Mohammed Amer, Vice President and Regional Manager at Xerox MEA, speaks to Channel Post MEA about the various sustainable and future-ready solutions offered by Xerox.
How has Xerox adopted its offerings in line with the recent changes due to the pandemic?
The pandemic has changed the way we work in different ways. To better understand the changing working environment, we conducted our first Future of Work survey at Xerox. The survey helped us uncover how IT decision-makers are supporting hybrid working and how businesses plan to move forward as the world begins to reopen.
To address the workplace’s new emerging needs, we offered cloud connectivity features that accommodate those demands. As a matter of fact, Xerox embarked on this journey more than four years ago with the introduction of VersaLink and AltaLink Workplace Assistants powered by ConnectKey technology. Our devices include support for various printing methods to meet the needs of virtually any mobile or portable device.
Also, to help organizations safeguard employees health as they return to the office, we provide organizations with the Xerox Workplace App: a mobile app that acts as a remote control to the multifunction printers (MFP). Workers can scan, copy, or print from their smartphone while avoiding the need to touch the user interface of shared MFPs. When used in conjunction with Xerox Workplace Cloud print management solution, the same app can also act as a secure print release terminal for all jobs sent from the PC or submitted by email, or even from the app itself.
With remote working and distance education gaining pace, how does Xerox plan to continue providing its solutions and services for resources who are present remotely?
It’s an exceptional moment in time which has challenged us to provide our users with better solutions and demonstrated that we can only improve when we work together. Like many businesses, the pandemic’s onset provided us with an opportunity to reflect, analyze, and find room for growth. As the hybrid work model leaves employees distributed between the office and home, we were challenged to support organizations, including educational ones, with the required infrastructure to support this evolving work model. Our intelligent workplace is shaping the way we work in 2021: we are working towards promoting confidence with digital transformation, investing in people, and continuously innovating.
Teaching in this current distance and hybrid learning environment has introduced us to many new challenges and opportunities. Evidently, technology-supported learning will be a permanent part of the future of education. Xerox is positioned to help close the digital divide by providing customizable IT services, personal devices, document management, and print solutions to ease educators’ burden today. Our aim is to enable a seamless teaching experience that supports a blended learning model by giving teachers and students instant access to a powerful spelling, grammar, style, and plagiarism tool.
How does Xerox ensure the security aspect, while the resource trying to access remotely?
The risk of a catastrophic cyber-attack or data breach has never been greater. Fraudsters continue to prey on vulnerable employees, as we saw the numbers of cyberattacks dramatically increase during 2020.
Xerox printers and MFPs employ various technologies to ensure authorized access to device features and functions by users and other network devices. This includes network authentication via username/password, NFC unlock from mobile phone, and card swipe methods. By using User Authentication technologies, the process of granting access to Xerox printers and multifunction devices for authorized network and walk-up users is facilitated. Once authenticated, the user can interact with the device, subject to restrictions based on the user’s role. When it comes to preventing, detecting, and protecting against threats to sensitive documents, devices and data, comprehensive security isn’t just a good option. It’s the only option.
With digitization gaining pace rapidly, what solutions does Xerox have to streamline these digitized resources?
Today’s office environments are ever-changing; between home-offices, hybrid offices, and our usual workplace environment, organizations are on the lookout for sustainable and adaptable resolutions. Although there are no “one-fits-all” solution, migrating to the cloud and digitizing documents seem to solve challenges and offer the necessary support to business employees.
Digital transformation and the incorporation of digital services in the workplace is key for ensuring seamless workflow. The efficiency of any organization or production operation depends on their workflow. Digitizing documents makes for quicker, easier access to information and reduces the time spent on managing files and records.
Digitizing also modernizes the document-sharing process, which enhances efficiency and productivity. In modern workspaces, there is a significant need for services that unite the workforce, provide a better customer experience, and create a more collaborative culture.
How does Xerox picture the future workplace, and how is the company gearing up for those changes?
The new workplace will have to accommodate a combination of “on-site”, ” hybrid” and “remote” workers, and it requires a variety of solutions to address the needs of all three of them. The mix will depend on activity type, cultural preferences, and management calls. As workplace experience experts, our vision is to enable any of these combinations to provide a seamless work experience wherever people are located. This will be delivered by implementing digital collaboration tools, process automation solutions and services, and multifunctional devices capable of bridging physical and digital worlds seamlessly. Moreover, we have learned from the pandemic that business continuity plans need to be strengthened in many areas. Again, as workplace experience experts, we need to enable this for core processes. Finally, protecting against various forms of cyber-attacks or other security-related risks, particularly in the context of a distributed workforce, will remain a priority for all.
How sustainable / environment friendly are the various solutions and services that are offered by Xerox?
At Xerox, we remain focused on “Design for Sustainability” because we recognize that our products have environmental, social, and economic effects throughout their life cycle. Design for Sustainability consists of criteria for each phase of product design and delivery process based on global standards, market trends, and quantitative analysis. We have re-engineered or eliminated processes to dramatically reduce the use of toxic materials and heavy metals and have made substantial progress.
This has become a way of business for Xerox and extends far beyond adhering to processes. We are engineering solutions that make a more sustainable world by driving toward digital processes to reduce paper use, launching programs focused on reforestation, eliminating waste within packaging and distribution processes, and managing products through the full life cycle with comprehensive plans for takeback recycling built-in.
