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Xerox and CDS to delver digital print and workflow solution October 29, 2008

Posted by Julian Bradder in Uncategorized.
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Investors need immediate, accurate and relevant financial advice on their portfolios, especially with the current economic climate. To meet this demand, CDS Global and SmartMoney’s Custom Solutions division will be using Xerox digital color printing technology and a customized workflow solution to better serve financial services firms looking to quickly and accurately offer their individual investors personalized information and guidance.”It used to take between 10 and 15 days from the time we received a request from a client to the time the financial document was completed and mailed. When the new Xerox solution is put in place, we will be able to trim that time down to two to three days,” said Andrew Seibert, vice president, publisher and editorial director, SmartMoney Custom Solutions.

Recognizing the need to shorten the turnaround time for printing financial documents, CDS Global will add its second Xerox iGen3™ Digital Production Press. The latest installation will include a patented solution, Cover-Driven Workflow, which includes Xerox hardware and software and a C.P. Bourg inline perfect binder solution. Pairing the iGen3 digital press with in-line finishing options eliminates the timely chore of removing a print job from the press and manually transferring it through the collation, cutting and binding process.

The customized Cover-Driven Workflow solution, powered by Xerox’s FreeFlow™ Process Manager, allows CDS Global to customize the covers on financial portfolios and, using barcode information on the cover, automatically match the correct cover with the correct personalized pages for the body of the book. In addition to ensuring job integrity, the solution cuts cost per unit, increases overall system output and reduces waste by not printing report contents until the correct cover is available.

CDS Global manages the sensitive customer data and produces the documents that SmartMoney mails to targeted audiences on behalf of its clients in the financial services field. Individual investors go to a Web site and are able to choose from a series of financial documents they want printed such as a fund portfolio or prospectus.

“It’s an on-demand, customized world, and our growth stems from allowing our clients to better invest their marketing dollars in personalized communications,” said Shayne Huston, director, On-Demand Solutions, CDS Global. “Not only are we the first in the industry to offer such a fast and personalized solution like this to investment firms, we’re also doing it securely.”

CDS Global also plans to use the Cover-Driven Workflow solution for other markets beyond financial services such as healthcare, non-profit organizations and book publishing.

Xerox to cut its work force by 5% October 23, 2008

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Due to a slow down in orders in US and UK markets, Xerox has decided to cut its workforce by 3,000 people.

Worsening econmic conditions, and the inability of customers to borrow money to fund the purchase of new machines.

In order to meet forecast profit targets for 2009, Xerox needs to make the cut in its workforce.

Overall equipment sales were down 3% to $1.13 billion.

Xerox announce new SME DocuShare document storage software October 20, 2008

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Very competitively priced at £1,100 for 10 Users, Xerox has announced its DocuShare software. Able to store imaged documents as well as office documents, this software overcomes major problems for smaller companies who cannot afford the costs of major corporate systems.

With simple workflow capabilities and scanning abilities, DocuShare is likely to be successful helping SME organisations manage important paperwork and get rid of nuisance and inefficient file archives.

Fully integrated with EIP (Extensible Interface Platform), users can touh a button on Xerox’s EIP enabled copiers and the copy will go straight to archive. Powerful stuff!

Full Colour Variable Printing and its use in one to one marketing October 18, 2008

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Colour printing is now viable. Over the last 4 – 5 years, offerings from the likes of Xerox and OCE have brought down cost per page and enabled efficient full colour printing at fairly high production speeds.

However, whilst cost per page is lower than it has been, some users of full colour printing are estimating that costs can still be up to 4 times as high as straight forward monochrome transactional printing. This suggests that judicious use of colour should be a consideration.

There have been a number of challenges with colour printing in a variable data environment. Getting the colour right not the least of them. One of the bigger challenges specifically with variable printing is the fact that each printed image changes. This means that all the graphics have to be loaded with each page, and in full colour, graphics are what you want. With a colour graphic likely to be anything between 5 and 15mb and with the potential for a number of these on the page, you can see the performance drag on big variable print runs.

Now, with printers and print streams supporting the concept of object embedding, it is now possible to overcome this barrier meaning that full colour customer communications can be a reality.

It seems that it is all about careful use of colour. Too much and you lower the value of the document, too little and things don’t seem right. Perhaps the answer is to deliver print streams by market segment. So those with the most to spend get the high quality colour documents those with little growth potential receive the old style monochrome documents.

One thing for sure is that full colour will improve response rates and customer loyalty. Breakdown of bills using summary pie charts, graphs and other illustrations in full colour is useful for the customer and helps them to better understand how to work with you. On page promotions will certainly get better results with the opportunity to place beautiful graphics that sell your product in the best possible way.

Combine full colour printing capability for variable print with the latest capabilities in one-to-one document creation software  and you can see that we are on the verge of an exciting new era in high volume transactional output.

Software is focus for document hardware comapnies October 16, 2008

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The big players in document hardware are making gainful strides into software markets. Recognition that software is the key enabler in processes of ever increasing complexity and value dawned upon hardware manufacturers some years ago. But only now is the vision of the big hardware players bearing fruit in the market.
In talking about these companies, I would include in volume mail production markets companies such as IBM, Xerox, EMC, Pitney Bowes, Cannon and Hewlett Packard.
EMC, Hewlett Packard and Pitney Bowes seem to be deriving the most customer value from this business model. Hewlett Packard has always had the advantage of being able to leverage a huge installation base and relationships with big customers that reach far, wide and deep into today’s large organisations.
Pitney Bowes has been notably visionary, forcing a seismic shift in the market. They have been particularly clever, grasping and embracing market convergence and recognising that the end product of all customer relationship thinking has to be it’s communication with its customers.
If a company fails to communicate effectively with it’s customers then with the exception of monopoly, the end is obvious.
More finished mail items touch Pitney Bowes product than anything else on the planet. Pitney Bowes is at the heart of mail production whether through the huge SME market sending out 10-20 letters a day to the biggest high volume mail production facilities on the planet. Some customers of Pitney Bowes send out in excess of 1 billion mail items per year. What Pitney Bowes lacks is knowledge and products in the print market from which to leverage its position.
Hewlett Packard’s acquisition of Exstream software brings it in the same ranks as Pitney Bowes. The Exstream product is possibly one of the best selling products on the market at the moment. Hewlett Packard with its wide spread of print capabilities and deep relationships with customers will do well.
What it does lack however is production mail room expertise and this may be a weakness when making propositions to customers who want to include control as a key requisite of implementations.
IBM make printers, big printers. Printers that serve the largest organisations in the world. They talk at every level with today’s big companies. From the senior executive to basic office functions, IBM nearly always show their presence. They are strong. They know software, hardware, strategy, professional services, integration and outsourcing. They can punch and they can deliver.
Hardware giant, EMC also pursues a similar strategy with its recent acquisition of Document Sciences. In fact their business model does look very similar to that of Pitney Bowes.
It is going to be very interesting watching this market grow and seeing what customers take up out of the enormous product portfolio’s of these big players.

Xerox Igen 4 – Production Printer / Press October 11, 2008

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Perhaps one of the most impressive pieces of kit I have seen on any document factory floor, the Xerox IGen 4 is a stunning piece of equipment. Able to produce 110 pages per minute with very high quality full colour images, the Xerox Igen holds pride of place.

The installation that I saw was not cheap however, the room that it runs in requires an atmospherically controlled environment and a large amount of space.

With a significant range of features, the Igen makes true high quality one to one CRM printing possible. Just look at these features:

  • Feeder module with two 30,000 page trays
  • Up to large digital cut sheet format 364 x 572mm
  • ‘Gripperless’ transport technology allows printing up to 1mm from paper edge
  • Easily replaceable dry ink technology. Can be replaced mid-job
  • SIngle point image transfer to paper
  • Intelligent fusing means that it automatically adjusts for paper stock variables
  • Fit up to 4 stacker modules
  • Top tray for interrupt jobs
  • Electronic Collation
  • Optional document finishing interface enabling inline mail finishing

The iGen4 is not short on green credentials either. 97% of parts can be recycled, it does not generate any noxious liquids and is fully compliant with EU RoHS restrictions.

If you have a requirement for high volume colour printing, this machine is worth a look!