Wish Your Office Equipment Worked Like Your Smartphone?
March 30 2017 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
Xerox engineers introduce technology that
integrates office equipment with the app world, making it easier to
get work done
Most office employees face daily, repetitive tasks that slow the
flow of work. Engineers at Xerox (NYSE:XRX) looked at those
productivity barriers and designed ways individuals can use
multifunction printers (MFPs) and apps to automate personal work
processes.
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Xerox Engineers Develop the New
ConnectKey User Interface: Now you can interact with your printer
with the same types of finger swipes used on your smartphone or
tablet. Xerox engineer Kaitlyn Reidy helped develop an interface
for Xerox ConnectKey-enabled multifunction printers that integrates
the device with the app world, making it easier for people to
connect, communicate and work. (Photo: Business Wire)
Take a daily office chore such as scanning a document to your
email, saving the file, and then uploading it to a cloud storage
service such as Dropbox. That takes time. But, what if a
personal work app streamlined the process by handling these tasks
for you in fewer steps, enabling your MFP to serve as a smart,
connected workplace assistant?
“We’ve created a series of capabilities – you could call it a
toolkit – to enable users to customize printers and MFPs in a way
that’s similar to how individuals use smart mobile devices to meet
their personal needs,” said Keith Watson, part of Xerox’s
Experience Design Group. “We’ve put the familiar interface of iOS
or Android devices onto our ConnectKey®-enabled devices. But it’s
more than embedding a tablet into our products, our innovations aim
to address the specific needs of our customers.”
With a familiar tap or swipe, for example, users can translate a
document, scan directly to a client folder in the cloud or complete
a loan application – whatever their work requires. Enhancements to
the ConnectKey interface are included in the 29 printers and MFPs
Xerox launched on March 29.
“This launch marks a significant change in how work is
accomplished,” said Steve Hoover, Xerox chief technology officer.
“As the Internet of Things expands, the physical and digital worlds
move closer together. Xerox innovations help office workers
navigate by integrating their devices with the app world, creating
an ‘open app ecosystem’ that makes it easier for workers to design
how to best get their work done.”
In addition to focus groups and user experience testing, Xerox
turned to its expertise in ethnography to enhance the ConnectKey
platform. Ethnography is an in-depth approach to study human
behavior. The ethnographic methodology, first applied to industry
by Xerox social scientists in the 1980s, is a proven, systematic
approach for capturing qualitative data about how people act in the
workplace – what they do, what tools they use, how they interact
with others and how they think in the real-life, natural settings
where these behaviors occur.
“Every day we control our smartphones or tablets through a user
interface that’s become so familiar it’s taken for granted. But
behind the interface is complex software that helps us with tasks
in daily life – getting directions in an unfamiliar city or
checking airline fares, for example,” said Michael Kirby, manager
of the controller development group. “ConnectKey is the result of
Xerox essentially re-imagining the user interface for an office
portfolio.”
The ConnectKey portfolio now includes the Xerox VersaLink® and
AltaLink® series both introduced on March 29. The VersaLink devices
– 19 printers and MFPs – are tailored to small workgroups and
teams that work across different offices. The AltaLink series
includes 10 MFPs designed for larger workgroups. All 29 products
share a similar user interface, which provides consistency to
the workplace.
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About Xerox
Xerox Corporation is an $11 billion technology leader that
innovates the way the world communicates, connects and works. Our
expertise is more important than ever as customers of all sizes
look to improve productivity, maximize profitability and increase
satisfaction. We do this for small and mid-size businesses,
large enterprises, governments, graphic communications providers,
and for our partners who serve them.
We understand what’s at the heart of work – and all of the forms
it can take. We embrace the increasingly complex world of paper and
digital. Office and mobile. Personal and social. Every day across
the globe – in more than 160 countries – our technology, software
and people successfully navigate those intersections. We automate,
personalize, package, analyze and secure information to keep our
customers moving at an accelerated pace. For more information
visit www.xerox.com.
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Xerox®, Xerox and Design®, ConnectKey®, AltaLink® and VersaLink®
are trademarks of Xerox in the United States and/or other
countries.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170330005009/en/
Media:XeroxBill McKee,
585-737-9069bill.mckee@xerox.comorText100 for XeroxAlyssa Weir,
585-507-2304alyssaw@text100.com
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