CRN has an interesting summary of some of the changes being implemented at Xerox by (relatively) new CEO, John Visentin.

Visentin joined Xerox in a headline-filled year; after the failed Fuji-Xerox merger caused a shareholder (er, largest shareholders Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason) revolt that ultimately cost the jobs of the previous CEO and board, the company has been making moves and headlines all year.

He also saw a company in need of changes, opening his first quarterly earnings call:

I joined the company because I saw an opportunity to rebuild Xerox into a leading tech company.

John Visentin, July 26th 2018 Earnings call

The last six months or so have brought about many changes, probably overdue.

• Consolidation: centralized business functions (HR, legal, finance, information management, delivery, strategy and marketing) and putting all hardware under one person’s lead (harmony across the entire line of hardware products is a good thing!)
• R&D and Strategy: Xerox’s PARC has a storied history (GUI, mouse, laser printing), but Visentin points out that we need both increase the amount and monetize the research that comes out of PARC
• Go-to-Market: consolidating regional responsibilities into just two regions: the Americas (Canada, US, and Mexico) and EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa and India) markets. Fuji-Xerox continues to ‘control’ Asia
• Global Delivery: building a “common delivery model” with the goal of delivering a consistent customer experience, promoting customer loyalty and greater revenue opportunities for Xerox, world-wide
• Supply Chain: Visentin is optimizing the supply chain to better serve its customers. No real color was provided on this, but this is always going to be an area that can be improved. “Are we as fast as Amazon? No? Then we can improve our supply chain!”

When you see a company’s name in headlines often for things like restructuring, merging (and not merging!), rebuilding, etc, it would be understandable to walk away with a negative impression. In this case, this is all positive. Xerox has pockets of really successful organizations & divisions, but is a company that deserves to be successful, throughout.

These changes will help make that happen.

Read more over here, at CRN.