Managed Print Services, Enterprise Content Management, Workflow Automation – the services that enterprises turn to for business improvement and profitable results are often the focus of industry analyst reports. The marketplace eagerly awaits each new report on a particular service or industry. We asked Mike Feldman, President of Xerox Large Enterprise Operations, to share his thoughts on the value of these reports and how customers can use them to make the best choices.
Can you describe the effort that goes on behind the scenes at Xerox to help industry analysts get information they need for this research?
It’s a huge undertaking, similar to a sales team going after a really big deal. There’s so much preparation. We provide account references, proof points, and detailed descriptions of our capabilities. We do oral presentations and execute live demos.
How valuable is this kind of information to potential buyers and decision teams?
It’s extremely valuable because it’s a third party assessment from experts who spend a lot of time with each of the major vendors and with customers. That’s important because the analysts get a lot of information from actual users of the technologies or services that are being evaluated. Customer references are provided to analysts for their research, plus many times they will check their own database as well, so there’s a lot of expertise and effort behind the final result. Customers can get unbiased views and can read in detail about capabilities of each vendor through these reports.
How do you recommend buyers and decision teams use these reports to help them make choices?
If I was a buyer, I would get three or four different reports that focus on my interest, such as MPS or workflow automation. These top reports would give me a view of what multiple analyst firms say and how they evaluate vendors. When you’re investing in something as big and strategic as MPS or workflow automation, buyers must be informed. These are big decisions that will last multiple years, and doing research and talking directly to vendors is simply responsible and professional due diligence.
What feedback and questions do you get from clients about the information in the reports?
The client feedback we get is that they appreciate these reports. Sometimes clients want to dig a little deeper with questions about what the analysts write about. Often they come directly to us with their questions, but sometimes analysts call to say a customer read a report and wants to speak to us directly now. Or a customer prefers to remain anonymous and addresses questions to the analyst, because they don’t want to be approached by a vendor yet.
How would you characterize the different approaches of the various analysts?
They all come at it from different starting points. One might shift more to the workflow space, while another is known for excellence in marketshare reporting. One major analyst firm comes from the IT perspective, doing a lot on PCs, routers, servers and so on, and that’s big with CIOs. Others come from longstanding strength in production and strong understanding of MPS, and are now moving to the digital experience.
Are there strengths or differentiators you see Xerox consistently noted for across reports?
We consistently hear them talk about our long and mature history in this business. We’ve been doing MPS and document management longer than anyone. We pioneered this industry. We invented billing models such as cost per page, and we have been providing automated toner delivery and proactive service for more than a decade. Analysts agree we have the deepest breadth of office and production and marketing offerings. In general, they all talk about that. What also comes out is our consistent, global presence, with Xerox and Fuij Xerox having the highest marketshare around the world. And more recently, we have been noted for our leadership in content management and workflow automation.
Have a big decision to make about MPS, workflow automation or content services? Use these analyst reports to help make the smartest choice for your organization.
Gartner: 2015 Magic Quadrant for Managed Print and Content Services1
IDC MarketScape: U.S. Managed Workflow Services 2015 Vendor Assessment2
InfoTrends: Managed IT Infrastructure: Managed Print Services3
Quocirca: 2015 Managed Print Services Landscape4
1 Source: Gartner, Inc. Magic Quadrant for Managed Print and Content Services, by Ken Weilerstein, Tomoko Mitani, 21 December 2015. The Gartner document is available upon request from http://www.gartner.com/reprints/xerox?id=1-
2UM5U42&ct=151223&st=sg or Xerox. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
2 Source: IDC, “IDC MarketScape: U.S. Managed Workflow Services Hardcopy 2015 Vendor Assessment — Building on MPDS”, November 2015, IDC #US40586715, by Holly Muscolino and Terry Frazier
3 Source: “Managed IT Infrastructure: Managed Print Services Analysis,” by Brendan Morse, InfoTrends, March, 2015. In a Porter’s generic strategies analysis, companies are placed in accordance with how they seek competitive advantage in the market.
4 Source: “Managed Print Services Landscape, 2015 by Louella Fernandes, Quocirca, July 2015
