Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. has begun an integrated management service for
office equipment, XOS, a service offering to reduce costs as well as
give customers more time to focus on their core businesses. The service
covers copy machines, printers and other output devices used in the
office, and the comprehensive services range from purchase, installation
and network connection, to consumable management, maintenance and asset
management enterprise-wide of machines used both in Japan and overseas.
The service was launched on April 26, 2004.
Companies employ a wide variety of IT equipment to boost business efficiency
and productivity, including PCs, servers, network devices and broadband
lines. The ever-increasing burden associated with the management, operation
and cost of this equipment, however, is taking its toll. To lessen the
impact, IT companies themselves have introduced fee-based "managed
services" in recent years, providing total management services
related to machine use, notably remote monitoring and operation, maintenance,
troubleshooting and help desks.
XOS is the first managed service to be offered in the office equipment
industry. The service will significantly reduce costs through the integrated
management of output equipment distributed throughout the office, irrespective
of the maker.
Fuji Xerox currently offers document-outsourcing services, including
central copy and print centers especially for major customers.
Although these contribute to increased efficiency in large print jobs,
the following problems still existed:
- Most office equipment is purchased separately by individual departments,
so it is difficult to grasp the overall picture
- It is difficult to manage costs related to the management of office
infrastructure throughout a group of companies
- Across-the-board costs related to document management are equivalent
to 10 percent of sales
The major issue was how to integrate cost management in corporations
that have office machines in companies all over the world.
To meet this challenge, Xerox Corporation in the United States, a pioneer
in the outsourcing business, leveraged its wealth of experience in document
management to develop a sophisticated IT-driven service system with
enhanced outsourcing capabilities. The system is predominantly used
in Europe and the United States.
The major benefit of this system is that it improves the complex office
environment. To achieve this, a uniquely developed service system in
conjunction with the Lean Six Sigma*
method, which is widely acclaimed in Europe and the United States, are
used to determine the present status of output equipments and scientifically
analyze and evaluate problem areas.
With the introduction of the Xerox-developed XOS service at Fuji Xerox,
the Asia/Oceania region will now also be covered, in addition to Europe
and the United States, marking the genuine beginning of a standardized
global service.
With the XOS service, Fuji Xerox will provide product type, number
of units and contents in line with customer requirements and the office
environment.
Accordingly, the following only addresses asset management services.
The price of evaluation and support services will be determined separately
for each customer.
Asset management service prices are for a single unit per month.
