Webster team part of Xerox's largest product launch ever
- Workers in Webster played a large role in the largest product launch of Xerox's 110-year history.
- Company launches 29 new multi-functional printers under the VersaLink and AltaLink lines.
- App Gallery promises to streamline tasks while allowing for mobile connectivity to all sorts of programs.
Xerox Corp. took a major step Wednesday in trying to reverse a declining business with the largest product launch in its 110-year history.
Xerox’s 29 new multi-functional printers feature an intuitive ConnectKey user interface that delivers a touchscreen experience on software developed by a team of hundreds in Webster.
"Quite frankly, they have to do it," said George Conboy, chairman of Brighton Securities. "Xerox has to make sure they stay current and integrate their documents processes with the kinds of devices that workers are used to using.
"If they didn’t do this, it seems like their revenue stagnation might accelerate into revenue declines."
Xerox CEO Jeff Jacobson said the product launch, along with a three-year cost-cutting plan and other efforts, would allow the company to reverse several quarters of declining revenues with the goal of outperforming the market.
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The company, which earned roughly $11 billion last year, sees opportunity in an industry that has remained relatively flat overall, but has segments which are seeing single- to double-digit growth areas, Jacobson said.
"We are geared toward improving our efficiency and changing the way that we work and the other is by out-performing the market," he said during a morning event to investors in New York City. "We plan on reversing our revenue trajectory."
He said the company has "delayered" its structure, simplified go-to market strategies, combined research with product development to help bring innovations to market more quickly with everything focused on serving customers.
"You talk about delivering a new experience? You talk about delivering a new Xerox miracle," Jacobson said while referencing the company's updated version of its popular Brother Dominic commercial. "I could watch that (commercial) every day. In fact, I do."
Xerox employed roughly 5,500 workers in the Rochester area at the end of last year. It’s a figure that was down by about 900 due to seasonal trends, voluntary retirements, some layoffs and jobs lost to Conduent in the corporate split.
User interface
Steve Hoover, Xerox’s chief technology officer, said in a separate phone interview that Wednesday’s launch was about the company taking the next leap in making its software and devices "natively digital."
"It's really leveraging the capabilities and integrating them into a workflow," he said. "We can not only scan a documents into digital form but we make it easy for you to scan directly into Dropbox or Google Docs."
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It’ll leave office workers doing more tapping, swiping and pinching at Xerox machines.
It’ll also have workers spending less time to do various tasks through a Xerox App Gallery already populated with 50 apps
"We think it is going to open a lot of people’s eyes in terms of what you can do in work and the office," Hoover said. "We think we are leading in this ease of use category while taking a big step forward into this natively digital (environment)."
The gallery is a kin to a light version of Apple’s popular App Store and allows organizations to create their own applications, some which can be shared with the public.
For instance, medical offices using Xerox’s new multi-functional printers can easily add patient records to electronic databases. Expense reports could be auto populated by simply scanning receipts. Retail invoicing can be completed in fewer steps.
Documents will be able to be scanned in one language and printed into another language. Mobile and cloud users can print wirelessly from any device, using the connected system.
"The process of getting work done has moved from the desktop to your pocket," Jacobson said. "It’s very personal, and we've built a portfolio of true workplace assistants tightly connected to the mobile and cloud technology environment that accommodates this evolution.”
"Our portfolio is posed to transform the workplace."
The returns?
The 29 multi-functional printers, launched Wednesday under Xerox’s new VersaLink and AltaLink lines, also help the company deliver on promises to increase service to small- and medium-sized businesses.
Both product lines incorporate the user interface, apps and software, said Dragana Pavlovic, vice president of engineering for Xerox. However, the ecosystem is customizable for individual businesses.
"Once you learn the approach, it is very easy to go from app to app," she said. "It is not just about the first release. It is about making it better progressively."
Work on the software began well before the company announced that it would severe its business process service division into Conduent Inc., a move completed Jan. 1 when Jacobson took over for outgoing chief executive Ursula Burns.
"This launch is definitely a market-leading initiative from Xerox," Conboy said. "It took bankruptcy for Kodak to get good senior management. Looks like Xerox only took a split of the company to get good senior management."
Hoover added that "hundreds and hundreds" of manufacturing, engineering, testing and other teams in the Rochester area were behind underlying software of the new products.
Those products are scheduled to be released in the second quarter of this year and will be priced below $1,000 and up to $30,000.
Xerox, however, isn’t expecting to see the full impact on its balance sheet from the new products for some time, perhaps into 2018.
"If they can see any kind of gains — even single-digit gains this year — that would be great," Conboy said. "What Wall Street is waiting to see is growth at the topline and this is a great first pitch to get there."