TCO of Printing: 5 Issues that Are Affecting Your Hardcopy

What is the hardcopy TCO of Printing?

The total cost of ownership (TCO) of printing refers to the overall cost of owning printers. This comprises of the costs of acquiring printers, along with the continuous expenses related to supplies and maintenance for the printing devices over the course of their lives.

Studies show that very few enterprise IT managers and departments pay attention to monitoring their printing costs! However, through detailed assessment and tracking of the TCO of printing, firms tend to discover significant opportunities to drastically reduce their printing costs.

We’ll look at five key issues that drive the hardcopy TCO of printing in today’s enterprise-printing world!

1. Ratio of Printers to Users

Gartner reports that large firms tend to have a far greater number of printers than they require, averaging out to one printer per 4 users.

There may be various reasons behind such findings, however, one key reason may be the affordable pricing of personal printers in today’s market.

Gartner points to another major problem being that employees tend install old and disposed printers into their personal offices.

In any case, firms operating a greater number of printers will incur higher costs, ultimately leading to a higher TCO of printing.

2. Desktop vs. Departmental Printers

This factor has a direct correlation to the ratio of printers to users, as discussed above.

With the price of personal desktop printers being extremely affordable in today’s world, workers in many firms have resorted to installing their own personal printers rather than using the department’s shared printers.

Although the low price of individual printers might seem to justify this trend, consumables such as ink and toner heavily outweigh the savings of purchase costs.

Additionally, Gartner reports that the per page consumable expenditures are costlier for individual printers as compared to department printers.

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3. Number of Printer Models Used for Printing

Without a detailed and established strategy to manage printing resources, an enterprise can easily accumulate excess equipment, consisting of old and non-functional printer models.

This inevitably leads to an increased TCO of printing due to wasted money spent on equipment which may not even be in use!

Gartner reports many instances of enterprises spending money on support contracts, printer driver updates, and help desk related expenses for printers that had previously been detached and placed in storage!

4. Age of Printing Equipment

Older printing devices are more likely to:

• Breakdown
• Become inefficient
• Require more service and maintenance

For these reasons, getting rid of aging printers is a great way to decrease printing costs and subsequently reduce the overall hardcopy TCO of printing.

Studies have shown that for many enterprises in today’s business world, fifty percent or more of their printing fleet was over 5 years old!

An attractive option would be to replace these older devices with new and efficient MFPs, which combine several basic functions into one piece of equipment!

5. Inefficient Supply Chain

An efficient supply chain can help to significantly reduce costs in any industry, and particularly more so in the printing industry.

With coordination and integration between the printer supplier and user, many supply chain inefficiencies can be avoided.

With an efficient supply chain in place, the purchase department would be less likely to unnecessarily pile up cartridges, toner, and other printer supplies when not needed.

Integration of suppliers and users will also reduce the likelihood of continuing to spend on non-functional and disposed printers, consequently reducing the TCO of printing!

Make sure you’re monitoring your printing costs on a regular basis for opportunities to save big, and look out for these 5 key trends which can really make a difference in your TCO of printing!

Check out this FREE whitepaper on considerations for reducing your printing costs!