Ravi Venkatraman,
Director,
Xerox Global Services (XGS),
Xerox India
'90% of enterprises cannot monitor their documentation expenses'
Xerox recently launched the Xerox Enterprise Document Solution (EDS) suite aimed at organizations with over 4,000 employees. Ravi Venkatraman, Director, Xerox Global Services (XGS), Xerox India talks about the latest in enterprise documentation with Faiz Askari, Bureau Head, Network Computing. Excerpts:
Is it true that enterprises usually find it difficult to manage and monitor their total expenses on documentation?
This is true that majority of large companies can’t estimate their expenditure on documentation. As per a market study done by IDC, more than 90 percent of companies cannot monitor their expenses on documentation. However, in terms of size, IDC found that a large enterprise spends approximately Rs. 20,000 to 30,000 on each employee every year on its documentation work.
Any estimate of the size of the EDS market in India?
There is no such estimate available to us. But it is approximately growing at a rate of 35 percent.
How is this market segment evolving, and where exactly are Indian organizations placed in the overall market scenario?
Our market [India] has cleared some initial phases of printing. For example, print production and fulfillment with elements of complexity and customization that require an understanding of customer’s core business requirements has already happened and it has further reached a level where organizations are evaluating document life cycle management and looking at integration of multiple silos/capabilities to help them control customers and reduce costs. This is achieved through outsourced printing. Now we are at the threshold of another change. This change, which will include the transfer of an entire end-to-end business process to the outsourced service provider, will redefine the enterprise documentation market. Our EDS offering is a step toward this direction.
Can you quantify the importance of streamlined documentation in an enterprise environment?
The relevance and importance of having a streamlined approach toward documentation is huge. As per market data, 82% of organisations say documents are critical to the successful operation of their business. About 70% of executives claim that delay in updating documents in line with business requirements would make their organisations less agile.
In light of current enterprise demands, what will be the USP of your new offering?
Businesses have reached a level where they are emphasizing only on their own expertise areas. This trend can be seen in India as most of the large organizations have started outsourcing those operations which they feel they don’t have expertise in. The EDS suite is going to streamline, accelerate and automate critical business processes by serving as a critical link between information, documents, people and processes. The solution is targeted at key verticals such as BFSI, Mortgage Services, Manufacturing, Education and Healthcare.
The new suite encompasses all components of document workflow in an enterprise such as accounts payable, accounts receivable, e-print sourcing, mail room management, HR record management, business transactions, office productivity, document workflow management and electronic content management, amongst others.
How do you think are Indian enterprises positioned to use what EDS has to offer?
This market has huge opportunity and a lot of possibilities exist. According to research done by IDC and Gartner, in a large organization, 80% of total business activity is supported by documents. More than 90% of customer communication happens through documents. Apart from this, 30% of the total labor cost goes to printing expenses, and enterprises are spending around 3% of revenue in managing their printing output. Even after spending so much, enterprises are evaluating the impact of communication that they usually generate with any customer. So it becomes very important to conclude the relevance and effectiveness of any communication. Interestingly, the IDC data also shows that approximately 50% of the total IT budget goes to documentation management and infrastructure.
What role do you think can a vendor play in shaping up the documentation processes in an enterprise?
We believe that the documentation vendor needs to understand the actual clientele of its client. Interacting with the customer’s customer becomes very critical at times. For example, a telecom company has outsourced its entire billing and dispatching processes. So, a company who has taken up this responsibility to send the bill to the telecom company’s customers has to be extremely accurate on facts and figures. At the same time it has to be cost effective while continuing to provide value additions.
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