Inkjet & Digital Printing

Xerox turns on enterprise-class managed print services for small and medium-sized enterprises

Thursday 23. April 2009 - New Xerox Print Services enable resellers and their customers to reduce and control printing costs, regardless of device type and brand

Xerox today announced Xerox Print Services, a new version of its enterprise-level managed print services tailored for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Xerox Print Services is a set of services and tools that will be delivered through its worldwide network of channel partners to help SMEs assess their current printing environment, fine-tune their printing networks for optimum performance, and then manage their printing infrastructure – regardless of the manufacturer or device type. For end customers this results in lower print and copy costs, reduced IT support and increased office productivity across multiple print platforms. The offer is available immediately in the UK and Western Europe, with launches in North America and other countries to follow.

According to research firm IDC, businesses with more than 100 employees buy four million devices, print 600 billion pages and spend $20 billion per year on office equipment and services worldwide. The firm also predicts that over 60% of SMEs in Europe will consider purchasing a managed print service solution in 2009. Despite the economic downturn, the firm projects the managed print services market to be a $7.2 billion European opportunity by 2011.

“IDC research shows that the average organisation in Western Europe spends circa €300 per employee per year on print and imaging provision,” said IDC’s Matt Marshall, Programme Director, Research and Consulting, European Imaging and Hardware Solutions. “However, in certain sectors this figure is greatly increased. For example, in knowledge worker-related environments, the average spend can be up to €740 per employee.”

From both research and its experience with large enterprises, Xerox understands that enterprises typically don’t know what they spend on office print operations and that up to 50% of the cost of document output sits outside the physical hardware. With Xerox Print Services, authorised channel partners can help SMEs assess their printing environments, get the best performance from their printing networks and manage their printing infrastructure efficiently and cost effectively. The Xerox channel approach ensures customers have a preferred single point of contact for complete document production management – on both Xerox and other manufacturers’ devices, resulting in lower print and copy costs, less IT support and increased office productivity.

“Cost reduction is the primary value proposition from a managed print service,” said Shaun Pantling, Director and General Manger, Xerox Global Services, Europe. “In the current climate, customers of all sizes are looking for ways to get more from less, and ensuring that the impact of doing this on their business and the environment are minimised.

“Xerox has been focusing on providing services for more than 50 years. We launched our industry-leading managed print services for large enterprises – Xerox Office Services – more than 12 years ago. We manage more than 2 million devices of which half are non-Xerox. Growth in the SME is also a key strategic imperative. Extending our managed print service capability to our partners and smaller clients is part of our ongoing drive to create value and pulls together two important elements of our long-term business strategy.”

Xerox partners are required to complete a comprehensive accreditation and certification programme, covering all four phases of a managed print service deployment: Assess, Design, Implement and Manage. Partners will be certified for sales, solution design and architecting, and service delivery competencies.

Part of Xerox’s channel managed print services portfolio, Xerox Print Services gives channel partners the flexibility to build their own branded services capability but backed by a common technology platform and a single global support infrastructure provided by Xerox. Certified resellers can buy from other vendors and use their own agreements and contracts. This is essential to enable a true multivendor managed print services approach.

“Organisations need to save money and improve their business efficiency,” said Joe Gallagher, Director, Bytes Document Solutions. “Our customers need to make the most of their existing investment in devices. With Xerox Print Services we can make sure we help customers maximise their existing infrastructure and install Xerox equipment when this best meets their needs. Xerox enables us to create a more independent, and as a result more profitable, customer relationship.”

Pricing and availability

Xerox Print Services is an all inclusive approach. Customers only pay for the software and services that they use. Xerox hosts the technology tools whilst the accredited partner delivers and executes the service. Pricing is dependent on partner and customer assessment of existing versus desired future state of the print infrastructure.

In the UK the service will be available immediately through accredited XPS resellers. Launches in North America and other countries will follow later in the year.