Out of the Periphery

Printing prima facie looks like a mundane application but when the same is
considered from an enterprise point, it becomes a critical output device. True
to its name, output devices like printers have for long remained on the
periphery while companies concentrated on the big picture — software and
server deployments et al. While larger IT deployments took the enterprises to a
defined level, key everyday infrastructure enablers like imaging and printing
devices remained ignored.

-PG Kamath  GM, Lexmark International India “Most of the Indian enterprises do not have a focused output strategy and hence has no idea on the cost implications”

Over the years, output devices have been looked at as 'default' entities
and remained an insignificant part of the IT implementation package. But with
the relevance of three letter mantras like TCO and RoI growing to the CIO's,
the peripheral devices like printers are being looked at in a different
perspective. This is so because, most of the enterprises are taking a closer
look at the costs incurred from printing devices and trying to control recurring
expenses from consumables and outdated print technologies. Quips PG Kamath,
general manager, Lexmark International India, "Investments on printers are
very critical to any enterprise. Paper is still the best way to document,
present and share information."

The CIO's dilemma

The chances are only few that CIO's have heard about an output device
management strategy and here is where the problem lies. While most of the CIOs
struggle to manage the escalating printing costs, they find it increasingly
challenging to evolve the right strategy. This is mainly because over the years
the large enterprises have acquired various print technologies like DMPs,
Inkjets and Lasers. Given this backdrop, the twin challenges most of the Indian
enterprises face today in managing printers are: producing quality outputs,
thanks to old printer technologies and rising consumable costs as printers are
mostly standalone and not networked. According to industry estimates, close to
3% of the total IT spend goes for output devices like printers, although most
fail to benchmark the quantum of investments that go into managing and buying
printers. Putting this thought in perspective, an IDC report says that 90% of
the organizations do not track investments made on printers and this makes RoI
on print a least understood territory. The IDC report further states that most
enterprises spend good deal of time on larger elements of the IT infrastructure
like network, connectivity, storage etc, and a similar attention is now being
paid on output devices and the emphasis today is on managing the high printer
maintenance costs, supplies associated with aged print devices, improving up
time and employee productivity.

-Sameer Shah,  country category manager, HP India “A judicious blend of technology and placing the printers as per the demand patterns is the key to  optimizing on print investments”

In the enterprise IT infrastructure paradigm, the growing awareness and
importance of output devices is driven by escalating costs as print volumes
continue to rise. A study made by IDC revealed that output print volumes in
enterprises are increasing by 21% every year with print demand being generated
from new technology implementations like ERP and the likes. Quips LV Sastry,
associate director, Xerox Global Services, "Most of the organizations
currently do not measure, and monitor their output-related costs in the areas of
copying, printing and faxing." The evolution of concepts like Office
Document Assessment (ODA) is making the lives of the CIO's easier. For
instance Xerox's ODA provides a standard method to identify and analyze office
output requirements and the company claims that the assessments it had made have
led to the identification of measurable savings to the tune of 25% in costs
cutting across equipment, supplies and support.

The assessment of the existing printer environment and selection of the
appropriate print technologies will help the enterprises plug the print pain
areas. Says Thomas Suresh Anand, business head and chief technology officer WeP
Peripherals, "There are host of technical aspects a CIO has to consider
when making a printer purchase. For instance, one needs to factor key parameters
like type of printouts, number of copies, paper sizes, number of users, print
volume, type of input (images and documents)."

Managing printers

Once the enterprise has had a closer look at the print devices it has been
running and decides on upgrading it, the next step is to identify the right
products that yield maximum gains in terms of RoI and at the same time improves
organizational productivity. Vendors call it the consolidation phase, where
legacy printers were overhauled and replaced with high-speed printers
strategically positioned across different workgroups in a networked environment.
Explains Sameer Shah, country category manager, shared printing and
connectivity, HP India, "For instance, an MFD should be given access to
those workgroups wherein there is good demand for copying and printing.
Meanwhile, mono lasers would be the best fit for departments that just need good
quality text-based printed outputs."

-LV Sastry associate director, Xerox Global Services “Organizations currently do not measure and monitor their output device related costs in the areas of copying, printing and faxing”Â

Meanwhile vendors like Samsung are heavily betting on the value proposition
of laser printers and pitch hard its deliverables to an enterprise. Says Vivek
Prakash, vice president, marketing, Samsung India Electronics: "Printers
continue to remain critical to an enterprise despite all that was said about a
paperless office 10 years back. Also in terms of technology between ink-jets and
lasers, little has been done to educate the CIO on making the smarter
choice."

RoI on print

RoI on print investments might look perplexing on a first glance but is
increasingly becoming a reality. It is critical for every business to devise a
means to measure the gain from an investment. It is hard to directly estimate
the economic impact of usability. However, it is important to do so, both at the
macro and the micro level. Reflecting on this Lakshmi Narayan Rao, assistant
director, marketing (OSS), Canon India says, "With an objective to help
enterprises calculate RoI from MFD's, we have developed a ROI calculator. The
calculator enables enterprises to compare the costs of printing on their
existing machine to the value that our MFD's offer."

-TS Anand,  business head & CTO, WeP Peripherals “The fact that the printers are owned by different stake holders in the enterprise makes the ROI calculation complex”

Print RoI has many contributing factors. More than the acquisition cost the
total running costs assume significance. Says Thomas, "Enterprises have to
focus on more critical factors that affect RoI. There are four critical factors
that have a bearing on print RoI: capital investment, consumables cost,
maintenance, and product obsolescence." Other aspects like effective toner
utilization and a monitoring print usage patterns and doing an audit
periodically on the usage patterns will help cut costs and enable the enterprise
to bring in discipline among the users. 

Outsourcing printing 

Riding on the RoI factor, vendors are pioneering various concepts. In the
recent times outsourcing print requirements is gaining momentum. Indian vendors
like WeP and global leaders like Xerox are in the print outsourcing fray. Print
outsourcing is an emerging trend that is catching up at rapid pace. It enables
organizations to focus on its core competency and leave the print management to
a vendor. Lets take a closer look at WeP's print outsourcing model. Called as
Print & Save services, WeP has been successfully running this services for
the last two years and has more than 800 customers across 100 cities. The
company uses the pay-per-use model and consumers use the print point centers.
Insurance companies and financial institutions have adopted the WeP print
outsourcing in a big way.

Meanwhile Xerox Global Services is also going aggressive in the outsourcing
space. Says Sastry, "Our strategy for large enterprises is to help
outsource critical document processes, including its output device management
(printers, copiers, faxes). Customers pay us at the end of each month based on
usage on pay-per-use basis."

Outsourcing sure is value proposition to large enterprises as it liberates
the organizations from various hassles involved in managing a slew of printers
spread across. However enterprises have to explore various options like the
advantages of owning printers and outsourcing and then take a plunge.

The growing realization on producing peak performance from output devices,
though in its formative stages in India, is gaining momentum. In the past,
aspects like recurring consumable costs, slow printers, lack of quality outputs,
too many standalone printers have been made management difficult for enterprise
CIO's. Now with vendors taking a fresh approach in selling their print
offerings, CIO's today can take informed decisions and can produce a
comprehensive output management strategy.

Shrikanth G in
Chennai

Key elements a CIO has to factor while buying printers

Total cost of ownership (TCO): This does not just include cost of
acquisition of the printer but also the variable costs that and enterprise
incurs over the life of the printer. For example, toner, paper, electricity,
maintenance, downtime costs, etc. 

Buy the right devices: With an array of models and technologies to opt
for, the CIO needs to know whether he is making the right and informed choice.
He should check-up with technical consultants specialized in the field of
printing.

Manageability of network printers: Managing hundreds of printers on
the network can be a nightmare with 90% of the problems being paper-jams,
low-toner, empty-paper, and empty-toner. But network printers still make
significantly more sense for an enterprise. For smoother functioning and high up
time of network printers, printer manageability software is a default entity.