Mariola Martí­nez

In February 2021, and after 25 years at Xerox, you took office as president of Xerox Spain. What have been the main initiatives carried out since you became president?

When the company put me forward for the position, I was incredibly proud because I started off as a salesperson and had finally made it to the top. The pandemic has served as an additional motivation for me, because it is a challenge. Moreover, Spain is full of opportunities, and that is something that Spaniards have to believe in. I have three main objectives as president. The first is to grow the company in Spain. I want to continue doing what we have always done, but, at the same time, innovate. We have a powerful digitalization and content management offer, and not many customers know about it. The second objective is diversity and inclusion. Our first CEO, Anne Mulcahy, brought about tremendous change to our company culture and the way we work. The program is not only focused on gender inclusion, but also all forms of diversity, including religious and cultural. Finally, we have the sustainability issue, which is a matter of social responsibility. During the pandemic, many companies did not know how to act, but the need to help soon arose. We started to manufacture respirators and masks. We started this because of the pandemic, but we also wanted to assist developing countries.

What do you think your customer base in Spain does not know about your digitalization services?

We have an extensive product portfolio, and we try to communicate all this to the market. We have brought digital transformation to our clients. When, overnight, the lockdown started, and we had to stay at home, CEOs realized this digital transformation was imperative. That is where we have seen a full acceleration. In fact, things that we have invented for ourselves have been purchased by our customers.

Xerox is known for its printing systems, though it has other business areas such as Xerox Financial Services, Xerox Business Solutions, cloud, and more. Throughout the pandemic, the company decided to further diversify the business. Can you elaborate more on this?

We have three main lines that are part of what I call innovation. The first is software. We already had software, but when you come from a traditional company that sells services, it is hard to develop it. The company has decided to acquire CareAR, an augmented reality platform. Another of these lines is the financial services company, which has been a great advantage for us. At first, it was only for Xerox products, but now we have seen a business opportunity to finance third-party products. It may not seem that innovative, though compared to other companies in the industry, it is. The last line is PARC, which we have always been with. It stopped for a while, but now it has been reactivated.

One of Xerox Spain’s objective is to increase its market share in the office segment from 5% to 7% and launch the commercialization of the company’s 3D printers, which to date were not in Europe. What strategy will you follow to bridge that 2% gap?

For me, an important indicator is market share, because it is objective data. With all the data we have, a worldwide survey was done with companies of all sizes. In all cases, with a percentage of 80%, the CEOs of these companies say we will not return to working in an office like we used to. There will be a hybrid way of working, and, from our point of view, it is here to stay. Therefore, the security issue is key, and we have all the equipment and services we are offering in the cloud. This provides the flexibility of being able to access that information from anywhere, at any time, and with security. The same goes for the issue of apps. We are doing all this because we understand that moving forward the workplace will be hybrid.

We have talked a lot about the Next Generation funds and digitalizing the Spanish economy. How do you evaluate these European funds as an opportunity for you?

We know the graphic arts sector, and we are noticing it more there. Our customers in this sector are moving away from traditional offset printing to digital printing, and that is where European subsidies are being invested. I have not seen it yet in offices, though it does not mean it will not happen. In the insurance sector, we are very well positioned, and it is a sector that is undergoing a significant transformation process. Before, we did all the printing of insurances and policies. Now, there is a digital transformation movement, and we are also doing that. We are not only in the physical part but also in the digital part. We create a series of tickets for customers. The customer experience when buying insurance is especially important, so we do that part of onboarding in a digital way as well. Furthermore, many of the major insurance companies work with us.

What are Xerox’s main objectives for 2022?

One of our objectives is to continue growing, not only with turnovers but also in profits. In order to do that, we know we have to transform our business model. We will do this through the new lines of business mentioned earlier to achieve growth and cover the gap that comes from other lines that will not bring in much revenues. Another objective is to expand services and software beyond printing in large and medium-sized companies. And, finally, we plan to focus on the diversity and sustainability issue, because this is another way to grow.