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MFPs
Changing the way we work
Alan Clark, Product Marketing Manager for Xerox Europe, explains how
MFPs are going beyond basic functions and re-defining how work gets done.
On 22 October 1938, in a lab
in Queens, New York, patent
attorney and would-be inventor
Chester Carlson created
an easier way to duplicate
information on paper. Chester
had one simple objective:
“… to make office work a little
more productive and a little
less tedious.”
More than 75 years
later, Chester’s invention is
continuing to revolutionise the
way work gets done, sometimes
in surprising ways.
Evolving the Multifunction
Printer
Multifunction printers (MFPs)
entered the office environment
about 15 years ago, enabling
users to print, fax and copy
from a single device. More
recently, colour, e-mail and
scanning have become must-
have MFP features, but for the
modern workforce, this still isn’t
enough. MFPs now need to be
connected to users, both office-
based and mobile, whether they
are using PCs or smartphones.
In the future, businesses can
expect ever more functionality
from their MFPs. Advanced
software embedded in these
devices has evolved to enable
cloud sharing, mobile printing
and even ‘custom apps’
so that a health insurance
company, for example, can scan
reimbursement claims into its
payment system directly from
the MFP.
Increasingly, the MFP will
be seen as central to, rather
than peripheral to, the office
environment and its workflows.
Unleashing data in the
classroom
Education provides another
example. The MFP has long been
a mainstay of the school office,
but at a time when class sizes
are growing and school budgets
are tight, teachers are relying on
these devices to an even greater
extent. With an application
running on the MFP, teachers
can now push hand-marked
student work into the digital
analytics domain, speeding up
the evaluation of student work
and making it easier to address
the reality that students learn at
different paces.
If a teacher wants to know
how well their class has
grasped a lesson on fractions,
they can scan homework and
assessments into the MFP. The
software application reads and
analyses the students’ work in
minutes and the teacher can
then select how they want to
view the data by choosing from
a number of different reports –
thus reducing the time needed
to correct papers and enabling
a better understanding of the
various needs of individual
students.
Streamlining approvals
Even in a small to medium-
sized company, document
approvals can quickly become
chaotic. Last minute changes,
misleading document titles
and confidentiality issues can
all lead to inefficiencies and
more serious problems such
as legal action. In enterprises
with thousands of employees
and sophisticated workflows
processing tens of thousands
of documents every day, the
results of poorly managed
approvals can be catastrophic.
Content management
systems minimise these risks
by allowing organisations
to streamline business
processes and automate
routing, approval and other
transactional steps. Again,
the MFP provides the answer.
Documents are scanned into
an MFP and automatically
routed to the right person
or location. Once scanned
into the system, documents
are subject to a business’s
specifically configured
document management,
review and approval rules.
Documents can be tracked,
centralised, electronically
signed, searched for and
modified, all in compliance with
records management policies
and regulatory demands, such
as Sarbanes Oxley.
Face time
In the future, MFPs will be
able to sense when a user
approaches, detect if they are
passing by or intend to use the
device and ‘wake up’ to perform
a task. Face recognition that
makes it possible to display a
personalised menu of icons
for each user is also on the
horizon. With ‘flick’ and ‘drag’
operations, users can intuitively
scroll and move to the next
screen or preview.
Unlocking hidden value
As businesses continue to
change, traditional processes
and environments must
do the same. The evolving
functionality provided by the
MFP is a clear example of the
value-add benefits available to
businesses. In organisations of
all kinds, from the enterprise
to small businesses, the MFP
is an integral part of the office
environment, empowering
workers to be more agile,
responsive and productive.
Xerox Ignite Educator System: Xerox principal scientist Eric Hamby
and elementary teachers discuss how Xerox Ignite can help identify
the educational needs of individual students.
