Managed Print Service for Printer Fleets?

The hype around Managed Print Services is deafening! Everyday I'm coming across information about how good it is to have a Managed Print Service Program, well..... it's great for the provider of the program and may or may not be right for every client.

I have no idea how many laser printers or inkjet printers are sold every year to commercial businesses. What I do see, is a multitude of printers in the commercial work place, in some businesses there is one for each employee!

1. Do I need a Managed Print Services Program for my Fleet of Printers? False.... What you need to do is eliminate most of these printers and strategically replace them with work group Multifunctional Systems or Multifunctional Devices (Same thing, a digital copier that will print scan, fax and copy). You will lower your cost per page, produce less paper, and increase productivity! The Office Equipment Dealers can then monitor page usage, supply levels, and service from a remote location. In essence they will manage your fleet of MFP's while reducing your cost per page and increasing your IT productivity. This will ease your pain!

2. Can I increase my IT departments productivity and save money? True (somewhat)... but you won't save as much if you eliminated the fleet of printers and went with MFP's. You could also stand to save a bundle buy reducing the energy needed for all those laser printers.

3. Can they really provide excellent service, provide parts and support for all my fleet of printers? True and False

False; especially if your fleet has multiple models from multiply manufacturers. In my 29 years in the field, I've only seen a handful of accounts that had printers from one manufacturer. Nine times out of ten, it's a hodgepodge of different models and different manufacturers. HP, Epson, Lexmark and the rest will not give tech support nor parts support to non-authorized resellers.

True; If all of your printers are from one manufacturer and the company that is offering the Print Managed Program is an authorized service provide, then they will be able to support these systems. The goal for the provider is to get their systems in place, and most likely when a printer fails they may replace it or sell you one that they can provide support for.

Basically, if you don't have the time to manage your printers and you can't replace them with MFP's, then you may be the right candidate for a MPS program. However, if you do your homework, you will have a greater return on your investment by eliminating printers. For some this may be a hard pill to swallow. But there are really some incredible print features that will take the printing pain away, such as secure print, locked print, print2mailbox, hold print, store and hold print.

Take the time to investigate what options are out there and don't jump at the first option that is proposed. Have an analysis done of who prints what, when they print, how much they print, and what types of media that is required. If you do that you'll be able to make the right choice.

-=Good Selling=-

Print Audit Green wins 2008 Browny Award For Innovation

Print Audit Green wins 2008 Browny Award For Innovation


Imaging discussion website Print4Pay Hotel includes Print Audit Green in its annual top ten list of systems or software that have improved or enhanced the copier industry

Calgary, Alberta – January 26, 2009 – Greg Brown, a trusted voice in the MFP industry, was tragically killed in a car accident on Valentine's Day in 2004. His love and knowledge of the print technology lives on. The annual Browny Awards on the Print4Pay Hotel website, which highlight ten systems or software innovations that have bettered the industry. This year, one of the ten awards was given to Print Audit Green, the company's cost cutting and earth friendly print management product.

"Print Audit's success is largely tied to our commitment to innovation," said John MacInnes, President and CEO of Print Audit. "Receiving recognition for this aspect of our Print Audit Green product, from a respected and knowledgeable industry community, is very meaningful to us and we are honored to be singled out."

Powered by Print Audit 5, Print Audit Green reduces paper waste while increasing efficiency by tracking all office printing activity. Creating a more environmentally conscious workplace while cutting costs, Print Audit Green allows managers to establish printing limits, restrict color printing, and reroute print jobs to the most efficient devices. In addition, the print management product increases employee awareness by educating users on the cost and environmental impact of each individual print job.

"Not once in the last ten years did a customer ever present a print or copy usage report to me in an appointment," said Art Post, Print4Pay Hotel website owner. "The average company has no idea of how many pages are copied, printed, and scanned, nor do they have any idea of the cost associated with their volume and hardware. How can you be serious about your printing costs and not know this? Print Audit should be in every office, even if it's only used at the end of the year to review how many pages were used and what the cost was per page."

Post describes Browny Award winners as possessing innovative features that filled a void for end users - products that would have earned the approval and esteem of his late friend.

Print4Pay Hotel is a Business Network Website community that allows imaging professionals to connect and communicate in multiple forums. The message boards have over 2,000 global members in 124 countries.

Click here to learn more about Print Audit Green.

About Print Audit
Established in 1999 and headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Print Audit is the fastest growing print management company in the world. By providing businesses with innovative and practical print management software solutions, the company has helped customers recapture over $79 million in printing and photocopying expenses while saving an estimated 90,000 trees a year. Print Audit has offices located in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, Brazil, Canada and the United States.

For more information about Print Audit, please contact:

Trevor Hofer
1.877.412.8348
thofer@printaudit.com
http://www.printaudit.com

Outside of North America, please contact:

Print Audit - Europe
+44(0)1483 726206
http://www.printauditeurope.com
inquiry@printauditeurope.com

Print Audit - ANZ
+612 9922-3756
http://www.printauditanz.com

Print Audit - South Africa
+086 110 5777 (Within South Africa)
+27 11 531 1869 (Outside South Africa)
http://www.printauditsa.com
info@printauditsa.com

Print Audit – America Latina
+55(21)2220 0939
http://www.printaudit.com.br
Informações em Português:
suporte@printaudit.com.br
Informaciones en Español:
espanol@printaudit.com.br

Equitrac Announces Latest Version of Equitrac Professional

PLANTATION, FL, Dec 18, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- Equitrac Corporation announced today the latest version of its Equitrac Professional print management and cost recovery solution for professional services organizations. The new release includes enhancements to increase productivity, speed scanning processes and expands support for major vendor partners. Equitrac Professional expands revenue, lowers network print operation costs and reduces print supply waste at professional services organizations by automatically capturing, easily importing and accurately billing for every client-related printing expense, matching equipment to specific business requirements and simplifying IT support of print operations.

Equitrac Professional 5.2.3 is the next version of Equitrac's market-leading enterprise print management and cost recovery solution for law firms, architecture and engineering companies, consultants and other professional services providers. In addition to expediting and increasing recovery of client billable expenses, the highly scalable software allows businesses to capture, allocate and accurately bill for any client expense generated anywhere in a professional service firm. Accessible through Equitrac's TouchPoint Console(R) or Equitrac Embedded(TM) software for leading multifunction devices, Equitrac Professional supports the networked printers and copiers from every major equipment manufacturer -- as well as leading document management systems and professional time and billing software.

Equitrac Professional 5.2.3

Equitrac Professional 5.2.3 builds upon the success of Equitrac Professional 5 by adding several key features to enhance print management, scan and document capture, workflow and integration with partners.

Print Audit Green for "Eric the Office Worker"

So, you just bought a shiny new Color "Green" MFP. You know the system, your salesperson touted the "Green" features such as default auto off, default power save mode, default duplex copying, the small carbon foot print and scan2distribute.

So, what good is all of this if you can't control printing? Did you know that the average employee prints 34 pages a day and 17% of those pages are never used?

Do you think that "Eric the Office Worker" knows the cost per page of every MFP and printer in the office? What stops "Eric the Office Worker" from printing a 50 page color report to an ink jet printer (that can have a per page cost as high as 60 cents a page), just because he did not want to walk to the Color MFP that prints at .08 cents per page. Well, the idea of "Eric the Office Worker" not taking the short walk just cost you an extra $26 from one employee. Think of the abuse when you have 50 employees and this happens more than once a day.

Rules based printing, what does this mean to "Eric the Office Worker", well the next time "Eric the Office Worker" prints a report he will get a pop up alert on his pc that directs him to print green to this device (meaning the device with the lowest per page cost). Plus the fact that all of management will know when and where "Eric the Office Worker" is printing. So, if "Eric the Office Worker" does not print responsibly he could have a new "Green" job cutting the grass around the office!

Did you know that Print Audit Green on the average reduces your printing by 15%? Taking a closer look, I have a client who produces 200,000 prints each month on their MFP's. A 15% reduction would lower those pages to 170,000. So, that's 30,000 (that's more than 3 trees a day you are saving from the mill) less sheets of paper at .008 for a savings of $240. Then 30,000 less meter clicks per month at .01, this will be a savings of 300.00. Overall savings is $540 per month, cost to implement Print Audit Green in their environment (about 50 users) would be $146.25 per month. Savings WOO YAA of $393.75 per month.

Here's some more cool facts about Print Audit:

Understand your environmental impact

•Monitor 100% of the printing in your environment to spot abuse and waste.
•Learn who is printing to where and when.

Reduce unnecessary printing and waste
•Cut waste through the knowledge that all printing is being monitored.
•Decrease abuse by forcing duplexing, and restricting color printing.

Create green-friendly and cost-conscious users
•Utilize printing limits or redirect users to use more efficient devices.
•Educate users of the costs and environmental impact of each print job they print.

Not once in the last 10 years did a customer every present a print or copy report to me on an appointment. Thus, showing that the average company has no idea of how many pages are copied, printed, and scanned. Nor do they have any idea of the cost associated with their volume and hardware. How the heck can you be in business and not know this? Print Audit should be in every office, even if it's only used at the end of the year to review how many pages were used and what the cost was per page.

Did you know that you can enable Print Audit Green Software for less than 10 cents per day per employee?

-=Good Selling=-