Inkjet Wholesale News aims to provide updates on the latest significant occurrences in the field of printing. Whether it’s the launch of a new technology or volatility of market prices, we’ll be here to give you the lowdown on what happened, when it happened, and what it means!
Conduent Separation Complete; Xerox Becomes a Digital Print Technology Leader
Possibly because of the way things were handled or even the seriousness of the issue, Xerox Split hasn’t received the same kind of coverage that HP Split received. For one, the Xerox Split didn’t offer high drama that the HP Split did in the mould of the entire Dion Weisler vs. Meg Whitman fiasco. Secondly, the Xerox split was handled in a clean and smooth way. We’ve been tracking this story since February, last year when we first reported that the Xerox Split was on the cards. Later on, we even followed it up with the story on how the State of Connecticut offered Xerox a low interest loan to keep its headquarters at Norwalk.
After all that, though, the Xerox Split is finally complete with the result that there will now be two publicly listed, fully independent companies sitting pretty near the top of their respective industries. The Conduent separation deal was completed and announced very close to the turn of the year. It was announced by the company in a symbolic manner too. The senior executive team from Xerox and Conduent, both, rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange to bring on a new era in their respective futures.
The great Xerox Split means that Conduent Incorporated will now handle the former behemoth’s Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) business while the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) itself will be in charge of its document technology. The document technology business’s revenue is worth approximately $11 billion while the BPO business’s sales are valued at around $7 billion.
The terms of the Conduent separation or the Xerox split, however, you may want to see it, mean that stockholders of Xerox shares will now get one Conduent Incorporated share for every five Xerox shares they hold. Furthermore, on the business side, Xerox will receive a cash transfer of approximately $1.8 billion from Conduent Incorporated, as part of the deal. Along with its own money, the OEM intends to use this amount to retire an earlier debt that was worth $2 billion.
The Xerox Split / Conduent Separation also means that the OEM has had to restructure its leadership in various places. Recently, Xerox announced that Jeff Jacobson will be taking over the role of Chief Executive at the OEM. Similarly, the company installed a new Chief Technology Officer (CTO) in the form of Steve Hoover. Hoover had to be put in place because the previous CTO, Sophie Vandebroekm, retired after 25 years of service to the cause. It is also worth mentioning that the leadership restructure will see Xerox install country focused Managing Directors. The first of these was put in place for the United Kingdom in the shape of Andrew Morrison.
Talking about the Conduent Separation, Jacobson called the entire deal “historic” for the Group. According to Xerox and Conduent both, the Conduent Separation will improve both companies’ commitment to their customers and market focus. For example, with the Conduent Separation, both companies will have a revitalised business strategy backed by a leaner financial model that will allow quicker expansion of margins and freer cash flow generation. Jacobson also stated that he is confident that the Conduent Separation and related restructure will “position Xerox for long term success and unlock shareholder value” for respective companies.
Epson Launches Portable Duplex Document Scanners – Epson WorkForce ES-200 & ES-300W
Typically, news about OEMs revolves around new products and launches of services. However, that hasn’t been the case with Epson off late. Last two announcements coming out of Epson were about the commissioning new manufacturing facilities. Our last month’s report on Epson was about the OEM’s announcement that it will be building two new innovation hubs in Como, Italy. The one before that was on the OEM’s announcement that it will be building a new State-of-the-art Precision Core Print Head manufacturing unit in Hirooka, Japan.
Now, things seemed to have come back to normal, which means a news item on a product launch. Epson has just launched two portable duplex document scanners aimed at businesses that need mobility focused solutions. The new products in question are the Epson WorkForce ES-200 and the Epson WorkForce ES-300W. As is obvious, the Unique Selling Points (USPs) of these products is how easy they make it for on-the-go professionals to scan documents.
For instance, Epson has worked hard to make these devices lightweight. They both weigh less than 1.5 Kg which means that they’re very easy to carry around. Speed is also something that the OEM has looked at since both these devices lead their segment in scan speeds. The Epson WorkForce ES-300W is particularly speedy since it can scan documents at an amazing 50 images per minute (ipm). The Epson WorkForce ES-200 isn’t that bad either with a rated scan speed of 20 ipm. Both devices also boast of a 20-sheet automatic document feeder, which will make it easy for organisations to scan documents in small batches.
The devices are also versatile. Both of them can be charged through either an AC outlet or through USB 3.0. Moreover, ES-300W can also run on batteries. The higher model even offers wireless capabilities for those professionals who have need of scanning documents into their phones, tablets, and laptops. The Epson WorkForce ES-200 and the Epson WorkForce ES-300W both support TWAIN drivers, which means that they’ll be compatible to most document management software programmes.
Apart from this, they are built around the Epson Image Processing technology. This technology makes it easy for users to adjust scanned images with functions such as background removal, automatic cropping, and even blank page. The software package included with both these devices includes NewSoft Presto! BizCard, ABBYY FineReader and Epson Document Capture.
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