News Releases

Peter Taylor takes the helm at Xerox's business in Ireland

UXBRIDGE -- Xerox has been awarded Top Gold Prize for "Media Campaign of the Year" by Haymarket Publishing's Campaign magazine Media Awards 2006 for its innovative UK advertising launch "It Makes Business Sense" . The campaign, conducted by the media agency MediaEdge:CIA, was directed at key business decision makers and demonstrated the value of colour in the traditionally black-and-white office environment. For five months in early 2006, Xerox literally added colour to its brand, turning the famous Alex comic strip in the business section of The Daily Telegraph into colour, introducing colour on the business indices pages of The Independent and a colourful graph behind the share price pages of The Times . For these quality newspapers it was the first time they ran colour in this way. In addition, 25 London black cabs were Xerox-branded in colour and the route from the City to Heathrow was illuminated by billboards decorated by colourful light bulbs. The campaign also included outdoor, online and TV advertising, as well as press advertising in other national and trade titles. Not just impressive in scale, the Xerox campaign also proved strikingly effective: Xerox's share of the colour market, and revenue across the key colour MFP/copier segment grew significantly. According to the results measured by the independent agency Prospero Research, the number of people positively aware of Xerox advertising tripled from 14 percent in Q1 2005 to 42 percent in Q2 2006. Campaign 's Media Awards have established themselves as one of the most prestigious events in the media calendar. The weekly's focus is on brilliant and inspiring creative media ideas and the awards are designed to recognise excellence in the field. David Millican, Head of Communications, Xerox UK said: "We wanted to make sure that key business decision makers knew that the use of colour made sense for their business and we certainly succeeded in doing this. Considering how many thousands of advert

UXBRIDGE -- Gartner, Inc., a leading provider of research and analysis about the global information technology industry, placed Xerox's DocuShare ® software in the "Visionaries" quadrant in its recently published "Magic Quadrant" report on enterprise content management (ECM). The ECM Magic Quadrant report provides guidance to the large number of Gartner clients who are evaluating enterprise content management vendors and solutions. ECM systems allow customers to capture, create, review, approve, manage and publish many types of information and content, such as financial records, loan applications and legally binding records, across their businesses. Gartner's ECM Magic Quadrant evaluates vendors who have at least $10 million in content management software and related service revenue. Vendors must actively sell products and services in at least two major geographies (such as North America and Europe), and they must have an ECM suite that includes the following components: document library services, document-imaging repository capabilities, records management, workflow, Web content management, and document-centric collaboration. According to the report, visionaries may own all capabilities natively or partner for several core ECM components. In some cases, Visionaries will need to integrate their acquisitions into their product suites. They typically show a strong understanding of the market and anticipate shifting drivers. However, they have a lower ability to execute than Leaders. They are building market presence and focus more on horizontal applications than targeted vertical solutions. Xerox DocuShare and DocuShare CPX are Web-based ECM software applications that businesses of all sizes can rapidly, easily and affordably deploy and manage, and combine as needed in an organisation. The multi-platform DocuShare software helps people collaboratively capture, manage, share, process and publish information. "With our dual product strategy in

UXBRIDGE -- Esko has announced that Xerox is to become a European distributor for some of Esko's packaging software and hardware, as part of an end-to-end digital print offering for the packaging industry. The Esko products will be sold in all countries where Xerox Europe operates, with Esko providing post-sale service and support. The agreement between the two companies incorporates a series of digital front end products from the Esko Scope software family, that will operate as a complement to the variable data capabilities of the Xerox iGen3 Digital Production Press and the Xerox DocuColor 8000/ 7000/ 5000 family of digital presses to produce short run packaging, together with finishing possibilities that include an in-line ultraviolet coater applying a permanent, scratch free coating. The Esko suite of products for Xerox features DeskPack, its pre-press environment that turns Adobe® Illustrator® CS2 into a full packaging design and pre-production tool. DeskPack allows the designer to visualise the packaging or carton being modelled in three-dimensions. Also included are Plato, an Adobe certified step-and-repeat application for folding cartons and labels, and BackStage, Esko's workflow server. Additionally, Xerox will distribute Esko's Kongsberg XE10 and i-XE10 digital cutting and creasing tables, used for mock-ups, sample making and converting short packaging runs. Producers of consumer goods and pharmaceutical companies face ever increasing pressure to optimise their supply chain from design to finished product. Test marketing, for samples of consumer goods or trails of test drugs, is expensive and time consuming using traditional print for short runs. With Esko's Scope and DeskPack software modules and the Kongsberg XE10 and i-XE10 die-less converting tables, Xerox now can provide pre- and post-print packaging capabilities, enabling the iGen3 and the DocuColor family to operate in short-run packaging environments. "Our agreement with Esko demon

UXBRIDGE -- Xerox scientists have invented a way to make prints whose images last only a day, so that the paper can be used again and again. The technology, which is still in a preliminary state, blurs the line between paper documents and digital displays and could ultimately lead to a significant reduction in paper use. The experimental printing technology, a collaboration between the Xerox Research Centre of Canada and PARC (Palo Alto Research Center Inc.), could someday replace printed pages that are used for just a brief time before being discarded. Xerox estimates that as many as two out of every five pages printed in the office are for what it calls “daily” use, like e-mails, web pages and reference materials that have been printed for a single viewing. “Despite our reliance on computers to share and process information, there is still a strong dependence on the printed page for reading and absorbing content. Of course, we’d all like to use less paper, but we know from talking with customers that many people still prefer to work with information on paper. Self-erasing documents for short-term use offers the best of both worlds,” said Paul Smith, manager of XRCC’s new materials design and synthesis lab. Xerox has filed for patents on the technology, which it calls “erasable paper.” It is currently part of a laboratory project that focuses on the concept of future dynamic documents. To develop erasable paper, researchers needed to identify ways to create temporary images. The ‘eureka’ moment came from developing compounds that change colour when they absorb a certain wavelength of light but then will gradually disappear. In its present version, the paper self-erases in about 16-24 hours and can be used multiple times. While scientists at XRCC work on the chemistry of the technology, their counterparts at PARC – the birthplace of the laser printer – are investigating ways to build a device that could write the image onto the special

UXBRIDGE -- ‘Is Europe Ready for the Millennials?’ asks a Xerox-commissioned study released in the UK today by Forrester Consulting. ‘No’ is the answer. The study finds that Europe’s businesses have a long way to go to meet the needs and work styles of the new generation of workers who have grown up in the digital age. While enormous steps have been taken to address growing demand for flexibility and a better work/life balance, workers are not being given the collaborative tools and IT infrastructure they need to be effective. The study is based on research among 1,600 business executives across 16 countries, with more than 260 responses from the UK. Although the vast majority believe they are fully supporting new technology-fluent graduates entering the workplace (referred to by Forrester Consulting as ‘The Millennials’), the research tells a very different story. According to Xerox, the research suggests that companies have been good at making HR changes that most managers can relate to easily – such as flexible working. Problems occur where the changes needed require adapting to a way of working that has only been made possible by new technologies in the last decade. The study shows, for example, that a surprisingly high percentage of UK companies allow employees to work away from the office occasionally (82 percent) and to work flexible hours (74 percent). However, few organisations provide the Millennial-friendly tools needed to support remote working, unless these tools are very established and already part of most people’s experience as a consumer. The mobile phone and laptop are the only mobile technologies that many companies provide, with just a small minority equipping workers with tools such as PDAs (11 percent) and mobile email devices (14 percent). A similar story emerges when it comes to work styles and infrastructure inside the office. Browser-based portals (70 percent) and unrestricted paper printing are the resource that mo

UXBRIDGE -- Despite the fact that the vast majority of UK business executives recognise that workforce entrants interact with technology differently to previous generations, few companies have adopted emerging peer-to-peer communications that promise to transform consumer and supplier networks, according to Xerox-commissioned research from Forrester Consulting. The Forrester Consulting study, ‘Is Europe Ready for the Millennials?’, shows that although many companies in the UK and across Europe have the basics, such as a website, a high proportion have no plans to monitor or contribute to community and other external sites, discussion boards or blogs, as part of how they do business. Indeed the study, which was carried out among more than 1,600 business executives across 16 European countries with more that 260 responses from the UK, reveals a kind of “digital dyslexia” when it comes to adopting so-called social computing technologies. According to the study, the lack of knowledge regarding the power of peer-to-peer and online communication networks will leave some companies out of touch with the technology-literate graduates coming into the workforce, identified as “The Millennials” by Forrester Consulting. Workers from this group are defined by a number of workplace characteristics: they are used to receiving information from multiple sources and processing it quickly; they find multitasking easy; are flexible in their approach; like collaborative work spaces; demand instant access to information, and like to work in non-hierarchical peer groups. When it comes to communicating with end users the study reveals 63 percent of UK companies currently have a website to provide support to their customers, 47 percent automatically request customer feedback and 43 percent allow their customers to purchase products via phone or the company website. However, only 24 percent say they have an online portal to rate and discuss products, as few as 23 percent monito

UXBRIDGE -- Xerox-commissioned research into workplace trends reveals that a new generation of workers born since 1980 – the Millennials – is forcing the pace of change in the workplace. The study, undertaken by Forrester Consulting, ‘Is Europe Ready for the Millennials?’, shows that although the vast majority of European executives say they recognise that young workers interact and use technology in a different way to previous generations and have responded to their needs, the findings tell a different story. It emerges that few businesses have implemented the new tools or collaborative culture needed to allow this generation to flourish and for them to benefit from the Millennials’ approach and experience. The research was carried out among more than 1,600 business executives across 16 European countries, with in excess of 260 responses from the UK. Its results indicate that key business areas – such as employee working methods, as well as customer, supplier and partner collaboration and processes – are neglected and do not meet the needs of a generation that will represent a greater proportion of the workforce by 2010 than people born just after World War II. It shows that while large numbers of companies in the UK provide their workforce with the basic tools, such as unrestricted use of paper printing (68 percent), mobile phones (41 percent) and laptop PCs (37 percent), only a small minority offer the newer, Millennial-friendly collaborative working tools, such as web-casts, blogs, video conferencing, or remote access to the internet or email. Only 44 percent of UK executives say they currently collaborate online with their suppliers and partners for product and service development, and as many as 59 percent said they have no plans to post information on community sites or blogs. Russell Peacock, Managing Director, Xerox UK says: “The Millennials will drive a revolution in the way products and services are chosen, developed and procured. Custome

Reduced transaction costs and greater efficiency for finance departments

Visual mapping in Xerox Office Services version 4.2 keeps printers running longer