Xerox Endorses Services Model For SMBs

The Stamford, Conn.-based company is piloting a Solutions Advantage program to help resellers learn to sell more document imaging solutions—as opposed to selling products. The program includes assessment and management tools, training and development activities, said Anne Mulcahy, Xerox chairman and CEO, at the Global Technology Distribution Council Summit last week in San Francisco.

Many solution providers are still learning how to position a full document management solution, which is why a program that includes training is needed to fully realize the SMB market opportunity, she said.

“People have not focused on document management for efficiency. Document management is where [the] spend is. It&s an extraordinary opportunity to automate things like mortgage processes, financial transactions.”

Mulcahy noted that Xerox recently partnered with Pro-Sys, an Atlanta-based solution provider, on a deal with Cingular Wireless that helped the wireless carrier reduce customer-service calls. “Cingular started printing personalized, color reference guides at 1,000 stores nationwide—$6 service calls were replaced with 12-cent color documents,” she said.

Meanwhile, SRC Solutions, a Dunmore, Pa.-based solution provider, helped the city of Newark, N.J., move all of its daily business transactions online—everything from budget documents to marriage licenses, Mulcahy said. “We couldn&t help [Newark] alone, but with our channel partner, we&re providing an end-to-end solution that replaces a hodgepodge of departmental systems and applications,” she said.

Xerox&s focus to differentiate itself through solutions is the right model, said Jeff Medeiros, president and CEO of rs-unix, a San Francisco-based solution provider that recently added Xerox.

“They&re putting the meat behind the definition of value-add,” Medeiros said. “They look to understand a business problem then find the solution with partners. They want to help build a complete picture of what a solution is.”