As the dean of the office technology manufacturer space at the ripe young age of 116, Xerox Corp. has experienced its share of triumphs and tribulations. Suffice to say, 2022 has challenged the venerable Norwalk, Connecticut-based OEM with unimaginably difficult and sobering tests, not the least of which was the passing of CEO John Visentin at the age of 59 in June.
Visentin cut a towering and imposing figure in an industry not known for mavericks. He courted HP and its CEO, Enrique Lores, in an attempt to create an OEM of monstrous proportions. Colorful and charismatic, Visentin’s presence reverberated throughout the industry during his tenure. Beyond the headlines, however, Visentin set Xerox—which, like all manufacturers, has grappled to some degree with supply chain challenges—down the path of transformation to digital and IT services. Visentin may be gone, but his vision for growth is his legacy.
It’s this vision, notes Joanne Collins Smee, executive vice president and president, Americas for Xerox, that will walk hand-in-hand with traditional offerings, revenue-generating opportunities (such as light-production and production technologies) and a wealth of newer avenues (CareAR and Workflow Central) to facilitate continued growth for channel partners. She sat down with ENX Magazine to outline Xerox’s path forward and its next-generation approach, backed by an award-winning MPS platform and a burgeoning presence in managed IT.
Provide some insight into Xerox’s financials during 2021. What were some of the variables that played into how the company performed?
Collins Smee: Though we faced unprecedented challenges in 2021, due to the pandemic and global supply chain disruptions, our team’s focus and dedication drove improved revenue and free cash flow. We also made investments in our business to support sustainable, long-term growth and improvements in operating efficiency. Investments in new businesses and supply chain disruption affected our margins in 2021, but we expect to achieve consistent margin growth over the next few years as supply conditions ease, employees return to offices and the effects of cost rationalization and price increases take hold.
What were some of the dealer channel highlights for Xerox during the past year?
Collins Smee: The multi-brand dealer channel continues to be a bright spot and source of growth for Xerox. We exceeded our expectations in 2021. Our market share continues to increase channel wide as more and more dealers embrace our products, apps and software technology.
Our market-leading light production and production technology continues to facilitate our dealers’ ability to tap into new revenue streams and add net-new clicks to their post-sale revenue. As dealers embrace our CareAR technology, they’re providing leading-edge customer and technical service while realizing tremendous efficiencies within their businesses.
With John Visentin’s untimely passing, Steve Bandrowczak has taken the dual leadership mantle as president and CEO. Beyond continuing Mr. Visentin’s vision, can we expect to see any changes in Xerox’s philosophy and approach?
Collins Smee: Xerox is an iconic brand, and the leadership team has a shared vision to drive it forward into the next generation, fortifying our position as a great technology company. Xerox has a history of creating new markets, including Xerography, managed print services and all the services in and around the brand. As we move ahead, we’ll look to further develop and grow the market for our digital services and IT services offerings. It’s about taking the great assets that Xerox has—whether it’s around our understanding of customers’ workflows, employees or technological capabilities—and thinking about ways to create transformative digital services that add value to our clients’ workflows. We’ll continue to make everyday work better for all of our clients.
How has Xerox fared in delivering on the needs of its dealer partners in light of supply chain issues and other pandemic-related challenges?
Collins Smee: Xerox is in the same environment as every other manufacturer and competing with vendors around the world for the same components. We ramped up our production to the best of our ability to serve our worldwide needs. Our dealers are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel as we’re providing more and more product to the marketplace every quarter.
None of us could have foreseen the length and extent of COVID-19 and its impact. Across all sectors, the way we work is evolving, and businesses continue to grapple with rapid change. The pace of digital transformation shows no sign of slowing in 2022 and presents a unique opportunity for Xerox and our dealers. Businesses are looking for help to adapt with technology, and dealers who leverage new technology‒‒such as our Workflow Central platform and CareAR technology‒‒help customers make that transition and are able to solidify their customer base and earn new business. We have the tools and technology that enable our dealers to solve modern work challenges.
Xerox has been active in the acquisition theater with the additions of Go Inspire in the UK and Powerland in Canada. On the latter count, how does Powerland enhance Xerox’s IT services competence in North America?
Collins Smee: Powerland is one of the leading providers of IT services in the Canadian market. Canada is key for Xerox as we’re the number-one print technology provider in the country. When we were looking at acquisition targets to help us grow our IT services business in the country, Powerland stood out as a best-in-class organization. They closely aligned with our intention to provide a vendor/manufacturer-agnostic set of IT solutions to support the technology and digital transformation goals of our SMB customers. The addition of Powerland firmly enables us to expand our reach in North America and strengthen our IT services offerings in this rapidly-growing market.
How much will acquisition play in Xerox’s strategy moving forward?
Collins Smee: We’re always looking for opportunities to expand our business in the IT and digital services space, but it needs to be the right move at the right time for both the company and our employees.
Keypoint Intelligence honored Xerox with a BLI Pacesetter award for Comprehensive MPS Programs for 2022-2023. What elements of the program truly differentiate it from competitors?
Collins Smee: Xerox created the managed print services (MPS) market, and our leadership here gave us the opportunity to truly differentiate ourselves from our competitors. Xerox’s MPS program goes well beyond traditional MPS programs with a full complement of advanced offerings that span from traditional MPS such as device placement, meter collection, consumables replenishment, remote and onsite service of devices, to cloud print management, as well as content and document workflow solutions. We hold the highest U.S. federal government security approval (FedRAMP) for cloud-based MPS, and our Workplace Cloud platform offers authentication, print management, cost control and mobility workflows.
The MPS Toolsuite gives visibility to fleet and print management activities for any device at any location at any time, including homeworkers, multi-vendor fleets and accounts served by partners. MPS Advanced Analytics brings together fleet management and print management data into one single platform—providing clients with global insight about fleet health, users, print/fax/scan trends, sustainability impacts and security compliance. In addition, the company’s cloud-first development path allows for flexible deployment models and supports zero-trust IT initiatives. Unlike some OEMs, Xerox fully includes office equipment dealer channel partners, granting them access to the full suite of Xerox tools, programs, abilities and marketing support.
This past spring, Xerox launched a host of solutions aimed at the office, home and mobile work environments. How have they been received in the market?
Collins Smee: Across the board, we’re seeing companies in both SMB and enterprise segments continue to invest in digital transformation, business process automation and hybrid workforce solutions. We’ve seen strong demand across our portfolio for both products and services in these areas. Our ConnectKey offerings led the industry last quarter, and our cloud print services were recognized by industry experts at Quocirca. We’ve seen license sales for workplace cloud print services more than double year-over-year. All our offerings are built with security and sustainability in mind because we know how important they are to both large enterprise and SMB clients.
What can we expect to see from Xerox over the next six months in terms of product rollouts?
Collins Smee: Our teams are focused on continued growth of our innovative products and services in ways that best serve our customers. For product rollouts, we’ve recently refreshed the majority of our portfolio and will continue to deliver innovative product offerings. At the same time, we’re particularly committed to improving our customers’ experience with end-to-end solutions beyond the product. We’re growing our cloud services, apps and software as well as AR/VR-driven services for the long-term.
Is there anything new on the horizon from a program or partnership standpoint?
Collins Smee: We continually communicate with our partners and solicit their feedback. Dealer input is vital as we work to improve existing programs and develop new ones. We’re always looking for innovative ways to provide further benefits to our dealers and their customers. Any new program or partnership developments will be approached with that in mind.
What are Xerox’s goals for the balance of 2022?
Collins Smee: Our teams will continue to solve client problems through a variety of print, digital and IT products and services that map back to our overall mission to drive value for our customers and shareholders. We’ll focus development on new innovation stacks that leverage unique data and information sets.
As always, we’ll continue to be guided by our core values and commitment to being a responsible corporate citizen for our people, our communities and our planet.
