In today’s business climate, there are many challenges. Among the biggest is drive productivity and growth while keeping costs low. Simply put – companies are being asked to do more with less – sometimes, a lot less. Organisations are constantly searching for ways to increase revenue and improve profit, while at the same time trying to improve their service to customers, in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
So the pressure to increase profits, improve productivity and reduce costs is greater than ever. But so too, is the need to increase quality and customer retention. The question is ‘how?’ Many organisations have already examined the costs and processes in areas such as logistics and IT. They are continuously looking for improvements, but with so much already accomplished, additional efficiencies are increasingly hard to find.
Many authorities have offered answers to this continual challenge. After re-engineering and re-structuring, outsourcing and quality-improvement, down-sizing and right-sizing, computerising and digitising, the answer still remains out there, in front of us, just a little out of grasp.
Except for the promise that technology will be the final hurdle. The right technology, applied properly, is almost universally seen to be the answer. So, businesses spent heavily on technology. In fact, between 1998 and 2000, Forrester Research reported that businesses spent $65 billion on technology alone, including heavy investments in enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM).
Although technology is certainly beneficial to business – in fact, no business could hope to get along without it – technology can also be a burden if not managed effectively. Today, businesses are asking the question: Where is the ROI? Where is the growth? It’s a good question, and a timely one too. Let’s look at it.
Consider output devices in the office, such as printers, copiers, fax machines or multifunction devices. Most people will agree that they all have unique supply and maintenance requirements. Plus, devices often have different operations and are spread across many locations. They have various network power and telephone requirements. And, as enterprises grow, their fleets of document equipment grow, too. Keeping it up and running efficiently can place a large burden on the IT department. Add to that all the steps it takes to search for documents on servers to print or process them, and then store the updated files in a place where they can be tracked. It’s a lot of work, and what’s more, documents create a significant drain on productivity and budget.
But documents are important. From digital documents on your website and PCs, to the plethora of paper-based documents such as invoices, contracts, statements, marketing collateral and direct mail, documents are everywhere. They are the lifeblood of your business. Documents are more than just paper.
• Documents are the product (e.g. customer contracts, insurance policies).
• Documents support products (e.g. mobile phone user manuals, product brochures).
• Documents support critical business processes (e.g. accounts payable and receivable, credit card applications).
Documents are a confusing and often hidden aspect of business cost, productivity and IT infrastructure. In fact, most companies spend about 10 percent of annual revenues on document-related costs. So, what can be done about this? Is the answer just out in front of us, a little out of reach? Fortunately, no. Along with the technology come answers about how to manage that technology for maximum benefit. Companies such as Xerox offer a number of programs to help customers deliver better business results.
The strategy begins with helping customers create smarter document processes by mining the untapped efficiency opportunities that exist within their business processes. The success of an organisation is just as critically linked to business process and people, as it is to advancing technology. Speed, quality and measurement are becoming more and more important to companies of all sizes. Businesses need to understand the full range of knowledge about how to design, implement and optimise network-based printer management systems so that workflow in the office can be maximised.
Most businesses also need to eliminate wasteful spending and better manage documents and equipment across entire organisations by studying workflow in offices. In order to do these things, organisations are looking at the way people work, the tasks involved and the time it takes to simply manage their information. In doing so customers can save up to 40 percent on output costs, according to Xerox… and they know what they’re talking about:
• The ODA Xerox provided to Lloyd’s Bank of Argentina contained recommendations to re-engineer the bank’s printing processes for customer statement policies. The 50 Lloyd’s branches are now fully connected via digital office solutions to accommodate the diverse printing needs of each branch. Plus, Lloyd’s customers now receive professional, colour-highlighted statements, rather than previously used pre-printed forms. Total cost savings for Lloyd’s is estimated at $15 million over the next three years, and their equipment was consolidated from 40,000 to 25,000 devices – saving space and reducing cost of ownership.
• At HSBC in Brazil, Xerox conducted a study that resulted in a major change in the bank’s printing strategy. HSBC found that it could reduce its asset load from 5,000 ink jet printers to fewer than 300 Xerox printers and multifunction devices, a ratio of one Xerox device for 11 ink-jet devices. The change is saving HSBC 20 percent annually on its printing bill. And, it has improved customer satisfaction. People no longer have to wait for the inkjet to print – it’s done quickly, and on two-sides, on the Xerox device.
Business and document processes within the office not only need to be assessed, but also managed effectively. More than 50 percent of IT helpdesk calls are just about printer problems? That means that IT support within organisations are spending too much time worrying about managing output device versus helping to move the company forward by focusing on business objectives. On-site support that proactively monitors printing devices and corrects potential problems before any issues or delays occur could help eliminate this bottleneck and help organisations maximise business workflow. Tasks like billing, training and records management could be automated and tracked easier and faster.
Digitising documents and storing them in a secure repository that is searchable via the internet allows workers from different geographic locations to share information and access the same central document management system. Pemex, Mexico’s oil and gas leader did just this. Poor access to millions of documents representing critical knowledge to the organisation was taking a toll on productivity.
Xerox Mexicana provided, installed and managed the hardware and software to help Pemex scan more than two million documents and load the images into a digital repository. Treasury and other processes are now supported with electronic document workflows. Pemex achieved a reduction of seven tons of paper and eliminated off-site physical storage space. The company was also able to reduce document search time from weeks to minutes.
Microsoft is also working with Xerox to regulate internal work processes and create a consistent print strategy across its multiple facilities worldwide. Xerox is managing and servicing multi-vendor equipment at various Microsoft offices. As a result, Microsoft has realised more than 84 percent of its information technology problems are solved before end-users are even aware of them.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car, with headquarters in the US, reduced costs and streamlined workflow by moving almost two million documents a month onto its intranet, increasing access to information. Xerox improved customer service and created a virtual community of workers around the world by using an interactive database that stores successful repair solutions.