Datamonitor and Canon White Paper highlights the need to control costs and rethink business processes Increasing customer satisfaction number one business objective across Europe Pragmatic approach to technology adoption as opposed to ‘forklift’ upgrade recommended as European organisations prepare for economic upturn
With signs of ‘green shoots’ of economic recovery the paper acknowledges that organisations across a variety of vertical sectors still face major external challenges including increased globalisation, tougher regulations and government policies that dictate taxation, employment rights and environmental priorities. In response to the demanding conditions, organisations are looking closely at cost controls, internal efficiencies and core business activities. Whilst business owners may have become fixated with short- and mid-term goals to survive the downturn, their overriding need is also to plan for a return to growth in the mid- and long-term future. Datamonitor highlights that to achieve business success, more and more decision makers are focusing on increasing customer satisfaction, followed by raising efficiency, improving supplier relationships, cutting costs and increasing revenues. All this will have to be achieved with static infrastructure and IT spending, meaning companies need to integrate any new IT systems within their existing framework and ensure they have the flexibility for future upgrades to remain competitive. As part of a pragmatic approach to rethinking business processes, Datamonitor’s paper recommends that organisations look at holistic cost management and control as well as automated and personalised IT systems that integrate easily into existing technology platforms. Tim Gower, Senior Analyst at Datamonitor says: "In contrast to what some business leaders may think, our advice is that organisations should focus on an adaptive approach to reviewing their business practices. A low-risk, pragmatic approach allows change to occur in gradual measures, one business process or application at a time, rather than as a ’forklift’ upgrade. Managers who want to transform their structures immediately are following a relatively unproven and high-risk strategy that can be extremely disruptive to day-to-day workflows and requires a significant financial investment." Adam Gillbe, Office Solutions Marketing Manager at Canon Europe says: "The Datamonitor report clearly shows that IT systems need to be integrated and flexible so that organisations can respond to changing business conditions in a timely manner. Our goal at Canon is to help customers improve business processes and reduce costs without having to completely overhaul their IT systems. Our new imageRUNNER ADVANCE platform of multifunctional printers (MFPs), due for launch across Europe in November, specifically addresses these issues. It will provide a new, consistent platform, which offers full integration into customer workflows to minimise costs, and increased competitiveness through the highest level of serviceability, to guarantee maximum uptime and quality of output." You can download a copy of the Readying for Recovery White Paper below and see a video overview of the contents, presented by Tim Gower and Adam Gillbe here.
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