Making Output Accountable By Larry Levine
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This document discusses the growing costs of office printing for American corporations and makes the case for conducting office printing assessments. It notes that while digitization is increasing, many companies still rely heavily on paper documents. An assessment would inventory printers, measure printing volumes and costs, evaluate support needs, and identify opportunities to standardize and optimize the printer fleet. This could reduce expenses by 15-25% while improving productivity by streamlining printing management and support. The document advocates for strategic printing approaches and document management strategies to better control costs and business processes related to office documents.
Making Output Accountable By Larry Levine
- 1. Did you Know? American corporations eat up 46 million tons of paper per year, nearly half being printed on office printers. Each day U.S. companies churn out 600 million pages of computer printouts. With an average per page cost of over 2 cents, the expense of office printing is a multi-million dollar expense. Information available on the internet doubles every 18 months. 1
- 2. Making Output Accountable Larry Levine V.P. Sales 2
- 3. Executive Summary Paper documents continue to be an integral part of the way companies do business. Despite the increasing digitization of business processes, many corporations still require paper documents in order to complete critical transactions. Seeking a solution to the paper problem is not a primary concern of many corporations but it should be. In an environment of cost cutting, rightsizing and pessimistic fiscal statements, office printing is the final frontier of cost control. 3
- 4. Executive Summary In most organizations, printers and copying devices are not managed as a corporate asset. This results in increased operating costs, diminished productivity and lost opportunities. What is needed is a strategic approach to office printing. A well-thought assessment of the costs, volumes, support needs and work processes associated with office printing. Such assessments could reveal a hidden goldmine of savings by creating a balanced deployment of devices. 4
- 5. More Paper, Not Less Statistics from various sources point to the unending growth of paper consumption and printer placements in corporate America. Each day U.S. companies churn out 600 million pages of computer printouts. In the same days time they send 2.2 billion email messages. Compare this to the U.S. Post Office, they will handle about 293 million pieces of first class mail. A staggering portion of these printouts are being produced via office printers. 5
- 6. More Paper, Not Less In the U.S., printer placements in the 21-35 page per minute range, have been increasing 10% per year over the past 10 years. Analysts calculated that nearly 430 billion impressions were printed on office printers in 2000. The number is expected to rise in excess of 683 billion by 2010. During times of economic downturns, it is becoming clear and despite their best intentions, companies are printing more paper, not less. 6
- 7. The Growth of Information Even in the age of digitization, consider the fact that more information has been produced in the last thirty years than in the previous five thousand. Despite the notion of the “paperless” office, the information age is actually powering a paper boom. Since 1984, the dawn of the personal computer, the number of printed pages by American companies has grown 500%. This equates to a mountain 6,500 times taller than Mount Everest. 7
- 8. The Cost of Printing and Administration One of the most often overlooked corporate expenditure is office printing. Most IT directors just do not know how many printers reside in their corporations, how many pages are printed monthly, or the costs that pass through their printer fleet. Many corporations have little standardization and most fleets are fragmented, segmented and non-integrated in placement philosophy. 8
- 9. The Cost of Printing and Administration According to an International Data Corporation, U.S. companies spend up to $100 billion per year printing and managing office documents. In addition corporate technicians and IT directors testify they spend 15% of their time on printing related issues. Printer installation and print driver management are the two top issues. Over 55% of network traffic is printer related and between 50% and 60% of help desk calls are printer related. 50% of office printer fleets are up to 5 years old. 9
- 10. The Cost of Printing and Administration Tremendous opportunities to save money. A balanced deployment of printers can save 15% to 25%. Capital expenses can be cut back. Companies must shift their focus to department workflow, equipment utilization and financial return. This will require a change in the habitual “this is how we have always done it” mindset. An office printing assessment program is a natural step toward cost reduction and office efficiency. 10
- 11. Office Printing Assessment Printer Asset Tracking: Inventory printers, track and control usage Improve asset utilization rates by removing expensive unnecessary printers Provide more accurate cost measurement and reporting. Document Management: Automate manual processes, provide information at the right time, enhance access and control of documents. Improve worker productivity, bolster document security. 11
- 12. Office Printing Assessment Apparent Costs: Assess hardware costs, assess maintenance and support costs, assess consumable costs Goal to reduce ongoing expense Reduce internal support costs Hidden Costs: Assess system management and administration (print drivers, trouble shooting, installation), Asses end-user costs (training, downtime, poor quality, speed) Goal to streamline support activities Reduce user intervention and interaction costs. 12
- 13. Office Printing Assessment This type of approach will bring to light the data, information and perspective needed to: Better manage print related expenses. Reduce the overall number of printers via a balanced deployment of printers. Develop a clear and measurable enterprise-wide strategy for workgroup document production. Take advantage of unseen opportunities which would improve business processes and reduce operating costs. Develop stronger and strategic business relationships with vendors. 13
- 14. Assessment – The first step towards a Corporate Document Strategy In the corporate world many people still need to work with paper documents. More than 60% of organizations continue to process, store and retrieve documents manually. A document strategy ensures that an organization can find, use and keep information with agility and effectiveness. By assessing the office printing environment, this can uncover hidden cost savings and overlooked efficiencies without the commitment for additional capital expenditures. Office printing – The final frontier of corporate cost control 14