Equipment executives outline technology trends

The paperless office is still a green pipe dream for the most part in America, but office technology management is rapidly evolving and moving in that direction.

Many companies now use multifunctional machines that integrate print, fax, scan and copy capabilities. They are taking advantage of the Internet to network the disparate units. Their multicolor digital printing is getting cheaper, and the cost of a decent desktop unit has fallen to less than $100.

But the biggest trend might be this: Companies across the world are outsourcing their printing services. In a typical case, a vendor takes control of the customer’s production of office documents, owns the machines, advises operators on how to use them and takes a per-page charge. The managed print services market exceeded $20 billion last year, a jump of about 47 percent, according to Photizo. The MPS market was expected to reach 35 percent of the total imaging market in 2012, according to the Kentucky-based market researcher.

Backues

Birk

What’s happening in the Columbia area? The CBT asked executives at two office product companies to shed light on technology trends. Corey Backues is GFI Digital’s director of sales in mid-Missouri, and Ryan Birk manages Data Comm’s branch in Columbia.

Could you describe one or two typical examples of inefficient office technology systems at small businesses that you’ve dealt with in mid-Missouri?

BACKUES: For small companies, the common misconception is that buying a low cost multifunctional is the way to go. The price of the actual machine is a small part of total operating costs if the purchase is made without checking into the cost and yields of the toner and maintenance kits. If a business is doing a monthly printing and copying volume of at least 2,000 items in black and white and 1,000 in color, it’s typically a better deal to lease a machine with an all-inclusive service contract.

For larger businesses we find up to 90 percent of companies do not know how many printers they have or if they are properly utilizing their print equipment. As much as 25 percent of IT time is spent on help desk calls that related to printing and copying. Annual printer volumes are increasing in b/w year over year while color volume is exploding with 20 percent or more growth, according to GFI print assessments. Some studies show the average office employee spends more than $1,000 a year in document output while the business spends 1 to 3 percent of annual revenues on imaging device.

In mid Missouri, we still see offices with stand-alone printers, fax-only machines, additional color printers, a copier or two plus scanners — five or more separate machines. Each device uses a different toner cartridge, drum/maintenance kit and typically no service contract. In this case if something goes wrong, they have to return ship the machine and be down for days or hastily go buy a new machine.

BIRK: One great example is technology creep, which is loosely defined as technology that is added without managerial approval. This creates situations in which redundant technology takes place and costs escalate.

When evaluating a business, what do you try to determine before offering a solution to their document service needs?

BACKUES: GFI looks for organizations that desire to focus on their core offerings and are willing to outsource printer based services, usually 20 printing/copying devices or more. Commonly, IT departments are overloaded with everything from phones, building security, printers, copiers, scanners, Web management, not to mention the everyday issues of keeping operating systems going and updates along with security firewall issues that are ongoing. MPS enables help desk operations by redirecting print-related issues to GFI resources that can perform trouble shooting and take corrective remote actions to remedy the problem or dispatch a technician for four-hour response time.

A print services evaluation should begin by clarifying the type of print services the providers are offering (support, basic or managed) to ensure that one is comparing apples to apples. For each of the capabilities, decision makers need to consider the depth and breadth of a potential provider’s resources and experience.

The solution is based on a pay-per-use output that includes supplies and service with IT help desk for printer issues, including ongoing assessment of the contract and as-needed optimization.

BIRK: The volume of documents in combination with customer needs (i.e. scanning, faxing, printing and copying).

Are mid-Missouri businesses generally following global trends in document management? Could you elaborate a bit on local trends?

BACKUES: Yes, at GFI Digital, MPS has definitely taken off and is the largest growth area of our business; in fact we have had a team in place for more than a year now with dedicated customer service and IT help desk support in place right here in mid-Missouri at the corporate administrative headquarters in Jefferson City. MPS continues to be driven by a need for organizations to focus on their core competencies and outsource print-related services and solutions. The key to the success of MPS lies in its ability to act as a cost management solution and provide a contracted cost with ongoing management to drive down costs.

MPS offerings and the value they bring to clients vary widely, so decision makers need to know what they are looking for in an MPS provider and ensure that their selected provider can satisfy their needs today and into the future. Due to the magnitude and importance of the MPS decision, GFI recommends that decisions about outsourcing and the scale of the implementation be made by a coalition of key stakeholders that includes C-level executives.

BIRK: There are some businesses, especially startups, that seem to be more aggressive when approaching the document management arena. We attribute this to being more aware of the long-term challenges if this isn’t addressed early.

What are a few efficiency targets that small companies should shoot for?

BACKUES: Managed print services is a game-changing trend and enables companies of all sizes to focus on the infrastructure costs associated with printing. Additionally, while giving companies clear line of sight into workgroup and departmental printing costs, a well-executed MPS program can slash costs up to 25 percent. MPS also delivers improved environmental sustainability, risk mitigation, enhanced compliance, optimized security and increased productivity of output resources.

Clients say some of the benefits of managed print services agreements include fewer devices with lowered printing costs and tracking, less IT time with increased management and reporting while gaining count of print/copy/fax pages down to user level, automatic supplies replenishment, developing workflow and consulting assistance with hardware purchases.

BIRK: Currently we are seeing many organizations that have one-to-one or one-to-two printer-to-employee ratios. That is very inefficient. Ideally, the ratio of MFP (multifunction printer) devices to employees should be one MFP to six to eight employees.

CBT: What are a few of the psychological barriers that often impede efficient practices? For example, are people sometimes hesitant to give up their desktop copiers?

BACKUES: Some organizations resist MPS, as they feel they have it under control or fear the loss of control from the IT side. Others don’t want to give up their desktop printer, as they don’t want to walk to the next room or down the hall to get a print. At GFI, we bring in our software partners to help move closer to that “paperless” office. We commonly use a refresh concept to utilize existing printing devices moved to the right environment while placing more efficient software or machines to maximize efficiency.

BIRK: Resistance to change would headline the list of psychological barriers. People like to remain in their comfort zone. There are many other factors (government regulations, etc.) that influence how document disposition is handled. Until those types of barriers are addressed, we don’t see a significant change in hardcopy output in the near future.