my thoughts in this blog as I travel to each event and from city to city. The next Focus Forward event is only days away in Chicago. Hope to see you there.

Robert Palmer is an independent market analyst and industry consultant. With more than 20 years of experience in the printing industry, he has covered technology and business for prominent market research firms such as Lyra Research and InfoTrends. He was managing editor of the Hard Copy Observer for six years and more recently served as director of office document services for Photizo Group. Mr. Palmer recently formed Palmer Consulting, an independent consultancy covering the imaging market.

By Christa Carone, CMO, Xerox

I’m a terrible tennis player.  It’s one of those “life sports” that I wish I spent more of my time learning to play. As my teenage son and 9-year-old daughter handily beat me on the court, the only satisfaction I get is an up close and personal view of the US Open in action. This is Xerox’s second year partnering with the United States Tennis Association to help them run the highest-attended annual sporting event in the world. (Yep, that’s a true claim to fame for the US Open. The Olympics is humongous but it doesn’t carry the honor of being an annual event.)  

There’s a lot of complexity that goes into managing the US Tennis Open. Our role is to help make it simpler – or, at the very least, make it seem simpler for every player, guest, official, coach, reporter, employee, etc. who is at the event.  

For example, we manage the production of documents crucial to the USTA’s communication around the event – things like media reports, pairings, the evolving schedules of play and the daily draw sheets, which are turned around in the wee hours every morning of the tournament.

So, while you’re watching Serena and Andy light it up on center court, we’re behind the scenes – with lots of balls in the air – to help keep the tournament running smoothly. It’s a logical place for Xerox to be …and our role gives the USTA more time and resources to focus on what matters most: bringing world-class tennis to the fans.  

BTW: Ever wonder how the Open selects the ball girls/boys for the tournament? Or who gets to sing the national anthem for the matches? Or how the grounds are set up so fast for two weeks of play? For more of what happens behind the scenes at the Open, check out this video series on the US Open YouTube Channel. It’s a sneak peek of the magic beyond the baseline.

But who wants just to be behind the scenes all the time? We’ve got enough swagger that we thought we’d sneak out this year and serve up our brand in a bigger way. After all, “business to business” brands like Xerox are really all about connecting with people. We like to think of it as B2P instead of B2B (and, because we have a thing for acronyms).

So, among many activities, we’re hosting a photo station for US Open attendees to pose for pictures and/or share their Open images with us via Twitter. We’ll be building a gallery on our US Open microsite to showcase these photos – so keep an eye out! We’re also happy to print Open photos for folks while they’re at the tournament. Even better, for every Foursquare check-in at the Xerox booth, we’ll donate $5 to USTA Serves, an organization that brings tennis programs to underprivileged youth*.   

Stay tuned here for more details. Until then, you’ll find me tracking down Roger Federer for some help with my serve…and my backhand…and, oh well, it’s useless. But you will find me cheering him on.

*USTA Serves is a 501(c)3, tax-exempt, not-for-profit, charitable and educational organization. IRS ID #13-3782331. ®2012. USTA Serves Incorporated, 70 West Red Oak Lane, White Plains, NY 10604. All rights reserved.

Photo credit: Louie Lu

By Gregory Pings, editor, Corporate and Employee Communications

So there I was, standing in a store and trying to find a proper shirt to wear while I’m running. No mere vanity here! I need shirts that will wick-away my sweat and keep me cool as I train for a marathon.

A clerk approached me, asked how he can help, then took me to where the runners’ shirts are displayed.  He stayed with me and answered all my questions, but they did not have the color I wanted. (OK, so that part was vain.) “No problem,” he said, and he arranged to send me the shirts from their warehouse me the next day – for the in-store price, and no shipping charges.

That guy understood the concept of the golden thread – a metaphor that illustrates how each person in a business is connected to the company’s customers.

I’m the editor of @Xerox, the electronic magazine for our employees, and our last issue asked Xerox employees to consider their connection to our customers. Xerox has 140,000 people who approach their customers in their own way.  Researchers, service techs, account associates, sales reps, and – yes – editors, writers, marketers, and many more, are linked to Xerox customers. Each of us has a golden thread that we nurture with care. @Xerox has collected a number of stories that talk about our golden threads, and I offer these stories to you for your consideration.

There is one caveat to this invitation. Many of these stories include hyperlinks that will not work.  That’s because those links are behind our firewall, and can be accessed only by employees. (Such is the fate of hyperlinks in an employee magazine.) But I think you’ll appreciate the articles anyway.

Consider this an invitation to see what Xerox has become – and what our people can do for your people.

Xerox, once a mainstay of copiers, printers, and reams upon reams of paper, produces an employee magazine that does not require so much as a single ounce of pulp. Our company has changed, and @Xerox describes how these changes play out in our services and our technology.

Moreover, the magazine is produced in-house by the same group that provides these publication services for our customers – that’s the design, translation into other languages, and production according to my group’s specifications.

Is this something that Xerox can do for your company?

Greg took up long-distance running about three years ago. He has competed in two half-marathons and a number of shorter races. After taking a one-year break from running, he’s training for the Philadelphia marathon. “I still can’t believe I’m doing this.”