0
$0.00
0 items
Early announcements of Ricoh’s INTERACT 2018 conference, held June 18–21 at the Westin Hotel, Westminster, CO, near Ricoh’s Boulder plant, promised to be bigger and better this year, and it delivered in several ways. Now in its eighth year, the biggest change for this event was that it brought multiple Ricoh product groups together: wide format, continuous feed, cut sheet and software and services. All of these groups previously held their own customer events, but now share a single forum, signaling the ongoing convergence of technologies within the industry and across all segments.
The 450 invitation-only attendees were a mix of customers and prospects, with an estimated 250 of these being actual customers drawn from both enterprise print operations and print service providers (PSPs), both of whom can benefit from the innovations and techniques that were displayed. Ricoh also was able to secure commitments from dozens of vendor partners to participate in the event and offset the event costs. Vendor kiosks and table top exhibits lined the conference hallways, and Ricoh, of course, showcased its own products, giving us a hands-on look at two new inkjet presses before they were publicly released.
As an informational forum, the conference offered four tracks: the software user group; print hardware education; business development, with an emphasis on marketing; and sessions devoted to showing attendees the full scope of Ricoh’s hardware and software options. It was interesting that Ricoh’s software team appears to be embracing and promoting the concept of being hardware agnostic in that Xerox, HP or Canon machines can all use Ricoh’s software tools.
In terms of hardware, INTERACT gave us previews of two new inkjet printing systems, each targeting a specific segment of the industry, although the hardware itself indicates that the lines between the segments are blurring. These are:
INTERACT 2018 reinforces what we at Madison Advisors have been saying regarding the convergence of the transactional print and commercial print markets. Transactional service providers are always looking at improved throughput to drive earnings growth in a price-conscious market, whereas commercial printers have typically focused on digital image quality and color accuracy coupled with availability of a wide variety of substrates, similar to what they use in the offset world. This allows them to transition from offset to digital relatively seamlessly and/or to produce hybrid products, employing each of the different print technologies in one finished product, optimizing the different operational and cost efficiencies of each. Ricoh clearly is concentrating on providing a universal print hardware and software technology platform that satisfies the priorities of both markets.
As it grows, INTERACT will challenge similar existing events such as HP’s Dscoop and IBM’s Think. All of these events, staged by manufacturers for their customers, have broadened their scope to keep up with advances in digital hardware and software. They provide invaluable opportunities for networking with peers and sharing experiences. Perhaps best of all, they provide manufacturers with insights about what they may be missing and what more they can do for us.
Gary Simpson, Vice President of Business Development & Service Delivery
There’s a reason Robotics Process Automation (RPA) is one of the hottest topics within the C-suite and it’s not just being discussed within a few specific industry segments. RPA represents the biggest opportunity for traditional enterprises in all industry segments to change their weary productivity paradigm.
Why is there such a focus on RPA, and why now? It’s the clearest path to the next revolution in enterprise productivity and the technology required to support it is proven, accessible and affordable. What’s more, RPA automations have been built in a modularized fashion and are configurable to accommodate business processes of all types while allowing customization for specific lines of business and functions within that business. I’ll get back to that point later.
Business productivity needs a reboot. Traditional, or conventional, companies not born in the digital age operating from legacy systems continue to process 80% of their work manually and 20% utilizing some sort of un-optimized automation. Approximately $100M is spent each year on digital transformation, yet many of these projects fail. Rewriting old code is too expensive and too time consuming. Process reengineering by integrating and modernizing all applications within a business process is not practical. Traditional companies continue to struggle to keep pace with and compete against the customer experience standards being set by “born digital” startups in their respective industries.
Traditional enterprises are in need of viable alternatives to drive efficiency to expedite an improved customer experience and are turning to the intelligent digital workforce and RPA to accomplish this. RPA bots are intended to transform, not replace, human work. RPA bots are supplementing worker activities by removing repetitive mundane tasks, thus allowing workers to focus on high-value decision- making activities. “Low-code,” or self-service data management and RPA tools, are enabling finance, human resources and other departments to address data challenges in their function and eliminate repetitive tasks. Embracing this technology allows traditional companies to disrupt their operations with tools that bridge the gap between the inadequacies of legacy systems and related data management and their quest for “digital transformation.”
So, let’s get back to my earlier point about the ease and speed of bot deployment. At its recent premier customer experience event in New York, I was introduced to Automation Anywhere’s Bot Store. The Automation Anywhere Bot Store enables organizations to deploy and mobilize bots in a fraction of the time it takes to build them from the ground up. The Bot Store features verified, off-the-shelf prebuilt bots from strategic partners such as EY, Accenture, Genpact and others that run on the Automation Anywhere Enterprise platform. The prebuilt bots can be snapped together like LEGO® blocks to automate complex business processes, such as order fulfillment, mortgage processing or logistics management. For instance, all businesses purchase products and services. This process involves creating purchase orders, receiving goods and making invoice payments. Line items, quantities and dollar values need to be reconciled among purchase orders, invoices and delivery receipts—a process referred to as “three-way matching.” While the process may sound generic, it is implemented differently in every organization with different systems and processes. Automating the three-way matching process can be costly and time consuming, but with prebuilt, customizable bots from the Bot Store such a process can be automated in weeks, if not days.
Access to the Automation Anywhere Bot Store is open to all, but bot submissions and downloads are currently restricted to customers and partners. Bots are available to Automation Anywhere customers and partners free of charge for an introductory period.
In its appropriate context, the Bot Store has been created to introduce a deployment model that dramatically shortens the time-to-value for business process automation initiatives. The question has been asked, “Are prebuilt bots and bot stores really helpful in speeding up robotic process automation?” Perhaps this is the wrong question to be asked because there really is no question about it, they do speed up deployment. A deeper and more meaningful question might be centered on the use and reuse of specific IP and its applicability across enterprises and their respective business units. Prebuilt bots listed in the Bot Store encapsulate business process expertise and best practices that can be leveraged by other organizations with licenses from bot creators who own the IP that resides in the bots they list.
Complex business processes cannot be easily encapsulated into a single, monolithic bot. The way one enterprise implements three-way matching can obviously vary from that of a competitor and it may also vary by line of business within the enterprise. By breaking down complex processes into modular, configurable automations, processes can be implemented in ways that are meaningful to each enterprise and their respective business units.
Enterprises realize that there is no silver bullet to bridging the digital divide between legacy systems and their organization’s digital transformation. They are looking for compartmentalized automations that provide for customization rather than full end-to-end process automation solutions. No two companies are alike, and very few business processes across business units within companies are exactly alike. In this age of the “sharing economy,” the Automation Anywhere Bot Store is an open marketplace that provides the opportunity for partners, RPA developers and customers to directly engage and transact with each other. In addition, with RPA as the driver, these bots also extend the sophisticated AI and cognitive functionality on the Automation Anywhere platform, something that may not be found with other providers.
Developing a strong RPA ecosystem by packaging reusable modular automations provides a way for enterprises and their partners to begin the journey toward integrating the intelligent digital workforce and transforming the way they conduct business.
By Gina Ferrara, Senior Analyst
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” This proverb, credited to the writings of Thomas H. Palmer and later popularized by William Edward Hickson in his “Moral Song,” applies to many circumstances in life and in business. But not all circumstances. The five companies featured in our 2nd edition of the “Customer Communications Management Hosted Managed Services Market Update” understand this completely.
At Madison Advisors, we engage with clients that struggle with customer communications management due to a complex technology infrastructure that consists of legacy systems, multiple document composition tools and content repositories, thousands of document templates, and limited multi-channel delivery. Many have sought point solutions to meet an internal line of business requirement to deliver communications electronically. These point solutions add to the complexity of technology infrastructure that is already poorly integrated. This places heavy reliance on internal IT not only to manage all the technology, but also to balance and prioritize new development projects against change requests to existing documents.
Often, organizations believe that a major technology refresh will solve these challenges and so they try again. On the surface, eliminating old technology sounds like a good idea; however, some organizations may lack the necessary resources and skills to reap the benefits of this undertaking and obtain the anticipated ROI from making the capital expenditure. Others may not know where to begin, or worse yet, have begun and ran out of funding or hit a major roadblock along the way and abandoned the project altogether.
Let’s face it—CCM is not easy, and we give kudos to those who have tried to make it work. Standing out from the competition is no longer about selling a product or service at the best price—it is about the experience. Technology continues to change and, with it, consumer expectations. Google, Apple and Amazon have helped to fuel those expectations, leaving many enterprises to struggle to keep up. Organizations that provide an exceptional customer experience will reap the benefits of customer loyalty, deeper relationships and increased sales. But if your organization has fallen behind and is unable to provide the digital experience that consumers are looking for, it might be time to consider outsourcing to a CCM hosted managed services provider as an alternative solution.
What exactly is CCM hosted managed services? It is a technology model that incorporates the critical components of CCM in a single integrated platform. This results-driven model offers a complete end-to-end solution that addresses enterprise communication requirements, relieves the burden on IT resources, and delivers an optimized return on investment (ROI) by shifting from a capital expenditure model (CapEx) to an operational expense model (OpEx).
Our initial report “Hosted Managed Services: Changing the Paradigm in Customer Communications Management” (released October 2015) provided an introduction to CCM HMS. This latest research report further explains the seven critical components of CCM, provides an update on the latest trends in hosted managed services, and shares how the five companies featured have developed their solutions to help enterprises solve customer communications challenges. While purchasing and integrating the critical technology components necessary for a unified CCM platform is not insurmountable, if your organization is unable to achieve the desired results due to lack of time, resources and budget, it might be time to consider this alternative.
Click here to access our full report “Customer Communications Management Hosted Managed Services Market Update 2nd Edition.”
By Kemal Carr, President
Shortly after speaking at Inkjet Summit 2018 in Florida, I went to the Fiserv Forum held April 17–19 in Las Vegas. Fiserv Forum is an event that invites attendees to experience the latest fintech innovations, exchange ideas with Fiserv product experts, and engage with peer financial services professionals. I was told it was a large show, but until I arrived there, I had no idea how expansive and valuable this Forum is. You don’t really understand the scope and breadth of Fiserv until you attend this conference. It was a real eye-opener to me. When you walk into the Solutions Showcase, you see at least 104 different kiosks, all Fiserv companies or partners. That is 104 things Fiserv can offer you.
More than 5,000 customers attend this event, many of them in financial services since that is the core of Fiserv’s business. Fiserv is a global leader in financial services technology solutions that helps clients worldwide create and deliver solutions that enable today's consumer to move and manage money. Attendees pay a fee to attend and learn, and if you are only working with one aspect of Fiserv, it’s well worth the investment to go and expand your vision of all the capabilities this company offers.
You might be looking for a particular point solution outside of the work you are already doing with an arm of Fiserv and not realize Fiserv has that offering too, and could perhaps provide it to you with a bundled pricing model. A good example is if you are a mid-size bank without IT bandwidth to build the needed technology internally; it is more efficient to buy from a company like Fiserv that has done all the integration work.
Madison Advisor’s work with Fiserv is with Fiserv Output Solutions. They serve leading providers across financial services, healthcare, utilities, telecommunications, insurance, travel and leisure and other industries that produce ongoing transactional customer communications. However, Fiserv Forum is not a print and mail show—and it isn’t an IT show. Fiserv promotes itself and the event as a “Partner in Possibility.” The Forum is designed to explore new ideas and innovations and provide hands-on access to Fiserv products and solutions experts. It truly is an opportunity to dig deeper into the scope and breadth of Fiserv products and services. Within those 104 offerings there are solutions for every organization, every customer touchpoint.
The 2019 Fiserv Forum is scheduled for May 6–9 in Las Vegas, so mark your calendars. I highly recommend that existing Fiserv customers attend this event, as well as those that have a need for which Fiserv has a solution. It will introduce you to all that Fiserv does in a way that calling the 1-800 Fiserv number could never do.
By Kemal Carr, President
Inkjet Summit 2018 took place this past April 9-11 in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. I have always found this to be an interesting forum. For one, major hardware vendors have figured out how to create a hardware show without showing hardware. Good for them, as it saves everyone money. The next reason is that Inkjet Summit is invitation-only, where pre-qualified attendees meet and learn from the top leaders in the industry through a speed-dating style of interviewing and intensive networking. What could be more perfect for a vendor than the opportunity for 1:1 meetings with qualified prospects—or for the prospect to get all their technology questions answered by the top suppliers in the industry? Within just two days, Inkjet Summit makes it possible for both sides of the spectrum to network with valuable contacts.
Attendees at the Summit were from printing companies and corporate enterprises looking to understand their options before they make a major investment decision around production inkjet printing technology. Additionally, attendees, who have already made an initial investment, were seeking information on what capabilities are available in the next generation of inkjet technology. Many of the new devices have expanded capabilities, offering the ability to print with a host of different substrates and inks, making it possible for a print service provider to expand into new markets.
However, the overarching question I heard the most at the Summit was how to justify the spend on this technology. That is the challenge and, unfortunately, there is no simple answer. In our experience, we have found that before any decisions are made concerning hardware selection and related software technology, three initial considerations need to be looked at to create a business case for the purchase.
First, you should take an inventory of your applications to gain a fundamental understanding of what your needs are from a capabilities and volume perspective. It is important to determine if there is a demand and budget from customers or from internal lines of business for color documents.
Second, understand that a move to production inkjet, due to its inherent speed advantage over toner based systems, means the capability of producing significantly more volume needs to be addressed. This requires an analysis of your workflows to assess the bottlenecks and inefficiencies that implementing inkjet technology would eliminate, to help establish how you would support these increased volumes.
Finally, it is important to do a thorough cost analysis to determine pricing and profitability: What are the appropriate ink sets for your applications and matching papers? What direct costs, labor costs and indirect costs will affect your net cost per page vs. what you are able to charge?
These three steps are a good start at creating a proposal that will support your business case for whether or not investing in inkjet technology makes sense for your business.
Our recent research, Color Print Migration Market Update (2017), indicates a continued growth in inkjet and the migration from toner to inkjet pages. One of the biggest “ahas” from this research is that there is still a significant number of monochrome pages being produced today that provide an opportunity for inkjet transfer. At the Inkjet Summit you could feel the excitement around the fact that print is experiencing a revival thanks to the lower capital investment needed to acquire this technology. With research continuing to support the fact that color inkjet technology offers boundless opportunities for the print industry, we believe print service providers and enterprises in need of an equipment refresh should strongly consider making the investment. Just do your homework first.
By Susan Cotter, Senior Program Manager/Analyst
Madison Advisors has the unique opportunity to visit with many organizations that are in various stages of their document management journeys. Inbound document processing is one area that we find large variances in the adoption of automation within companies that choose to keep capture processes in-house. By developing a strategy that includes a consideration of full automation and the development of outbound documents, an organization can maximize the efficiencies related to inbound document processing.
Advancements in capture technologies provide significant opportunities for process improvements and cost savings with the reduction of upfront document categorizations and data entry requirements. Most organizations that process large volumes of inbound documents are capitalizing on these technologies, however, many still are not utilizing the additional capabilities available for further automation and error reduction.
In the brief, “Maximizing the Benefits of Inbound Document Automation,” Madison Advisors outlines the advantages of utilizing technology and customer communication management strategies to transition manual workflows to exception-based workflows for inbound capture processes. By complementing capture and data extraction automation with ERP and archive integration and dashboard analytics, an organization can gain the benefits of increased accuracy, speed in document processing and a competitive advantage. Technology solutions that provide automated input, extraction and validation will reduce the time needed to bring data into an organization for processing and increase customer satisfaction. Integration with ERP systems, archive systems with record retention standards and dashboard metric tracking can maximize the automation and cost-saving opportunities.
To access Madison Advisors’ brief “Maximizing the Benefits of Inbound Document Automation,” click here.
By Gary Simpson, Vice President of Business Development & Service Delivery
Once again, MAILCOM has met its objective to serve those who manage mail communications for their organizations at this year’s 38th national convention. It was another great success for Lance Humphries, his team and the attendees they are dedicated to serve.
In this age of digital transformation and focus on Customer Experience (CX), physical mail and mail distribution remains a cornerstone when it comes to fulfilling a positive customer experience for major corporations, government entities and educational institutions.
MAILCOM 2018 played an important role in helping to bridge the gap between physical and digital communications. While physical mail isn’t going away any time soon, the way inbound communications are managed is changing rapidly. No longer can managers look at their mail operations as simply an entity within their organization that receives and distributes mail.
MAILCOM acknowledged the changing mail operations paradigm by providing 15 different seminar tracks including strategic management, production inkjet, leadership and staff development, mail systems management, data and digital document management, professional development and postal mail management seminars to name a few.
In addition, Daniel Dejan (Sappi, North America) delivered an impressive keynote speech on the intersection of physical paper-based communications and digital communications; and how one complements the other. While the internet represents a “river” of data with a constant dynamic flow of information used for quick research, print is evolving into a higher quality and specialty experience that utilizes physical material to produce more brain responses, thus leaving a deeper footprint on the brain. Daniel went on to point out the complementary effects of physical and virtual media on the human brain, supporting the notion that integrated marketing campaigns are an effective means for organizations to share their message and solidify customer’s buying decisions or engagement with a product or brand.
I was thrilled to be invited to co-present with Jason Fonner of HM Document Solutions at the event. We discussed how the confluence of customer communications management technology, document delivery systems and workflow management software are providing businesses with new tools and opportunities for digital transformation. We also talked about the process required to re-platform and transform the operations of print and mail providers into dynamic full-service CCM Centers of Excellence.
Mail professionals continue to focus on using technology to digitize physical mail as quickly as possible, pulling critical data from the printed page to create value for their organization’s downstream processes. MAILCOM 2018 proved, once again, to be an ideal place for enterprise mail professionals to share and network with technology and service providers to find ways to further improve mail printing, processing and distribution services.
By Gina Ferrara, Senior Analyst
Xeikon held its first quarterly analyst and press update on February 22nd. Donna Covannon, Xeikon’s Director of Marketing, stated that these updates are a direct response to the numerous requests received from the analyst community who wanted to hear from Xeikon more frequently. Xeikon plans to conduct updates on a quarterly basis.
The agenda was brief, but packed with an abundance of information on Xeikon’s Blueprint, and its strategy in the carton packaging, graphic arts and labels segments. In addition, Xeikon discussed the new Inkjet Competence Center, located in Antwerp, Belgium, the upcoming Xeikon Café events and provided an update on its Panther technology.
Filip Weymans, VP of Global Marketing for Xeikon, began with Xeikon’s Blueprint Strategy and explained that the company had decided to move forward with two strategic goals – enhance electrophotography and become masters in inkjet technology. These two pillars will be layered with more software integration, allowing Xeikon the opportunity to assist and advise customers in the digital manufacturing of their environment rather than just focusing on digital printing. For Xeikon, the future lies in the opportunity to help and guide customers in this arena, including conversion of legacy applications, workflow and other aspects.
Xeikon has chosen to focus specifically on the carton packaging, graphic arts and labels segments. While Xeikon already has some unique offerings in the carton packaging market, the company plans to build an additional platform in the corrugated business. For the graphic arts business, Xeikon plans to focus more on high value specialized segments, including educational books, wall decorations, high-quality direct mail and signage. In the labels market, Xeikon has solidified the number two position; however, Flint, its parent company, holds the number one position in terms of ink and supply. Xeikon now offers a complete solution that goes from workflow to the print presses, all of which is driven out of one unified software integration.
Another strategic move by Xeikon includes the development of their Inkjet Competence Center. The purpose of the center, which is located in Antwerp, Belgium, is to continue to develop industry leading competencies in inkjet technology. The Center currently employs 20 people who are focusing on short-term projects related to the Panther series, along with longer-term projects conducting research and development in water-based inkjet.
Xeikon gave an update on the Jetrion customer base acquisition from EFI, which has been a terrific boost for North America. Xeikon announced its partnership with EFI in November 2017 to take on the sales and support of EFI Jetrion label printers. By acquiring this customer base, Xeikon became an even stronger player in the market with 700+ digital label presses installed, and became the #1 player in the UV inkjet market with an install base of 200+ presses.
There are two Xeikon Café events in 2018, one was in Antwerp in March and a second one will be in Chicago in May. The cafés provide a technical and educational forum for customers to learn, connect and discover innovative end-use applications and packaging techniques. Other workshops are designed to help customers acquire the knowledge and insights to improve their ROI.
Xeikon’s Panther technology, introduced at the Xeikon Café in 2017, is a UV inkjet printer for high-end labels. By integrating workflow technology, enhanced functionality, such as the ability to add variable elements to labels or separate labels within a flow, can be performed. The UV ink uses a patented combination of mercury and LED curing, which exposes the labels to less heat. The Panther technology produces high-quality labels at high speeds and Xeikon will be targeting specific segments such as health and beauty, household detergents, fertilizer and industrial-type labels that are used for computer and machinery components.
Kudos to Xeikon on their first quarterly analyst and press update. This was a packed hour of information and Madison Advisors looks forward to their next update.
By Gina Ferrara, Senior Analyst
Canon Solutions America recently held its One Canon event on February 12-14that The Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, FL. As a resident of New England, it is always a treat to escape the cold winter months and attend an event in the South. This event was Canon’s second year celebrating the One Canon concept, which represents an inclusive approach toward delivering on the promise of more integrated solution offerings that are based on innovation, possibility and smart solutions.
Members of the press and industry analysts were invited to attend the event and get an update on the “customer first” principle of the One Canon initiative. This event allows attendees to hear presentations from Canon executives but, more importantly, have the opportunity to schedule 1:1 sessions to speak directly with the Canon team. In addition to hearing from the executives, Canon invites a few of its customers to share their success stories as well.
One of the highlights of the event, and an area of particular interest to us at Madison Advisors, was the update on the Production Print Solutions Division (PPS) which was shared by Francis McMahon, Executive Vice President for PPS. The Production Print business had an exceptional year in 2017 with revenue and profit growth at 6% and 4%, respectively. Canon experienced 22% growth in ColorStreams and 52% growth in VarioPrint i300s. The transition to color is really starting to grow as evidenced by the fact that 53% of print pages by Canon customers were printed in color. Canon holds a strong position with 38% of the market as of Q3, 2017, and customers who have purchased Canon equipment are starting to add a 2nd, 3rd and even a 4th machine to support volume.
Other Canon executives shared their respective business line results for 2017 and growth plans for 2018. Canon continues to make progress by enhancing its solutions through innovation and keeping up with emerging technology. Madison Advisors looks forward to the new and inventive ways Canon will drive change in the industry with its best-in-class printing technology.
By Susan Cotter, Senior Program Manager/Analyst
After working with an organization recently to assess the state of their business processes related to document scanning, data capture and workflow solutions, it became clear to me that this organization is not alone in its struggle to make document scanning more efficient. Many organizations are grappling with the decision to enhance their in-house scanning operations or to outsource this function to a third- party service provider.
In our latest Madison Advisors’ brief, we outline factors for companies to consider if they plan to invest in capture technologies and keep the process in-house. Understanding the current workflow of various document types and the underlying business rules surrounding these documents are critical steps in the overall strategy and success of the initiative.
Manual processes should be reviewed in detail to determine how best to remove paper handling and inefficiencies from future workflows. Existing team members will have institutional knowledge about document processing that needs to be identified up front to avoid errors during the automation processes. Building a desired future state should be part of the process and by overlaying the current processes, areas for improvement can be prioritized.
Other considerations include deciding on a centralized or decentralized approach and the related technology options available for each. Special consideration should be given to ensure that the new technology does not simply replace an old paper-based process. Each business process being considered should be fully and completely evaluated end-to-end for process improvements with the full capabilities of the new technology tools in mind. By reengineering the process and applying new technology—including considering RPA and interfaces with existing ERP systems—an organization will be sure to maximize the true benefits of state-of-the-art technology.
To access Madison Advisors’ brief “Selecting a Capture Service Provider,” click here.
© 2024 The Madison Advisors
