Computer and consultant services company, EDS Canada Inc. says it will save $1.5 million over six years after recently signing a document management services contract with Xerox Canada Ltd.
EDS’ document-related supplies and additional cost savings services will be managed by Xerox Business Services at a cost of $14 million over six years.
The decision to outsource document management for EDS Canada’s sales department was made to allow the staff to focus more on customers, rather than internal practices, according to Chris Lord, Toronto-based vice-president of Ontario sales with EDS Canada.
“We want to define our core competency based around a large outsourcing and business enabling focus, versus some of the business processes that really support our business such as document production, imaging, scanning, reproduction services, although they are critical they aren’t core,” Lord explained. “I wanted to refocus our staff on customer focused projects versus internal focused supporting activities.”
As part of the agreement, Xerox will provide document software and hardware to EDS, including office digital multifunction devices and digital colour presses such as the Document Centre, DocuTech and DocuColor tools.
The package will also include DocuShare software, a Web-based repository that allows for knowledge sharing across the company, and Flowport, a Web-based software application designed to manage the transition of paper documents to digital.
Xerox will also provide publishing and graphic design capabilities to EDS, along with mail and document distribution, shipping, receiving and reception services. Twenty-seven EDS employees from seven locations in southern Ontario will transfer to Xerox.
“The…newest business for Xerox is the services business, where we partner with a company, we tailor or customize solutions for them after we have spent a length of time anaylzing their document workflow,” said Daniel Minchen, a Xerox Canada spokesperson. “We help them to utilize the investments they have already made in digital technology, networking, workstations and software, but have not necessarily figured out how to optimize that equipment.”
As the process moves ahead, Lord sees the biggest challenge as a “culture change” needed by EDS employees.
“As an organization we really need to focus on the value they (Xerox) are going to deliver, rather putting up roadblocks and barriers,” he said. “The nature of the business we deal in, the documents we produce are extremely confidential, and the pursuits run in the neighbourhood of hundreds of millions of dollars in contract size. For that information to be passed on to a third party, it’s going to take a culture change for us to get our minds around how to enable the success of this project.”
Some employees have already transferred over to Xerox, and implementation of new technology and opening of Xerox’s new facility will happen on Aug. 1, according to Lord.