Is printing making you pile on the pounds?
In times of economic uncertainty, every business has to be lean and fit to face the future. Ask any Financial Director the value to the business of its fleet of company vehicles or the per square footage for office space and the answer will be given almost immediately. Ask for an accurate breakdown of the companies' printing costs and it will be much harder to establish. It's been estimated that companies can spend up to 3% of their annual turnover on printing so it's not an area that should be ignored. With a few strategic adjustments and the introduction of the latest office technology, costs can be slimmed down whilst at the same time the productivity and efficiency of the business can be improved.
Printing costs
The real cost of printing
Although it's easy to see what a new printer, copier or fax machines costs you to buy, it's often much harder to see what it costs you to run. Most people wouldn't buy a car without having some idea of how many miles it will do to the gallon and yet they'll happily run the equivalent of a Ferrari in their office without giving it a second thought!
It's often cheaper and quicker to just buy a printer to replace one that's too cheap to bother fixing, but in reality printing is a major cost to any business and a more strategic view to should be adopted.
It's much easier to calculate the total cost of owning a copier and how much it's costing you to run, because you'll generally get an itemised invoice, showing you exactly how many pages you've produced in mono and colour and how much each one has cost. The printing equivalent is much harder to quantify, since desktop printers tend to use cartridges which are replaced when empty, without 'counting' the number of pages printed per consumable. To compound the problems, re-ordering cartridges is frequently decentralised with each individual department using its own stationery budget, which again can make usage difficult to quantify.
The dramatic growth in the volume of printing, as users of network PCs increasingly choose to print electronic documents, has made this issue significant, particularly as e-mail and the internet continue to gather momentum. The growing preference for printing in colour has added further costs. Colour documents can be printed via a small inkjet, a desktop laser or a large networked colour copier, yet the cost of installing and running each are vastly different.
The six steps outlined below offer a guide to help any business achieve cost effective print management:
1. Acknowledge the existing situation within the organisation and decide the level of commitment necessary to maximise print efficiency.
2. Undertake a print/copy audit. These are generally available free of charge via good office equipment resellers and provide an analysis of how documents are used within a company, whether copied, printed or stored. An audit will also give a clear indication of monthly or annual print volumes. The data will allow the cost of print to be predicted accurately and give a real indication of where savings can be made.
3. Use the audit to examine document production across the whole company. New equipment is often installed on an ad-hoc basis according to perceived need. By taking a more global approach businesses can benefit by streamlining, which leads to point 4.
4. Consolidate equipment. One example is to install a centralised networked copier printer within each office, which can typically support workgroups of between 25 and 50 people, allowing the equivalent number of one-per-workstation desktop printers to be removed. Multifunctional products (MFPs, but also known as MFDs) often have a lower purchase price than the equivalent standalone products and can include copying, network scanning and printing and faxing. The MX-range from Sharp is able to deliver productivity enhamcements to your business, at the same time significantly reducing your print expenditure.
5. Go paperless. An electronic document filing and archive system can help you make massive savings to your printing costs whilst improving efficiency in your office and providing full traceability of documents. The MX series from Sharp come with network scanning as standard, enabling all your staff to electronically store and retrieve documents via a DM system such as Invu, one of the most cost effective on the market.
6. Consolidate hardware and consumables suppliers. Streamlining the number of print related suppliers reduces the level of administration required for ordering and invoicing. By building a closer relationship with the remaining suppliers it should become possible to take advantage of services such as remote management of all the company's copiers, printers and faxes freeing office staff for more vital tasks. A unified running cost for all office equipment will enable the close monitoring and effective management of print.
In conclusion, at least be aware of the cost of printing, even if monitoring goes no further at present. A print audit will identify levels of usage and areas where savings may be made. Make the most of the purchasing power of the company - by consolidating suppliers this becomes more effective. Finally, continue to monitor usage to ensure all savings are maintained and include print costs within the overall costs of running the office.
Weaver can help you start to make saving now. Call us on 08456 123858 to book your free print audit.
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