Green Office Blog

Can we ever understand the true cost of downtime in an organisation? The only way to do this is to get a grip on what downtime really costs. The first step is to define what “downtime” means, which is “system unavailability”. Even if an application is “up and running”, it is still considered downtime if the application can’t be used.  

Print assessments have become somewhat of a standard in the Office Automation industry. It’s not uncommon for copier salesman to compare current spend to a new solution and advise on the savings available, should you sign on the dotted line.

The problem here is that the print estate is not looked at in its entirety. Only then will you see the current state compared to where you could be. A thorough and detailed print assessment will allow you to understand the following:

1. Understand what you have.
   A detailed print assessment will be conducted across all operational sites to compile an asset list of all devices within your fleet. This includes any document output devices, such as printers, copiers, scanners, faxing machines, dot-matrix, etc.)

Every year, tons of paper is used in workplaces all over the world, in both large and small offices. Many of these offices have actively taken up recycling, but even though it is an inexpensive and environmentally conscious option, a much more cost-effective strategy is to reduce daily paper consumption. 

It’s no secret that organisations are seeking to cut down on costs and what better and more effective way to do so than starting with the print environment.

When choosing a print supplier, it is often easy to overlook the practicalities that might hinder the fit between what your business envisaged as a final solution, as opposed to what you might get after the fact.  Typically, this happens when there are a few oversights in decision making pertaining to what your business wants as opposed to what your business needs.  The understanding of your business’s drivers, is often more important before choosing the correct company to fulfil your needs in the print space.

We live in the age of technology, with that said, ask many companies what they spend on their print environment and you will be surprised by how few companies really know. To make matters worse, we have found that many companies do not know how many devices they have and the location of those devices.  This creates a major risk within the business as it leads to costs being unmanaged.  Just to clear up any confusion, when I say “Print Environment”, I am referring to all printer and copiers that a company is making use of.