Free Printers!!!

Today there are a few manufacturers that will give organizations free printers...in fact I was recently at an office that had 11 folks working in the office and they had 11 free printers from a manufacturer. Why would a manufacturer give away free hardware? Why would an end user not use these printers? I mean the printer is free, you would have to be crazy to not use it, right?

The big question becomes what does it cost to operate, ie put supplies into the printer, bring service, etc?

You probably would not drive a free car if it was a car that gets 2 miles to the gallon with today's gas prices...?


Before taking the 'free' printer and deploying a bunch of them on your network, find out what it will cost to operate the printers. In the long run that free printer may cost a ton!

If you would like to speak with an expert, contact Tom: tom@bantamdoc.com or 860-985-8960.
Our initial conversation would be a free consultation, after which you can decide if we would have any next steps...

When to look at managed print?

An organization should look at a managed print strategy when they want to maximize their bottom line... that is the wise guy answer, right? Well according to industry studies, organizations are spending between 3-6% of revenues on internal printing! And a solid strategy can typically reduce costs between 20-40%, so assuming an organization with a $10 million in revenue is currently spending 3% on its printing, $300,000 and they implement a strategy that reduce those costs by 20%, that would put $60,000 back on the bottom line, not bad?

If your organization can answer yes to one of the following questions, then it may be a good time to consider a managed print strategy:

1. Is your company in the second half of a copier lease?
2. Do you print high volumes daily?
3. Do you need a simple, cost effective source for equipment, service and supplies?
4. Does your business model charge back for prints?
5. Are you looking to upgrade your current printer hardware without a large capital investment?
6. Are end users frustrated?
7. Are IT folks frustrated supporting printers, are your talented IT professionals wasting their valuable time dealing with printers or copiers?
8. Are you concerned because you do not understand how much you are spending on internal printing?
9. Does it frustrate you that you can not accurately budget for the costs of operating your fleet of printers/copiers/fax machines?

If you would like to speak with an expert, contact Tom: tom@bantamdoc.com or 860-985-8960.
Our initial conversation would be a free consultation, after which you can decide if we would have any next steps...

First step in managing output devices...inventory...

The first step is to understand the current state. This seems logical, but it is not very easy. How many devices are there? I have yet to meet with an IT professional who was able to tell me accurately how many devices they have on their network.

The initial step in understanding the current state is to inventory the current assets. Next, you need to understand if the assets are owned or leased, weather or not they have a maintenance agreement on them, how much are they used, and how are they used, etc...

How often are toner and other consumables being put into the assets? How does the actual toner and other consumables actual yield compare to the advertised yield? What is the area coverage of the toner on the paper?

These questions are just the tip of the iceberg in implementing an effective print strategy...

If you would like to speak with an expert, contact Tom tom@bantamdoc.com or 860-985-8960.
Our initial conversation would be a free consultation, after which you can decide if we would have any next steps...

What is Managed Print Services and why do organizations need it?

According to Gartner, companies are recognizing that “output fleets (print-copy-fax) are one of the most overlooked and undermanaged corporate assets...representing a hidden gold mine of savings.”

Moreover, the long stagnant office equipment market has experienced tremendous growth over the past two years. Recent trends dictate the following:

1. Cost not understood: 90% of all companies do not know what they are currently spending on internal printing, nor do they fully understand their real and total cost per page
   Convergence of technologies: the market is shifting from analog to digital technologies and to color and enterprise-class multifunction printers (MFP's).
2. Printing growth: the Internet has created an explosion in the number of print jobs generated by users. Paper use is increasing 6-8% each year, and is expected to continue growing. Print volume surpassed copy volume in 1995.
3. Increasing costs: 1%-3% of a company's revenue is spent on printing; that's $1-$3 million for a $100 million company.
4. Balanced deployment: companies are reconsidering traditional output fleet strategies in favor of consolidated, multi-function platforms that offer network printing, copying, scanning, faxing and digital sending in a single device, thereby reducing inventory and per page operating costs.

Fresh innovative new approach: over the past three years, Bantam Document Consulting has developed a proven solution to help companies audit, understand & control monthly cost per page and create a long term cost-effective strategy based on each client’s unique situation. Our exclusive solution includes complete comprehensive management for your current fleet, with any new hardware, on-site services, print consumables, software, support and training through one simple easy to understand solution.
Because most companies have no idea how much they’re spending on hardcopy production, sharp IT decision-makers are engaging the services of a consulting organization to conduct an output fleet assessment. Bantam Document Consulting is clearly not a hardware dealer with quotas to meet, and while most other vendors focus on consolidation strategies, Bantam Document Consulting employs a balanced deployment methodology from Xerox, understanding that all companies are different and typically require a mixture of both local printers and networked devices, including MFP's.
Bantam's output fleet assessment methodology combines Xerox’s best practices as the global leader in printing solutions, with an exclusive Bantam quantitative process that includes:

• Inventory data collection of printers and copiers, local and network-attached
• Review and analysis of toner and service spend data
• Capture of page count meter data – from a sampling of devices or all devices - based on customer objectives
• Interviews with key business units and power users to discover objectives and pain points with hard copy production
• Total cost of ownership calculations based on pages printed, maintenance requirements, age of device, power consumption, space (real estate) requirements, functional specifications, and utilization levels
• Delivery & presentation of a custom Balanced Deployment Technology Proposal with rightsizing recommendations to achieve maximum cost savings

Bantam Document Consulting

Welcome to my blog! The purpose of this blog will be to share information around what I do well, help organizations effectively manage their printer fleets...