One thing Steve Bandrowczak knows all too well is that change is constant and an inevitable. The CEO of Xerox stood tall and proud as he addressed the opening day of last week’s 2025 Global Partner Summit at the Resorts World Las Vegas and made one thing abundantly clear: the manufacturer he heads will be at the fore of change, benefitting from it.
“Our industry is going to change,” Bandrowczak told the crowd of roughly 600 guests. “Our clients’ demands are going to change, and you as partners are going to change. We’re either going to drive the acceleration of that change, or we’re going to be victims of the industry changing us.”
This was a decidedly new attitude and look for Xerox. As he would later admit, the company’s decision to buy out dissident shareholder Carl Icahn was a major change (and money well spent). Icahn was wholly consumed with driving shareholder value, which he should be, but not at the expense of investments in technology and innovation. The mess that was the HP quest under previously leadership is now an unpleasant memory. Ditto for the on again, off again saga revolved around FUJIFILM and litigation.
Still, Bandrowczak doesn’t have time for old news. This is the Xerox that acquired ITsavvy to bolster its IT competence. This is the firm that expanded its three-year-old partnership with Lexmark into a full-fledged acquisition. So forget what you knew about Xerox; its roster has been retooled and the team is poised to compete at a higher level.
Battle Ready
“We are going to change the industry,” he added. “Our intent is to be the consolidator and not the consolidated. Many people thought we were out of production. Many thought we didn’t have an A4 or an IT solution. Well, not only do we have them, but we’re going to lead the industry. The other [OEMs] in our industry want to play around a bit, do joint procurement or joint R&D. They want to come into our back yard and take the channel partners or take the production business.”
Bandrowczak didn’t flinch. “Bring it on, bring it on! Because nobody, but nobody, has a channel relationship and partners as deep and as strong as we have at Xerox,” he proclaimed.
While partner summits tend to have something of a pep rally quality about them, Bandrowczak seemed genuinely confident that he and his team are positioned to dispel some of the legacy attitudes toward the OEM (granted the past criticisms, particularly on the service side, were not without merit). Investments are continuing to be made in the name of Xerox becoming that partner of choice. And that message resonated with dealers.
