Managed print Services: Lean and green

Many companies have been quick off the mark when it comes to environmental initiatives, encouraging their employees to turn off lights when they leave the office, and use dishwash-safe glasses instead of disposable cups. But a surprising proportion of these companies are ignoring the elephant in the room: the huge amounts of paper and energy that are wasted by unnecessary or under-utilized output devices. Without proper management, these print devices can be conspicuous consumers of energy, with a significant impact on a company’s carbon footprint.

Laser printers, fax machines, scanners and multi-functional devices all use electricity constantly, whether they are printing or not. The fuser - the technology inside of the device - rotates frequently in order to avoid deformation and has to maintain a minimum level of heat in order to print the first page of a print job quickly. When these devices are operating, they generate carbon emissions, as well as racking up the company's electricity bill.

The annual costs for a company of 200 employees can be as much as €80,000 and for larger organizations this can run into millions. Recent research by Photizo Group found that the average cost of a hardcopy fleet for a firm with 750 employees is more than €570,000 per year. The fleet will use more than 33,000 kWh of electricity and generate more than 80,000 kg of carbon (CO2) emissions (equivalent to the total CO2 output for 16 cars - for an entire year).

Photizo Group used the Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator supplied by the US environmental protection agency to establish an estimated carbon footprint for the 100,000 million-plus printing devices worldwide. The global fleet consumes more than 7.8 billion kWh of electricity per year, producing total CO2 emissions of more than 5 billion kg annually. This is comparable with the emissions produced by 860,000 cars per year, or 11 million barrels of oil per year.

It's hardly surprising in the present economic climate that companies are reviewing their IT budgets to establish where cost savings can be made. It is perhaps more surprising that relatively few people have ever stopped to consider the global environmental impact of their hardcopy output devices. For a growing number of companies, the environmental benefits make an MPS strategy an even more compelling proposition: for some, it's simply an added bonus to their cost-cutting initiatives; for others, it's the main attraction.

A Case for MPS

Managed print services (MPS) refers to the outsourcing of imaging devices. It is an offer from the vendor to take-over certain services which were previously carried out by the customers' staff. The depth of outsourcing can range from simply purchasing all consumables from one source, to having a vendor employee on-site to manage an entire fleet of products. At any level MPS is producing real benefits for the end users. Findings indicated nearly 10 percent of the firm's IT staff hours were freed and an average cost savings of 30 percent after implementing an MPS program - that's more than €800,000 for many large enterprises! And then there is the environmental impact, or lack of environmental impact - the average firm realizes a 60 percent reduction in hardcopy fleet carbon emissions.

The environmental impact of adopting a managed print services (MPS) strategy can certainly be significant. Based on estimates by Photizo Group, the expected increase in MPS adoption by 2012 will have a carbon reduction impact equivalent to taking 304,000 cars off the road, saving enough energy to power 230,000 homes for a year. Statistics like these provide another clear driver for the adoption of MPS as a key tool in any organization's environmental sustainability efforts.

Keeping a close eye on budgets is likely to remain at the top of the corporate agenda in the present climate. But the impetus to provide tangible solutions to sustainability challenges is growing as companies strive to demonstrate that they are taking proactive steps to manage and reduce the carbon footprint of their business. MPS is providing organizations with a robust solution to addressing both cost and environmental issues relating to their output devices and is giving companies the tools they need to change the way they manage their hardcopy fleet for good.

If you would like to learn more about green MPS, the upcoming of issue of the MPS Insights Journal will feature environmentally sustainable MPS strategies, best practices and case studies.  You can subscribe to the MPS Insights Journal at www.MPSInsights.com/insightsjournal. Photizo Group hosts of series of educational MPS conferences and forum across the globe. This year's European conference will be hosted in Barcelona, Spain during November 10-12.  For more information please visits www.MPSConference.com.

About Photizo Group

Photizo Group is a research and consulting firm specializing in the managed print services (MPS) industry. Uniquely positioned at the center of vendor, channel and end-user communities, Photizo Group provides MPS insights, perspectives and success to clients across the globe.

Photizo Group was the first firm define widely accepted 3-Stage Customer Adoption Model for the MPS decision-making process and the first to develop the concept of MPS enabled Hybrid Dealers with its ground breaking Hybrid Dealer Report.

Thought leadership in the MPS industry has not come without experience. Photizo Group's consulting team consists of individuals with a combined total of 137 years of industry experience with leading firms including QMS, Konica Minolta, Lexmark and Kyocera Mita. The consulting team speaks at a number of industry conferences each year, in addition to writing articles for ENX magazine, the PDMA's Visions Journal, Office Technology News and many other publications. 

Contact Photizo Group:

info@photizogroup.com

209 N. Main St., Suite H

Versailles, KY 40383

Phone: +1 (859) 873-4518