Xerox Global Services: Media Backgrounder (Business Process Services (BPS) Line of Business)

Xerox Global Services is split into three lines of business: Document Outsourcing; Xerox Office Services (XOS) and Business Process Services (BPS). The mission of Business Process Services is to help customers improve and manage their key document-related processes.

The definition of a document has changed. Research sponsored by Xerox and carried out by IDC in late 2003 shows that the definition of a “document” now encompasses far more than just paper. Increasingly faxes (83 per cent), e-mail (78 per cent), electronic files such as Word or PowerPoint (76 per cent), web pages (48 per cent), or multimedia files (46 per cent) are now considered as “documents.” Documents and the information they contain, in whatever format, play a critical role in how organisations manage their business; for many organisations, documents are the product (e.g. insurance policy), support the product (e.g. user manual) or support critical business processes (e.g. invoices in accounts payable). Hence the effectiveness of how documents are used is intrinsically connected to business success. BPS’s focus is on streamlining and automating clients’ document intensive business processes, based on the ‘new’ definitions of ‘the document.’

This is often achieved by converting paper to digital information, and BPS’s services are designed with this in mind, to resolve a specific customer issue, and deliver a clear return on investment. BPS works towards offering its five services as complete managed, outsourced, or hosted services to the client.

1/5 Imaging & Archive Services
Many businesses have a requirement to manage increasingly large volumes of document archives, particularly in industry sectors such as finance or pharmaceuticals - that have significant legislative compliance requirements. This service enables customers to capture documents as digital images and manage them within a business critical process, helps them to meet legislative and codes of conduct requirements, and improves the longevity and security of documents. It allows organisations to make critical documents widely available to all who need them, as well as to those who need to integrate them into other systems. Imaging and Archive Services also saves organisations significant amounts of money in physical storage, rent, heating, and lighting, as documents are stored electronically rather than physically.

2/5 Finance & Administration Services
Businesses depend on their “back-office” finance functions to optimise cashflow, both in and out of the company, and manage the cash required to deliver bottom line financial performance. For accounts payable, the speed at which invoices are paid and cash flow is managed can reduce the quantity of ‘late’ fees incurred. In accounts receivable, invoice disputes must be resolved rapidly to reduce the time wasted in collecting payment. In the logistics function, they need to effectively track and confirm goods deliveries, speeding up the invoicing process, and reducing the cash collection cycle. This service focuses on providing an outsourced service that supports accounts payable, accounts receivable, and logistics functions within an organisation. It manages the electronic capture, indexing, and storage of documents such as invoices, weigh bills, bills of loading and proof of delivery, to optimise back office performance.

3/5 Client Account Lifecycle Management
Businesses that depend on processing incoming customer documentation such as mortgage, insurance and credit card applications, contracts and correspondence, need to process those documents as quickly as possible in today’s competitive environment. At the same time, these businesses may need to comply with legislation that enforces transparency and accountability such as Sarbanes-Oxley and EU Directives on Corporate Compliance and Industry Regulations. This service enables organisations to process these types of documents digitally, therefore improving compliance, responsiveness to customer demands and reducing the complexity of processing client transactions.

4/5 Localisation Services
Many organisations experience the ongoing issue of having to translate crucial documents into multiple foreign languages quickly and accurately. This service uses high levels of automation to translate and validate up to 40 different languages at once. It provides customers with advice on authoring documents in those cases where technology cannot yet automate local variations, such as colloquialisms.

The service also improves translation accuracy and cost-effectiveness through translation memory and terminology management, ensuring that clients realise substantial cost reduction through content re-use, while increased translator efficiency means delivery times are substantially reduced. Localisation Services is a good example of where technology invented by Xerox Research Centre Europe is applied to a real-life business issue and become part of the expertise offered by Xerox Global Services.

5/5 Product Lifecycle Services
This service is targeted at organisations that have to produce documents or manuals to accompany their product, anything from a mobile phone to a car. It involves improving the organisation’s entire document supply chain by managing the content authoring and creation, localisation and translation, production and distribution of accompanying documents to wherever the product is being sold in multiple markets.

Up to 40 per cent reduction can be achieved in the time it takes to get a product manual from the point of creation to mass-production, including all validation, changes, review, pre-production and printing itself. This service can reduce wasted documentation, remove warehousing costs and make it quick and easy for customers to publish documents in different media on demand i.e. in hard copy, on the internet or via mobile devices.

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