MPS
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RESELLER.UK
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In its latest six-month product
update, Xerox has revealed a raft of
new solutions designed to improve
business processes and productivity.
These include workflow automation
solutions, currently available only from
Xerox Large Enterprise Operations; cloud
solutions, also available via the channel;
user analytics for managed print services,
also available via the channel; and a
number of mobile printing solutions.
The four new workflow automation
solutions reflect the greater focus within
Xerox on vertical industry solutions, as it
aims to develop deeper relationships with
those organisations that spend most on
printing and imaging technology.
They are designed for customers that
want to keep processes in-house, but Xerox
believes that as a result of the high level of
consultancy involved, the solutions provide
a natural bridge to Xerox’s business process
outsourcing (BPO) services.
The four solutions are:
n
Workflow Automation Solution
for Supply Chain Optimisation
.
The
solution helps retail organisations manage
in-store returns and reconcile orders, stock
levels and supplier payments. Xerox says
that the first company to use it – a large
retail chain in Canada – has reduced the
labour required for reconciliation by 50%
and cut printing by 33%;
n
HR On-boarding
.
Xerox’s solution
is designed to create a unified workflow
for the provisioning of laptops, tablets,
telephones, corporate IDs, cars and other
assets to new employees. It brings together
information from disparate sources
including paper, scans, web forms and
phone information;
n
Loan Origination.
The workflow
application manages the capture and
archiving of information needed for loan
applications from paper, electronic forms and
email and automatically routes them to loan
officers through a tailored workflow; and
n
Health Records Information
Management.
This solution provides a
unified view of patient data held in paper
archives, Dicom systems and electronic
patient record (EPR) systems that clinicians
can access on a tablet as they do their
rounds. The system is already being used
by The Luton and Dunstable NHS Trust,
which has digitised about 1.2 million paper
patient records, freeing up floor space for
a new cardiac ward and improving patient
and clinical safety.
Consulting demands
These solutions combine workflow and
content management from Datawatch and
Hyland with consulting services, change
management, process improvement,
technical implementation, integration into
existing systems and data capture through
imaging and scanning.
Due to the high degree of consulting
involved, Andy Jones, Vice President,
Workflow Automation, Large Enterprise
Operations at Xerox, said that the solutions
wouldn’t yet be available through the MPS
channel, though this was an area that
Xerox was investigating.
“It is our intention to see how we can
take these to market through the channel,
but there is a big demand on the channel
partner having the right consulting and
technical skills to go and deliver these
solutions,” he said.
“For now, the cloud-based platforms
(see below) will be the leading edge of
what we go to our channel organisations
with. We will understand better how we
can bring these deeper vertical solutions
to the market once we understand channel
partners’ capabilities in more detail. Part
of the opportunity is to identify some new
communities of channel partner beyond
some of the traditional MPS ones that may
have better access to the market to take
these solutions. So we think they could
open up some opportunities for us.”
Cloud solutions
In addition to its workflow automation
solutions, Xerox has developed a number
of tools that address individual worker
productivity, which it is now offering as
packaged cloud offerings available from
Xerox and its channel partners. These are:
n
Digital Alternatives.
Launched in
November as an on-premise solution,
Digital Alternatives (DA) is now available
as a private cloud solution hosted in data
Xerox goes after the big spenders as it questions the channel’s
ability to meet their more complex needs
Hey big spender
centres in Western Europe. It is designed to
improve productivity and remove the need
to print when working with documents. It
does this through digital signatures, easier
sharing of documents and other tools,
with automatic synchronisation between a
user's various devices. An analytics engine
collects data about the types of task being
performed and enables organisations to
monitor activity on a per user basis. It also
shows how much time and how much
paper has been saved.
Jones said: “This information is
extremely useful for businesses in helping
them understand how they can improve
efficiency inside the office and move
towards their vision of the office of the
future. It’s certainly one of the really
important features of DA that separates it
from some of the personal apps that you
see in the marketplace.”
In addition, all analytics from the DA
platform can be imported into Xerox
CompleteView, giving MPS customers
visibility of everything from core print data
to DA usage.
n
DocuShare.
Xerox’s document
management solution is also now available
through a private cloud, reducing the user’s
administrative burden and increasing the
speed of adoption. The Energy Alliance,
an energy supply company, is using the
Part of the
opportunity
is to identify
some new
communities
of channel
partner
beyond the
traditional
MPS ones
continued...
Xerox:
Digital Alternatives
