Xerox plans on Thursday to expand its managed print services for enterprises to support home and remote locations.

The vendor will monitor off-site devices and provide technical assistance via phone, e-mail, or Web. Mobile workers will also get "universal print drivers" to access printers when working in corporate offices.

Xerox will also offer print routing based on an analysis of employees' work habits. The vendor helps customers set up guidelines to direct documents to the most appropriate device, based on specific requirements, such as cost, turnaround time and location. For example, if an employee tries to send a simple document to a high-end printer, he would receive a message such as "Print to a different printer nearby to save $20," Xerox said.

Xerox will offer customers a worldwide print operation to ensure "all document output meets budget targets, security policies and environmental sustainability objectives," the company said in an e-mailed statement.

To better manage costs in the production print environment, Xerox professionals can make it possible for a customer's employees to send complex printing requests to their internal print provider from the desktop. Employees are presented with choices for binding and stapling and can preview the final document. The services eliminate the extra steps of preparing files and delivering them to the print center.

Managed print services are offered by printer manufacturers, such as Xerox and Hewlett-Packard, to assist business customers in minimizing the cost of printing and imaging through streamlined management. Companies provide professionals who help in the design and implementation of a printing infrastructure tailored to specific business requirements.

Companies using Xerox's enterprise services include The Dow Chemical Co., EMC, Procter & Gamble and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, according to the vendor.

Earlier this year, Xerox made its MPS offerings available to small and mid-sized businesses through its channel partners.

Xerox rival HP last month announced an expanded alliance with Canon to supply a broader variety of managed print services and multifunction devices.

The pair will offer joint device management systems, with HP supplying enterprise IT integration and office workflow capabilities. EDS, now an HP company, will supply workflow software and services as well.

In May, researcher CompTIA reported companies that use a managed services model were doing better in the recession than companies that use traditional product and support sales. Managed services providers had more success generating cash flow, avoiding large quarter-to-quarter fluctuations in income, and generally outperforming traditional technology resellers.

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