Managed Print Services: Paving The Way For A Leaner, Greener Fleet
Steven Swift, 09/04/2010, posted in "Analysis"
Steven Swift joined Photizo Group in 2009, with more than 20 years experience in the imaging business, including the successful start-up of a Managed Print Service programme. As a ...more info
Steven Swift joined Photizo Group in 2009, with more than 20 years experience in the imaging business, including the successful start-up of a Managed Print Service programme. As a general manager and business development director, Swift has a long track record of both building and turning around international businesses. He was instrumental in establishing Ricoh Global Services Europe as a €100M + business, which included the launch of a European mps programme, and the winning of Ricoh’s first major mps contracts. He went on to work at NewField IT, providing independent software and consultancy to support mps engagements, and then joined Acco Brands, where he ran a €140M European business unit. He has a broad background with experience throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and Asia Pacific. His diverse experience includes blue-chip consumer marketing at P&G + Mars, followed by corporate strategy responsibility with an FTSE 100 company. Swift is a graduate of Oxford University with an MA degree in chemistry, and also attended the senior management programme at INSEAD. ...less info
With most businesses under pressure to tighten their belts in the wake of the downturn, managed print services (MPS) has carved out a niche as an efficient way to rationalise and streamline hardcopy devices within organisations. But while the financial benefits are well documented, this is far from the end of the story.
In the present economic climate, any initiative that can save money holds obvious attractions for hard-pressed corporates. At the same time, organisations are understandably loath to invest in new initiatives at a time when they need to identify exactly where they are spending – and wasting – money.
MPS programmes focus on reducing costs by outsourcing management of a company’s document output to an external vendor, delivering tangible cost savings on hardware, consumables and paper by streamlining the fleet of output devices. But the benefits are far from purely monetary. MPS also aims to reduce companies’ impact on the environment by cutting unnecessary energy costs and spending on resources like paper.
The MPS market is expanding rapidly, with figures showing that an annual growth rate of over 30%. By 2013, the market will be worth US$59.7 billion in revenue terms – over 50% of the total distributed imaging business market. This growth in the market is being driven by a keener focus on cost as many businesses continue to wrestle with the ongoing repercussions of the economic downturn. Often, companies suspect that they are paying over the odds to run their hardcopy fleet, although they have never delved to deeply into the issue to pinpoint the root causes.
The annual costs for a company of 200 employees can be as much as US$100,000 and for larger organisations can run into millions. Recent research by my company found that the average cost of a hardcopy fleet for a firm with 750 employees is over $700,000 per year. The fleet will use over 33,000 kWh of electricity and generate over 80 tons of carbon (CO2) emissions (equivalent to the total CO2 output for 16 cars – for an entire year).
It’s hardly surprising in the present economic climate that companies are reviewing their IT budgets to establish where cost savings can be made. It is perhaps more surprising that relatively few people have ever stopped to consider the global environmental impact of their hardcopy output devices. For a growing number of companies, the environmental benefits make an MPS strategy an even more compelling proposition: for some, it’s simply an added bonus to their cost-cutting initiatives; for others, it’s the main attraction.
Growing awareness of climate change is making corporate sustainability strategies a powerful way to demonstrate to employees and shareholders that environmental issues are being taken seriously. Many companies have been quick off the mark when it comes to environmental initiatives, encouraging their employees to turn off lights when they leave the office, and use dishwash-safe glasses instead of disposable cups.
But a surprising proportion of these companies are ignoring the elephant in the room: the huge amounts of paper and energy that are wasted by unnecessary or underutilised output devices. Without proper management, these print devices can be conspicuous consumers of energy, with a significant impact on a company’s carbon footprint.
Laser printers, fax machines, scanners and multi-functional devices all use electricity constantly, whether they are printing or not. The fuser – the technology inside of the device – rotates frequently in order to avoid deformation and has to maintain a minimum level of heat in order to print the first page of a print job quickly. When these devices are operating, they generate carbon emissions, as well as racking up the company’s electricity bill.
My company used the Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator supplied by the US environmental protection agency to establish an estimated carbon footprint for the 100,000 million-plus printing devices worldwide. The global fleet consumes over 7.8 billion kWh of electricity per year, producing total CO2 emissions of over 5 million tons annually. This is comparable with the emissions produced by 860,000 cars per year, or 11 million barrels of oil per year.
The environmental impact of adopting an MPS strategy can certainly be significant. Based on estimates, the expected increase in MPS adoption by 2012 will have a carbon reduction impact equivalent to taking 304,000 cars off the road, saving enough energy to power 230,000 homes for a year. Statistics like these provide another clear driver for the adoption of MPS as a key tool in any organisation’s environmental sustainability efforts.
When companies outsource to an MPS provider, they are essentially bringing in the expertise they need to manage all the output devices within their company, along with an insight-based strategy for assessing their existing fleet requirements and the processes and workflows that underpin them. But more than this, it also equips the workforce with the tools they need to be more productive by optimising their behaviours to use the resources at their disposal as efficiently as possible.
Most hardcopy devices are designed to cope with far heavier usage than they receive in reality, with most devices being used at less than 5% of their rated capacity. An MPS vendor will typically undertake a detailed evaluation of the deployment of the fleet in order to ensure devices are used at a reasonable rate.
Traditionally, many organisations have operated a very ad hoc, individualised approach to their printing devices, with a very low ratio of employees to each device. An MPS-driven assessment can help to make more use of the hardcopy fleet, streamlining it where necessary to deploy resources more efficiently. And this more effective deployment means less paper, less toner or ink, less power and therefore, crucially, lower carbon emissions.
At its heart, MPS is a commonsense, logical approach that allows companies to make the most of their imaging technology in an environment that is firmly aligned with its organisational strategy. It’s designed to support – rather than undermine – business goals, as well as deliver substantial benefits in terms of lower costs, reduced energy usage and optimised working practices. And for those companies with the strategic vision and foresight to think beyond the short- to medium-term benefits, an MPS implementation can also pave the way for real business change at a grassroots level.
Keeping a close eye on budgets is likely to remain at the top of the corporate agenda in the present climate. But the impetus to provide tangible solutions to sustainability challenges is growing as companies strive to demonstrate that they are taking proactive steps to manage and reduce the carbon footprint of their business. MPS is providing organisations with a robust solution to addressing both cost and environmental issues relating to their output devices and is giving companies the tools they need to change the way they manage their hardcopy fleet for good.
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