Reducing costs in an output environment

Businesses are increasingly recognising managed output solutions (MOS) as the last bastion of un-audited costs. A recent survey conducted by Gartner, "Printer and Copier fleets: The Gold Mine in the Hallway", identified 99% of companies agree document management is crucial to productivity. According to Gartner, printing and imaging processes can account for as much as 40% of labour costs, while printing costs constitute between 1% and 3% of gross revenue. In addition, 40% of corporate output volumes are for internal use only and documents are printed on average 15 times.

Twenty two percent of printed documents are never used and 34% are used for less than five minutes. In total, 21% of paper purchased by an organisation is wasted, with worldwide output volumes increasing by 6% per annum.

In an exercise to establish output total cost of ownership, companies must consider the initial purchase prices of devices or cost per page are just the tip of the iceberg. Hidden costs, including user productivity, technical support, reliability, yield and print quality, need to be taken into consideration. Gartner has also established improved management of imaging and printing processes can save organisations up to 30% of costs.

The objectives of any MOS project are to reduce measurable output costs by decreasing costs per page, page volumes, consumables stock investment and support costs. User productivity can also be improved by keeping the user base at their desks to focus on core competencies, reducing the average time spent on printing documents, increasing machine availability and providing access to faster equipment.

In addition, capital investment can be optimised by adjusting the installation to maintain the best fit and keeping abreast of market trends. The first step of embarking on an MOS project concerns the two-pronged approach of assessing the output environment - checking the number and cost of devices already deployed, and understanding the business processes: what users are utilising and what the real requirements are. Once this data is analysed, a new printing and imaging environment can be designed based on the organisation`s real needs.

The next phase involves the implementation of the recommended solution. This must be carried out with the proper change management measures in order to diminish the impact on the environment. Once completed, the environment is then constantly managed to ensure it is continually optimised as needs change.

A successful MOS implementation will ensure that the customer does not carry costs for poorly deployed devices, facilitate billing (with a higher level of accuracy) and enable individual departments and workgroups to see the direct benefits (cost reduction) of optimisation and print reduction.