Services to support business processes will drive the new business of printing, says Jim Firestone, president of Xerox North America.
"The new business of printing is characterised by shorter run lengths, faster turnaround times, and variable content and is increasingly about workflow," Firestone told attendees of a printing analyst briefing in New York last week.
Consequently, smarter document management is a key component of Xerox Global Services, which has seen revenue growth of 2% and 5% in the first two quarters of this year, as well as 20% growth in the number of customers subscribing to services.
Firestone said Xerox continued to invest in technology to enable services, but had adopted a services-led strategy because research indicated that while 85% of IT managers say strong document management is critical, up to 37% say they don`t have the right services.
"There is a definite trend from technology to technology and services, from selling product to solving problems, from standalone to networked, from black-and-white to colour, and from vendor to business partner," he said.
Services have also become increasingly important in developing countries, where the necessary technology and infrastructure may be lacking to drive business value, he noted.
Firestone was joined on stage by University of Calgary CIO Harold Esche, who said his institution had sought a printing solution that included a document management component because it was unable to determine or control printing costs.
"We decided to look for a printing company that could offer us an integrated approach with the aim of decreasing printing costs, reducing paper consumption and managing information," Esche said.
Firestone cited the migration from paper to digital documents as another reason for adopting a services-led strategy that focuses on document management.
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