It is a well-known fact that print is here to stay in SA for a good while longer, as a lot of people still don't have access to digital media, therefore effectively managing print within any organisation remains a top priority.
On this note, HP and ITWeb conducted a printing survey during January and February 2014 to determine the printing strategies of South African organisations. The survey results have shed some light on the attitude of organisations towards managed print systems.
The most striking finding of the printing survey is that controlling printing costs emerged as the top challenge (68%) faced by management when reconsidering their printing infrastructure, reducing paper consumption came in second at 64%, and supplies management was third on 40%.
According to the printing survey 47% of survey respondents cited that they do not use print management tools to monitor print usage; however, 25% stated that their organisation does have a centralised tool that can monitor usage of printing on all devices, 17% stated that their organisation does monitor usage of printing only on some of their devices, while 11% indicated that this function is outsourced.
Just under half (41%) of the respondents stated that their organisation is not planning to use a full managed print service (MPS) within the next 12 months, 15% indicated that they do plan to implement MPS within the next six to 12 months.
The printing survey also revealed that 48% of respondents have a good understanding of MPS, while only 15% said that they have a complete and detailed understanding. However, 30% said that they have little understanding of the term.
When the printing survey respondents were asked whether their organisation currently use a MPS 47% answered no, 40% stated that they are presently using a basic MPS, and a small amount of respondents (14%) said that they are using a full MPS.
Only 20% of respondents indicated that their organisation had over 150 printing devices (personal printers, networked printers, copiers or multi-function devices), 57% had between 10 and 20, and only 5% had between 21 and 50.
Share