Canon Urges Firms To Have Healthier Print Strategy

Canon UK has urged UK businesses to adopt a Gillian McKeith style diet plan and closely examine their true printing habits.

Canon UK has urged UK businesses to adopt a Gillian McKeith style diet plan and closely examine their true printing habits.

Canon has warned that the over-use of cartridge-based colour printers in the office is making UK businesses pile on the pounds in weight but lose pounds from their profits.

In a bid to turn UK businesses in to leaner, fitter organisations, Canon has unveiled an online calculator, which it said could help businesses save up to 70 per cent on print costs.

The calculator is claimed to show printing decision-makers how much money they could be haemorrhaging by printing high colour documents on desktop inkjet and laser printers and illustrates the savings that can be made from a balanced deployment print strategy.

That improved strategy, for instance, would involve using the right device for the right job through a mix of desktop and multi-functional printers, added Canon.

Canon's David Smith commented: "Cartridge based printers are ideal in environments where space is at a premium, or where users are printing low volumes and low coverage documents.

However, if these devices are used for all printing needs, including colour intensive documents, such as PDFs or Powerpoint presentations, costs soon mount up and this is what our calculator is designed to show." Canon said that its calculator offers a step-by-step approach and allows the user to select the type and number of documents printed each month in the office, giving them a snapshot of print costs across their company,- which, as research shows, can ultimately prove costly.

The company said that, for example, a 10-page presentation could cost GBP3.15 to print on a colour desktop laser printer and that companies that use only desktop printers can stack up an unhealthy GBP2,700 annually per user.

That is claimed to be equivalent to four new laptop computers each year.

On average, a marketing department, that requires high volume colour printing, can accumulate costs in excess of GBP100,000 per year on printing on a desktop printer alone, added Canon.

Smith continued: "With research from Gartner showing us that print can account for up to three per cent of a company's annual turnover, the cost of print issue is something that businesses cannot afford to ignore.

The key to cost effective colour printing, as in life, is everything in moderation." He explained: "By developing a balanced deployment of printing devices an organisation could cut print costs by up to 70 per cent.

If businesses just use cartridge-based printers, it is the equivalent of only eating fast food - it's convenient but not good for you.

With multi-functional printers and print management software, businesses can control output and keep printing costs down." And Smith commented: "The first stage of any diet is to look at what you eat and it is the same principle with a print diet - taking a balanced approach and printing the right documents from the right devices is healthy and will help get your business back in shape." Canon said its educational programme is part of the company's 'small steps' campaign, which was launched last year and mirrors the process of getting fit in real life by focusing on four key steps - diet, exercise, coaching and results.

The 'small steps' campaign looks at cost problems and solutions that help protect the environment through the use of systems such as secure release printing, personal mailboxes and double-side printing that also achieve savings.

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