How much do you spend on your documents and printing?

Well, this is a fact:

Document spend can amount to 5% of your revenue

For example, you spend €50,000 for each €1m revenues

In this issue we will answer the difficult question many Irish businesses are now facing:

How to Save on Managing Your Printed Documents?

We hope this article will help you reduce costs and increase productivity - happy reading!

Growth of printing

The calculated average growth rate for printed pages through printers is 6% per annum. Average growth rate for multifunctional printers is more than twice that at 13%.

82% of all organisations consider DOCUMENTS TO BE CRITICAL to their business.

Document Spend

90% of IRISH COMPANIES CANNOT estimate their document spend. IDC (International Data Corporation) have calculated that document spend can amount to roughly 5% of an organisations revenues.

Document spend constitutes:

Tangible costs

a) Devices / Maintenance / Supplies
b) Staff who are involved with printed documents:

     1. Document archiving
     2. Inks and Toners 

c) Space / Storage(square metres and labour)
d) Outsourcing of printing

Intangible Costs

a) Lost opportunities through information not in right place at right time, 32% of documentation can’t be found when it is required
b) Reduction of employee productivity through having to deal with numerous machine interfaces on separate devices
c) Slow retrieval and distribution of paper documents

The main reason why companies cannot estimate their document spend is because of fragmented ownership between department managers, information technology facilities and operations.

The breakdown of Tangible Costs

56% - Print Consumables
14% - Employee / Information Technology involvement
13% - Inventory / Supplies Management
11% Repairs 6% Upgrading / Installation
34% of hardcopy costs are information technology costs (install, manage and helpdesk)
23% of information technology helpdesk calls are print related

Companies have up to 10 times more print devices that they actually need

Daily utilisation of some of these print devices can be as low as 3%

What’s the solution?

a) Audit your current print processes
b) Reduce the number of print devices
c) Formulate a print strategy with optimal deployment of print devices 

Plan your colour printing to avoid appearance of very expensive single user inkjet print devices

The copier evolves into a multifunctional printing system at the hub of office activity offering;

a) Sophisticated printer drivers with network management and cost control software
b) Integrated capture and managing of information with electronic and hardcopy distribution capabilities through scanning, emailing and faxing.
c) Document management and collaborative software applications

THE ROUTE TO COST REDUCTION IN THE HARDCOPY/INFORMATION ENVIRONMENT

a) Carry out a print audit
b) Consider replacing ageing print devices
c) Make use of supplied network software to track and manage and monitor your print devices
d) Consider consolidating separate devices such as printers, copiers, scanners and faxes into one multifunctional printing system
e) Consider centralising hardcopy print devices and minimise single user print devices
f) Consider a print plan to include maintenance so you take the total cost of printing out of your variable costs and a more manageable and auditable FIXED COST

THE COST SAVINGS AND PRODUCTIVITY BENEFITS

a) Estimated overall 30% reduction in document handling costs
b) Device management easier for information technology staff
c) Information Technology helpdesk calls relating to printing will drop by an estimated 30% in the first year
d) The spend of print outsourcing will drop by an estimated 30%
e) There will be a marked increase in employee satisfaction with office equipment provision

Remember the figure quoted earlier? 5% of an organisation’s revenues is spent on handling documents.

By addressing the printed document handling issues in your organisation, you could achieve up to 30% in real print cost savings

* survey carried out by I.D.C cost analysts

 

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