The Truth About Inkjet Printing Costs

Small/Med Businesses, SMBs, just like large enterprises, depend on printers in one way or the other to carry out their business activities. Even if you are running a business with less than five employees, you need a cost effective printer that is reliable and capable of giving professional print outputs. However, as a small business owner, you may not have the resources that large enterprises have that enable them to manage their office printing more cost effectively.

Like most businesses we have talked to, your company’s day-to-day operations and servicing of the printer is probably left to an IT person who usually has other responsibilities. Apart from troubleshooting and repairing the printer, the person may also be involved in procuring and ordering stock supplies and reading the meter.

Like most SMBs, your company may be outsourcing large print jobs to outside companies that can do the job better and at a lower cost than you would incur if you printed in-house. For example, you may opt to outsource the printing of sales and marketing brochures. However, as the performance of color multifunction printers (MFPs) continues to improve and costs go down, more SMBs are opting for in-house color printing for smaller print runs. Your company may also be moving in the same direction.

If you still rely on the good old inkjet printer, you are not alone. Many SMBs we have interviewed indicate that they still use inkjet printers for their daily business processes. While inkjet printers are cheap to purchase, they are highly inefficient and costlier in the long run. To increase the efficiency of your company print jobs, you should consider switching to laser printers.

Recent improvements in technology have made it possible for more SMBs to run their own professional color printing projects. According to research on MPS opportunities for printer vendors among SMBs, consumables expenditure and color page volumes are rising.

The highlights of the report include:

a) 40 percent of SMBs have no idea how much they incur in printing costs. Do you know how much your company spends on printing? Lack of managed print services can lead to spiral and this can complicate matters further when your business expands and starts operating in multiple locations.

b) Escalating printing costs is a major cause of concern for SMBs. Businesses interviewed for the report indicated high printing cost is their highest concern among all print management challenges they face.

c) Time spent on printer admin and support is the second highest concern for SMBs.

d) Most SMBs use internal staff to manage the installation, maintenance and support of printers and associate drivers, thereby making the staff less productive. Other areas where internal staff time is spent is in replacing consumables, purchasing and stocking.

e) More than 80 percent of SMBs are frustrated with inefficient stock piling that results from a transactional approach to ink, toner and paper. Some companies reported that some of the consumables they purchase end up never being used. Can your company relate to this?

SMBs are appreciating the need for a managed print environment that can help them reduce costs and enhance employee productivity. With a proper MPS program in place, your organization will not waste man-hours attending to unplanned printer downtime problems or unavailability of devices.

You can take control of your printing costs through simple but flexible MPS programs. A service package can include support and maintenance based on a cost-per-page and leasing hardware bundled with supplies. The key to gaining an ongoing reduction in printing costs is understanding how you use your printer fleet. Before you sign up for an MPS program, consider your company’s monthly print volumes.

An MPS program will help you get value for “printing” rather than for “printers”. By implementing an MPS program, your business can lower the costs associated with unplanned procurement and purchase of printers and supplies.

Most SMBs that implement MPS programs realize significant savings on the cost of doing business. You should look at your printer fleet and find ways to reduce costs, just like you do with other elements of your company’s IT infrastructure.