Where to Start?
How does a company transition to a Managed Print environment? It depends who you talk to. The typical copier vendor approach is to recommend the purchase of new, multifunction equipment and centralize all printing to a few devices. Generally, this adds to the problem. In most cases, the printing capacity of an organization far outweighs the actual print volume, so buying more is not the answer.

At Encompass, our approach is to understand the current environment thoroughly, then measure performance continually to find the right balance between cost containment and worker productivity. It’s a continuous improvement process, not a one off project to complete every 3 to 5 years when your copier lease is up.

What You’ll Learn
Most businesses don’t know the number of printers they have or the number pages they’re printing. Analyzing and understanding the current environment is no easy task. It takes time and expertise to inventory all devices, assess their related costs and determine how they’re impacted by the print volumes across the organization. If done properly, the assessment results are amazing. Probably for the first time ever, you’ll know:

• The actual number of print devices in the organization. Usually far more than you originally thought.
• The majority of the actual printing volume is done by a very small percentage of the print devices.
• Many of the print devices are redundant.
• Thousands of dollars are tied up in toner and ink inventories, some of which is expired or for printers no longer in the organization.
• Copying volumes have decreased while copier costs have increased.
• The total cost of ownership is a staggering number.

The biggest benefit from the assessment is the establishment of a baseline. This is an essential element for measuring the costs and benefits of a Managed Print solution against the current environment.