ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Companies facing pressure to cut corporate expenses can follow KeyCorp’s lead. The financial services company reduced operating costs by more than $6 million over six years, working with Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) to better manage the volume of documents flowing through its 120 offices – and the costs associated with printing, sharing and updating them.
 
Research firm IDC says 90 percent of companies do not have a strategy in place to control their documents and cannot estimate their document costs, yet they spend as much as 15 percent of their revenue on document-related activities.
 
“Streamlining the management and control of printing devices in the office environment can be a source of significant cost efficiencies and productivity gains,” said Michael Orasin, research manager at IDC.  “The work being done by KeyCorp and Xerox illustrates how an end-to-end integrated printing and document management solution has become a business essential.”
 
Using a Xerox Lean Six Sigma-based assessment, Xerox Global Services and KeyCorp evaluated employees’ daily work processes to design a document management strategy that saves millions on print costs.  By decreasing the number of output devices, like printers, fax machines, copiers and scanners, from 10,000 to 3,500, KeyCorp also boosted productivity, reduced paper consumption, decreased power usage and eliminated tons of landfill waste.
 
“We evaluate every facet of the business to maintain our competitive edge, and it was clear that redefining our print environment was an opportunity worth our attention,” said Al Pytel, senior vice president, KeyCorp.  “The managed print services strategy saves money, improves the security of our documents and provides higher quality service to our customers.  Plus, Xerox’s change-management approach integrated well with our internal strategies and was embraced by our employees.”
 
Document management outsourcing can lead to a more productive, organized and compliant organization, but IDC estimates that only 33 percent of large companies in the U.S. outsource print services.
 
 “Print is an infrastructure that is often overlooked, but is just as important as facilities, telecommunications and IT networks,” said John Kelly, president, Xerox Global Services North America.
 
Managed Print Services is a swift way for organizations to maximize short-term cost savings, while adding value that will prime them for growth in the future. Xerox was positioned by Gartner, Inc., in the Leaders Quadrant in the "Magic Quadrant for Managed Print Services Worldwide1" and "Magic Quadrant for MFPs and Printers2" reports. The Magic Quadrants offer visual snapshots of a market's direction, maturity and participants, in which Gartner evaluates vendors on the basis of completeness of vision and ability to execute.