The pace at which acquisition talks between Xerox and HP are proceeding is nothing short of dizzying. The give-and-take banter between Xerox CEO John Visentin and his HP counterpart, Enrique Lores, along with the many players behind the scenes (including investor Carl Icahn, who has a stake in both companies) increased to a weekly frequency by early March and showed little signs of slowing. However, by mid-month, Visentin announced Xerox would be ceasing public communications in order to prioritize the health and safety of its employees and partners during the coronavirus pandemic.
Obviously, a combination of the companies would dramatically alter the complexion and strategy of the new entity, but at the Norwalk, Connecticut, offices of Xerox, it’s business as usual for the century-plus-old manufacturer. The organization has made a number of personnel changes in recent months, not the least of which was the appointment of Joanne Collins Smee as executive vice president and chief commercial, SMB and channels officer. The veteran executive boasts a substantial record that includes 25 years at IBM in global executive roles, and she also spearheaded technology transformation services for the federal government.
At Xerox, Collins Smee has augmented the company’s software business and introduced a new line of digital services. In her new role, she will look to add innovative solutions for SMB and channel partners. She is also leading the Xerox Business Services dealer direct arm, reporting to Visentin.
While Collins Smee is new to her current roles (her appointment was announced in mid-February), she was happy to discuss her objectives for the first 100 days and all of 2020, and shed some light on the initiatives designed to strengthen Xerox’s relationships with its various dealer, SMB and channel partners, along with the impact that transaction talks have on the OEM’s longstanding relationship with HP.
Provide some insight into your career path leading up to Xerox.
Collins Smee: My background is in information technology and software development, with roles at IBM, the federal government, and now Xerox. Using technology to transform business processes has always been my passion, and I’m excited to bring that focus to Xerox’s software and services business. My remit recently expanded to include the SMB channel, and I’m thrilled to be leading the strategy around delivering Xerox solutions, software and services to this market.
What responsibilities will your new position entail, and what will you be looking to accomplish in the first 100 days in this role?
Collins Smee: I’m managing Xerox’s SMB business in the United States, which encompasses our Xerox Business Solutions (XBS) teams as well as our mono-branded agents, dealers and velocity channel. I’ve been on the road a lot in this first month, getting to know the teams, their biggest opportunities and how I can help.
Xerox has significant penetration in this market and we’ve built incredible relationships and trust with these customers. Now our job is to take the software and services capabilities our enterprise clients find so compelling and reshape them to suit the SMB community. SMBs want and need elements like the robust security and cloud infrastructure we can provide – and they need these solutions tailored for them. We’re working to have the right level of capability at the right price to meet their needs.
In February, the company announced the U.S. expansion of its IT services across Xerox Business Solutions. How would you characterize the opportunity to grow this discipline within the SMB space?
Collins Smee: If you think about how Xerox serves SMBs today, we’ve been incredibly hands-on through our XBS teams. We have the most-knowledgeable and dedicated sales and services professionals who regularly visit these SMB clients in person to provide support and guidance. That’s a big differentiator – our clients might love their iPhones, but no one from Apple is visiting with them and building ongoing relationships to better help them achieve their business goals.
Our opportunity now is to expand that personalized service so SMB clients can access the capabilities that will truly transform their everyday work experience. They won’t need or want 10 or 15 vendors to cover the waterfront because we’re there to do it – including IT projects, printers, workflow automation, laptops, laptop management, network management and overall IT security. These are natural extensions of the work Xerox already does in the print and digitization spaces, and it’s an area you’ll see us move aggressively to own.
Can you provide insight into the application of Project Own It, Xerox’s enterprise-wide transformation program? What have been the results thus far?
Collins Smee: At the heart of Project Own It is a desire to simplify and optimize our operations, drive investments back into our business, and create a culture of continuous improvement.
We’ve made tangible progress – delivering gross savings of $1 billion in just 18 months, with the expectation of achieving at least $450 million more in 2020. Project Own It is also improving how we deliver for clients: for example, better responsiveness and increased flexibility as a result of supply chain improvements.
On the investment side, we have deployed nearly 200 bots throughout our business to improve speed, efficiency and accuracy in areas like orders-to-cash, HR, finance and delivery. We expect that number to double this year. Technologies like these allow us to deliver on customer expectations of fast and frictionless service.
It has been nearly three years since the company’s rollout of the AltaLink and VersaLink Workplace Assistants and the Apps Gallery. Have they met with Xerox’s expectations, and how do you build upon that success?
Collins Smee: The AltaLink and VersaLink Workplace Assistants with ConnectKey and onboard access to the Xerox App Gallery continue to have great success, and are consistently leaders in the office solutions marketspace. The robust and continually growing number of Xerox workflow automation apps is an important value proposition that is a true differentiator for Xerox and our selling partners.
When we introduced this portfolio of Workplace Assistants, our goal was future-proofing the platform by supporting a continuous evolution of capabilities delivered through firmware updates and the addition of apps. This has been extremely relevant in helping our customers drive workplace productivity, especially in key verticals such as education, legal, government and health care.
The capabilities beyond print offered by AltaLink and VersaLink have also been a vital means for our sales force to differentiate from competitors in a rapidly commoditizing market. Partner-developed and Xerox-approved ConnectKey apps have become a significant value proposition for resellers in helping their customers streamline and automate paper-centric workflows, and strengthening the relationship as a trusted advisor for their clients.
Early last year, Xerox rebranded Global Imaging Systems to Xerox Business Solutions (XBS). What was the impetus behind this change, and how is XBS better positioned to serve its SMB clientele?
Collins Smee: The name change reflected our desire to show SMB clients they’re getting the best of both worlds with Xerox and our local companies. We have 20 of these amazing XBS teams all around the country – they have strong ties to their local communities and customers. Our XBS team members move quickly – for example, they can deliver equipment in hours for customers in need.
At the same time, we also know the Xerox brand carries power and additional credibility. We want our SMB clients to know that with the personal touch, expertise and speed of these local XBS teams, they’re also getting the reach, security and technical-investment focus of Xerox. In this light, the Xerox Business Solutions name made the most sense.
In 2019, XBS completed acquisitions in the San Francisco and Philadelphia markets. How does the company view acquisition-based growth for XBS in 2020?
Collins Smee: We’re always in evaluation mode. Where it makes sense to make an acquisition of this type, we will take a look at it. We are expanding this approach to other countries and recently made an acquisition in the U.K.
Last June, Xerox announced an expansion of its business relationship with HP to source certain A4 and entry-level A3 products, and collaborate as a DaaS specialist in HP’s Partner First program. Are the various engagements between the companies impacted, on any level, by Xerox’s acquisition pursuit of HP?
Collins Smee: We have been working with HP for many years. Our expanded business relationship benefits both of us, allowing us to leverage mutual collaboration benefits to ultimately enhance the value and experience for our clients. Our previously announced plans for this partnership have continued without interruption.
Given the uncertainty surrounding the proposed HP acquisition, how are you communicating the “business as usual” message to clients who are concerned about what the future might hold for them in regards to their relationship with Xerox?
Collins Smee: Nothing for us has changed. We remain focused on delivering against our strategy to transform Xerox and create innovative and integrated solutions that make our clients’ businesses run better, faster and more securely. Clients are signaling that they believe in our strategy, products and services by rewarding us with renewals, new business and competitive win-backs.
How do you see Xerox evolving technology- and strategy-wise over the next few years?
Collins Smee: In a nutshell: software and automation in everything we do so we can really help our clients make their work more efficient, productive and faster. The offering will look different, depending on whether it’s targeted for enterprise or SMB, but it all comes back to transforming the work experience for the client.
You’ll also see us continue our focus on industry-specific solutions that combine our multi-function printers with software and services. Look for us in health care, finance, government, insurance and retail.
Clearly, the channel has witnessed its share of changes in recent years. In your opinion, what does the future hold for the office dealership space?
Collins Smee: We’re always evaluating our models to make sure they deliver the maximum mutual benefit – for our partners and for Xerox. Integrated solutions, software and services will be a key component of our strategy to support agents with new capabilities to sell that provide substantial client value.
What are your goals for 2020 and what will you look to accomplish?
Collins Smee: We’re going to have a continuous drumbeat of solutions our partners will be thrilled to sell, because clients will easily see the value to their businesses. Our Workplace Cloud Fleet Management, available in the second quarter of this year, will help partners automatically deliver cloud-based service and security measures to the SMB community. That’s pretty important when you consider that nearly 70 percent of SMBs have experienced a cyberattack in the last 12 months. It’s part of an overall strategy to expand our cloud services portfolio that’s customizable to each client’s needs, whether it’s XMPie’s content development, management and production, or secure collaboration through DocuShare, or our new Virtual Print Management Service.
We’re also beefing up our support of our channel partners with elements like our Software Center of Excellence for pre- and post-sales support and our 2020 Global Partner Program, which includes a software track and incentives for U.S. and European partners. We also know SMBs value expertise, and we’ll continue to refine and push our training and accreditation for our partners’ sales forces. And finally, we are increasing our investment in demand generation to help drive incremental SMB business to our partners.
