What You Should Expect From the Xerox and Fuji Merger

In late January 2018, Xerox and Fuji Xerox announced that the two companies would merge.

The move for Fujifilm Holdings to consolidate its stake in Xerox in the landmark $6.1 billion
deal comes as both companies seek to leverage their respective strengths and offer
customers better, more powerful office solutions and graphic communications equipment.

The History of Xerox and Fuji Xerox

At first, it might seem odd that Xerox and Fuji Xerox would merge, since both companies
already share the Xerox name.

But Fuji Xerox is the result of a 1962 partnership between Fujifilm Holdings and Rank Xerox,
which was absorbed into Xerox Corporation in 1997. Fujifilm Holdings has a 75 percent
stake in the joint venture and Xerox 25 percent.

This deal would see Fuji Xerox buying back its stake from FujiFilm Holdings for
$6.1 billion dollars' worth of bank debt and using the proceeds to purchase 50.1 percent of
new Xerox shares, making it the majority stakeholder of the tech innovation giant.

This decision produces a $2.5 billion special cash dividend for corporate stakeholders and
gives the combined company a better edge developing new technologies. It gives Xerox,
an iconic technology brand with a deeply-entrenched culture of innovation and one of the
best operating margins in the industry access to Fuji Xerox's top-rated Asian market share
and world-class research and development platform.

According to Fujifilm CEO Shigetaka Komori: “The new structure will leverage the strengths
of [Fujifilm Holdings, Fuji Xerox, and Xerox Corporation]”

These strengths include Xerox's strong governance standards and capacity for innovation.
FujiFilm Holdings has growth capacity that Xerox would otherwise not have access to,
particularly in the Asian market – it is Japan's number-one print industry brand.

By the Numbers: The New Combined Fuji Xerox

The broad global scale of Fuji Xerox following the execution of the merger will encompass
more than 180 countries. The new company will enjoy number-one ranking in equipment
revenue share for the print industry, and a new addressable opportunity of approximately
$120 billion dollars. This will lead to projected revenues of $18 billion dollars.

The combined company will have an estimated $1 billion dollars invested in R&D, making it
the industry's largest innovator by market share. Both companies will merge their six
combined innovation labs, redirecting the focus of their 6,600+ engineers towards new
methods for generating value for 21st century organizations.

Fuji Xerox will now have 11,470 patents to its name, and a strong financial profile boosted
by approximately $1.7 billion in expected annual cost savings. It will achieve an industry-
leading operating margin in the high-teens by 2022, and enjoy a free cash flow of $1.5
billion dollars by 2020.

What to Expect from the Future Fuji Xerox

Xerox CEO Jeff Jacobson announced that the merger unlocks significant opportunities for
growth and productivity while delivering significant value to Xerox shareholders. The $2.5
billion special cash dividend amounts to a per-share bonus of $9.80. The new company will
be better positioned to operate in fast-growing markets, and better capable of creating
innovative products for the office environments of the future.

Xerox is now poised to take advantage of a leadership position in the growing Asia-Pacific
market, worth $36 billion. The company's multi-brand reseller expansion strategies have
not traditionally been a part of Fuji Xerox's operational approach, creating an exciting
avenue for future growth.

Everyday Xerox customers can expect advances in high-speed inkjet technology, packaging,
workplace automation, and industrial print thanks to the addition of Fuji Xerox expertise
and development resources. In particular, the new company's AI initiatives stand to gain
significant traction from the synergistic combination of expertise between its two
constituent companies.

The total cost savings of the deal – $1.7 billion per year – will drive significant expansion
over the next four years. End-users can expect better prices, more complete solutions, and
increased accessibility from Xerox over this time frame. The new company enjoys revenue
synergy opportunities that play to the strength of its new global reach.

Multinational Xerox clients can expect service that better responds to their needs
irrespective of their physical location. Whereas previously organizations would have
to deal with Xerox in the United States of America and Fuji Xerox in Australia, for example,
these enterprises now have a single point of contact for meeting their business
productivity needs.

Keep a close eye on the new Fuji Xerox, an $18 billion print-industry leviathan with
newfound resources, capabilities, and ambitions.

QBSI-Xerox  is and will remain a Xerox company. Find out how the new Fuji Xerox can serve
your organization's workplace productivity needs by speaking with a QBSI-Xerox specialist.

How Much Are Your Paper Documents Really Costing You?

For more information

QBSI - Greater Washington

CTX - Oregon and SW Washington

The Xerox® Versant™ 2100

We are excited to announce the new 

Xerox® Versant™ 2100!

The Xerox® Versant™ 2100 is a revolutionary new product that gives you the amazing color control and automation tools found on the Xerox 800 and 1000 but with a modular design that allows a much smaller footprint.

The Xerox® Versant™ 2100 Press can help streamline your operation and make you more competitive and indispensable in a number of ways:

• Less waste—print in exact quantities
• Less downtime—Xerox® Connect Advantage means more press availability
• Improved efficiency—fewer steps and less operator intervention
• Reduced turnaround times—less trial and error means jobs are produced and in your customers’ hands more quickly
• Automated workflow—reduced labor costs and more accurate output

Automation is key!

When you tap into this burgeoning demand for short runs, quick turnarounds and personalized print, and have the hundreds of jobs you need to print in a day to get a return on your investment, the sobering truth can settle in.  Fifty to 100 or more jobs in a day simply can’t be produced using the same processes and equipment as in the past.

The Xerox® Versant™ 2100 Press brings together automation from beginning to end to make it possible—and productive—to produce the greater number of smaller jobs that now characterize the print marketplace.

• Automation that makes job setup faster
• Automation that makes it easier to get outstanding, consistent color
• Automation that opens up new areas of finishing versatility

For a demonstration of the new addition to the Xerox product line, let us know:

Oregon and SW Washington - CTX

Greater Washington - QBSI

From The New Hire Perspective

“I had an amazing opportunity in getting this job right after college, and I think that speaks a lot about the company in general.  Within these doors, there’s such a unique environment, a mix of tenured folks, who really bring so much knowledge and experience to the table, and the fresh faces, eager to start and flourish in their professional lives.  Instead of there being any sort of hierarchy or selfishness, what really stood out to me the most was how much these experienced reps wanted to help out.  The biggest emphasis in their advice was the importance of relationships and that people buy from people. After being here for a year and a half, that’s exactly how I look at it.

If the bottom line for any sales position isn’t to help people out, you won’t be successful. As most would agree, I think the world of “sales” comes with a certain stigma and that’s something that can’t really be avoided.  But what I have noticed is the people that are the most successful and tenured became that way because they were able to create those relationships and trust with these companies.  If I ever lost my vision in that, I’d walk away.  What I enjoy the most about being a part of CTX and the entire Northwest Group is that they created an environment where I felt that anything less was unacceptable.”

We are always looking for energetic, positive and outstanding individuals to join our team!

Click here to view available job opportunities in our Portland, Eugene, Corvallis, Boise, Pocatello, Redmond, Auburn, Yakima and Kennewick offices!

Introducing Technology Change

Congratulations!  Your business is investing in new technology.  You’re eagerly anticipating cries of joy from your team members when they use that shiny hardware, dazzling software, or brilliant process. 

Sadly, users often greet new technology with dismay instead of joy.  Faced with an abrupt change and the need to learn a new process, people can panic and resist.  To decrease panic and increase satisfaction, you need a training plan.  QBSI has helped organizations of all sizes deal with everything from minor adjustments to sweeping business process change.  Here’s what we’ve found works.

1.     Introduce the change.  Tell your team that new technology is coming, when it will arrive, and why the decision was made.  In my role as trainer for QBSI, I’ve heard a lot of variations of “It just showed up one day” and “why do we have to do this?”  We don’t want the users to perceive the new technology as an alien invasion – violent and disruptive.  We want it to be more like a cool new coworker that everyone is looking forward to meeting.

2.     Explain when training will be scheduled.  If training isn’t possible right away, most people will muddle through their basic tasks if they know more instruction is coming.  We’ve found it very helpful to post a “Questions?” sheet in a public place.  Ask users to think about their typical work and what they know they will need the new system to do.

3.     Put resources somewhere accessible.  Many products have electronic documentation and help databases.  Place links to those on a website or in a shared folder, and send an email to tell users where to find them. Physical manuals or “how to” posters can be placed with new hardware.

4.     Identify key users.  Most organizations have either official support staff, or an unofficial technology guru.  Plan additional training for those key users, with the goal that they will be a resource for their coworkers. 

5.     Train on the basics, plus a little bit.  An initial training can introduce the main features and tools. Ideally, aim to cover the basics that all users need, plus a couple of cool and helpful additional features to add excitement about your new technology and keep your more confident users interested.  Don’t try to cover everything.

6.     Plan follow up training for complex projects and needs. These should be smaller sessions that address specific users. For example, for a document management system, some users will need to know how to manage import or archiving.  For document production and printing, identify complex packets or materials.

The goal of this introduction process is for your users to become confident about exploring the capabilities and benefits of their new technology.  Help it be a friend, not an invader.

By Melinda Morrow

Product Support Specialist

Knowing is Half the Battle

I’m a kid of the ‘80s.

I left my Flock of Seagulls hair in 1984. I left my mullet in 1985. I then left my Bon Jovi locks behind in 1986. Don’t ask me about my Living Color shaved head/dreadlocks from 1988 to 1990. I have successfully “misplaced” the remaining pictures/evidence of that fiasco. When it comes to hair, I learned what not to do in the ‘80s.

However, one thing that I still haven’t moved on from is G.I. Joe. No, I don’t have action figures throughout my office (nor at home). I still subscribe to their tagline, “Knowing is half the battle.” I am a firm believer of “I don’t know what I don’t know”, so when something comes along that causes me to shift my thinking – a paradigm shift – I am open to it. I don’t assume I know everything about even the very industry I specialize in – Managed Print Services.

This open thinking has allowed us at CTX to move into areas we previously have not offered service. At first, we only serviced HP, Xerox, and Kyocera printers but over time, we created a business model that allowed us to take on virtually every make and every model of desktop laser printers. This has opened up so many doors for us. We found a way to meet a need in the market – manage any laser printer out there because our potential customers may have ANY laser printer out there. And we haven’t stopped adjusting our business model as needed.

Now let me turn this back on you and your organization. How much do you know about your energy cost in kilowatt hours? Maybe you don’t know personally, but I am positive you or someone in your organization can look that up easily or call someone at PGE (or some other provider) and find out. Knowing this number gives you opportunities to make smart business decisions around that number.

Can you negotiate it down with your current vendor? Are there better opportunities through other service providers to negotiate that number down? Are there new or emerging competitors that offer different services that can provide the same end result (or better)?

Can you communicate the need to reduce energy consumption to your employees? If you were to create an incentive to do so, how much money could you budget to award employees while still maintaining a net reduction in expenses?

Are you able to pinpoint where your energy goes? If so, can you isolate the “worst offenders” and change business practices and habits so that these offenders use less energy? Are there other assets that could replace these “energy hogs” that will create an attractive ROI?

OK, maybe knowing in this case isn’t “half” the battle – it’s more like 10%. As you can see, there is more work to be done after you are in the know. I gave you an easy example. Oregon (and nearly every other state) has initiatives and incentives revolving around energy. There are rebate programs for putting your company’s personal computers on a power management program (please see me if you have any questions – we have a great solution around this). Let’s move on to one area I’m positive into which you have little visibility – printing.

How much do you spend on generating a single page document?

Don’t know? Well, you really should. I can say that because I have seen through my work that knowing this number has allowed companies large and small to reduce their real expenses around printing in a manner similar to reducing their expenses around energy.

Maybe you think that you could do some simple math to determine your cost per print. You know that Staples charges $149.99 per toner and the manufacturer boasts an output of 6,000 pages for that toner. That seems to work out to $0.025 (rounded) per page. Now, as you walk through the office and you see a stack of papers go uncollected on the printer, you know that is approximately $1.45 (for example) wasted. Multiply that out for a year and that number grows. Are you beginning to see the direction I’m going here? This is a great place to START, but don’t stop there.

How much did the printer cost? How old is it? How much……wait.

I’ll save you the many more questions you should be asking. $0.025 is only the tip of the iceberg for calculating your cost per print.

I highly encourage you to request an assessment from CTX (Oregon and SW Washington) or QBSI (Washington). We specialize in working with your administration and IT staff to determine your true cost per print. Once you know that….well, that’s half the battle. What you do with it at that point is up to you. You can continue to watch money sit wasted on the printer or you can take the next step.

What is that step? Well, we can help with that too. Give us a call today.

Daniel Alexander has been the Director of Managed Print Services for CTX since 2010. He has personally helped hundreds of businesses get their arms around what is known in the industry as one of the last unaudited expenses – print management. He can be reached directly at 503-968-0365.

The Great Command Workstation

In the last 13 years, I have held a variety of positions within our company, from sales to technical analyst, to trainer to now the Marketing Director.  In every one of my jobs, there was always one tool that I would use on a regular basis and that is Command Workstation.

EFI’s Command Workstation is software that can be loaded on any computer, in my case Mac OS10.  It is a direct interface to the Fiery print controller, basically the brain of your production/light production device.  It allows you to do so many things to ease your day, here are a few:

1.)   View the Status of your jobs: There are two areas within the main screen of Command Workstation that show the progress of your job.  Whether it is still processing or it is printing 100 of a 500-page job, all this information is at your fingertips.  In my case, this is especially helpful because I sit about three rooms away from the actual device so instead of having to get up every 5 minutes or better yet, sit and stare at the device, I can just simply open the Command Workstation window to verify my job is running and what copy number it is on.  This is one of the most helpful tools in maintaining a productive working day when I have to print on demand.

2.)   Reprint a Job: With a normal multifunctional device, once your job is printed, it is gone forever unless you specifically chose to save it in a mailbox on the hard drive.  In my job, I frequently proof items to make sure that everything is correct in the document before doing a final print.  With Command Workstation and my Fiery, my jobs are always stored for reprint. Therefore, I can send a job, once again from my desk three rooms away, and when I arrive at the printer, if my proof looks great, I can release 10, 100, 1000 more right there instead of going back to my computer.  This is once again a huge benefit in keeping my day productive and efficient.

3.)   Imposition:  Many of us have had to make booklets and getting those pages in the correct order when it is more then four can be quite confusing. It usually ends in manually taking blanks sheets, making a booklet, writing the number on each page, then deconstructing the booklet to see what page lands where.  Within Command Workstation and the print driver at your desk, you can send a single page document to print and simply choose “booklet layout – left binding” and boom, the 10 manual steps you previously did are gone, just like that!

Although there are so many features to help with workflow, imposition, and composition of documents within Command Workstation, these 3 simple but very important features are what I use on a daily basis.  With these 3 simple improvements in my workflow, the productivity of my day greatly increases so that I can continue to print on demand instead of outsourcing in bulk. This also results in saving a lot of money!

Do you have a fiery on your device and want to have all of this functionality at your fingertips? Visit EFI to download now! http://w3.efi.com/en/Fiery/Products/CWS5

Kristen

Northwest Group 

Director of Marketing

BLACK...It Really is a COLOR!

It may surprise you, but black is one of the hardest colors (shades) to match.

When printing in CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black), different values are needed to give "Black" a certain appearance on the page. For example, a 'Warm Black' would have more Red in it than other colors, or a 'Cool Black' would have more Cyan in the mix.

If you have a large object on a page and only use 100% K (Solid Black), it will appear dark grey rather than a deep black. This is due to the saturation level achievable by the ink or toner on the paper. If you are printing the page in full CMYK color, you can achieve a deeper, richer looking black by leveraging the use of the other CMY colors.

If you blend; C 50, M 30, Y 30 , K 100, you will achieve a 'deeper RICH black' that will be perceived as 'cooler' because it has more cyan in the mix.

If you blend; C 30, M 50, Y 30 , K 100, you will achieve a 'deeper RICH black' that will be perceived as 'warmer' because it has more magenta in the mix.

The term 'RICH' is used to enforce the notion that more colors were used to make black, so it's been enriched.  The term "solid black" refers to the color generated from the used on K "black only" ink or toner.

'Solid Black' is best used for text, lines and thin graphical elements, which help to maintain hard, crisp and clean edges. If you choose to use 'RICH' Black, any minor mis-registration within the printing process will make these objects appear soft edged, lacking clarity.

When using software within Microsoft's Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher) all color is defined in RGB (Red, Green, Blue), not CMYK. Black is defined with a value of R 0, G 0, B 0. The trouble with RGB is that it is a Display (Monitor) Color language, not a Print Color language like CMYK. If you want to print your file in black and white, you must select 'Grayscale' within your print driver for it to generate a black and white service click. If you let your Postscript print driver convert color for you, it will convert RGB Black to CMYK value of C 89, M 83, Y 78, K 100, which generates a color service click when 'Grayscale' is not manually selected.

Adobe Systems, Microsoft's leading software competitor, chooses to define Black within it's software (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop) using the CMYK Color language, setting Black to K 100. So, when printing files which only using Adobe Black, a black and white service click, whether you select 'Grayscale' or not will always be generated.

MY FAVORITE BLACK FACTS
Today a pinch of Black Pepper is added to almost every type of recipe imaginable. Once used as currency and presented to the gods as a sacred offering, it is fortunate that this most popular of spices is now readily available throughout the world.

BLACK AS A SIGNATURE COLOR IN MUSIC:
Johnny Cash — This country music icon was referred to as “the man in black.”

QUOTES ABOUT BLACK:
“Without black, no color has any depth. But if you mix black with everything, suddenly there’s shadow – no, not just shadow, but fullness. You’ve got to be willing to mix black into your palette if you want to create something that’s real.” — Amy Grant

FAVORITE SONG WITH BLACK IN THE TITLE
Baby’s in Black by The Beatles

WHAT OWNING A BLACK CAR MEANS
There is no question that the vehicle you drive is an extension of your personality — According to the experts, the message you send by driving a Black vehicle is your empowered, not easily manipulated, love elegance, and appreciate classics.

TELL US WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT THE COLOR BLACK
Is there something you know about black, we’d love to hear from you. Share what you know about the color Black

by Brandon Gary
Director of Production Print
www.qbsi-xerox.com  

The Xerox Color Press 800 Improves The Way One University Works

As your business grows and your workflow changes Xerox has a product family that grows with you. From business color to light production to full production, we can cover every aspect of your production printing requirements. 

A major University in the Northwest that had been using a Xerox 700 Digital Press for 5 years recently implemented the Color Press 800 and that has in turn changed their entire workflow.  By embracing change, this customer was able to expand their production offering to their customers, thus allowing them to grow their volume from 45,000 per month to 173,000 per month in the first six months.  With the Color Press 800 they were able to:

·       Move 20% of their offset short run press work to the new machine

·       Print on Heavier stocks, up to 350 gsm

·       Print on a variety of textured stocks because of the unique way the machine fuses

Because of these important improvements, they are able to increase their offerings to their customer base.  The University was also able to adjust their pricing structure, allowing their clients to send work previously done in black in white to color at a minimal increase. 

The biggest result of the installation was the production time improvements. Because the speed of the Color Press 800 is 80 Pages-Per-Minute on all media types, They were able to decrease those production times to one-third what they experienced from the Xerox 700 Digital Press. For example, one job that used to take the University 6 hours to setup and print was cut down to 1.5 hours because of the efficiency and the speed they now have with the Color Press 800.  As the customer stated “the Color Press 800 is a different class of machine.  Xerox has a niche between the light production and IGEN/Indigo world and no one else has anything like it.” 

Shana Crook - Northwest Group Production Specialist
www.ctx-xerox.com

The World of Color

The world of color can be a very tricky one to maneuver, especially if you are new to it.  If you have been spending a lot of money on outsourcing all of your marketing jobs and feel like you have reached the point where some of those less intense jobs could be done in-house, here are some things to think about.

1.) How do you design for digital printing? Make sure your graphic designer or marketing coordinator knows how to design for digital printing. This involves knowing your brand colors, understanding crop marks and bleeds and how to optimize your printing device to get more bang for your buck.

2.) What are your brand's colors and how do you keep them consistent? Understand the difference between RGB, CMYK, and Pantone Colors. Getting your monitor to look like your output device can be a tricky and costly for that matter but at least understanding why it doesn't can be very beneficial when designing as well.

3.) What is text, bond, cover, tag, and index? Paper! The world of paper can be quite confusing at first but once you figure out your top paper types for your jobs and where to get them, you will be in full swing.

4.) How will you print your jobs? Finding the right machine that will not only fit in your environment now but also grow with you as you get the hang of things and start bringing more jobs in-house is imperative.  Most digital presses are around for 3 to 5 years so make sure the one you get is the one that will fit with your company in 3 to 5 years.

5.) What is Finishing and Color Management? Finishing is basically printing lingo for finishing your document i.e. saddle-stitching, booklet fold, tri-fold etc.  Choosing whether it is more cost-effective to do this inline, offline or outsourcing is important to think about. It may be cost-effective to do offline but if it requires 4 hours of your employees time to do it, it may be better to outsource.  What about Color Management? Is the digital press that you bring in going to have some method of managing color, calibrating or creating profiles, or do you think that a normal business color machines is sufficient for your needs?

All of these items are important to think about when contemplating bringing jobs in-house but with the Northwest Group(QBSI, CTX, Pinnell) on your side we can help you maneuver through this so that you come out on the other side with all the information you need. Let us know!

Document Management for Small Business

Has it ever occurred to you that small business is the perfect client to adopt a certified Document Management System? Who needs more resources for growth and less capital than a small startup or single or double agent business?

Consider Jane Smith Insurance. (Not her real name.) Jane had worked in the health insurance industry for over 20 years in administration for a big corporate provider. She noticed there was a real need for small business health plan counseling that often went unnoticed by the larger companies. With her husband close to retirement, Jane began her own agency focusing on those companies. With two computers in their home office, a few file cabinets and a small scanning copier Jane began Jane Smith Insurance. With Jane’s industry background and her husband’s great personality and talent for answering customer inquiries, their insurance practice began to grow.

Soon customer service began to slip. Keeping track of documents and providing immediate answers to inquiries presented a problem…It was time to open an office and hire assistants to keep track of the activity associated to their growing practice…or was it?

With a small business implementation of DocuWare and a back file conversion of existing files Jane and her husband were able to grow their client portfolio to over 400 businesses. They decided to hold the line at 400, as that was the sweet spot where they could continue to provide excellent customer service and manage their client base without adding employees. Frankly they liked the control they had of their business and quality! Their investment in scanning, software and copiers was less than $5000.00. That system today can be leased with a buyout at term end for less than $125.00 per month!

Today Jane and her husband are really retiring. Their practice is worth double the amount of a similar practice because every bit of intellectual, marketing, payment, enrollment and claim information is safely contained within their DocuWare system. They are building a luxury condo in South America, and passing the torch to another entrepreneur. 

Still think Document Management isn’t for small business?

Let us at the Northwest Group (CTX, QBSI, Pinnell) assist you with workflow optimization.