Inside Track: Print and transformation

Pro
(Image: Stockfresh)

9 February 2017

Print journey
“It is information organisation point that has attracted the most focus as we take our clients on the ‘journey’, utilising a mix of resilient hardware and intelligent software options to offer security, digitalisation, and bespoke workflows, and taking the necessary control and shared responsibility in this area” Gerry Cheung_Bryan S Ryan_web

Bryan S Ryan Gerry Cheung, director

Our clients’ requirements have evolved over the years. We have had to become more agile and flexible in our offerings. The barriers to managed print services have long since receded. Economies of scale and enhanced expertise have seen our solutions become more cost-effective and embraced on wider platforms within our enterprise client base.How far can the journey go?

A few years ago, we started the journey in edging closer to a more intuitive way of processing, dealing and handling what was once a paper-driven request within an organisation. It’s part of a wider group of offerings within our current managed services portfolio where MPS provides an ergonomic and innovative platform to finally help bridge the gap to a ‘less paper’ office. The millennial generation are used to moving data through workflows and various mobile solutions without ever seeing a hard copy. They will hold the key in enabling innovation enhancements become the key component of MPS.

This is further backed up by IDC’s recent Western European Hardcopy Survey, with 56% of CIOs looking to downsize the number of vendors they have, and demanding more value-added capabilities from that select group, such as integrating into an organisation’s existing workflow or providing business process re-engineering. IT leaders are looking for a vendor to be more than just a print supplier.

Where are you on the journey?

Today, we provide a more rounded managed service offering. Our value proposition seeks to:

  • Economise your print
  • Rationalise your workflow
  • Organise your information

It is this latter point that has attracted the most focus as we take our clients on the ‘journey’, utilising a mix of resilient hardware and intelligent software options to offer security, digitalisation, and bespoke workflows, and taking the necessary control and shared responsibility in this area. Indeed, one only has to look at the MPS landscape and trend in Ireland, where clients are keen to “outsource” these services in their entirety with a single vendor.

We support this through a robust business methodology, SeRVO, which has underpinned our enterprise client base for more than a decade. SeRVO brings real value to our clients and project teams. In mid-2016, this was further enhanced in our collaboration with MAPS, a business process specialist. Together, we are identifying and designing solutions specific to our clients’ key requirements.

Key amongst these requirements is the security and protection of company data. Our solutions comply with all data protection legislation. Data Loss Prevention protocols have been an integral part of our Solution design for the last five years. The forthcoming EU GDPR will continue to bring this issue sharply into focus over the next 18 months, and Bryan S Ryan is strategically placed to meet this need.

However, we regularly see many organisations overlook this increasingly critical area. It remains one of our key project goals.

The journey continues…

 

Why Digital Transformation now?
“Companies must address mobile access and printing, as well as concerns around security in supporting BYOD policies. Going digital doesn’t happen with the flick of a switch. It is a gradual change” Alan Brown, IBS

 

 

 

 

 

Xerox Alan Brown, managing director

Digital Transformation is the key driver for many businesses who want to move to digitise paper-based processes. Across all industries including print production, financial services, retail, healthcare, manufacturing, government and education-customers are becoming less tolerant of manual, paper-based forms and processes that slow down their flow of work. This applies as much to SMB’s as it does to large enterprises. They expect service and access to their information to be instant, automated, mobile and secure.The always-connected new digital workforce needs secure access to contextualised information from anywhere, anytime. To do this, companies must address mobile access and printing, as well as concerns around security in supporting bring your own device (BYOD) policies. Going digital doesn’t happen with the flick of a switch. It is a gradual change — another reason to take the initial steps toward transformation now. Starting with managed print services (MPS), it can be a springboard to more wide-ranging digital changes.

Xerox customers who currently avail of our Managed Print Service enjoy having predictable and transparent costs thanks to central billing as part of an all-inclusive managed service model with per-copy pricing. Detailed reporting ability ensures that full visibility of all output and scanning is available through all customer sites. This is one of the inputs that helps customers on their Digital Transformation journey.

Another key input is document security which has been greatly enhanced by ‘follow you’ print capability, which ensures confidential printed material is only printed at a device when the user either puts in a security code or swipes their employee pass. In addition to improving the flow of work, this feature also ensures that confidential company information does not get left at devices. Staff productivity improves due to a highly efficient print availability model and the support burden is significantly reduced on customers internal IT teams.

Xerox is about much more than efficient printing. We have just been recognised as a Top 100 Global Innovator by Clarivate Analytics. The programme was formerly known as the Thomson Reuters Top 100 Global Innovators. With more than 12,000 active US patents and a strong focus on ‘setting the page free’, we are constantly focused on finding new ways to improve the flow of work be it in digital or paper form. Later this year, Xerox will roll out the largest product launch in its history with 29 new devices. Xerox’s focus on growing its global leadership in digital print technology and services will help our customers innovate how they communicate, connect and work more productively.

 

 

Transparency benefit
“For security, we provide three tiers of protection, ranging from an audit and fix engagement, where we come in and lock down any holes we uncover, to a security-as-a-service offering that delivers an end-to-end wrap around print and document services” David Carthy, Ergo.

 

Ergo David Carthy, technical solutions manager

A number of market forces are driving a lot of Ergo’s managed print engagements. Firstly, despite digitisation and digital transformation, our experience is that organisations are printing more than ever, part fuelled by a new generation of printers that connect to mobile devices like tablets and smart phones. Secondly, there is a growing realisation that printers are endpoint devices and every bit as vulnerable to cyber threats as other hardware.Increasingly sophisticated print management and monitoring tools, as well as advances in multi-function device (MFD) features and functionality, continue to improve the speed and reliability of print and help combat security threats, but big challenges remain.

One problem is that many businesses treat print as a commodity. At Ergo we see managed print as the best kind of utility service, one that delivers a great experience without compromising on quality. It is also a stepping-stone to more advanced document services, where digital workflow replaces paper-based processes.

Bargain basement contracts cut corners and leave businesses vulnerable to excessive downtime and lost productivity, or worse, they expose the print estate to cyber-threats and network intruders. We deal with the first through our focus on proactive maintenance, identifying issues before they become a problem. This involves an attention to detail and rigorous management procedures that most providers neglect.

For security, we provide three tiers of protection, ranging from an audit and fix engagement, where we come in and lock down any holes we uncover, to a security-as-a-service offering that delivers an end-to-end wrap around print and document services.

We are meeting the demands of highly regulated businesses looking to outsource their print security as staying compliant become more onerous. When the new EU General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) come into force in 2018, organisations that suffer a data breach risk fines of up to €20 million or 4% of global annual turnover. We make sure that it is not going to happen in the print estate on our watch.

Perhaps the single biggest benefit we offer our customers is transparency. We are operating in a market where less scrupulous providers sell cost-per-page packages that bury the real price in the small print. The deal is usually based on black and white pages and there is a higher price for colour. Colour is then made readily available to all users without constraints and costs soar.

In 2017, the stakes are simply too high and the opportunities too great around print and document management to make do with a second-rate service. With Ergo you can make it part of your digital transformation journey, not the piece that gets left behind.

 

 

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