Xerox, British Airways Sign Managed Print Services Agreement

Xerox has signed a five-year enterprise managed print services agreement with British Airways. Through the agreement, Xerox hopes to cut British Airways’ printing costs by at least 25 percent annually. MITIE Business Services is partnering with Xerox on the deal.

Xerox will handle all of the airline’s internal and external mail — yes, it sounds like traditional snail mail — and ramp up production of all of its in-flight documents. Xerox and British Airways have an existing agreement that dates back to 1995 through which Xerox handles all of British Airways’ technical publications, in-flight services, training manuals and payroll printing jobs. The companies will honor their long-standing contract and add this new MPS deal to the partnership.

The new Xerox – British Airways MPS deal also includes MITIE Business Services — a document management service provider that Xerox will leverage to create British Airways mail distribution centers at London Heathrow and London Gatwick airports. The two airports process more than one million items through the British Airways mail system each year.

The MPS deal with Xerox is part of British Airways’ larger plan to improve its overall document efficiency throughout its business. It’s an initiative the airline hopes will cut overall annual costs. For Xerox, it’s another big win as it competes against Hewlett-Packard, Ricoh and others in the MPS market. A recent Photizo Group study says the MPS market is growing 20 percent annually and will continue to do so through 2015. That means a lot more verticals will be embracing MPS solutions, and the airlines industry just might be one of them.