Printers

These days, IT operations are under a microscope like never before. The pressure is on to run compliant, cost-effective operations that maximize productivity and minimize costs. At the same time, decreased operational costs and proven returns on investments have become baseline requirements. There is, of course, no single solution that can achieve all
these goals. However, there is at least one very prominent area that businesses of all sizes and types may exploit: the opportunity to streamline and organize imaging and printing strategies. Resolving this situation is a no-brainer, because it can enhance the bottom line, increase employee productivity, and ultimately, create competitive advantage.

DOCUMENT PRODUCTION TRENDS
How have organizations reached this current state of imaging and printing chaos? A number of factors come into play here. For example, the sheer number of imaging and output devices deployed has steadily proliferated year after year. While everyone was waiting for the paperless office to arrive, waves of single- function hardcopy output devices were deployed, oftentimes haphazardly. It’s not surprising that market research firm International Data Corp. projects the number of document pages printed annually by U.S. companies and consumers to burgeon to nearly two trillion by 2006. continue reading...

The Situation
“No coordination” is the best way to describe Lincoln County’s old approach to
managing its printers and copiers. Many of the County’s 28 departments did their own
thing – they worked with diff erent vendors, secured diff erent equipment, and ordered
and warehoused their own supplies.

The result was astonishing – spread throughout the County were:
• 170 printers – of these there were 54 different models using more than 54 diff erent cartridges. The average printing speed was 15.181 prints per minute (ppm) and only 50 percent of the printers were on the network.
• Of the printers deployed, a sizeable number were color ink jet printers printing color at high cost.
• 30 copiers – 24 different models all using different toner cartridges.
• 18 fax machines – 15 different models all using different toners.

The situation could best be described as chaos, both from a purchasing perspective as well as for the IT department that would often be called upon to fi x problems. With a department of only three full-time technical people and one part-time, it was a challenge for IT not only to provide the service when needed but the expertise on the many diff erent models.

Understanding true costs was impossible. “There wasn’t any individual accountability for printing,” Don Schlising, IT Director for Lincoln County, said. “We had no way to know what the individual County departments were actually printing so no way to track costs. And, because they just ordered the equipment they thought they needed, we had no idea what their printing needs were and if they had the right equipment to meet those needs.”

Waste of stocked supplies when equipment was replaced was also a problem. With so many diff erent models, quite often when a machine was replaced its stocked supplies were unusable. continue reading...

The Situation . . .
The printing and copying needs of Olmsted County’s 20-plus departments range widely. From departments with very sophisticated printing needs to those that only need basic printing functions, Olmsted County’s challenge was to meet the needs of each department accurately. “Unless you really dig in and have meaningful discussions with departments identifying their real printing needs, you might as well be working off wish lists from those departments or lists that generalize all function,” stated Debbie Palmer, Purchasing Manager for Olmsted County.

With numerous County buildings spread out geographically there isn’t a great deal of opportunity to share equipment. Factor in limited budgets and the need to be vigilant in spending taxpayer dollars, and the need for absolutely pin-pointing individual department
requirements is critical. “Our biggest challenges are always going to be money and resources,” Palmer said. “So it really is all about getting the right machines in the right places and then monitoring them to make sure they are doing the right job for us. The key is having a competent partner you trust, and we have that with EO Johnson.” continue reading...