Xerox Continues to Automate Industries With Latest Workflow Solutions Launch
It seems like nearly anything can be automated these days. Cars, no matter how terrifying the thought, are heading in that direction. Our homes are becoming shrines to automation, with light bulbs that are Wi-Fi-enabled and thermostats controlled through your iPhone. And office workflows — well, they’re one of our favorite things to automate, although sometimes the hardest to implement. Drilling down deeper into automating office workflow for specific industries is what Xerox is tackling with its latest suite of workflow solutions.
On May 19, Xerox announced 15 new workflow solutions for three specific industries: manufacturing, retail banking, and higher education. These add to the firm’s existing offerings in insurance and HR, which it announced last November.
The new solutions, like their predecessors, aim to transform manual processes into automated ones, increasing speed and decreasing errors. Broken down by industry, they include:
Manufacturing: Workflow Automation Solutions for R&D Testing; Engineering Change Management; Quality Assurance; Logistics and Fulfillment; and Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO).
Retail Banking: Workflow Automation Solutions for New Client Onboarding, Fraud Information Management, and Compliance and Records Management.
Education: Workflow Automation Solutions for Admissions Processing, Athletics, Financial Aid, Registrar Processing, Student Advising, Student Billing, and Transcript Capture and Evaluation.
Read the full press release outlining the solutions here.
The Automated Office
When we had the opportunity to visit Xerox’s Rochester, N.Y., headquarters this past March for its Office Technology Event, it was quite obvious that the soon-to-be bifurcated Xerox would continue to focus heavily on solutions and digital transformation in both divisions. In the case of its latest releases, it is doing this primarily using two core platforms, Digital Alternatives and DocuShare, the latest versions of which were released last November.
Digital Alternatives, said Andy Jones, vice president of Large Enterprise Operations and Workflow Automation Services, has generated huge interest, particularly around its e-signature and workflow creation abilities. “It really saves individuals having to print, mark up, and share,” said Jones during an analyst briefing call on May 5.
Digital Alternatives is then integrated into DocuShare, using DocuShare as a repository for information using rich collaboration tools. “We’re really enabling individuals to do more work without paper and collaborate with their peers and gain access to this information – it’s a highly mobile environment,” noted Jones.
Xerox is also working closely with its strategic partner, Hyland, utilizing that company’s OnBase platform for integrated content management for many of its solutions. Many of the new solutions use Hyland’s tools and capabilities for integration into ERP systems — it’s a very important platform for Xerox, Jones said.
Hardware hasn’t gone by the wayside for Xerox, however, as Jones noted the importance of deep integration of the electronic tools with the office MFP — a pairing that we are seeing regularly in both the hardware and software space. “We still see a huge need for people to take physical information, paper-based information, use the MFP that’s in their office … use one-touch scanning from the MFP [that] recognizes the user from authentication, then route that information to their application of choice. Deep integration with that is a key.”
“With more people using mobile and digital devices in the workplace, businesses are increasingly facing expectations from employees and customers to accelerate the digital transformation,” said Mike Feldman, president, Large Enterprise Operations, Xerox in a prepared statement. “These 15 new solutions not only simplify and speed up complex processes, they also empower organizations to interact with their customers, employees and suppliers regardless of platform.”
The new solutions are all available in the U.S. and Europe as of May 19.
is BPO Media and Research’s editorial director. As a writer and editor, she has specialized in the office technology industry for more than 20 years, focusing on areas including print and imaging hardware and supplies, workflow automation, software, digital transformation, document management and cybersecurity.
