Uncover hidden costs and pinpoint best solutions SafeCom Decision Support Document # 2

Assess your print environment

While it may be clear that your company’s printer environment can be improved, and contains high potential for significant savings, the specific answers to exactly how to go about achieving this will be more obscure. Taking the plunge towards managed printing is probably one of most important administrative decisions your company can make. However, rapidly pouncing on the most obvious solutions may not lead to the results you hope for. To ensure success, you need to start with a systematic assessment of your total print environment – to uncover key-problem areas and plan optimal solutions.

An assessment will accurately cover your existing print infrastructure and investigate the efficiency of all processes related to printing, including those across IT, facilities management and procurement. Only after an accurate picture of the current situation has been developed and documented can your company then begin to take a phased approach to implementing a managed print environment that will have optimal impact and ensure long-term cost savings and efficiency.

Reports state that a longer-term approach to print management is necessary in order to reduce costs, increase efficiency and ensure solution stability (Quocirca - March 2010). Short time-frame implementations often lack strategic direction, and provide minimal impact. Most often, hurried changes force the company to tune its systems and workflows to solutions rather than the other way around. Changing the print environment in order to achieve savings is an important business step. To get it right, you should take your time and approach your document output needs holistically and strategically.

Implementation of managed printing is a highly significant strategic move for any company and should be a key management decision from start to finish. Management will need to support implementation of immediate and future changes derived from the assessment conclusions. By the nature of its responsibilities, management will focus on the bottom-line and any possibilities for savings. Assessments can provide detailed reports showing actual costs and areas for savings together with solution options and their estimated cost-reduction effect.

Generally, it is easiest to think of assessments as a list of actions that measure and document different aspects of the environment. Depending on your ambitions, you can apply a comprehensive assessment that includes all the actions on the list, or you can choose to perform only a number of the actions. In short, assessments can have different degrees of thoroughness and depth. There is no clear right and wrong when choosing the degree of your assessment. It is a strategic choice and involves parameters such as your resources, timeframe, budget, and company ambitions. However, subsequent

Assessment – knowledge is your most powerful ally

Take a strategic approach

A management decision

The depth of your assessment

Level 1 assessments are conducted internally using either manual or automated tools for measuring output. Level 1 assessments focus on printer data alone and are therefore limited in their scope. Results provide the number of devices, cost of supplies and only a speculative estimate of the page-print volume. There is typically no on-going data collection off the network. This is basically a situation snapshot and ideal for companies who want to see actual data about their output environment for the first time.

Level 2 assessments combine basic company data with secondary research to give a qualified view of the “current state” costs. This approach applies user-level tracking, and thus adds key factors such as user print behavior to the analysis. Level 2 assessments provide a more specific picture of document output costs and how these compare to similar organizations in terms of operating efficiency. The final output of this type of assessment is a business case, with desired state benchmarks and ROI impact. Many acknowledged providers of software for print solutions, such as SafeCom, offer sophisticated tools for tracking and creating detailed print-activity reports. The data can be used for configuring devices to match user requirements, color quotas and optimized duplex printing.

These are the most sophisticated assessments and can take from a few weeks to three months to conduct. Level 3 assessments are the most expensive and require a high degree of collaboration between the user organization and the assessment provider. The process typically involves user interviews and printer walkthroughs. The tracking and reporting tools, described under level 2 assessments, are used extensively and for a longer term. The sum of these activities creates a comprehensive and accurate view of current costs, workflows, document security risks, and environmental impact. Results of level 3 assessments can provide adequate information for major IT service agreements or complete managed print services. The sum of these activities creates a comprehensive and accurate view of:

• Current costs

• Workflows

• Document security risks

• Environmental impact

Level 1 Assessments

Level 2 Assessments

Level 3 Assessments

improvements to your printer environment will be based on your assessment results. The effect of your improvements in relation to cost savings will usually go hand in hand with the completeness of your assessment.

In a recent Quocirca report, assessments were broadly categorized into 3 main levels (Quocirca, December 2010).

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As stated, the completeness and depth of your assessment is your choice and you can employ almost any variation or combination of the assessment levels described above. Whatever your choice, the quality and depth of your assessment can make or break the success of your managed print environment solution. Complete analysis including useful documentation can be a complex undertaking, and the majority of companies that successfully improved their printing and saved money, have employed external assessment professionals. After years of unmanaged printing, a company will have an abundance of hidden savings. Armed with their special tracking tools, survey materials, questionnaires – and above all – long years of experience, print management experts know exactly how and where to seek for potential cost-reduction-areas and can suggest solutions that have actually proved themselves in the field.

Once armed with your compiled assessment and a clear definition of your requirements, you can approach different suppliers and vendors. It is up to them to live up to your well-prepared business case. Many companies use their assessment data to plan long-term strategies and implementation in a series of phases, continuously monitoring improvements, savings, and evaluating the next optimal step to take. That is why it is worth your effort and can be an advantage to seek flexible and modular solutions that can grow with your business.

Best assessments are professional

Using your assessment results – your guide to optimal solutions

Sources and additional information:

Gartner, “Managing Office Document Outout in the Digital Era,” Lundy, October 2000

Quocirca, “Tackling printing costs in midmarket businesses,” Fernandes & Longbottom, March 2010 Quocirca, “QUOCIRCA MARKET VIEW- Managed Print Services,” Fernandes & Longbottom, June 2008� Quocirca, “Managed Print Services Come of Age,” Fernandes & Longbottom, December 2010