Providing a full ADF solution
Andrew Greenyer, VP International Marketing, Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software, on providing Fujitsu with a full ADF solution
Government entities around the world are looking to modernise and enhance the value of services they provide to citizens and business. At every level, departments and agencies are tackling the challenge of new mandates, unexpected threats, rising expectations and ongoing budget pressures. A key factor in meeting these imperatives is the transition toward next-generation digital Government.Fujitsu Services is one such company who meets the challenge of modern Government. They deliver centrally produced documents for Central Government. These documents, emanating from Central Government, are of a financially sensitive nature. The processing of such documentation requires stringent integrity controls - particularly when one considers the media interest already generated around the new tax credit system, one of the department’s chief responsibilities.
In a deal worth around £6 million, Fujitsu Services chose Pitney Bowes Hardware to provide a full Automated Document Factory (ADF) solution. This deal demonstrates perfectly how the Pitney Bowes offering has extended through acquisition. Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software technology is behind Fujitsu Services’ provision of centrally produced documents for Central Government.
For Pitney Bowes, provision of this solution called upon corporate-wide expertise, particularly that from newly acquired partners Group 1 Software, in implementations of this complexity, Pitney Bowes would have been the major player on the mail insertion side. Now, with Group 1 Software, the company can offer an entire end-to-end solution. Production volumes across Fujitsu’s four managed sites are approaching 500 million images annually. From its Warrington site, Fujitsu operates ten Pitney Bowes FX10 / FPS inserter systems.
On the software side, Group 1’s DOC 1 document composition programme assembles customer-focused communications for multi-channel delivery. Further, the e2 Vault archive and retrieval system was used as a repository of customer documents instantly providing ubiquitous access to critical communications—through virtually any interface or application.
As the name suggests, the ADF approach brings automation to every stage of the document production and despatch cycle, affording Fujitsu production efficiencies more common to hi-tech manufacturing operations. Particular importance is placed on monitoring and reporting output levels to ensure that technology is operating at optimum level.
Here, Pitney Bowes’ DFWorks is instrumental in monitoring and thereby ensuring that the technology on the floor delivers at optimum speed. Ultimately, Fujitsu is aiming to run more work through its Warrington site using the Pitney Bowes ADF, and the reporting capability of DFWorks will identify the exact additional volume of work that can be processed using existing technology.
Fujitsu particularly specified an ADF solution capable of accepting any file format, providing total flexibility in the type of job it can accept and the source of the data that it receives. For Fujitsu, there are clear benefits in dealing with just one company.
During implementation, there was a seamless hand-over between process steps, and decisions on tailoring hardware and software to meet site requirements could be taken quickly. On an ongoing basis, Fujitsu knows that Pitney Bowes service professionals will be fully versed on every aspect of the ADF process.
Glynn Walker, Head of Output Services, Fujitsu Services, takes this point further: “Fujitsu itself is very used to partnerships, we operate in an IT environment where partnerships are crucial for survival. I was looking for a partner who would recognise that and, equally, would have the technology to back up this approach. I think Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software is well in front in terms of both its professionalism and it’s flexibility.
The relationship has been excellent. There never seems to be a differentiator between the service and account management, which is really important to me.” Anybody involved with the high volume mail market will know that one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to technology solutions. The Fujitsu sites demonstrate Pitney Bowes’ belief in the partnership approach to business and the company’s willingness to go the extra mile to ensure total customer satisfaction.
