Executive Corner
Interview With Robert Newry
On May 24, it was announced that Xerox Corporation had acquired U.K.-based print consultancy and software solution provider NewField IT. The company will operate as a wholly owned Xerox subsidiary, maintaining its name and its headquarters in Twickenham, U.K., and its U.S. operations in Philadelphia. NewField IT co-founders Robert Newry and James Duckenfield will continue to jointly lead the company, and we caught up with Newry to ask a few questions after the announcement.
NewField IT has significant OEM relationships; will the company continue to pursue those relationships?
Yes, we will. Xerox is keen for us to offer our services to the open market as the MPS world becomes increasingly hardware-agnostic, and the innovation behind our software, Asset DB, is fueled by our interaction with a broad base in the market. There is a lot of technology transfer in the industry, and this interdependence and “co-operation” is a healthy setup.
What is the expectation for growth in EMEA, North America and other areas?
We expect a high level of growth in providing software services to the channel in all areas. Our focus will be in North America, the main European markets and, in time, the Asia-Pacific region.
Will NewField IT continue to develop products on its own merit?
We will. And it will be important to all of our customers that we continue to bring the same innovation with respect to new versions of Asset DB as we have in the past. There will be deeper integration with the Xerox infrastructure around its XPS and XPPS programs, but it won’t affect our ability to bring out new modules of Asset DB.
Does NewField IT expect to grow more of its professional-services business or its software-related business? Where is the growth going to come from?
The growth will come in both areas. We established our professional services as a “green field site,” so we track and charge for all our services — similar to the business models of leading professional services organizations like Accenture or IBM. There is a huge need in the channel for both our consulting support and software services, and we will be well-placed to expand with the resources that Xerox gives us access to.
Will NewField IT software be integrated into the Xerox solutions suite?
Asset DB is already integrated and has been for over a year. The focus now will be to deepen that integration with faster data exchange.
What, if any, implications do you think acquisitions like this have for independent software providers?
The worry is always that an acquisition like this means that innovation is taken out of the market as an independent is swallowed up by a large player. The interesting approach by Xerox, which is what attracted us to them, is to realize that these companies need to continue operating as separate business units with profit-and-loss status in order to thrive.
This article originally appeared in the July 2011 issue of The Imaging Channel.