Most companies spend between 6% and 9% of annual turnover on printing, copying and faxing. I have noticed that an increasing number of companies are looking for ways to maximise office equipment efficiency, contain costs and increase profits. They want more control over their output expenditure and want their employees to become accountable for every print, copy, fax and scan they produce.
When these companies implement a document accounting solution, I have found they save between 10% and 15% on annual print costs. This is because the solution helps them to monitor, manage and measure all document-related output.
In the past, the tracking of paper output in an organisation was mainly done as part of a cost recovery exercise. Many professional service organisations, such as engineering and architectural firms, use cost recovery systems to document costs for client billing.
Today document accounting covers a much broader spectrum than merely cost recovery. It also allows organisations to track waste and unauthorised use of office equipment, to track departmental spending and to determine what office equipment is being used optimally and what devices are not being used to their full potential. In addition, document accounting systems allow organisations to manage related supplies for their equipment such as toner and ink.
A document accounting solution tracks the volume of documents - copies, faxes, scans and prints - produced by office equipment at a company site. The system can then generate a report that details the page volume and attributes by various criteria such as project, department, date, client, or user.
Today document accounting covers a much broader spectrum than merely cost recovery.
Juneid Docrat, MiSix manager, Minolta South Africa.
Historically, this tracking took place on hardware terminals with meters to measure print or fax volume in standalone office equipment. Today, with the advent of fully networked office environments, these document accounting solutions have moved from hardware to a software platform incorporating network and Web-based solutions.
Organisations that invest in a document accounting solution will start realising a return on investment immediately and usually realise a full return on investment within two to five months. Companies in the cost recovery industry realise a return on investment even sooner - some of them within one to two months.
I would caution companies wanting to implement a document accounting solution to establish whether the solution is a Microsoft-certified solution. This is critical to avoid potential incompatibility problems. They should also verify the infrastructure and credentials of the service provider to determine whether they offer ongoing support and technical expertise.
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