By Karen Arena, vice president, Global Public Relations, Xerox
Editors at MIT Tech Review chose Xerox for creating disruptive innovations most likely to change our lives. For the issue, editor Brian Bergstein interviewed our CEO Ursula Burns about Xerox’s heritage and earnest efforts to help change the world through technology.
As I listened to Ursula explain Xerox’s effort to help workers better share information and how we’ve maintained that effort for more than 70 years, I had to wonder how we decide which innovations to pursue, and which to leave behind. Ursula points out that a lot of our work is driven by our desire to tackle complex problems for our clients and operationalizing our results through common themes. Beyond that, we are looking around corners and creating new paths.
Xerox researchers that were once obsessed with “marks on paper” are now applying that same technology to healthcare, using imaging technology and predictive analytics to make the administering and delivering of better health outcomes for premature babies. It’s heartwarming to know we’re disrupting the status quo in infant care.
I’m one of those people who drives in the city often, with my driving/parking strategies in place well before I set out. As a business services provider, you wouldn’t think of Xerox doing R&D to help me grapple with traffic congestion, including parking and highway issues, but yep, we’re there solving tough problems to help people drive, park and use public transit more efficiently.
And, you might not think of a call center as an innovation hub. We’re there too, applying technology to make the experience better for call center agents on the front lines of problem-solving, and making life a little less tedious for customers on the other end of the line.
Xerox’s impressive patent portfolio isn’t what drove MIT to select us, but as they so aptly highlight, it’s those disruptive technologies that are life-changing in simple, but important ways. Thanks MIT for recognizing Xerox in this realm.
Xexox can further leverage its disruptive prowess by creating a call center strategy for health information technologies, which include Verizon wireless / mobile healthcare, electronic health record systems and patient engagement that reduces hospital re-admissions.