Printing and imaging strategy underrated

Most companies do not fully consider printing and imaging strategy says HP exec

“As with managing your server, networking and desktop computing environments, the complexities and costs of supporting and managing your imaging and printing environment can have a substantial impact on your bottom-line results,” says Nathan Nayagar, country manager for laser enterprise solutions, IPG HP South Africa

According to the HP executive most organisations are not aware of what they spend on imaging and printing. Although many understand the hard costs of hardware acquisition aspects such as lifecycle management and workflow improvements are often overlooked.

“Most organisations don’t have a strategy that integrates how imaging and printing can contribute to overall IT improvement goals—so that imaging and printing is a part of an overall infrastructure improvement plan.”

When managed well, a company’s imaging and printing environment should reduce costs and increase productivity, transform data into actionable information and drive faster decision making believes Nayagar.

“Imaging and printing spend can equal a staggering 1 to 15 percent of an enterprise’s annual revenue—in part, because the imaging and printing infrastructure is not being managed in a systematic way.”

Common problem areas include multiple imaging and printing architectures, a lack of standardisation and proliferation of devices and a lack of executive sponsorship and ongoing governance.

“For the past two decades, organisations have focused on making IT costs and IT infrastructures transparent and controllable through the consolidation of server, networking and computing environments. Now, you should evaluate the management of your print environment to gain control of print spend and protect the performance of your larger IT environment,” Nayagar concluded.