DOCUMENT & DATA MANAGEMENT
WHAT IS THE TRUE COST OF ‘PENCE PER COPY’ PRINTER CONTRACTS?
Business printer maintenance specialists NCM have launched a national campaign to make Facilities Managers aware of the true costs of ‘pence per click’ meter contracts for multi-function printers and copiers.
NCM Business Development Manager, Mick Leyland, said: “Around two-thirds of printers are scrapped after only three years, when in reality, they have many more years of useful service. Not only is this practice wasteful and unnecessary, it’s also expensive when you add up the total cost of ownership over the contract period and that’s not mentioning the environmental impact.”
In recent years the term ‘Managed Print’ has become ubiquitous in the photocopier or multifunction business printer market. In it’s true form, Managed Print involves a process of working with an organisation to audit print requirements and printer usage across the company, to identify where savings can be made, and then entering into a contract to lease the hardware assets and pay a ‘pence per copy’ meter rate. It’s sold on the basis of offering a saving on previous expenditure, improving productivity and reducing energy consumption.
However, as companies come to the end of their initial contracts, Facilities Managers are becoming more aware of the true cost of Managed Print services. Typically, the contract is based around putting in new printers and imaging hardware and paying a monthly or quarterly rental charge, topped up with meter click charges covering ongoing servicing and consumables such as toners and inks. Over a typical three year contract period the true cost of ‘ownership’ can
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actually work out more than the cost of buying, servicing and running the hardware, which is where Printer Management Service providers make their profits. The printer assets employed in the business don’t appear on the balance sheet as they are on rental agreements.
“AROUND TWO-THIRDS OF PRINTERS ARE
SCRAPPED AFTER ONLY THREE YEARS, WHEN IN REALITY, THEY HAVE
MANY MORE YEARS OF USEFUL SERVICE.”
An alternative model, which maximises ROI for Facilities Managers by extending the life of their existing printer fleet, is a planned maintenance and repair contract on existing fully- owned or leased printer assets.
The hardware therefore remains on the balance sheet and the company benefits from ‘sweating the asset’ and significantly extending its life through a planned maintenance agreement, which is more cost-effective than the traditional ‘pay per click’ model.
Mick said, “NCM are successfully saving money and extending the useful life of printer assets for national companies such as John Lewis, WHSmith, the Nationwide and Principality Building Societies and numerous others through our nationwide network of service engineers managed from our Midlands-based call centre.”
As a recent NCM client revealed: “Having neared the end of our CPC managed print contract and being unsure whether to invest in a complete nationwide refresh, we contacted NCM (who currently attended break fix incidents to printers outside of contract for us) to see if they could audit our estate and advise on whether a refresh from the manufacturers (who were pushing) was absolutely necessary.
After the consultation period and on NCM’s advice we decided that the fleet was in good shape; being only three years old and simply took out an annual support contract including a keen SLA with them at a fraction of the cost of replacement… This will have a very positive effect on the bottom line.”
In addition, this model ticks all the sustainability and corporate social responsibility boxes, as the asset’s productive working life is extended for as long as realistically possible, rather than being scrapped while it has service still to give.
Mick continued: “Many larger organisations can also find it a challenge to keep track of their assets. As specialists in networked print solutions, we can carry out an audit of printer assets, from high volume multifunction printers and professional plotters to hand-held label printers and everything in between, to support the Facilities Manager whatever the organisation.”
www.ncmltd.co.uk twitter.com/TomorrowsFM
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