Top 4 Pitfalls of Printer Consolidation, and How to Avoid Them
Posted on Thu, Oct 20, 2011 @ 08:28 AM
Total print management (TPM) offers organizations a range of benefits, including cost savings, improved productivity, and more efficient workflow and operations. In addition, it plays a crucial role in printer consolidation initiatives.
This is because it enables you to base decisions on historical data from your current printer fleet, and an in-depth evaluation of costs—not vendor assessments and purchasing whims. TPM solutions collect data, such as:
- Usage of individual machines
- Device over- and under-utilization
- Supply use and ordering needs, including toner and drums
- Color versus black-and-white printing
Using this data, you can make more informed decisions about if, and how, you should consolidate, and better evaluate potential consolidation partners and options.
Read on for details on how TPM data can help you avoid potential printer consolidation pitfalls, such as believing that copiers are always a better option than printers, relying too heavily on vendor data, equating consolidation with purchasing, and failing to meet internal objections.
Pitfall #1: Copiers Aren’t Always Cheaper
Printer consolidation initiatives have historically been driven by a call from a copier salesperson to the purchasing department. After a simple cost analysis, the salesperson may advocate to replace company printers with copiers, promising savings of about 30% per device.
Because of this long-standing tactic, many people believe that copiers are always a better value than printers, but this isn’t necessarily the case.
By analyzing TPM data, dedicated print or IT administrators, CIOs and CFOs should have the historical usage and cost information to evaluate printers versus copiers, and support procurement decisions only when financially sound.
There are many cases when consolidating what you already own without making any purchases is the most cost effective decision.
Pitfall #2: Over-Reliance on Vendor Data
For years, the copier industry has justified the sale of large, expensive machines by comparing cost-per-page savings achieved by the copier against the cost-per-page of existing equipment.
Rather than taking these vendor assessments and recommendations at face value, organizations that have TPM programs in place can benchmark current fleet performance and base discussions on real company costs.
Come prepared to printer or copier sales meetings with a firm understanding of your fleet, including:
- Number of printers in your environment
- Number of pages printed per device, and across the network
- Percentage of pages printed in color versus black and white
- Type of toner used, where it is purchased and how often
This allows you to have more honest, unbiased and meaningful conversations with potential vendors, driven by your own usage data instead of rough industry estimates.
Pitfall #3: Equating “Consolidation” with “Procurement”
It’s easy to look at your printer fleet and figure that the best way to consolidate and optimize it is to start from scratch. However, you may find the greatest consolidation benefits by evaluating and reorganizing your current fleet.
In reviewing TPM data, you may find that by removing under-utilized machines or those with a high cost per page, or by relocating devices based on their usage and capabilities, you can actually make printing within your existing fleet more cost-effective.
In fact, we consolidated one client’s printer fleet through reorganization, and they’re now on course to save more than $50,000 per year.
Only after you’ve consolidated your existing machines should you look at additional equipment that may further optimize your fleet. In many cases you will find that you need far less new equipment that before performing your initial consolidation.
Pitfall #4: Ignoring End-User Objections
Consolidation sometimes comes with internal challenges. For example, you may hear the following end-user objections:
- “My department paid for this printer, you can’t take it away without reimbursing our budget.”
- “I need a printer in my office because I frequently print confidential documents.”
- “We can’t share color printing with another department because we cannot agree on which department will pay for toner.”
- “I’m a manager and/or executive. At my level, I deserve my own printer.”
Keep in mind that most of these issues can be alleviated with the proper print management system and proactive conversations with your staff. By understanding internal objections, you can address employee concerns during initial discussions and offer solutions to their challenges.
For example, rules-based printing enables organizations to track departmental printing, allowing costs to be split between groups; and universal print drivers can be programmed to include secure print features, such as access codes, to allow confidential printing on shared machines.
Your Thoughts?
What printer consolidation challenges have you experienced? How did you overcome them? Have you used data to make more informed decisions? Share your stories and thoughts below.
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Jeffrey Goldstein is Senior Consultant at MCPc and is responsible for the delivery of hardcopy and value-added services within the Lifecycle Management Group. Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.
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